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This week's unemployment figures were an unexpected bit of good news for the country - a surprising fall in the jobless total which left Labour a bit wrong-footed and David Cameron jubilant at PMQs.
And for one region in the UK this was the second month the unemployment count fell; the north-east of England.
Often typecast as an unemployment sink-hole where declining industries have led to epic dole queues, things have been looking up for the north-east in the past few months. It remains a region of high unemployment but for the first time in many months, jobs are being created - and they're private sector ones.
But some worry that the government's own green policies on renewable energy and carbon taxes are causing uncertainty for the region - and could make a manufacturing base that's struggling to recover uncompetitive on global markets. And a debate at the heart of government on whether it should be the "greenest ever", as David Cameron once promised, will have a huge impact.
But first the good news - steelmaking returned to Teesside this week with the relighting of the blast furnace at Redcar. It's created hundreds of jobs, although many of these are the same people who were put out of work when the furnace shut down in 2010.
Towards Durham, Hitachi will be making a new generation of intercity trains - creating hundreds of more jobs. Nissan are building a new hatchback at Sunderland - that could lead to thousands of new jobs.
Alastair Thomson, the Dean of Teesside University Business School, says the upturn is happening because the northeast has a traditional economy: "We're the only region seeing a balance of payments on traditional goods, and we're manufacturing and exporting. That's something the country as a whole needs to be doing," he told HuffPost.
Will it last? "There's undoubtedly a risk of unemployment going up again, as a part of the world with a relatively high public sector, and would the people who used to work for the council be the sort of people who would work in a blast furnace? Probably not. There will probably times over the next year or two when it slips, but the trend is good."
But some worry that the really big opportunities for growth - in the renewable energy sector - are being missed because of dithering in Whitehall. Sarah Green, the regional director for the CBI based in Newcastle, told HuffPost UK "They've messed about with it for absolutely ages. If we could get a sustainable energy policy, that would the the one thing that businesses in this region would really like, and that lack of certainty is holding things back massively."
The delay is over the Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs), a labyrinthine set of protocols which in essence compel energy providers (the utility companies in layman's terms) to produce a certain amount of their energy from renewable resources.
The more ROCs an energy company has, the less it has to pay to the government. Energy firms with lots of ROCs can then, in theory, charge their customers less for their electricity and gas. That's the plan. Lots of that renewable energy could come from offshore wind. Some of those windfarms could be constructed off the coast of the northeast of England, and even if they were installed elsewhere, they could be built there.
But how much each ROC should be worth to an energy provider appears to be stuck in an interminable review by the government, with accusations that different bits of Whitehall are arguing about it. Some see it as part of a wider rowing back by the government - led by George Osborne, it's claimed - on the green agenda. A consultation on the value of ROCs ended in January of this year, and since then ministers have been very quiet about it. Some believe there is a deadlock between the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills over the pricing.
The impact of this, according to Sarah Green from the CBI, is that big firms are unwilling to invest in offshore windfarms in the north-east, because it's not clear how committed the government really is to green technologies like windfarms, and might stage a dramatic shift towards nuclear.
"People will not invest without knowing what the prices will be," she told us. "I think it is an area where significant and sustainable jobs could be unlocked very quickly. It will help with manufacturing wind turbines, other manufacturing jobs in the supply chain, maintenance and servicing jobs."
But renewable energy is just one plank of the green agenda, and for Alistair Thompson at Teeside Business School, how the government formulates another aspect of it in the near future could easily have a massive impact on the north-east.
"I don't know if it's Whitehall or the EU, but there is uncertainty about how the carbon tax credits are going to work, and what the government's current view is on nuclear," he says. "All those things are strong factors in the economy of the north east and there's more uncertainty than we would like."
Thompson also worries that even if the government does stick to its purported pledge to be "the greenest government ever", carbon reduction strategies could end up hurting some of the manufacturing industries of the north-east even as it helps others.
"Because we are manufacturing-led, we're a high energy use region, and we emit a lot of CO2. If you open up a blast furnace, there's a lot more CO2 kicking around. You can make the manufacturing industry uncompetitive if you have a too high level of carbon pricing."
Under the government's carbon tax system, businesses are charged £12 per tonne of carbon they produce. It used to be that businesses got various rebates if they could show they were trying to reduce their emissions, but recently the scheme has changed - you pay £12 and get nothing back.
Thompson believes this change by ministers hasn't been though through: "It's probably unintended but it's a fantastic way of encouraging accountants to switch their lights off when they go home. You can't do that with a blast furnace. That's where the law of unintended consequences kicks in a bit. Our manufacturers are largely exporters, so if we could end up being uncompetitive."
The north-east seems to find itself in a strange situation where hundreds of jobs will depend on how the government decides to focus its energy priorities. If it sticks to its pledge to be the greenest government ever, it'll harm traditional manufacturing.
If it decides to row back on renewables, jobs which could be created on Tynesside and Teeside won't be. I asked James Wharton, one of only two Tory MPs in the north-east, to respond to some of these concerns.
"It's important not to obsess just about renewables," he said. "Because, yeah, it'd be great if we could get our renewables industry firing on all cylinders. All signs are that we are slowly getting there, but there is a fair debate about whether renewables are the right way forward for our energy mix, that's part of the problem, that uncertainty which is that a legitimate debate about whether we can actually meet our needs by going down this route.
It seems that Wharton is much more interested in talking up traditional industries than renewable ones.
"If you look at the Barclays small business confidence index, the North-east SMEs are right at the top. We'd all like to see - if there is going to be a thriving renewable sector - that it would all be based in our region. But let's not get hung up on one area of industry and pin our future on it entirely. It's a contributor, but it's not all there is."


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Tribe releases funds to community
Over $622,862.29 granted to local community
STANDISH — The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, released their two percent gaming revenue funds from the Saganing Eagles Landing Casino today at the Saganing Tribal Center on Worth Road in Standish.
The tribe released a total of $622,862.29, splitting it up between townships, schools and cities in Arenac and Bay County.
"Two percent is money that we've reserved for local governments and local schools. We understand (that) our presence is a force to reckon with, and we want to make sure that we have money there to alleviate some of that stress," said Tribal Public Relations Director Frank Cloutier. "That's basically what the spirit of two percent is."
Arenac County received the most with $87,277, and Pinconning Township received $65,615, while the City of Omer received $48,000 to round out the top three of 16 local governments that received the grants.
Local schools were a big winner also as Arenac Eastern School District received $87,277, Au Gres-Sims received $49,570, while Standish Sterling was awarded $55,984.52, and Pinconning got $27,489.84 to go towards their schools.
Check back later for the complete story.
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subset: commoncrawl


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The lights are on
Even more than two years after its release, BioShock is still worth talking about. What's you favorite moment? How many Big Daddies did you take down without dying? What are you looking forward to the most about BioShock 2? Begin speculating here.
Put 'em out there... Mine was Pt. Prometheus.
"Iba se ori egun Ìlà arun, Ìwò arun, ariwa arun, gusuu arun, egun orun, egun ayie, ase."
The Holy Trinity of GIO:
GIO Usage Guidelines, Newcomer Cheat Sheet, Site Feedback
My favorite was Arcadia Forest. Such a nice change of pace from all the dilapidated hallways.
Yeah, I agree with that. Arcadia was a beautiful place to go through for once. It almost felt like a utopia of sorts... until some Houdini splicer started throwing fire balls at you and teleporting.
Arcadia Forest! It was a nice change of scenery. I also liked the "ghosts" that would show up there.
Easily Ryan's hideout. This is where the plot gets really deep and you get to kill the creater of Rapture
"At time to live and a time to die. A time to build... and a time to DESTROY!!!!" Andrew Ryan (founder of Rapture)
I'm gonna have to go with Fort Frolic, because it creepiest to me.
I really liked the stages they added to Bioshock 2. What did you guys think of those?
FORT FROLIC!!! and ARCADIA!!!
how do u get your ps gamer tag to stick to when you post?
I loved Fort Frolic. It was excellent, and we also got a super cool weapon, the crossbow! Sadly as soon as I got all the pictures of his apprentices I saw Sander Cohen, thought he was a Splicer and killed him on site. Really didn't think that one too through.
ZestyNoodles, I liked the moment when you could find Sander Cohen later on in the game.


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The one thing that iPhone users have been able to avoid thus far has been the enourmous time sucker known as MMORPG games. And don't even think of mentioning iMobsters and the like – I think the creators of Mafia Wars should be impaled on the spot. Nevertheless, it seems the amount of free time you'll have is soon going to decrease drastically. Two full-featured (well, almost) MMORPGs have just hit the AppStore and I'm talking, of course, about Pocket Legends (3D MMO) and the highly-anticipated IMO: The World of Magic. Both of the games are FREE, so there's no need to think about it – just check them out! Or at least check out the descriptions and screens after the gap!
Spacetime Studios, LLC, Pocket Legends (3D MMO) – Free
Com2uS Inc., IMO: The World of Magic – Free


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Flashback: Creature From the Black Lagoon Costume
Vintage picture of a kid in a Creature From The Black Lagoon costume.
Many more photographs to be seen on Swapatorium's Halloween flickr set.
(via Frankenstein's Fun House)
SPEAKING of vintage Halloween pictures, I added a few from my childhood at the very bottom of the About page. Yes, that's me with the balloons in her hair. And the woman in the other picture with balloons on her head is my mother.
AND many of you have heard the story about me spray painting the tombstone on the wall for my Grade 4 Halloween party. Well now you can see a picture of that too (the link is in my bio on the About page).
I swear my parents had the
I swear my parents had the same TV when I was growing up! And the same poo-brown carpet, too!
Great pic!
How sweet:)
You were a cute little monster;)
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Boston History Museums Looking Up and Down
The Old State House museum's tower is being renovated, as the Boston Globe reported last week. The photo on the right, by David L. Ryan, shows the scaffolding that now sheathes the structure.
The Bostonian Society, owner of that historic structure, has created a not-unfamiliar-looking blog showing progress on the tower from the inside.
Meanwhile, up in the North End, the Paul Revere House is mapping its site using lasers and radar. I'm not sure I understand all that the Globe was saying, but here's the gist:
Now surveyors from the Boston firm Harry R. Feldman Inc. and an academic team from UMass Boston [led by Prof. Allen Gontz] are collaborating to create a three-dimensional digital picture of the house and associated structures, the garden where water was once drawn from a hand-dug well, and even what's below ground, down to about 10 feet.The Globe also offers a slide show, and a video with the article.
A picture of what's above the surface, created by the Feldman firm using a laser scanner, is being stitched together electronically with a radar-generated image of what's underground produced by the UMass Boston team, so history—even the remains of a privy—can be protected as the space is enlarged.
Both museums remain open as this work goes on.


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from what I remember (don't have anything in front of me, but have worked on many of both harnesses), the EG33 and EJ TCU plugs are the same. so swapping between those TCUs would be easy. if not, getting my hands on the plugs will be quite easy, so 3 sets of plugs would also be doable
You're probably right, the connectors do look the same. I know for sure however that the circuit board of the Legacy TCU vs the SVX are very different. It looks like the microprocessor is a different variant as well, although they have the same instruction set.
I also want to dig through some FSMs, and compare gear ratios, otherwise when the TCU compares the speed to what gear it should be in, things will work out. (my buddy had that problem when he put a jdm wrx 4EAT in his impreza LX. it worked fine, except the gear ratios were all off, and then when he put the jdm TCU in there, it was expecting a 7k redline, but the ECU would only allow 6200.)
I have found the gear ratio map:
seg006:D74D GearRatioMap: fdb $B24 ; DATA XREF: CalcVSS1+4o seg006:D74D ; 1st gear seg006:D74F fdb $62E ; 2nd gear seg006:D751 fdb $400 ; 3rd gear seg006:D753 fdb $2C6 ; 4th gear
So it shouldn't be too hard to fix that problem, too. The TCU uses the gear ratio map to calculate the input shaft speed after the torque converter. This in turn is used for TC lockup and Duty C calcs.
Redline shift points are adjustable as well:
seg006:CDFF engineRedlineMap:fcb $5F ; DATA XREF: LookupShift+4o seg006:CDFF ; Gear 1 seg006:CE00 fcb $61 ; Gear 2 seg006:CE01 fcb $62 ; Gear 3 seg006:CE02 fcb $FF ; Gear 4 seg006:CE03 fcb $61 ; Gear 1, manual mode seg006:CE04 fcb $62 ; Gear 2, manual mode seg006:CE05 fcb $64 ; Gear 3, manual mode seg006:CE06 fcb $FF ; Gear 4, manual mode
For example, 1st gear $5F = 95 ($5F in decimal) * 64 = 6080 RPM
Another issue is with the differences in VSS signals; on the Legacy TCU the VSS2 was no problem as both the Legacy and the GL10 have 4000 pulse per mile. However it expects a 4.11 rear diff with larger tires so that ratio was off. I found the constant for VSS1 and corrected it. There is also a constant for the AWD slip detection that might need to be changed. Mine was only 6% off so it was no problem and I didn't change it.


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Edgy Girls gets a third season
Get ready for more Girls. The controversial but critically lauded, Golden Globe-winning show will return for a third season.
While HBO has not officially confirmed the renewal, the cast and crew of Girls have made it abundantly clear the show will be back.
This weekend, Lena Dunham spoke with Alec Baldwin for his podcast, Here's the Thing, and inadvertently confirmed the show's pick-up.
"We're starting season three at the end of March. I'm so excited," she said.
During the conversation, Dunham also revealed she has a six-year contract with HBO, meaning there may be lots more Girls to come.
The pick-up does not come as a huge surprise. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in December, Dunham said she was already working on scripts for season three.
Executive producer Judd Apatow also let the cat out of the bag in an interview this month when he revealed that "we're about to shoot the third season of Girls."
Although only about 900,000 viewers tune in to watch Girls live when it airs in the US on Sunday nights, the audience is closer to 4 million when DVR, on-demand and repeat viewings are factored in. And the accolades keep rolling in, a factor that matters at prestige-friendly HBO.
Girls was nominated for five Emmys in its freshman season, and also scored a number of surprise wins at the Golden Globes this month.
The series was named best TV comedy, and Dunham beat out the likes of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to win the award for best actress in a comedy. The second season of Girls premiered this month.
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It's time for my annual fall computer buyer's guide, and this year my message is a little unusual. If you're thinking of acquiring or giving a new Windows desktop or laptop computer this holiday season, don't do it. I suggest that, if at all possible, you wait around 90 days and get that new Windows machine in February.
I advise this delay because the Windows world is on the verge of an upheaval. Microsoft is about to replace its tired, insecure Windows XP operating system with the first all-new version of Windows in more than five years. It's called Windows Vista, and it's likely to be more secure and easier to use. But Vista won't be available until around Jan. 30, 2007. So, all those brand-new Windows computers you might buy this holiday season will be powered by an operating system that is on its deathbed.
Of course, you can upgrade most new Windows XP computers you buy now to Windows Vista after January. And starting today, Microsoft and PC makers are offering an Express Upgrade program that will provide copies of Vista for free, or at reduced prices, to people who buy Windows XP machines bearing a "Vista Capable" sticker from now through mid-March.
The catch is that upgrading PCs to major new operating system releases can be a tricky business. Often, it works just fine, but in many cases there are significant problems. It's always better to buy a new PC that has been matched at the factory with the latest operating system. Waiting just another 90 days could save you a lot of upgrading aggravation.
Also, the free or discounted upgrade program will, in most cases, entitle users of the common Home edition of Windows XP to obtain only a stripped-down version of Vista called Home Basic. That version lacks many of the coolest features of the Vista user interface.
What if you want an Apple Macintosh instead? Should you wait? After all, Apple is also planning an all-new version of its operating system, to be called Leopard, in 2007. I don't advise Mac shoppers to wait, for several reasons. First, Leopard isn't due until spring of 2007, months after Vista. Second, Leopard won't be as disruptive an upgrade as Vista because it is the fifth major revision of Apple's operating system since 2001, not the first. Third, because Apple makes both the hardware and software, Mac operating system upgrades tend to be relatively easy.
Apple isn't offering holiday buyers any discounts or free upgrades to Leopard, but the company says all of its Mac models currently being sold will work fine with the new system. The current Mac operating system, called Tiger, already contains most of the key features promised for Windows Vista. I still regard the Apple iMac as the best consumer desktop computer on the market.
But, if you want a Windows desktop or laptop and you can't wait until February for a model that is preloaded with Vista, here are some guidelines. As always, these tips are for typical mainstream users, not hard-core gamers or people doing intensive video production.
Vista compatibility: Make sure your new PC has a sticker that says "Vista Capable." But this sticker guarantees that it will work with only the stripped-down Home Basic version of Vista. If you want to be able to upgrade to the Home Premium version of Vista, which has the full user interface and other features, or to several other versions of Vista, look for a computer designated "Premium Ready." Naturally, these latter machines will cost more.
Memory: Microsoft suggests 512 megabytes of memory, or RAM, for the stripped-down Vista Home Basic, and 1 gigabyte of memory for full Vista. But I strongly suggest doubling those amounts. If you want to run Vista with all its features, get 2 gigabytes of memory.
Video: Vista Home Basic can run on any graphics hardware that can support a Microsoft technology called DirectX 9. This includes many "integrated" graphics systems, which don't use a separate video card.
Vista Home Premium and other versions will work best with a separate, or "discrete," graphics card that has at least 128 megabytes of dedicated video memory. Microsoft says even integrated graphics systems, like Intel's chip sets labeled 945 or higher, will also work, as long as the computers containing them are labeled "Premium Ready."
Processor: For stripped-down Vista, a processor running at 800 megahertz or faster should be sufficient, according to Microsoft. For full Vista, the speed rises to 1 gigahertz. For anything other than stripped-down Vista, I'd strongly suggest buying a so-called dual core processor, like Intel's Core Duo or Core 2 Duo, which pack the equivalent of two chips into one.
Hard disk: Disk storage is already copious enough for Vista, and buying large amounts is inexpensive. For stripped-down Vista, I'd go for at least 60 gigabytes of hard-disk space. For full Vista, I'd boost that to 200 gigabytes, to accommodate lots of music and video.
Price: Don't spend extra for a slightly faster processor. Invest in more memory instead. And factor in the cost of Vista. Even the Express Upgrade program may pay only part of the cost of an upgrade, which ranges from $99 to $259, depending on the version of Vista you want.
So, wait, if you can. But, if you must buy now, don't scrimp on the specs.
- Email me at email@example.com.


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Christina Hendricks Has Discovered a New Species of Bird
By the Way, You're Welcome for the Link: A gentleman's guide to saying "You're welcome." [Mien Magazine]
The Booth of the Future: TechCrunch gets a peek at a legendary web vet's visionary plan for live podcasting booths. [TechCrunch]
The Bad Kind of Uniform: Apparently a white shirt and trim khakis are also the uniform of most summer catering staffs. If only he'd watched more Party Down… [GQ Eye]
What Would Totoro Do?: Hayao Miyazaki is not a fan of the iPad. [Kotaku]


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(Birdsboro) -- A physician says he's running for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Republican Jim Gerlach in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Dr. Manan Trivedi, who tried unsuccessfully to oust Gerlach from the 6th District seat in 2010 and 2012, said Tuesday he's seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed him.
Trivedi, who's also an Iraq war veteran, faces competition from Republican-turned-Democrat Mike Parrish, a Chester County businessman with a military background.
Gerlach announced last month that he'll step down in January at the end of his sixth term in a district that includes parts of four counties, including Chester, Berks, Montgomery and Lebanon.
Phoenixville lawyer Ryan Costello, a Chester County commissioner, appears to be unopposed for the Republican nomination.
Tagged under 6th congressional district, Berks County, Congress, elections, Jim Gerlach, lebanon county, manan trivedi, pa politicsback to top
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The 31 civic and service organizations that make up the Royal Oak Inter-Club Council have a 30-year tradition of holding their December luncheon meeting at The Salvation Army's Royal Oak Citadel.
Admission to the Dec. 7 luncheon, as is customary, was an unwrapped toy. As is also customary, the wait staff were members of the Salvation Army's Royal Oak Advisory Board and the Women's Auxiliary.
"Be kind to them," Inter-Club President Dale Johnson, the Royal Oak Citadel's program team leader, asked the diners. "It's not their day job."
The Army's brass band ensemble played as toys piled up on long tables, and Army Major Angela Wandling led a spirited singing of Christmas carols.
But the question on everyone's lips was, "Will he or won't he?"
This was Majors Angela and Monty Wandling's fourth year as Corps Officers of the Royal Oak Citadel. They arrived shortly before the 2009 Christmas season, and that first year, after welcoming the Inter-Club crowd, Monty electrified the crowd by doing a hands-free back flip from a standing position.
Turns out, he was a diver and on his high school swim team some 24 years ago. "I've always flipped and tumbled and loved it," he said. In his younger days, he practiced on a trampoline.
Every year since his first Inter-Club luncheon, Monty has done the back flip, despite his wife's growing concerns. That's because he doesn't keep in practice and only does his trademark move once a year at this event.
Someone shouted, "You have to do it. I've been telling everybody." Another added, "I'm covering my eyes."
Monty said, "I've never felt so much peer pressure," then took off his uniform jacket and once again executed a flawless back flip to the cheers of the crowd.
Inter-Club Council member organizations vie for the honor of having the highest percentage of their members present at the luncheon. This year's small club winner was Soroptomist International of Oakland County, with 47 percent of their members present.
The Royal Oak Musicale took home large club honors for having 81 percent of their members in attendance.
"Even though the South Oakland YWCA closed its doors in early 2010, it was a big, important place to us," said former YWCA board member Margaret Monroe, who has encouraged those who were involved in the YWCA to continue attending the toy luncheon. "We're still trying to keep the YW alive."
"Last year it dawned on me, we should have a name," Monroe said, and that was the beginning of the YWCA Alumni, a loosely knit group of former members and board members. This year, 25 YWCA Alumni turned out, including Phyllis Sherwin, board chair for the last five years of the Royal Oak YWCA's existence. They took home the medium size club honors.
"This (toy luncheon) will be our annual get-together," Monroe said. "If you were a member or affiliated with the YWCA in any way, we'd like to have you join us." Call Monroe at 248-435-3306 or email her at firstname.lastname@example.com to get on her mailing list.
Dec. 3-7 was a week of special meals at the Citadel. In addition to hosting more than 200 at the Friday Inter-Club lunch, Monday was a traditional dinner for women of the church, served by the men of the church. On Tuesday, the Women's Auxiliary sponsored dinner for 160 special needs adults from area group homes.
"We do three special needs lunches every year — Christmas, St. Patrick's Day and Halloween — and it's a nice social event for them," Monty said. "They get to see friends they don't see very often and it's a lot of fun."
Wednesday and Thursday, free lunches were served to every senior in the surrounding communities who wanted to attend: 275 Wednesday and 250 Thursday. In all, the Royal Oak Citadel served more than 1,000 meals in just one week to celebrate Christmas.
Toys from these and other luncheons and toy drives are distributed as part of The Salvation Army's Christmas assistance program, when parents and guardians in need of a helping hand are able to choose gifts for their children from the toy shop set up in the Royal Oak Citadel gym.
The Salvation Army Royal Oak Citadel helped 850 needy families last year, and about the same number of families are expected to receive assistance this year, according to Angela.
You can make a donation of all-new toys, games, scarves, mittens, clothes, toiletries, bedding and nonperishable food through noon Christmas Eve. The greatest need is for toys for boys ages 10 to 14.
Monetary donations are also welcome. "The money we raise now helps the needy year around, not just for Christmas," Monty said. "We do other fundraising year around, but the kettle effort is our largest and most visible. So far, kettle donations are down $14,000 from last year, according to Monty.
Bell ringers will man the red kettles through Christmas Eve. These folks, mostly volunteers, stand outside in all kinds of weather to help others in need. Even your spare change is welcome.
A copy of the Christmas War Cry magazine, with a letter from Major Monty, was inserted in the Daily Tribune Sunday, Dec. 9 and Thursday Dec. 13. A donation envelope inside the magazine makes it easy to write a check and put it in the mail.
The kettle office/community center, on the north side of the Citadel at 3015 N. Main St., Royal Oak, is open 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon.-Sat. to accept donations.
Pajama donation update
Margaret Monroe gave me an update on the pajama drive at her beauty parlor, Elegant Avenue Salon in Royal Oak. This year, generous folks donated 245 pairs of pajamas, up from last year's 220, and more are still coming in.
"We had more PJs than our two regular groups (YWCA Interim House and Matrix Human Services) needed, so we are also able to help The Royal Oak Salvation Army and Boys & Girls Clubs of South Oakland," Monroe said.
Rotarians helping Sandy Hook
The Newtown Connecticut Rotary Club and Newtown Rotary Foundation have established the Newtown Rotary Sandy Hook School Fund. According to their Website, newtownctrotary.org, the fund is dedicated to the victims of the Sandy Hook school tragedy, their families and those in the Newtown community who have been affected, to help support both their short term and long term needs.
Tax deductible contributions may be sent to Newtown Rotary Sandy Hook School Fund, PO Box 263, Newtown CT 06470. Donations can also be made through the Website, where more information is available.
Have news about your club, organization or interesting individuals in Southeast Oakland County you would like to share with the community? Email Jeanne Towar at firstname.lastname@example.com or call 248-890-8370.


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1940s and 50s to present day
I loved May Day when I was little white haired girl in the 1940s. At school we cut various colors of crepe paper in long streamers and wound it around the volleyball pole. Each of us got a long streamer of crepe paper, ducked and dipped under and over and wove it around the pole, then stood back and admired all its pretty colors. We were so proud of ourselves. That is the only time my Mom would let us pick lilacs from her French lilac bush. The smell still lingers in my mind.
But first at school, we got to make May Day Baskets after we got through with arithmetic, spelling, writing, geography and history. In the afternoon, we cleared our desks and each got to choose the color of two pieces of construction paper. I always chose purple with a yellow handle. We learned how to cut, fold and paste our little baskets. I always made three: one for my mom, one for my grandma, and one for our neighbor. That was one of the days Mom would pick us up from school. Usually that was Dad's job. We would carefully get into the car so we would not mash our baskets. The first thing I would say to Mom was "Can I go pick lilacs for the baskets?", and she would always nod her head yes. That was the only time she would not tell us to go change our clothes right after school, because after we picked the lilacs, and put a ribbon on the basket handle, we would load back up in the car, to go hang the basket on my grandma's door. I would quietly sneak up and hang the pretty basket on the door knob, knock and then we were supposed to run and hide. I always hung around because I wanted to see the smile and surprise on grandma's face. The tradition is if they catch you hanging the basket on the door knob, you get a kiss. I love Grandma's kisses!
Mom always made cupcakes for us to give to Grandma and Grandpa and the neighbor, and when we go home we got one too. I always loved May first and I smile now just remembering how happy that day was. Flowers blooming, robins running around on the grass and the smell of lilacs. What more could a little girl ask for -- except maybe a chocolate cupcake with a mound of chocolate frosting.
How times have changed! I have asked my sisters and a few friends what they remember about May Day. They are all younger than I and they do not remember celebrating May Day. I stopped making May Day baskets after the 8th grade. When my kids were little, I used to take them to their grandma (my mom) on May 1, so they could give her flowers. Guess what the flowers were? Dandelions! Mom was so pleased and always put them in vase of water. When the kids saw the first dandelion, it always got picked and proudly brought into me to put in a vase of water. Usually David spied the first one.
Bob and I celebrate it by looking forward to seeing the first robin in the lawn. Then we say, "We should call Shirley De Vault and tell her we have a robin in the yard." When she was our smiling neighbor, she would call us and tell us she just saw her first robin in her yard. Somehow the robins stopped at her place first!
Here are some of the world wide celebrations of May Day.
Germany -- After WWII communist East Germany required all the workers to attend numerous demonstrations.
Ireland -- May Day has been celebrated in Ireland since pagan times and in latter times as Mary's day. Traditionally, bonfires were lit to mark the coming of summer and to banish the long nights of winter. Officially Irish May Day bank holiday is now on the first Monday in May. In modern times May Day is associated with anti-government rallies which are held every year on this date. Old traditions such as bonfires are no longer widely observed, though the practice still persists in some smaller communities.
United States -- Some unions and union locals in the United States -- especially in urban areas with strong support for organized labor -- have attempted to maintain a connection with more left-wing labor traditions through their own unofficial observances on May 1. Some of the largest examples of this occurred during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when thousands of workers marched in May Day parades in New York's Union Square. Smaller far left groups have also tried to keep the May Day tradition alive with more radical demonstrations in such cities as New York and Seattle, without major union backing.
American Latino -- In 2006, May 1 was chosen by mostly Latino immigrant groups in the United States as the day for the Great American Boycott, a general strike of illegal immigrant workers and supporters to protest H.R. 4437, immigration reform legislation which they felt was draconian. From April 10 to May 1 of that year, millions of immigrant families in the U.S. called for immigrant rights, workers rights and amnesty for undocumented workers.
Russia -- May Day was celebrated illegally in Russia until the February Revolution enabled the first legal celebration in 1917. The following year, after the Bolshevik seizure of power, the May Day celebrations were boycotted by Mensheviks, Left Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists. It became an important official holiday of the Soviet Union, celebrated with elaborate popular parade in the center of the major cities. The biggest celebration was traditionally organized on the Red Square, where the General Secretary of the CPSU and other party and government leaders stood atop Lenin's Mausoleum and waved to the crowds. Since 1992, May Day is officially called "The Day of Spring and Labour," and remains a major holiday.
Members of Occupy Wall Street plan to hold a General Strike in 2012.
My goodness! How times have changed! I still look forward to the first of May, robins and dandelions. But first the snow has to melt!
Thanks to my sister, Ginger and Wikipedia for all this information!


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March 12, 2013 > 'Houdini Horse' gets attention for escape antics
MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) Feb 14 - A horse with a knack for opening stall doors at a Michigan farm is getting attention after a video of her escape-artist antics was posted online.The Saginaw News reports (http://bit.ly/XBjBC2 ) Mariska, a 9-year-old Friesian, learned to open latches at Misty Meadow Farms and she's been nicknamed ``Houdini Horse'' by the Midland-area's farm owners Sandy and Don Bonem. A YouTube video Sandy Bonem posted has more than 700,000 views.The horse, Sandy Bonem says, ``doesn't like to be locked in.''The video shot about a year ago shows Mariska opening numerous locks on the farm, as well as unlocking stalls for other horses.Sandy Bonem says Mariska played with things in her mouth as a young horse and ``she just kind of progressed.''---Online:YouTube video of Mariska: http://bit.ly/11IlxRi ---Information from: The Saginaw News, http://www.mlive.com/saginaw


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Phillies Snooze & Lose In Opener Against Nats
Seriously, this was a really boring game. The Phillies mustered only six hits against the Nationals and two of those came in the final inning. Livan Hernandez watched the Phillies batters whiff at his 68mph curve balls so he kept right on throwing them.
In the words of Pedro Serrano, " I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats." Well, Jobu did not show up and neither did the Phillies bats.
To make matters worse, Cole Hamels had a very bad day. At one point, it was questionable that he could even thrown a strike with no outs and the bases loaded. Hamels clawed his way through five innings after walking four batters and allowing three runs on six hits. Afterwards, it was revealed that Hamels has a sore shoulder. It does not appear to be serious so far.
But once again, a trend continued for the Phillies. Hunter Pence did not get a hit and the Phillies did not win. It will be fun to see how long this continues to be the case. In 13 games, the Phillies have won 11 where Pence had a hit and lost the two where he did not get a hit.
The 4-2 loss is clearly not the end of the world, but it was still disappointing. The real highlight of the day though was the induction of John Kruk into the Phillies Wall of Fame. The pre-game ceremony included a variety of Phillies alumni including Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Dick Allen and Darren Daulton, among others.
Kruk's speech was touching and infused with humor that only Phillies fans could appreciate. He spoke about the 1993 season and noted, "We killed a lot of brain cells. But you were right there with us and you all killed a bunch too."
But the best part was when Kruk addressed everyone who knocks Philly for being a hard place to play. He said, "To those people I say, 'You didn't have the guts to succeed here." And that is exactly why we love John Kruk. Congrats to John…it is a well deserved honor!
Here is the full Photo Album from Friday night. And here is a fantastic breakdown of Michael Stutes' rookie gear:
"LIKE" us on Facebook for more updates & photos!
Photos by Jenn Zambri Photography
*Read more about the Phillies at my other home page, Phightin' Phils Phorum in the MTR Media network*


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September 4, 2012 > Governor Brown Announces Pension Reform
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. outlined a sweeping pension reform agreement on August 28 that saves billions of taxpayer dollars by capping benefits, increasing the retirement age, stopping abusive practices and requiring state employees to pay at least half of their pension costs."These reforms make fundamental changes that rein in costs and help to ensure that our public retirement system is sustainable for the long term. These reforms require sacrifice from public employees and represent a significant step forward," said Governor Brown. "If the legislature approves these reforms, public retirement benefits will be lower than when I took office in 1975," said Governor Brown. "Additional changes would require a vote of the people," he added.The pension reform agreement includes substantial benefit rollbacks for public employees. It requires all current state employees and all new public employees to pay for at least 50 percent of their pensions and establishes this as the norm for all public workers in California. Importantly, these new reforms eliminate state-imposed barriers that have prevented local governments from increasing employee contributions.Further, it bans abusive practices used to enhance pension payouts."No more spiking, no more air time, no more pensions earned by convicted felons," said Governor Brown. "We're cleaning up a big mess and the agreement reached with Legislative leaders today is historic in its far reaching implications."Public Employee Pension Reform Act of 2012:Caps Pensionable SalariesCaps pensionable salaries at the Social Security contribution and wage base of $110,100 (or 120 percent of that amount for employees not covered by Social Security).Establishes Equal Sharing of Pension Costs as the StandardCalifornia state employees are leading the way and are paying for at least 50 percent of normal costs of their pension benefits. Requires new employees to contribute at least half of normal costs, and sets a similar target for current employees, subject to bargaining.Eliminates current restrictions that impede local employers from having their employees help pay for pension liabilities.Permits employers to develop plans that are lower cost and lower risk if certified by the system's actuary and approved by the legislature.Provides additional authority to local employers to require employees to pay for a greater share of pension costs through impasse proceedings if they are unsuccessful in achieving the goal of 50-50 cost sharing in 5 years.Directs state savings from cost sharing toward additional payments to reduce the state's unfunded liability.Unilaterally Rolls Back Retirement Ages and FormulasIncreases retirement ages by two years or more for all new public employees.Rolls back the unsustainable retirement benefit increases granted in 1999 and reduces the benefits below the levels in effect for decades.Eliminates all 3 percent formulas going forward.For local miscellaneous employees: 2.5 percent at 55 changes to 2 percent at 62; with a maximum of 2.5 percent at 67.For local fire and police employees: 3 percent at 50 changes to 2.7 percent at 57.Establishes consistent formulas for all new employees going forward.Ends AbusesRequires three-year final compensation to stop spiking for all new employees.Calculates benefits based on regular, recurring pay to stop spiking for all new employees.Limits post-retirement employment for all employees.Felons will forfeit pension benefits.Prohibits retroactive pension increases for all employees.Prohibits pension holidays for all employees and employers.Prohibits purchases of service credit for all employees.


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They're back!
They're back!
Forgotten for the past 17 years, underground creatures by the millions will invade the Poconos as they emerge from earthy forest soils.
The horror show begins with an invasion of grotesque, creepy-crawly nymphs burrowing up from tiny holes in the ground. With the help of their cleaver-like legs, they crawl inch by inch toward the nearest tree, shrub or structure — such as your home — and literally hang around.
Within a hour, an encore performance begins as the bizarre-looking nymphs break through their skin and transform into bumblebee-sized beasts.
If this bug fest doesn't have you bedazzled, it gets better as the newly transformed underground aliens with scary reddish-orange eyes become love-crazed and attempt to fly in search of a mate. Their chunky, oversized bodies defy physics and fly in reckless abandonment, crashing into trees, cars, joggers, hikers and bikers.
Once alighted high up in trees and other safe havens such as your roof, the male produces one of the strangest sounds in the insect world. I can only describe the eerie noise as what an extraterrestrial's vacuum cleaner would sound like — a continuous high-pitched buzzing.
The treetop symphony, compliments of the new bugs on the block, might become so loud it could seem deafening.
The 17-year cicada eruption known as "Brood II" is emerging this summer throughout eastern and central Pennsylvania. Don't panic and enjoy the show. They might look scary and quite boisterous, but heck, if you lived underground for nearly two decades, you'd be bug-eyed for a little companionship, anxious to take a test flight on your new set of wings and singing endless praises of your incredible journey in the loudest and most annoying way possible.
I can't wait for the sequel in 2026!
Contact Rick Koval at firstname.lastname@example.com or write to him at PO Box 454, Dallas, PA 18612.


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'Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars' Results: Who's the First to Go?
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
John Kubicek
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
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No one on
Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars
knows what it feels like to go home first. In fact, only two dancers (Sabrina Bryan and Pamela Anderson) failed to make the finale the first time around. But this season is a whole new ball(room) game.
Tonight one couple becomes the worst of the best, the first pair kicked off of
Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars
. It's a two-hour results show with performances by Justin Bieber and Piitbull, interviews with the stars about why they decided to come back, and 119 minutes of filler. Let's watch Tom Bergeron earn every ounce of that Emmy.
After just one night, our regular recapper Laurel Brown already needs a break from the action (either that or she's in Vancouver visiting the sets of
). So I'm here for the next two hours to fill in.
Heading into tonight's show
, Emmitt Smith and Gilles Marini lead the pack while Pamela Anderson, Kirstie Alley and Bristol Palin are at the bottom.
Call me crazy, but I like seeing Sarah Palin in the audience, cheering on her daughter. They're like a high-class version of the Honey Boo Boo clan.
Why Is Bristol Palin Back?
She works hard and wants to prove that she really did deserve to be in the finale last time. Behind the scenes we once again get to hear Mark Ballas tell Bristol:. "Let that ass go nuts. Give that ass its own brain." I think he accidentally came up with the greatest movie Ed Wood never made,
Attack of the Crazy Smart Asses
. Nuclear radiation causes a group of donkeys to become intelligent and insane.
Why Is Kelly Monaco Back?
She missed the challenge of being on the show. During rehearsals we learn Val has no idea who she is or what
General Hospital
is, instead thinking she works in a hospital. I'm digging the cute May-December flirtation blossoming between these two.
Why Is Pamela Anderson Back?
She loves performing and wants to dance better. At least she knows she's not very good. She teases that her dance for next week (if she makes it) is a little warm-up act for her future Broadway career. I know she's kind of a trainwreck, but I want to watch it a little bit longer.
Why Is Joey Fatone Back?
The Fat One is back primarily to mock Apolo Anton Ohno if he beats him this time. He flirts a bit with Bruno Tonioli, which is a solid strategy to get that extra half point.
Why Is Drew Lachey Back?
He likes that the show is just plain fun. There's definitely some wonderfully awkward tension since Drew beat his new partner Anna Trebunskaya back in season 2.
Why Is Apolo Anton Ohno Back?
He loves competition. He's not here for fun or for entertainment, he's here to WIN!.Karina Smirnoff reveals that Apolo is funny during rehearsals, but no matter what she says, he's definitely serious when it comes time to dance. Loosen up, dude.
Why Is Helio Castroneves Back?
He's here so his little daughter can watch her daddy dance. He's wonderfully charming and I bet he's a super cool father. During rehearsals we learn that Chelsie Hightower doesn't understand the difference between Portuguese and Brazilians and she doesn't know that South Americans speak Spanish. This poor girl is having her "Chicken of the Sea" moment right now.
Why Is Melissa Rycroft Back?
She wants to prove that she can still do it now that she's married with a kid. I'm still wondering why Jason Mesnick's castoff is considered a "Star," let alone an "All-Star."
Why Is Gilles Marini Back?
He wants redemption, which is the true American dream. Also, it's a nice way for ABC to cross-promote his recurring role on ABC Family's
Switched at Birth
(which is a really good show). It's actually on Mondays at 8pm, which means every week you can see Gilles on TWO different networks at the same time. We get a hilarious montage of Gilles saying he's not a dancer.
Encore Dance
: Len Goodman admits the judging was a little harsh, but he still claims it was the best first night ever. The encore dance is Emmitt Smith's Cha Cha Cha. Big football player dudes should not be this light on their feet.
Why Is Emmitt Smith Back?
He came back because he didn't want to be the former winner who said "No" and he likes the idea of being in the first All-Stars season. They continue the trend of congratulating Tom Bergeron on is Emmy. Oh, did he win? I didn't know because they've only mentioned it 100 times so far this season.
Why Is Shawn Johnson Back?
She's really just looking for a goal in her life since she just retired from gymnastics. During rehearsals we see Derek Hough making plenty of short jokes at Shawn's expense. It's stupid, but I am so in love with Derek's goofy sense of humor that I don't care. The whole interview is done sitting down and we learn that last time around Shawn knocked Mark Ballas out cold.
Why Is Sabrina Bryan Back?
Because Kyle Massey and Carson Kressley split the vote. Oh wait, no, it's because she wants to prove that last time was a huge mistake that she went out so early. Louis van Amstel is feeling a lot of pressure to help her succeed since America voted her back in.
Why Is Kirstie Alley Back?
She's wanted to be a dancer since she was a little girl. She tells a story that involves the line "Bitch, I'm not waiting until I'm 12 to have pointe shoes." How can you not love her? Maksim Chmerkovskiy tells her that she's the best partner he's ever had and he loves her. During rehearsals they spied on sexy Gilles and decided they have to be the funny couple because the can't beat Gilles and Peta Murgatroyd in terms of hotness.
Results, Part 1
After a crazy, sexy, stupid awesome group routine from the pros it's FINALLY time for some results.
Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough are...SAFE
Apolo Anton Ohno and Karina Smirnoff are...SAFE
Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas are...IN JEOPARDY
Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson are...SAFE
No real surprises there. Last time around Bristol got the support of the Tea Party, which was very active during the midterm elections of 2010. But now the Tea Party seems less than enthusiastic about the election since Mitt Romney keeps shooting himself in the foot, so she probably won't have the same group of fired-up supporters.
OK, it's snack time. I'll be back after I've made a sandwich. Wow, even Pitbull congratulates Tom on his Emmy win.
Results, Part 2
It seems Drew and Joey are developing quite the boy band bromance behind the scenes.I hope Drew lasts long enough to do a "Ride a Cowboy" remix at some point this season.
Helio Castroneves and Chelsie Hightower are...SAFE
Kelly Monaco and Val Chmerkovskiy are...SAFE
Drew Lachey and Anna Trebunskaya are...IN JEOPARDY
Wow, the season 2 winner is in trouble? That's definitely a surprise.
Results, Part 3
We ALREADY have an injury. Gilles pulled his hamstring, but he'll be fine in a couple of days. There's also some nice cross-promotion as we learn Anna Trebunskaya and Jonathan Roberts will be on
Shark Tank
this Friday at 8pm on ABC.
Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke are...SAFE
Gilles Marini and Peta Murgatroyd are...SAFE
Sabrina Bryan and Louis Van Amstel are...SAFE
Ha! Tom announces that they're all safe, but he was only referring to Gilles and Emmitt so Sabrina was celebrating prematurely. But then she was safe anyway. That could've been SOOOOO awkward if Sabrina was actually in jeopardy.
Justin Bieber
Another snack break. But one quick question: Why is this kid grabbing his crotch so often? From what I saw, he was holding his junk for the entire performance.
Results, Part 4
Pamela really beat herself up over her performance.
Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are...SAFE
Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani are...SAFE
Pamela Anderson and Tristan MacManus are...IN JEOPARDY
Good for Kirstie and I'm not surprised about Pamela. Two of the bottom three make total sense, but Drew Lachey being there is a bit of a head-scratcher.
After two hours, we're finally down to the first elimination on
Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars: The Results
. That's a long title.
Bristol and Mark are...SAFE
Wow, Drew in the bottom two?
No real surprise here.She had the lowest score and she's one of only two returning dancers who didn't make the finale. The saddest part is that we will no longer get to enjoy Tristan's adorable Irish accent.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
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Original URL: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/01/abs_december_2012/
Australians love mobile devices, but not mobile downloads
Fixed net throughput sprints ahead
Posted in Networks, 1st April 2012 23:45 GMT
The next time you queue up to buy an iPad, 3G wireless broadband dongle, or an Android phone or tablet, ask yourself: why are the data plans so expensive, when they deliver so little?
The latest broadband study from the Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us that servicing the data needs of mobile broadband users requires only one-fourteenth the network capacity of Australia's fixed broadband users – even though mobile broadband now makes up 47 percent of the total Internet customer base in Australia.
Although mobile broadband accounted for 90 percent of new connections added in Australia between June 2011 and December 2011, fixed lines remain the engine-room of downloads in the country.
That's the conclusion behind the latest release of the ABS's Internet Activity, Australia report, released on March 30.
As the number of mobile broadband services neared 5.5 million, the "fixed broadband is dead" brigade came out in force, declaring that the growth of 3G-enabled devices rendered Australia's fibre-to-the-home National Broadband Network obsolete and unnecessary. After all, while the mobile sector added more than 700,000 new services in just six months, DSL, fibre and cable only managed 85,000 adds.
It's a thesis that works, and will probably be picked up by the federal opposition and other NBN opponents – right up to the point where you look at users' download behaviour.
Downloads flatly contradict the "don't need fixed networks" narrative.
Since June 2010, in spite of mobile connections now outnumbering fixed connections, the proportion of downloads using fixed connections has risen – from 91 percent of the total to 93 percent. Mobile downloads, formerly 9 percent, now represent just 7 percent of the total.
The raw three-month total downloads reported by the ABS are fairly impressive: Australians downloaded more than 345,000 Terabytes in the three months to December 2011.
Fixed users' download growth, however, is nothing short of stunning: since the December 2009 survey, when the average Australian fixed user downloaded 8.75 GB per month, fixed downloads per user have nearly tripled to 22.7 GB per month.
At the same time, mobile per-user downloads – in the face of new plans that offer more suck per buck – have actually fallen slightly, from 1.67 GB per user per month in December 2009 to 1.4 GB per month.
To look at this another way: to service the entire fixed broadband population in Australia, carriers and ISPs need more than 300 Gbps of capacity, nearly triple the 116 Gbps that serviced fixed users in December 2009. Mobile users today can be served by a nearly-insignificant 23 Gbps, up less than 10 Gbps from the December 2009 requirement (14.6 Gbps) – which is why users ought to be demanding better value in their mobile broadband plans.
So what does all this mean? Most of all, The Register would suggest, it reflects a user base becoming more savvy about what they do with their wireless toys.
The very cheapest way to suck data into the smartphone or fondleslab is to grab a WiFi network whenever it's available (most often, at home), and use the expensive mobile network as required rather than by default.
That near-tripling of fixed broadband growth isn't, it would seem, just an explosion of video piracy: it's also the multiplication of devices in the home, and the way that devices like tablets change user behaviour. Instead of a delineation between "using a computer" and "doing something else", the tablets and smartphones are convenient anywhere; they sit on our laps while we watch TV, and they come to the bedroom with us.
Users are downloading lots of stuff to the smartphones and tablets, and they're doing it more constantly and in more places. They're just too smart to pay over-the-odds for the data we download, when the home and the office have WiFi available. ®


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Personally, I see Y saying "if I have to ask for it, I don't want it" as being a flag she is being raised by PA and manipulative people, and it is her way of refusing to play along. If she was old enough to have that conversation, she was probably mortified to be put in such a wierd position and was trying to figure out what the boundaries are. I mean, really. Can you imagine, as a kid, being taken to pee at the house of a total stranger you've been *told* is related to you? Not knowing if you are welcome or not? And then aggressively scolded in front of said stranger? Poor kid, she was probably expecting to stop at a McDonalds or gas station. Did X even make proper introductions? Poor Y.
I mean, what if that had been my Petty Cash Pumpkin instead of a candy dish?
Or... this really is for only the best actors among, but... I know someone who's brother once said something to her like, "you're my sister, so you have to do *enormous big favour* for me whenever I want," and she just burst into laughter at what he'd said, leaving him dumbstruck. There's nothing like making someone realise how foolish what they've said is to get the point across. But I don't think most people could ever pull this off.
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The Constitutionalization of Labor and Employment Law? is an innovative and timely symposium at the intersection of constitutional law and labor and employment law. Recent U.S. Supreme Court cases have contained much legal discussion at the intersection of constitutional law concepts and the law of the workplace – both in the public-sector workplace where constitutional state action exists and in the private-sector workplace where it does not. Recent cases include: Garcetti v. Ceballos, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, City of Ontario v. Quon, NASA v. Nelson, Engquist v. Oregon Dept. of Agricultural, and Ricci v. DeStefano.
Through discussion of five separate areas of constitutional law:
- Freedom of Speech,
- Freedom of Association,
- Equal Protection,
- The 13th Amendment, and
- Workplace Privacy under the Fourth Amendment,
this symposium explores whether constitutional law concepts are infiltrating public and private labor and employment law, and whether this development is beneficial or detrimental to the rights of workers.
Some of the top names in the United States in constitutional, labor, employment, and employment discrimination law will participate in this symposium. Speakers include: Mark Tushnet of Harvard Law School, Dan Kahan of Yale Law School, Samuel Estreicher of New York University Law School, Ken Dau-Schmidt of Indiana University Mauer School of Law, and Kermit Roosevelt of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. These, and the other participating scholars, will produce an exceptional volume of articles on an increasingly important topic for Wisconsin and the United States.
The conference will be held October 28 and 29, 2011, at the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison, Wisconsin. Panelists and moderators from the UW Law School faculty include: Professors Carin Clauss, David Schwartz, Anuj Desai, Brad Snyder, and Visiting Professor Paul Secunda.
Please join us for this thought-provoking symposium which is part of the reinvigoration of the Labor and Employment Law Program at the University of Wisconsin Law School, which has an illustrious history in this area, and will lead to skill development opportunities with both the local and state bar.
To see the full brochure, click here!
Conference Organizers
Carin Clauss
Carin Clauss is a professor emerita of law at the UW Law School, who held the Nathan P. Feinsinger Chair in Labor Law. Her areas of specialization are labor and employment law, administrative law, and civil procedure.
As U.S. Solicitor of Labor from 1977 to 1981, Professor Clauss was responsible for enforcing the nation's labor laws. She writes extensively on employment law issues, engages in a pro bono law practice specializing in sex discrimination cases, and is a frequent speaker to business, labor, and legal groups.
Professor Clauss has served as a consultant or member to a number of private and public organizations on a variety of labor and health and safety topics, including comparable worth, health care, safety and health in the workplace, collective bargaining, and union democracy.
Paul Secunda
Professor Paul M. Secunda is a visiting professor of law at The University of Wisconsin Law School during the 2011 fall semester. He currently teaches at the Marquette University Law School and previously taught at the University of Mississippi School of Law. Professor Secunda teaches labor law, employee benefits, employment discrimination law, employment law, education law, and civil procedure. He is the program coordinator for the Marquette Labor and Employment Law Program.
Professor Secunda is the author of numerous books, treatises, articles, and shorter writings on labor and employment law and education law. His recent articles appear in the UCLA, Fordham, San Diego, Hastings, and Wisconsin Law Reviews; his essays have been published in the online journals at Yale, Penn, and Northwestern. Professor Secunda is the immediate past national chair of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation and also the past chair of both the AALS Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law and Section on Employment Discrimination Law. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, serving on the Members Consultative Group for the Restatement of Employment Law. A long-time contributing editor to the Workplace Prof Blog, Professor Secunda is co-author of numerous amicus briefs in labor and employment law cases (including the amicus brief filed by Civil Procedure Professors in Support of Respondents in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes), and a frequent commentator in the national and Wisconsin media and press on labor, employment, benefit, and education law issues.


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Today James Turk told King World News that the so-called audit of the Fed's New York gold "is total rubbish." He also described this stunning situation as "disinformation or propaganda." The is the first of a series of written interviews with Turk regarding this incredible development.
Eric King: "James, I have to talk to you about this news about the audit of the Fed's New York gold. What were your thoughts when you read that?"
Turk: "I saw the news reports and it sounded very interesting. So I thought I would look into it and see exactly what was there, what they completed, and what kind of audit it was. I went into the Treasury website and actually read the Treasury announcement.
I'm really sort of sad to say that despite my thinking this was some interesting news, it actually is total rubbish. I think it was disseminated by the mainstream media just to deceive people (and countries) to think that the gold is really there....


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"Free"ing the airwaves would just cause chaos like any kind of anarchy.
I also understand that the military uses spread spectrum, but there aren't any real powerful foreign governments left to test the system against. I'm sure alqeada and Iraq couldn't give it th
The common theme is that it should be totally free and unregulated
The common theme is rather that we want more spectrum to be available to the general public without the restrictions of the amateur radio bands.
What Wifi has shown is that allowing parts of the spectrum to be used freely allows a lot of applications that would simply never happen on the licensed bands. Many of us would like to play with a smallish part of the 700MHz band.
spectrum ain't software so it's not like everyone can get a copy.
Rule of law: a state of order in which events conform to the law
- Princeton WordNet
The Constitution is a living document, and was designed as such. Any law invoked here was instated within the confines and regulations of the constitution- therefore lawful. Your "Rule of Law" argument is misplaced.
And while in many sectors there are artificial governmental barriers to entering, this is almost certainly not one of them. It seems you are atop a soapbox preaching about big government and interference with the free market, but you chose a completely inappropiate time to
WiFi is relative proof that you can go relatively unregulated in spectrum bandwidth and have things work just fine. Yes, yes, some people in the middle of Manhattan complain about WiFi performance, but my experience at my old office in downtown Chicago showed that things worked just fine -- all the time.
I've just got to take issue with this statement, true enough lots of wifi equipment works well with other wifi equipment in the 2.4 ghz band. unfortunately its one band being used for a number of purposes. Try adding a TV sender into the mix. Wifi becomes highly unreliable and the tv transmission is hit badly by the random wifi packets add a cordless phone into the mix and none of it works reliably.
There is no need for more red tape but a few more low power frequencies with type approval for each band allo
Very broadly, this spectrum is divided into two bands -- the lower and upper 700 MHz. The lower band is 48 MHz wide, and the upper band is 60 MHz wide. Of the upper 60 MHz, 24 MHz is being reserved for public safety, according the to FCC. The 747- to 792-MHz portion of the spectrum, which includes a highly coveted swath known as the "C Block," is now used for commercial UHF television. But federal law now mandates that broadcasters convert to digital TV signals by 2009, so they're handing this particular chunk of spectrum back to the FCC (in return for new UHF spectrum).
So, I guess VHF [wikipedia.org] TV frequencies will be auctioned off soon too? Or is that going to be completely used by radio services (Marine, some aviation and some consumer goods.)?
I'm not sure why you would think that. The idea is merely that the total number of channels allocated to TV is being reduced. The reduction is purely in terms of the high numbered UHF channels.
TV stations are not being moved to entirely new spectrum. The digital TV channel range are the same spectrum as the analog NTSC range, minus those high numbered UHF channels. For example, in my area, the local CBS affiliate broadcasts NTSC (analog) on channel 12, and ATSC (digital) on the adjacent channel 13 (they
I knew the 700MHz spectrum has much improved range compared to WiFi, but Vulcan? [wikipedia.org] WOW!!!
Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them. -- Bill Vaughn


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What really sucks is knowing that new power outages are happening now and i am already 10 days without power. Who the f*ck knows when I'll get it back now.
I had been hoping to take in my cousin's family from Rockaway Beach but can't. Starting to think they might get power back there first.
On the bright side, I am leaving Friday for a wedding so I will be staying two nights in a nice warm hotel.
My power's gone on/off all day today, three times in the last 8 hours.
Just as others are describing, there are no less than 50 vans and crews sitting at the Garden State Plaza and dining in the food court without any coordination or direction here in Bergen County.
When my power was restored last night around 9PM is was only because a nice crew from Missouri decided to work after the 6PM cutoff to get us back online. If I wasn't out there snooping I don't think they'd have completed it because they had lost the PSE&G crew they were tailing, couldn't find each other in the dark because the guys from MO of course didn't know the neighborhood. I was able to direct them there.
First we had too many tree cutters who didn't have any electrical guys telling them what was okay to cut. Now we have too many electricians with no tree cutting support because after a week of sitting around they drove home to Texas.
It's awful the way these public utilities are run.
Out. Got gas for generator though that's always fun. Six meals away from total chaos. Someone smart said that. Power aint to far behind that. **** little house on the prairie. One more **** says imagine times back on little house on the......im breaking their jaw
In the 19 months we've been in NJ we've never lost power ever. Now that we have, the generator install people will be the very first call when the power is restored. That said...
We have gas into our stove, are making soups and pastas and eggs and anything fried in a pan every day.
We have gas into our water heater, have unlimited hot water to shower in.
We have gas into our fireplace, can crank it up to 75 degrees in our great room where we're currently camped out every night.
While having a generator would get the boiler going and steam heat into every room, it means worrying about gasoline- and that's the one thing that's been a non-issue for us this week. We filled up both cars last Monday, and since we have no place to go we've got plenty of fuel left. Few trips to town to see movies, few trips to the mall to kill time. No waiting 3+ hours for $20 of premium necessary.
So I'm on the fence with the generator based on this experience. I guess in sub-zero temps the fireplace might not cut it and thus the generator is a nice insurance policy. I'll check into it and report back.
Get a generator professorially installed that runs off natural gas, wont have to worry about storing fuel for it or the fuel going bad.
I thought about starting a thread on lessons learned from Sandy and how to prep for a similar occurrence. Too soon Ii think.
Neighbors with generators and the occasional Starbucks fill in from time to time.
You know, you guys should take pics of these utilities trucks and post them on various news agencies facebook pages, twitter, and what not. I'm sure others have seen them and felt the same disgust, I know I do.
If it's not a issue being discussed, it certainly should be. They way people are being treated is deplorable.
Just dragged half a holly tree to the curb.
Was not bad here in NW Jersey; maybe a couple of inches of snow and not much wind. I expect we'll get worse wind as the front moves out though.
Sorry to hear about you LI er's getting the hose again.


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Trustees Theater
Trustees Theater opened in 1946 as a part of Savannah's grand theater district. The 16,240 square-foot theater was designed by Howell and Tucker as Weis Theater (pronounced Wise after the family the built it). After purchase and restoration by the Savannah College of Art and Design some 50 years later, the Trustees Theater continues to dazzle patrons with its blend of materials, textures and geometric angles. The theater operates year-round as a large venue for the performing arts department, in addition to hosting lectures, live performances, concerts and films. Trustees Theater hosts performances in theater, dance and music; lectures; major college events; student productions; the spring fashion show; the annual Savannah Film Festival; film and animation screenings; conferences; national and international touring performers and other special productions. The Trustees Theater seats 1,100 people, is equipped with assisted listening devices and accommodates wheelchair seating.
Visit the Trustees Theater website


text: Hello, I am new here and I found this site linked at another site. But I can't figure out what LiteSpeed offers. I know it is something with hosting, but are those plans web hosting? Dedicated servers? VPS's? I don't know, can someone please clear this up for me. I also want to know what the difference is between all plans. Thanks, NLCJ


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Let's call it "Peter Grimes: The Concert Version." In his Metropolitan Opera debut, director John Doyle brings his minimalist bag of tricks to the big stage, having already shown audiences how he can enlist one performer to do two or more jobs (act, sing and play a musical instrument) in recent Broadway revivals of "Sweeney Todd" and "Company." Fortunately for Benjamin Britten's "Peter Grimes," Doyle leaves the musicians in the pit where they belong, but otherwise shows himself to be the master of self-imposed restrictions.
On the evidence of these three Gotham productions, as well as last season's "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny" at L.A. Opera, it's clear Doyle isn't big on blocking, stage business (once he rids his actors of playing, say, the tuba), gesture or the establishment of time and place. In other words, he's really not much of a storyteller.
In the Met program notes, Doyle writes that " 'Peter Grimes' is a story of a man who is shut out by his community, a community that judges him vehemently and aggressively." It's no wonder this Suffolk town has a little problem with its ornery fisherman: His young male apprentices keep dying on him.
The big problem here is that, under Doyle's direction, the villagers are almost indistinguishable from one another. (A notable exception is the gossip Mrs. Sedley, who, as played by Felicity Palmer, appears to be channeling Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch.) And worse, there's no town there. Doyle crams the choristers downstage between the orchestra pit and Scott Pask's monolithic black wall of a set, leaving no room for movement.
At L.A. Opera, Doyle's big flourish was to have the "Mahagonny" chorus march around in a file, like fugitives from some jail yard in an old Warner Bros. gangster movie. The director repeats that move early in "Grimes," then abandons it in favor of his usual restraint. Despite much stage time, the chorus members stand, they sit, they look glum. Period.
With "Mahagonny," Doyle entertained the L.A. booboisie with Route 666 road signs and an act-one finale replicating a Nazi war rally. At first glance, those puerile touches are absent from "Peter Grimes." Pask's unit set and Ann Hould-Ward's costumes make for a very tasteful affair, if your idea of tasteful is the color black.
Doyle's "Grimes," however, begins to develop its own kitschiness after three hours of exposure: Pask's huge, rough-hewn wooden wall features several elevated doors and windows that open to expose various supporting players who sing nasty epithets at Grimes throughout the opera from their elevated perches. But after so much opening and closing, these same doors and windows begin to lend a farcical air to the proceedings. Ultimately, the monolith resembles nothing so much as a large-scale curio display in which one could stuff beloved tchotchkes.
Doyle's storytelling powers fail completely when, in the final scene, he divorces the crazed title character from his beloved Ellen (Patricia Racette) by placing her in a doorway behind him, two stories up. Earlier in the opera, it is unclear how the boy (Logan William Erickson) dies. In the libretto, he falls off a cliff; in this production, he conveniently disappears, without much impact, into a hole in the stage meant to represent the sea, one assumes.
To Met audiences of a certain age, Grimes belongs to the great Canadian tenor Jon Vickers, who presented a wounded beast of a man. Unleashing a craggy, dramatic sound, he gave Britten's antihero a feral force that made operagoers forget, for a moment, that they never heard Chaliapin live.
Anthony Dean Griffey possesses a fine lyric tenor, one that recalls Britten's longtime companion, Peter Pears, who originated the Grimes role in 1945. Griffey's sound is actually fuller, less dry. But unlike Pears, he pushes the role's big moments, and his voice, rather than gaining in power, turns gruff, breathy, unsupported. Racette offers a worn-sounding Ellen.
But close your eyes, and the chorus sounds glorious, and under Donald Runnicles' baton, the Met orchestra makes the sun, the sea and the tragedy come alive.


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Cricut® Collections
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With week one nerves behind them, the remaining twelve All Stars swung back into gear, learning new routines in only one week and proving to America why they should remain within the competition.
This season the underlying theme is perfection with the judges increasing their expectations for the the returning dancers, believing they should produce flawless and entertaining performances every time they hit the floor.
Whoosh this week went fast...it's Monday!!! Yay!! Can't wait to quick-ity QUICKSTEP!! moby.to/c5o4jn—
Sabrina Bryan (@SabrinaBryan) October 01, 2012
An excited Sabrina Ryan and her partner Louis Van Amstel came out on top with a score of 26 for their near flawless quickstep. Bruno Tonioli's high praise came in the compliment, "It is Ms. Ginger Rogers at her best."
Drew Lachey, who was among the bottom two with Pamela Anderson last week, raised the bar (and himself) with his performance this week.
His dance started with him using all of his upper body strength to hold himself out straight from a pole at a fifty degree angle before launching into the jive with his partner Anna Trebunskaya. While the impressed judges were quick to point out he needs to improve his flat feet, Len closed out the scoring by saying, "Bottom two Drew, not this week."
And how did Drew celebrate the night's success?
This is how u celebrate a jive! I am about to chow down!!! #fatboy #getinmybelly. http://t.co/ztSMrj3f—
Drew Lachey (@thedrewlachey) October 02, 2012
His big brother, as always, was in his corner.
Hey everybody, check out #DWTS tonight to see @thedrewlachey do the "jive". Make sure to call 18008683408 to vote for him. #votedrew—
Nick Lachey (@NickSLachey) October 01, 2012
More boy band entertainment came from Joey Fatone's quickstep, which took on the feel of a silent movie, with Fatone as Charlie Chaplin and partner Kym Johnson as the dazzling damsel. In what might be the oddest music choice available to dancers, they performed to a loungy version of Radiohead's "Creep."
But despite what he might have lacked in form, the judges all loved the act, with Len commenting, "If you can't dance much, come out and entertain us."
Fatone was pleased with outcome, "This is all about fun. That 's what really good about this show, I love all these guys, I wish them the best. And that's the fun thing about it. If I suck, I suck. What are you going to do?"
Make sure to vote for me on dwts even if i stink 18008683401 oh and maybe drew ... Here we go ! http://t.co/T65odv4a—
Joey Fatone (@realjoeyfatone) October 01, 2012
Bristol Palin came away with the lowest score of the night with her quick step to Gretchen Wilson's "Red Neck Woman." She spoke about how she related to the song and proved so by bringing partner Mark Ballas to an indoor shooting range to try out some firepower.
"Being at the gun range triggered something inside of me that makes me really want to do well at this competition," said Palin.
Unfortunatley it wasn't enough motivation. Take a peek at her low score performance.
In case you missed it, here's last night's #DWTS quick step to #RedneckWoman: ow.ly/e9FSX—
Bristol Palin (@BristolsBlog) October 02, 2012
Here's the list of the All-Stars and their scores from last night. Who do you think will be voted off tonight?
Sabrina Bryan – 26
Gilles Marini – 25.5
Shawn Johnson- 25
Apolo Anton Ohno – 24.5
Melissa Rycroft – 23.5
Helio Castroneves – 23
Emmit Smith – 22.5
Drew Lachey – 22.5
Joey Fatone – 22.5
Kelly Monaco -22
Kirstie Alley – 21
Bristol Palin – 18
Voted off:
Pamela Anderson (week 1)


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The Power of Eight THE POWER OF EIGHT... You may ask, what does this mean? Well, with the launch of iON's AIR PRO™ HD Sports Video Camera we are preparing to deliver product with 8 sides to it along with 8 very powerful elements to own one! So here it
Mpora © 2018 Factory Media Ltd.


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OpenSSO Single Sign-on Extension for MediaWiki
Following the recent trio of OpenSSO Extensions targeting PHP CMS applications (see my previous entries covering the extensions for Drupal, WordPress and Joomla), I decided to look at MediaWiki, the PHP application powering Wikipedia and many other wikis across the web.
In common with the CMS apps, MediaWiki has a very pluggable architecture, making implementation of a single sign-on extension very straightforward, and I was able to get an initial implementation done in a few hours. The user interface is very like the WordPress plugin: just click on the regular 'log in' link to be sent to OpenSSO to authenticate; on returning to MediaWiki, the extension validates the OpenSSO cookie and uses it to retrieve the username from OpenSSO, setting up the MediaWiki session.
There is a README and source code - also available via CVS, and I've added the new provider plugin to the list on the OpenSSO Extensions page. As always, note that none of these extensions are supported by Sun, and all should be considered 'proof of concept' quality - they likely need a bit more polish (and lots more testing!) before being deployed into production.
I think that about wraps up the PHP extension story for the time being - we now have plugins for the four most common PHP web apps. Do leave a comment if you think there is another we should cover.