text:
Miss Utah USA takes 2nd stab at pageant question
Miss Utah USA takes 2nd stab at pageant question
Jun. 18, 2013
LAS VEGAS (AP) — After a bumbling response during pageant finals on Sunday, Miss Utah USA took a second stab at the interview question that launched her to brief Internet infamy.
Marissa Powell appeared Tuesday morning on NBC's "The Today Show" (http://on.today.com/11ISG9j ) to talk about her fumble during the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas.
The now-famous mishap started with a three-in-one prompt that the 21-year-old said was "a little bit confusing."
"A recent report shows that in 40 percent of American families with children, women are the primary earners, yet they continue to earn less than men. What does this say about society?" asked NeNe Leakes of the reality series "The Real Housewives of Atlanta."
Then, Powell said, she "started speaking without really processing."
"I think we can relate this back to education, and how we are continuing to try to strive ... to ...," she said, before appearing to lose her way.
She picked up after a long pause: "... figure out how to create jobs right now. That is the biggest problem. And I think, especially the men are ... seen as the leaders of this, and so we need to see how to ... create education better. So that we can solve this problem. Thank you."
When Lauer gave her a second go-around on national TV Tuesday, Powell said unequal pay "is not OK."
"It needs to be equal pay for equal work. It's hard enough already to earn a living, and it shouldn't be harder just because you're a woman," she said.


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The UFC will return to Dallas in early 2014 for the first time in nearly five years.
UFC 171 will take place on March 15 at the American Airlines Center, according to UFC president Dana White.
The last time the UFC was in Dallas was for the Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort headlined UFC 103 at the American Airlines Center. UFC 103 drew 17,428 spectators for a live gate of $2.4 million.
White fell short of revealing any potential bouts for the March 15 date. Both Cain Velasquez and Jon Jones are potential headliners, but both are recovering from injuries and their respective return dates are still in flux.
Velasquez will face Fabricio Werdum upon his return, while Jones will square off with Glover Teixeira.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Scholarships Awarded Regularly
Below is a list of scholarships typically available to students in the Knabusch-Shoemaker School of Home Furnishings and Design at High Point University:
Allen S. Bloom Scholarship:
A memorial to Allen S. Bloom, a furniture salesman who showed early concern for the Home Furnishings Marketing program. Contributed by the Southern Home Furnishings Association. Preference is given to a student with a minimum 3.0 grade point average.
Orvis Bryant Memorial Scholarship:
Established by his family, friends, clients and business associates as a memorial to Orvis S. Bryant, prominent retail furniture store designer. For an interior design major. Preference is given to a student planning a career in retail store design or design of other selling interiors.
Dot and Thayer Coggin Scholarship:
Established by the furniture fellowship, a group of furniture executives who are seeking to bring Christian inspiration and leadership to the furniture industry, for rising seniors in the home furnishings program. Preference to students who represent minority groups.
Erath/Furniture Industry Scholars Program:
A sizable endowment fund has been established through a challenge by George and Shirley Erath, who matched funds raised by the furniture industry. It is for outstanding students who plan to enter the industry.
Furniture Today Endowed Scholarship:
Established by Furniture/Today, the weekly business newspaper serving the furniture industry, to students in good academic standing with High Point University, majoring in Home Furnishings. Preference is given to juniors or seniors with demonstrated financial need.
Robert P. Gruenberg Scholarship:
Memorial to the former general manager of the International Home Furnishings Center and Chairman of the High Point University Home Furnishings Advisory Board. Available to student with financial need majoring in Home Furnishings.
Ray B. Hamlet Scholarship:
Memorial to Ray B. Hamlet, a veteran fabric wholesaler in North Carolina. Preference for students whose families are employed in a furniture-related profession.
The Haverty Scholarship:
Established by Rawson Haverty Sr. for students majoring in Home Furnishings. Preference for students with financial need.
Emile Hodge Scholarship:
Established by Emile Hodge who was for many years a manufacturer's sales representative. Preference given to a sophomore in one of the Home Furnishings programs.
J. Clyde Hooker Jr. Endowed Scholarship:
Established by the employees and sales representatives of the Hooker Furniture Company to honor J. Clyde Hooker Jr. on his 50th anniversary in the home furnishings industry. For juniors and seniors from North Carolina and Virginia with academic merit and potential for leadership in the home furnishings industry.
William I. Levenson Memorial Scholarship:
Established by Levenson & Klein and the Levenson family in memory of William I. Levenson. Preference given to students with demonstrated financial need and scholastic merit.
Celia Moh Scholarship:
Full tuition, room and board scholarship established by Laurance Moh in honor of his wife to support students majoring in areas related to the home furnishings industry, at a number of colleges and universities, including High Point University.
Patrick H. Norton Scholarship:
Established April 1992 to honor Patrick H. Norton, Chairman Emeritus, La-Z-Boy Inc., by the La-Z-Boy proprietary store organizations, the La-Z-Boy Inc. representatives and La-Z-Boy Inc. senior staff on Mr. Norton's 70th birthday. To assist students who are pursuing a career in home furnishings.
Bill Peterson Scholarship:
A memorial to Bill Peterson, Founding Editor of "Furniture/ Today," established by his family and friends. For students majoring in Home Furnishings or Interior Design.
Piedmont Furniture Association Scholarship:
Established by Sales Representatives. Preference is given to a rising senior intending to be a sales representative.
Williams S. Richman Memorial Scholarship:
Established by Mr. Richman's wife and family members for a rising junior of academic merit.
Carson C. Stout Scholarship:
In honor of the founder of Carson's Furniture Company, a former mayor of High Point. For students with financial need.
Frank W. Swift Wear-Dated Scholarship:
Established in 1998 to honor Frank Swift, Wear-Dated Home Furnishings Marketing Manager for Solutia, Inc. (formerly Monsanto Company), by the Acrilan Business of Solutia upon his retirement. To assist Home Furnishings majors with a B+ average.
A.G. (Pete) Whitener Scholarship:
Established in honor of the founder of Whitener Academy of Lenoir, North Carolina.
Ben Willis Scholarship:
A yearly award given to an outstanding retailer by the Southern Home Furnishings Association in honor of Benjamin Willis Sr. and John Willis. Preference is given to a rising junior or senior in the program.
Al Levy Memorial Scholarship:
Established as a memorial to the founder and guiding force behind RMG (Retailer's Marketing Guild). The income from the scholarship fund will be awarded annually to students majoring in one of the home furnishings related majors at High Point University who intend a career in the home furnishings industry.
Frank J Sizemore, Jr. Scholarship:
Established to honor Mr. Sizemore who was a sales executive for more than 55 years in the furniture industry. Preference will be given to students who are majoring in home furnishings.
Nicholas A. Ungaro Endowed Scholarship:
The funds from this scholarship will support young designers at High Point University who are striving for a high level of excellence. Scholarships may be awarded at any level of their academic experience at the university.


text:
Story highlights
- Videos proliferate of "exploding targets"
- Many YouTube videos show the product being misused
- U.S. Forest Service blames targets for 16 wildfires
- Maryland regulates the targets; predicts other states will follow
At gun stores from coast to coast, and on the Internet, they are known as "exploding targets."
But the man who oversees Maryland's bomb squad has another name for them: Explosive Kits for Dummies.
Amazingly simple to assemble -- just pour two powders into one container and shake -- the targets are a safe and fun way to enhance target shooting, manufacturers say.
Shoot it with a bullet from a safe distance, and you'll be rewarded with a concussive blast and a cloud of smoke, indicating you've hit your target.
But if you search YouTube for "Tannerite" -- the most popular brand -- and you'll find more than 100,000 videos depicting the use -- and more frequently, the misuse -- of the product.
On-line videos show people in a veritable contest to see who can detonate the most explosives in the most innovative way, demolishing pumpkins and watermelons, dead cows and pigs, washing machines and refrigerators, old cars and trucks, Elmo dolls and even a trailer home.
To heighten the impact, diehards mixed it with gasoline, diesel fuel or propane tanks, creating explosions that crater the land, trigger car alarms, and shaking nearby communities.
In one video that is now an Internet staple, a Minnesota man in 2008 detonated 100 pounds of Tannerite in the dump box of an old dump truck, sending the truck aloft -- while rattling a nearby nuclear power plant and, inconveniently, the police department.
The nuclear plant went into a short lockdown and the man later pleaded guilty to two felonies involving explosives.
Last year, Maryland became the first state to regulate exploding targets, requiring users to be trained and licensed to handle explosives. Some California jurisdictions have also interpreted state law to restrict use of the targets.
And last month, exploding targets got even more notoriety when the U.S. Forest Service banned the targets on its property in five western states (Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas) saying the targets ignited 16 fires on Forest Service lands coast-to-coast since January 2012. The cost of extinguishing those fires: more than $33 million.
Forest Service officials say they hope to extend the year-long ban, and extend it nationwide.
And in March, the FBI distributed a bulletin to law enforcement agencies nationwide warning that exploding targets could be used "as an explosive for illicit purposes by criminals and extremists" and its components could be used to make IEDs.
One state's decision
Maryland Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal Joseph Flanagan said he fought to regulate exploding targets after the product appeared on local gun store shelves.
Gun stores were giving Maryland residents a "false sense that it was OK to use," he said, even though customers unknowingly broke Maryland law preventing them from "manufacturing" explosives whenever they combined the targets' two ingredients.
So Flangan pushed a bill to expand the definition of explosive to include "two or more components" when packaged together that create a bomb.
The bill failed on its first two attempts, but passed in 2012 after a representative from the National Rifle Association signed a letter saying the NRA was taking "no position" on the bill.
Gun rights advocates did not oppose the measure "because there are so many other things that are more important to us, and it doesn't really involve guns," said John H. Josselyn, legislative vice president of Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore. "We looked at it, considered the impact on our members and wrote it off as another feel-good issue by the left wing that has nothing better to do."
Josselyn said he remains "philosophically" opposed to the restrictions since "we banned one more thing that wasn't causing a problem."
Flanagan acknowledges that exploding targets had not caused many problems in Maryland. But, he said, as the products began appearing on local store shelves, Maryland wanted to be in front of the problem.
"This is a high explosive and it belongs in the category with other high explosives," Flanagan said. "We're not going to wait for an incident to occur where this product is used, where it's just purchased off the shelf. We are not sorry for the action we took."
Fire marshals from several other states have sought Maryland's guidance as they contemplate similar regulations, he said.
In Indiana this year, self-described "very pro-gun" Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt introduced a bill to require retailers to place Tannerite in locked displays, and to require that purchasers to be at least 18. There are currently no age limits on its purchase.
The bill died under the weight of legislative business, Merritt told CNN, although he may introduce it again.
"I considered this a homeland security issue, and I can envision this being a real problem for law enforcement someday," Merritt said.
Few federal restrictions
Exploding targets consist of ammonium nitrate (an oxidizer) and aluminum powder (a fuel). But because neither component individually is explosive, they not regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
Once the components are mixed, the results is an explosive material and subject to ATF regulations.
However, under federal law, individuals can manufacture explosives for their own personal, non-business use. There is no federal limit on the amount of explosives an individual can make.
Federal law, in short, does not prohibit exploding targets.
But, federal officials say, federal law does regulate the manufacture of explosive devices, and federal laws could be used to prosecute individuals who use the targets in the construction of explosive devices. The intent of the individual is a factor in determining legality, officials said.
Some state and local governments have taken action against sports shooters, especially in cases in which they've mixed large volumes of the target ingredients.
In the case of Brian Childs, the Minnesota man who shot at the 100 pounds of Tannerite in the dump truck, prosecutors viewed the truck not as a target, but as a bomb.
"It looks like they legally bought (the components). It was shipped to them by the Tannerite people," said Chris Schrader, assistant county attorney for Goodhue County.
But when the components were mixed and placed in the dump truck, "we looked at our definition of an explosive device and it definitely qualified," Schrader said.
"It was how they used it, which was enormously dangerous and ill-conceived," Childs said. "It was enormously reckless how they were using it. They had no idea what they were doing and you can tell by their reaction (in a videotape of the incident)."
According to a police report, a large piece of metal flew over Childs head, even though he was 300 yards from the blast.
Fire problem
Tannerite Sports, the Oregon-based manufacturer of the most popular brand of explosive targets, said it is being harmed by the widespread misuse of the product. And by people wrongly claiming that other products are "Tannerite."
"You can Google all day long and the first thing that will be popping up, people will be misusing our product and other products, other brands of binary exploding targets. It's a misuse," said Dena Woerner, a publicist for Tannerite Sports.
"Our produce was created to be used as a shot indicator. With Tannerite, you can see if you actually hit your target without having to walk down the range. And when you misuse a product, you could potentially be breaking the law."
The rampant misuse of exploding targets is a "threat to our business," Woerner concedes, so much so that the company is now soliciting videos of people using the product as intended.
"If people get hurt they're going to be more regulations and restrictions. We want people to be able to have fun with the product ... if they keep misusing it, people may not have that liberty anymore."
But federal officials take issue with Tannerite's claims that their product cannot result in fires.
At a press conference announcing the ban on exploding targets in certain national forests, it released a video showing a bale of hay catching fire after an exploding target was shot. The target was Tannerite, said Forest Service spokesman Lawrence Lujan.
Lujan said other brands also cause fires, and the Forest Service is likely to extend its ban to other regions.
A big bang
At a farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore, bomb squad member Matt Wrenn takes aims a Winchester rifle at targets at a range bounded by soybean fields, woods and an earthen berm.
He flawlessly shoots at a series of targets set up to demonstrate the fire marshal's concerns about exploding targets.
First, a one-pound binary target sitting on a stump, as intended by the manufacturer. Then he flawlessly shoots at targets in front of a human silhouette, a watermelon, and finally, an old bomb squad protective suit. It shreds part of the suit, dislodging one of the protective plates.
Looking at the damaged bomb suit, Flanagan says he has no reservations about restricting access to the targets. He believes the targets are dangerous, even when used as intended.
"It (the explosive ingredients) are all in a kit. It's already made for me. I have instructions on how to do it. It's an explosive kit for dummies, and it's pretty easy to make."
Says his bomb squad commander, Jack Waldner, "The fact of the matter is, this is recreational use of explosives by people who have not been trained."


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Obsessions, by EDGE
Welcome to Obsession, by EDGE: a new monthly feature where the editors of EDGE share a few things they've be fawning over the past month, new or old or in between.
In its first feature, arts and entertainment editor Bob Nesti and national news editor Jason St. Amand detail their love for "Bates Motel," the possible song of the summer and a women simply known as V.
"Bates Motel"
Bob Nesti: Next Monday is the season finale of the second season of this A&E's "Bate's Motel," which keeps getting better and better. When it premiered a year ago, its premise seemed gimmicky: take Norman Bates (yes, that Norman Bates from "Psycho") and make him a contemporary teen with a smothering mom and a bad-boy older brother. They move to the Northwest to resettle after the mysterious death of Norman's father and buy a dilapidated motel with a creepy Victorian house on the hill -- a setting long familiar to Hitchcock fans from his classic 1960 film. But as it developed, the series found its own creepy voice while honoring its source material. In fact, what makes it so good is how cleverly it dovetails with the original, showing how Norman Bates became the homicidal killer Anthony Perkins played so brilliantly in the original film. Here, British actor Freddie Highmore captures Norman's growing psychosis with a mix of innocence and menace and as his mother (appropriately named Norma) Vera Farmiga brings human dimensions to what could easily be a caricature of an overbearing mom. With the look and feel of "Twin Peaks," this series is earning a place in the hierarchy of first-rate television series.
Ariana Grande - "Problem" feat. Iggy Azalea
Jason St. Amand: "Problem," rising R&B/pop star Ariana Grande's lead single off her upcoming untitled sophomore album, has only been out for three days, but it's a song I have probably listened to 30 times. It completely rules my life right now. Everything from Grande's sexafied single cover to the "Mr. Saxobeat" inspired horn section, to Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's questionable verse, to rapper Big Sean's backing vocals that remind us that the Ying Yang Twins' "Wait (The Whisper Song)" exists, is amazing. The strength of "Problem" is the way Grande, 20, is able to weave her influences in a seamless 3-minute track. And unlike other Grande jams, like last year's "Baby, I" and "The Way," "Problem" does not show off the young singer's four octave vocals; the Mini Mariah's voice isn't the show stopper here, but that's OK and I don't think many fans have a problem with Grande toning it down: The single is poised to be her most successful song yet, rocketing to iTunes's number one spot in less than 40-minutes, beating out a record previously held by Taylor Swift and her 2012 single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," which hit the coveted top position in 50-minutes. "Problem" is also in a great position to become The Song of the Summer, facing off against Azalea's Charli XCX-featuring "Fancy" and Lana Del Rey's sleepy '60s inspired "West Coast." Time will tell which song ends up soundtracking the next few months, but "Problem" has the best chance -- not because of its acclaim or chart success, but because at its core, it's simply a really good song.
V. Stiviano
BN: The most curious personality in the current Donald Sterling/Los Angeles Clippers controversy is V. Stiviano, born Maria Vanessa Perez, the inquisitive voice on the infamous phone call where Sterling's racist attitude is revealed. She was the 80-year old billionaire's mistress, but obviously had some sort of bone to pick with him and appears to set him up in the incriminating phone call. If that was her intention, she's succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. Yet unlike other protagonists in this kind of sordid, TMZ scandal, has kept a low profile -- indeed, a fashionable one. When she went out in public this week (to court, no less, for a hearing in a DUI arrest from 2012 when she was stopped while driving a red Ferrari given her by Sterling), she wore a mirrored visor over her face. Perhaps she was sending a message to the casting team of the new "Star Wars" movie. Whatever the reason, she's been sort-of seen and definitely not heard in the controversy. She's also being cast as the villain of the story by some on the right who are (no doubt) shocked... shocked by her tactics. Whether she'll turn up on cable next remains to be seen, but if there's someone ready for a prime time reality series, it's Stiviano.
Oil Pulling
JSA: Getting perfectly white teeth is a real pain in the ass. Whitening strips are expensive and annoying, and probably not all that good for you, and toothpaste with extra whitening hardly shows any results (at least for me). One day, while listening to a podcast I tune into regularly, I heard one of the hosts mention oil pulling in passing. It's a natural way of getting your teeth to their pearly whitest; a method some celebrities, like GOOP creator and new single lady Gwyneth Paltrow and actress Shailene Woodley swear by. What is oil pulling exactly? It's a bit gross, but if you don't have a terrible gag reflex and have 20-minutes to spare, it may be worth checking out: Basically, oil pulling is taking a spoon full of the semi-solid coconut oil, chewing it and swishing it vigorously in your mouth for 20-minutes a day for the rest of your life. Coconut oil has a nutty, slightly, well, coconut taste to it. The sensation is a bit strange at first but after a few days of doing it, I found myself not thinking twice. The theory behind oil pulling is it's great for oral health; a natural way of removing toxins in your mouth, giving you fresh breath and stronger gums all while whitening your teeth. I've done it for about two weeks and did see some results - I saw my aunt recently and she commented on how white my teeth look. But I've stopped swishing the oil for the last two weeks or so, after a few days of forgetting. I found 20-minutes to be a little too long, but I may get back into the habit. Note: Oil pulling is not a substitute for brushing teeth!
BN: Riding a bicycle around town, it is easy to get distracted by a look of a pedestrian; even easier these days with the upshot in fashionable looks that is the hallmark of the hipster. Millennials with curled moustaches looking like their Victorian great-great-great grandfathers; chubby women evoking the self-conscious fashions that Lena Dunham wears on "Girls;" twinks in white shirts and red bow-ties looking like they walked off a fashion shoot in Williamsburg. It's everywhere, especially in Boston where the median age is somewhere around 25. It is also reflected in a smug attitude that screams individuality in a sea of fashionable conformity. Whatever. It's shaping the style of the decade and the affected generation.
Todd Terje - "It's Album Time"
JSA: It may not feel like spring right now, but the warm months are right around the corner. And an album that has helped me get through these unseasonably chilly and rainy last few weeks, and is also getting me to salivate for the upcoming days where I don't need to wear a coat, is Norwegian producer Todd Terje's debut "It's Album Time." Over the last few years the talented Terje has slowly released blissed out tracks leading up to his LP, including the space-funk jam "Inspector Norse" and the nu-disco/house showstopper "Strandbar." On "Album Time" Terje pushes his limits with 12 addictive songs, most clocking in over 5-minutes, including the electrified boss nova "Svensk Sas" and single "Delorean Dynamite," a throbbing sexy beat-driven song with gliding synths that can soundtrack a night out at a club in Ibiza or a late night drive alone. "Album Time" is a whole lot of fun as Terje covers a range of emotions, like on his touching cover of Robert Palmer's "John and Marry," featuring Roxy Music lead singer Bryan Ferry. It's a complex record that comes off as effortless; an instant classic.


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Customizing SMF > Bridges and Integrations
New tools to help integrating SMF with something else
<< < (2/44) > >>
Andre N:
--- Quote from: BREZ on October 30, 2011, 12:50:58 PM ---I am a bit confused.
Exactly where would the
--- Code: ---smfapi_logout($email);
--- End code ---
go in 4images script?
--- End quote ---
It would go wherever that script logs the user out. So look in the 4images script for the point where the user gets logged out of 4images and add the API code beneath that.
Make sure that you have included the API script already, and that $email has their email address, SMF username or SMF member ID
Maybe you can help me decide on the direction to take my project. I'm developing a CRM for a client and am looking at basing it on SMF. My dilemma is in what would be the best approach. At this point I like the idea of adding to the SMF system. Save some duplication of effort and code by using the member (user) system and messaging system. I found this thread and would like clarification on the following quote from the first posting in this thread.
--- Quote ---The API will let you control SMF from your other system.
The integration hooks will let you control your other system from SMF
--- End quote ---
* Should I set this up as an external system and use the integration hooks to control my app?
* Or have my app be stand alone and control SMF through the API?
* Maybe even set it up as a Mod and integrate that way?
* Or go with my current plan and integrate it into the SMF system via custom actions?
Any and all help on this is greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Dan C.
Andre N:
What is the other application going to be?
A CRM app (Customer Relationship Management). Basically it is to track clients & customers, events & purchases, and prospects & phone calls. I have the data model figured out and was looking at adding it to the SMF forum and the forum members would be "staff or employees". Would need to integrate it into the Calendar system, etc.
Using PHP & mySQL so shouldn't be a problem. I didn't have a good understanding of the API and integration hooks. What about the SMC functions? Are the SMC functions part of the $smcFunc system?
I have the 2.0.1 version of SMF up and running with both a production and a test system. I just need to start developing the web app part of my CRM system. Basically just need data entry and reporting functions to a database.
Andre N:
The SMC functions are
--- Code: ---$smcFunc => Array
[db_query] => smf_db_query
[db_quote] => smf_db_quote
[db_fetch_assoc] => mysql_fetch_assoc
[db_fetch_row] => mysql_fetch_row
[db_free_result] => mysql_free_result
[db_insert] => smf_db_insert
[db_insert_id] => smf_db_insert_id
[db_num_rows] => mysql_num_rows
[db_data_seek] => mysql_data_seek
[db_num_fields] => mysql_num_fields
[db_escape_string] => addslashes
[db_unescape_string] => stripslashes
[db_server_info] => mysql_get_server_info
[db_affected_rows] => smf_db_affected_rows
[db_transaction] => smf_db_transaction
[db_error] => mysql_error
[db_select_db] => mysql_select_db
[db_title] =>
[db_sybase] =>
[db_case_sensitive] =>
[db_escape_wildcard_string] => smf_db_escape_wildcard_string
[entity_fix] =>
[htmlspecialchars] =>
[htmltrim] =>
[strlen] =>
[strpos] =>
[substr] =>
[strtolower] =>
[strtoupper] =>
[truncate] =>
[ucfirst] =>
[ucwords] =>
--- End code ---
They're just the functions mainly used with the SMF db. They are already available if you are in SMF, or if you call the API. including the API script is like loading the "SMF object". It will give you (easier) access to the SMF db and all the settings and variables like $context and $modSettings
So by including the API script wherever SMF hasn't been instantiated you can use those db functions, plus the other API functions, plus you have access to those settings variables. Is that what you're looking for?
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text:
Jennifer Lopez is to perform at the Celebrity Fight Night XIX benefit in Phoenix next month, organizers announced.
Celebrity Fight Night has raised $80 million for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center and other charities in the past 18 years.
A portion of the proceeds will go to the Lopez Family Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of children and women.
"We're honored to have Jennifer Lopez give a special performance this year. Her generosity and humanitarian work align with the vision of Celebrity Fight Night and will inspire a successful night of fundraising for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center and other great causes," Jimmy Walker, founder and president of the Celebrity Fight Night Foundation, said in a statement.
Country music star Reba McEntire is to serve as emcee of the event for her eighth consecutive year.
Additional performers and attending celebrities will be announced in the coming weeks, organizers said.


text:
Tables turn at roast of RI comedian
Rhode Island comedians will get their chance to roast a correctional officer, as well as a local comedy icon, as he is inducted into the prestigious Rhode Island Comedy Hall of Fame.
John Perrotta, a Cranston native and resident, works by day at the ACI's High Security Unit and by night in clubs and halls all over southern New England. Perrotta has been performing in and producing stand up comedy shows and giving young comics their first shot on stages for almost 20 years.
"John is an amazing comedian and his passion for the business is unshakeable," says RI Comedy Hall of Fame Founder Rockin' Joe Hebert. "John can walk into a room with little or no prepared material and perform for an hour just ripping apart the crowd. He's the modern day Don Rickles. This roast is intended not only to praise him for his outstanding contributions to comedy in Rhode Island, but to get justice for all those who have been victims of his comedy act."
On the roast dais will be some of the state's best stand up comedians, with a special appearance by friend and boxing legend Vinny Pazienza.
"I work in a building that houses some of the state's most dangerous inmates, but walking into a roomful of stand up comedians who are ready to destroy me? That's real fear," Perrotta quipped.
The Roast of John Perrotta will take place at DiParma's Italian Table in Seekonk, Mass., on Friday, Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7. Tickets are $25 with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the American Diabetes Association. Call 461-7896 for information and reservations.


text:
The first time Xainte appears in a record created in New France is at the marriage of her daughter Louise on 26 October 1645 in Quebec.
Zacharie has been called the ancêtre de tous les canadiens français (the ancestor of all the French Canadians). This claim to fame is well deserved: the immigrant couple formed by Zacharie and Xainte has the distinction of being the ancestors of the largest number of married descendants before 1800 – an astonishing 10,850! (This bit of genealogical trivia is courtesy of Le Programme de recherche en démographie historique (The Research Program in Historical Demography) at http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/.)


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The Commissioners Court would have to agree to create the position, but the 5-member election commission would appoint who fills it, said County Judge Dean Fowler, presiding officer of both the commission and the Commissioners Court. Besides Fowler, the commission consists of County Clerk Barbara Winchester, County Tax Assessor-Collector Sherron Laminack, county Republican Party Chairman Cynthia Ridgeway, and county Democratic Party Chairman Dan Miles Jr.
At Tuesday's posted meeting of the election commission, held in the Upshur County Courtroom, the discussion about naming an administrator came after Mrs. Winchester advised the two party chairmen that the county would not contract with the parties to handle the March 4 primary elections. She said that means Mrs. Ridgeway and Miles must contract with Hart InterCivic, which sold the county its election machinery.
Mrs. Winchester, who was appointed County Clerk a few months ago when Brandy Lee resigned that post to become County Auditor, said she was declining to contract with the parties because of financial reasons, and because her office's workers are "just stretched—period." However, her office is still responsible for handling early voting, mail-in ballots and military ballots.
The parties will be responsible for all other arrangements for the primary elections, including printing their ballots, Mrs. Winchester said. In addition, she said the county lacks enough voting machines for separate primaries, and she suggested the parties hold a joint primary, meaning fewer election workers because each polling place would have only one table of election judges instead of two.
Asked by The Mirror how much money the county would save by not contracting with the parties, Mrs. Winchester replied, "I can't tell you."
But as far as creating a new office to handle elections, Fowler told the commission meeting, which was attended by two of the four County Commissioners, that Commissioners Court would have a "problem. . .if we have to come up with $80,000 or $100,000 for an Election Administrator."
He said the cost could be reduced to $20,000 by cutting the county budget elsewhere.
When Miles asked about the possibility of increasing a Deputy County Clerk's salary to compensate for handling elections, Mrs. Winchester said only one deputy in her office (Greg Dodson) could do it, and "he's stressed."
Fowler said Dodson had told Mrs. Winchester that "if I have to handle another election, I will not be working here," and the judge said Dodson also would not accept the post of Election Administrator no matter what it paid.
Mrs. Lee, who was County Clerk when Dodson handled some elections, told the commission that the county had to pay him compensatory time, and that dealing with elections "takes him away from other things that need to be done."
Mrs. Ridgeway, who praised Dodson for doing more than required in handling elections and said "I respect his opinion and experience," also said he nonetheless lacked certain "legal authority" and "has the liability without the protection" of such authority.
Added Mrs. Lee, "He is afraid that one of these days, something's going to happen." For example, she said, Camp County had left a candidate's name off a ballot in a recent election, and a mishap here is "highly likely to occur one of these days with the load that's on him."
Mrs. Ridgeway said Election Administrator is not an elective office, which "removes some of the stress of the job."
She also estimated that her party's continually contracting with Hart would cost an estimated $15,000 per election, so "two elections is a whole year's salary for one person." If a runoff election is required, she said, that would cost her party more than hiring an administrator.
Auditor Lee said appointing an administrator would remove all election-related responsibilities from the County Clerk's Office, and Tax Assessor-Collector Laminack, whose office handles voter registration, said having an administrator would mean "I would not have anything to do" with voting.
Mrs. Lee said removing the election-related duties from those two offices "would be one advantage" since they are "like a hot line" with phone calls at election time.
Mrs. Laminack pledged that if Dodson and the deputy in her office who handles voter registration, Pam Dean, were put in the potential Election Administrator's office, she would not ask for a replacement for Mrs. Dean. However, since Mrs. Dean also performs some other duties, not replacing her might mean closing the Tax Assessor's branch office in Gladewater since the tax office would no longer have a "floating" worker, Mrs. Laminack said.
Because her office registers voters, she said, her staff is at work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at election time, and her workers receive overtime pay. In addition, she said, elections are held in the middle of the season when her office handles tax matters, and having to handle elections interferes with the office's other duties "big-time," as "I just cannot do everything."
The Tax Assessor-Collector also indicated that people complain about an elected official handling voting registration. And, she said, a survey of other counties which have Election Administrators showed such an employee would not earn that much more than Upshur County is now spending.
Fowler said that in its 2011 budget, adjoining Wood County pays its administrator $39,810 yearly while Anderson County pays its $30,720. Pct. 2 County Comm. Cole Hefner, who along with Pct. 3 Comm. Frank Berka attended Tuesday's meeting, said Titus County also has such a position, but "I don't have a clue what they pay."
Fowler said that despite Dodson's decision not to work elections again, "our (the county's) elections are not in jeopardy. There are people we can contract with" to handle them. Fowler said the question is what is most efficient--having an Election Administrator, or contracting out election work, and that he needed more information.
"Our County Clerk and our Tax Assessor will go on the record that they support" having an administrator, Fowler said.
"We definitely support an E.A.," Miles said.
Added Mrs. Ridgeway, "I will qualify my support for an Election Administrator. . . It appears to me to be the best option that would secure the integrity of the ballot."
She asked Fowler whether it would be appropriate for her and Miles to ask the commissioners for an administrator, or whether the commission should do that. Fowler suggested she and Miles do so.
When the judge added that "I just don't see how" the court could create the position before the March 4 primaries, County Clerk Winchester pointed out that once the post is created, it need not be filled or funded for 12 months.
The commission took no vote on whether to recommend the Commissioners Court create the position, as Fowler pointed out that the commission's meeting agenda had listed the matter only for discussion rather than action.
The commission also discussed early voting for the March 4 primaries. Mrs. Winchester said she had discussed confining it to the County Courthouse, but Fowler replied, "I bet you're going to have a hard time convincing the Commissioners Court (to approve that, as it has the power to do). Fowler said commissioners "like (having early) voting (out) in their own precincts" in primary elections.
He also said the Election Commission would probably not meet again before the March primaries, and that he believed Mrs. Winchester and Mrs. Laminack had wanted Tuesday's meeting "so we're all on the same page.


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A Warren city employee doesn't think she'll get the apology she wants after filing a complaint against Mayor James Fouts and one of his high-ranking appointees for their remarks during a secretly-taped conversation.
A city union filed a grievance on behalf of Marcia Jamroz for what she described as "personal attacks" and "verbal abuse" involving how she got the job three years ago as the administrator of the Warren City Council office.
According to the written grievance, "This meeting was a display of harassment, verbal abuse, defamation of character and intimidation."
But the accused administrator, Public Service Director Richard Sabaugh, charged that the grievance is politically motivated to hurt Fouts' re-election chances in 2015.
"Let me call it orchestrated," Sabaugh said Friday. "They're really trying to embarrass him."
Jamroz, who has worked for the city for 27 years, insisted on accompanying Councilman Scott Stevens to a meeting in February with Fouts and four mayoral appointees to discuss the council's next budget.
In a recording of the meeting obtained by The Macomb Daily, less than six minutes into the meeting Fouts said the spending plan outlined for the council appeared fine. He then questioned Stevens about why the administrator job was made a civil service position in 2009.
"It should be an appointed position," the mayor said with Jamroz present. "You've given up control. You should have the latitude to appoint who you want."
Sabaugh, the mayor's top adviser, said Stevens — as the elected council secretary — should have sole discretion to fill the council administrator post without regard to civil service rules. Sabaugh then repeatedly claimed the hiring of Jamroz violated the city charter.
In 2009, the Warren Civil Service Commission created the job description and accepted applications. Jamroz, who had spent more than 20 years as the administrative assistant to the city attorney, finished at the top and was appointed by Councilman Keith Sadowski, the council's secretary at the time.
During the budget discussion, Fouts blamed the change on Jeffrey Schroder, a former assistant city attorney.
"Jeff Schroder pulled this crap on the side. It's a lot of crap he's pulled," the mayor is heard on tape.
During the meeting, Sabaugh claimed he learned Jamroz couldn't get along with a former city attorney and that Schroder "rescued" her. Jamroz questioned that claim and said her hiring was above board, adding the council office administrator was switched from an appointed job to a civil service one represented by a small United Auto Workers group.
"The point is you violated the city charter, Marcia. You violated the city charter," Sabaugh said.
Jamroz criticized the administration for raising the issue as it did in recent years. Fouts urged Jamroz to sit down, but she stormed out of the meeting, invoking her legal right to have a union official present.
"Now see that? If she was appointed, she wouldn't walk out like that," Fouts is heard on tape, repeatedly telling Stevens he needs a loyal underling. Sabaugh and Fouts suggested that officials get a legal opinion from City Attorney James Biernat stating the council office administrator must be an appointed job not involving civil service testing.
"You've got a tiger that you don't need," Fouts told Stevens, "and you could put your thumb on her. If she got up, you could say, 'Martha — Marcia — sit your ass down here, you're not leaving till I tell you to.' "
Stevens then admitted to Fouts, Sabaugh and the other administrators in the room that he wanted Jamroz to leave the room if the issue re-surfaced.
In his "management response" letter filed as Jamroz's immediate supervisor, Stevens wrote: "Richard Sabaugh and Mayor Fouts went after her like a pair of jackals that had singled out an antelope." He added, "Had this type of spectacle taken place in high school, both Fouts and Sabaugh would be expelled…"
Stevens told The Macomb Daily he recorded the budget meeting because he anticipated Fouts would renew complaints about Jamroz's hiring.
"The guy's out of control. There's no way around it," the second-term councilman said.
Ulterior motives?
Fouts has enjoyed strong, majority support on the seven-member council, all of whom he endorsed in the 2011 election.
"In my opinion, he's not satisfied with the control he has of council," Stevens said. "He wants control of the office."
Fouts did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment for this report.
Last month, two phone conversations between Fouts and one of his appointees who secretly recorded the calls triggered a Michigan State Police investigation into whether the mayor violated a state law that prohibits the malicious use of a telecommunications device to threaten or intimidate a person. The Macomb County Prosecutor's Office ruled that the mayor's recorded tirade was not a crime because the individuals angrily blamed by Fouts for political woes were not a party to the phone calls.
Sabaugh said Friday that he was surprised by Jamroz's grievance, yet feels it's an attempt by the mayor's detractors to harm his boss's reputation.
"I think they're piling on now, trying to embarrass the mayor," he said.
Sabaugh, himself a former Warren councilman and Macomb County commissioner, pointed out that Jamroz has received more than $3,000 in overtime pay in each of the past two years, and has accumulated nearly 100 hours of compensatory time. An appointed council office administrator would not be entitled to overtime and would save taxpayers money, he said.
Jamroz, however, feels if she treated the public the way she was treated by Fouts and Sabaugh, she'd be fired.
"It's mind-boggling to put any kind of negative feelings in my head to say I've done something wrong because they want to politically bully and harass me," she said. "I was just appalled."
The status of her grievance is uncertain.
Greg Suma, president of the UAW Local 412, Unit 59, declined to comment.


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The Celts were long considered a barbaric and violent society. But new findings from a 2,600-year-old grave in Germany suggest the ancient people were much more sophisticated than previously thought.
The little Bettelbühl stream on the Danube River was completely unknown, except to local residents. But that changed in the summer of 2010 when a spectacular discovery was made just next to the creek.
Not far from the Heuneburg, the site of an early Celtic settlement, researchers stumbled upon the elaborate grave of a Celtic princess. In addition to gold and amber, they found a subterranean burial chamber fitted with massive oak beams. It was an archeological sensation that, after 2,600 years, the chamber was completely intact.


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Notice Regarding Changes to Chapter 13 Assignments and Schedules in Detroit
1. Assignment of Chapter 13 Cases to Judge Rhodes
The assignment of chapter 13 cases to Judge Rhodes will begin on January 3, 2005.
2. First Meeting Schedule (Effective for cases filed after the date of this notice.)
(a) The first meeting schedule will be:
Mondays: David Ruskin
Tuesdays: Tammy Terry
Fridays: Krispen Carroll
(b) The scheduling of first meetings will be extended to 40 - 50 days from the date of the petition.
(c) Established dates for meetings of creditors that are already scheduled in cases will not be changed.
3. Appointment of Trustees (Effective for cases filed on and after January 3, 2005.)
The U.S. Trustee will appoint the trustee in each chapter 13 case as follows:
Judge Rhodes: Krispen Carroll
Judge McIvor: David Ruskin
Judge Shefferly: Krispen Carroll (Case No. terminal digits 0-4)
David Ruskin (Case No. terminal digits 5-9)
Judge Tucker: Tammy Terry
4. Weekly Hearing Schedule (Effective the week of April 11, 2005, which will be the first week that cases filed on January 3, 2005, will be scheduled for confirmations hearings.)
(a) The weekly schedule will be:
Tuesdays: Judge Shefferly (Ruskin and Carroll alternating weeks)
Wednesdays: Judge Rhodes
Thursdays: Judge McIvor and Judge Tucker
(b) Motions in cases assigned to Judge Rhodes will be scheduled for hearings at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesdays as necessary before April 11, 2005.
(c) Motions in cases assigned to Judge Shefferly will be scheduled for hearings on Tuesdays as necessary before April 11, 2005, whether the trustee appointed is David Ruskin or Krispen Carroll.
(d) Judge Shefferly's hearings on Tuesday, April 12, 2005, will be on matters in cases in which David Ruskin is appointed as trustee; thereafter the weekly schedule will alternate with Krispen Carroll. A more complete schedule of dates assigned to trustees on Judge Shefferly's calendar will be posted on the Court's and the trustees' web sites shortly.
(e) Judge Tucker and Judge McIvor are discussing ways to minimize courtroom conflicts for attorneys with cases scheduled on Thursday. More detailed information will be posted on the court's and the trustees' web sites.


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2008 Men's Soccer
Manchester 3, Bluffton 2
Beavers battle with eight players before falling to Manchester, 3-2
By: Brandy Bidlack, sports information assistant
October 21, 2008
Click here for box score
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University men's soccer team fell to HCAC rival Manchester, having only eight Beavers left on the field with 12 minutes to play on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008, before the Spartans took the victory with 16 seconds left in the match. Bluffton dropped to 7-7-1 on the season and 3-3 in the Heartland Conference. Manchester improved to 7-8-2 on the season, with a 4-1 mark in the conference.
Freshman Steve Rucki (Killbuck/West Holmes) scorched the back of the net at the 18:06 mark to give Bluffton the early lead with his eighth goal of the season. However, Manchester responded just ten minutes before halftime with a goal from Micah Sollenberger.
Just two minutes later Nolan Phelps (Monroe/Lemon-Monroe) received a questionable red card just outside the penalty box, putting the Beavers down one player. With less than five minutes to go in the opening stanza, senior Nate Flath (Wadsworth/Wadsworth) bent the ball just inside the far post off a free kick, giving Bluffton a 2-1 lead at the break.
Starting the second half, Spartan Ben Cole found the back of the net thanks to a penalty kick at the 63:34 mark. The intensity of the game picked up as Daniel Tinch (Middletown/Madison) and Rucki were ejected from the game when they collected their second yellow cards with over 12 minutes to play. At the 78:16 mark, Brian Good (Elida/Elida) denied the Spartans with an incredible save on another Manchester penalty kick to keep the Beavers alive with only eight players on the field.
With just sixteen seconds left in the contest, Heriju Gadzama scored the game-winning goal following a rebound on a Manchester corner kick as the Spartans defeated the Beavers 3-2 and picked up their fourth HCAC win of the 2008 season.
Steve Rucki led the Bluffton offense with four shots. Nate Flath and Louie Cancasci (Twinsburg/Twinsburg) each had three shots in the contest. Sophomore Brian Good picked up six saves.
Bluffton generated 13 shots while Manchester had 15 in the match. Both teams managed six saves, while Manchester forced seven corner kicks and limited Bluffton to only two. The Beavers were whistled for 23 fouls and awarded six cards, three red and three yellow. The Spartans were called for 19 infractions and received two yellow cards.
Bluffton returns to action when the Beavers travel to Hanover College on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008. The Heartland Conference contest is slated to start at 1 p.m. following the women's match.


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Initially the mission was 3.5 years, but technical problems caused an increase in the necessary time to complete it's goals to 5 years. These problems where not directly related to the reaction wheels.
Seems that the spacecraft survived in functional condition for the 3.5 years initially required, although with a number of failures. It made it long enough for the initial mission length, but didn't survive another 1.5 years because too many of the reaction wheels failed.
So, I'm not sure what you mean about
Yea, I missed that one.... Whoosh over my head.
Beam me up Scotty, no intelligent life here..
Whoosh again! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B... [wikipedia.org]
Kirk only read an early draft of the mission: "five year mission to explore strange new bodies". He happily complied.
Is this: "crappy company delivers badly on contracts" or "company specializes in class of components that have a relatively high failure rate"?
Is this: "crappy company delivers badly on contracts" or "company specializes in class of components that have a relatively high failure rate"?
While RWs are way more complex than you would probably guess and have a history of failures across the industry, I still think in this case it is the former rather than the latter. After it started looking looking like there were systemic problems with Ithaco wheels, we developed our own wheels in-house. They haven't been perfect but there have been no mission ending problems with ours (so far; knocking on wood etc), unlike the Ithaco wheels.
Thanks. Context always helps with these things.
To be fair these are moving parts in space. If it can break it will.
Ask yourself why an antenna won't deploy on a deep-space probe. Or ask how they could launch a $6 billion telescope without testing its mirror.
--The Arrival
Correction here someone put a washer on a rod in the wrong place bewteen the opitical elements while assembling a measuring template device used in place of proper full diamter optical testing.
It's only hunting for broken planets?
Look down.
(As in toward the nearest gravitational object.)
...it would not be possible to robotically attach new, external reaction wheels. It's a telescope, it has direction, could you not design something to attach externally and provide reaction control?
It's not in low earth orbit.
Technically there isn't a real reason why.
The problems basically boil down to it'd be too expensive to do it well.
And that there is very interesting science to be done on the follow-on mission.
The 'technology fixes' referred to are not hardware.
They are instead of operating it pointed all the time at the normal bit of sky - which it can do, but now with two wheels only at ruinous cost in fuel - to instead point it at some point along the solar system equator.
It can do this for up
I wonder if it would be economical to create a semi-standard repair-kit satellite, for mass production, that could repair or supplement failing satellites using boost assist, stabilizer assist, power supplements, computational supplements/replacements, etc.
It may require standardized ports and latches on the primary satellites, though, for hooking into and/or grappling.
Call the mission "MacSkyver".
the Kepler craft isn't an earth orbiting satellite, it's WAY out there 11 million miles away (and getting further all the time) orbiting the Sun every 375 days
it's not in high earth orbit either, or any other kind of Earth orbit. it is orbiting the Sun in an Earth-trailing orbit. That's REALLY a whole 'nother kettle of fish for sending any kind of repair mission.
Ever notice that original Star Trek for some reason never seemed to have enough or any Dilithium crystals on hand? Our space telescopes seem to have the same exact problem.
Solution, why couldn't these telescopes launch with a few more gyroscopes held in reserve so that when one fails, another one is ready to take its place?
They usually have backups where it is possible; notice they said 4 but only need 3.
Given how many people thought Star Trek was too slow (helping produce the modern abomination) you want them to spend EXTRA time explaining all the spares and reserves are gone? (they do sometimes mention reserve and backups) Given the whole point of it was to push the plot forward it wouldn't matter if they have 50 spares because they'd all have to fail to create the crisis.
They did. It could compensate for a failed wheel, but it needed three to stay functional. It's got less than three, and is thus broken.
What you should be asking instead is: Considering how much we dump into the Military Industrial Complex for "protection", why doesn't NASA have the funding for at least three or four of each type of satellite -- scan more sky in less time. I mean, just consider that the Chelyabinsk Meteor was ~25x Hiroshima (bonus: No long lasting ionizing radiation). Now, why the hell a
It's great for NASA that Kepler will continue operating in the ecliptic plane, where the newly discovered exoplanets might also see the Earth transit the Sun!
The bad news behind the headline is that Kepler's second life will be "community driven", which is a polite way of saying there is essentially no funding for science, just operations. The Senior Review Panel report [nasa.gov] (pdf) notes:
"The operation of the nation's space borne observatories is so severely impacted by the current funding climate in Washington that
The response from NASA [nasa.gov] (pdf) acknowledges:
"The Kepler mission extension is approved for FY 2015-FY 2016 for K2 operations at a 10-percent reduction from the requested level; the full request cannot be accommodated within the constrained budget conditions."
If you love what Kepler has done, you can help support some of the scientists behind the discoveries through their Non-profit Adopt a Star [whitedwarf.org] program.
Due to failure of the 2nd gyroscope, it can only find long, flat planets with names like "Pizza Centauri C", Pizza the Hut's home.
Does Linden Lab know about this?
All science is either physics or stamp collecting. -- Ernest Rutherford


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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Henrik Stenson won the season-ending World Tour Championship on Sunday to become the first player to sweep the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup and European Tour's Race to Dubai.
The Swede closed with an 8-under 64 to finish at 25-under 263, six strokes ahead of second-place Ian Poulter on Jumeriah's Earth Course. Poulter shot a 66, and also finished second in the Race to Dubai.
Stenson earned $1,333,300 for the tournament victory and $1 million for winning the Race to Dubai.
In September, Stenson won the PGA Tour's season-ending Tour Championship to take the FedEx Cup title and a $10 million bonus.
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) - Harris English won the rain-delayed OHL Classic for his second PGA Tour title, pulling away for a four-stroke victory in a 29-hole Sunday finish at Mayakoba.
English closed with a 6-under 65 after completing the third round in the morning with a 68. He moved into contention Saturday morning in the second round, matching the lowest round of his tour career with a 62.
The 24-year-old former University of Georgia star finished at a tournament-record 21-under 263. He won the FedEx St. Jude Classic in June in Tennessee for his first PGA Tour victory. English and Rory McIlroy are the only current players under 25 with multiple PGA Tour victories.
Brian Stuard shot a 67 to finish second.
Third-round leader Robert Karlsson had a 72 to drop into a tie for sixth at 15 under.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) - Lexi Thompson won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational for her second victory in her last four starts, birdieing the final hole to beat Stacy Lewis by a stroke.
The 18-year-old Thompson made a 5-foot putt on the par-5 18th, then won when Lewis missed her 5-foot try.
Thompson closed with a 3-under 69 to finish at 16-under 272 at Guadalajara Country Club. She won the 2011 LPGA Navistar Classic at 16, and took the LPGA Malaysia last month for her second tour title.
The third-ranked Lewis, a three-time winner this year, had a 68.
So Yeon Ryu was third at 13 under after a 69.
Top-ranked Inbee Park finished fourth at 11 under to wrap up the points-based player of the year award with one event left. She is the first South Korean player to win the award.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Adam Scott successfully defended his Australian Masters title for his second victory in two weeks, scrambling for an even-par 71 and a two-shot victory at wind-swept Royal Melbourne.
Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. He finished at 14-under 270.
American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. Kuchar had a 68 to finish second.
Vijay Singh, one of four players tied for second at the start of play, finished third after a 71, four behind playing partner Scott. The 50-year-old Fijian was attempting to win for the first time since 2008.


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Descendants of the Heroes of the American Revolution announced medals and certificates to honored guests at their July 4th ceremony.
WILMINGTON | Descendants of the Heroes of the American Revolution announced medals and certificates to honored guests at their July 4th ceremony.
Honored with bronze Good Citizenship medals and certificates were: Arthur Seabury and David Nathans, for stewardship in saving the Brooklyn Arts Center from destruction by renovation and restoration to a classic community venue; Ken and Ellen Money, as independent and cooperating Scholars, regarding area and state Colonial and Revolutionary history and genealogy; Jim Summey, of General Electric, for preservation of the Quince Plantation remains and grounds, an ongoing project that includes work on the family graveyard that contains more than 70 graves.
Presented with Flag Certificates for exemplary care in displaying the American Flag were: James G. Brumit, Glenn D. Taylor, Tip Eames, and Dan and Pam Escarsega. A special note was made of the upcoming presentation of Heroism Medals to Cadets Daniel Brigman and Charles Peel, who ran into a burning house to rescue two people who would not have been able to escape the fire without their help.
WILMINGTON | On July 16, Cape Fear Community College received good news regarding the quality of its overall operation, from one of the nation's regional accrediting bodies.
The college was notified that it passed a five-year review required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the regional accrediting body that monitors the quality of institutions of higher learning all over the Southeastern United States.
The review covers 17 different topics, including: faculty and staff qualifications, student support services, student achievement, academic programs, facilities and others. The review also evaluated progress of a college-wide initiative to improve students critical thinking skills.
The Commission on Colleges requires the report to ensure member institutions are continuing compliance with selected standards of quality. In 2007, CFCC earned a flawless score on the decennial review – receiving zero recommendations from the on-site committee – and was reaffirmed for accreditation by the Board of Trustees without additional follow-up.
CFCC President Dr. Ted Spring was pleased with the report, and said it was a strong indication that the college was performing well, based on the wide range of standards required of colleges and universities from all over the country.
Email your New Hanover County news items to firstname.lastname@example.com. They must be received two weeks before the event date.


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Core Security Technologies is ramping up its partner program, attempting to compete in the vulnerability assessment market by forging relationships with Microsoft, McAfee and others as well as adding channel VARs that specialize in security and vulnerability management.
The Boston-based company sells a platform that combines penetration testing and vulnerability scanning. Core sells two products: Core Impact, a full-fledged pen testing suite used by hardcore penetration testers, and Core Insight, an automated vulnerability testing platform introduced in 2010 for chief information security officers and other executives.
The company's new channel chief, Joe Schramm, said he joined Core last year to formalize the company's partner program. Core needs to make the case that businesses need ongoing penetration testing in their environment and compete against the likes of another Boston-based security firm, Rapid7, which integrates the commercial Metasploit pen testing tool into its Nexpose vulnerability scanning software. Meanwhile, Miami-based Immunity, Inc. sells the Canvas pen testing platform.
[Related: Google Aurora Attackers Behind Internet Explorer Zero-Day Attacks]
There is growing momentum around using penetration testing and vulnerability management data as part of risk management programs to influence decision making with non-IT executives, said Paul Proctor, chief of research for security and risk management at Gartner. If presented well, executives can use the data to make budgeting decisions for security and prioritize business units based on their security posture, Proctor said.
By 2014, Gartner predicts that 80 percent of the Global 2000 will be required to report the state of security to the board of directors on an annual basis, Proctor said.
"All of these tools are starting to go from being techie toys to being something that can produce information with a business context," Proctor said. "CISOs have a significant interest in being able to translate what is very technical stuff into something that can be understood by a decision making body like a board of directors."
Schramm said Core needed a plan to build up formal relationships with technology partners and add a cadre of channel resellers and solution providers. The new partner program, launched by Schramm last year, has signed on 23 partners and resellers, including nine resellers in the U.S.
"The company didn't have any formalized technology partnerships and few channel relationships," Schramm said. "Historically the company transacted a high volume through its channel, but it was more of a pass-through; none of it originated from the channel."
NEXT: Channel provider finds interest from c-level executives


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News Feature
Originally published in Island Ad-Vantages, November 1, 2012
Island Ad-Vantages Polling hours and more for Election Day, November 6
The last day absentee ballots are available for pick up is Thursday, November 1. All absentee ballots must be returned to the polling station or town office by 8 p.m. on Election Day.
All polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 6. Voters can register any time, up to and including Election Day. To register to vote as a new Maine voter, a voter must have ID (a Maine driver's license number or list the last four digits of your Social Security Number).
Voters must also have "proof of residency." This proof can be many different things that have the address of the place of residence in the municipality on it: bills or letters mailed (if not a P.O. Box), a copy of a lease, a tax return, current hunting or fishing license or "any other objective facts that tend to indicate your place of residence."
If a voter has moved from one Maine town to another, and was previously registered in the state, all the voter needs to register is proof of residency.
Deer Isle: Voting at Town Hall. Town Clerk and Registrar of Voters Becky Knowlton, 348-6060. Office hours: Monday through Friday except Thursday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.; Thursday 4-7 p.m.
Isle au Haut: Voting at Revere Memorial Hall. Town Clerk and Registrar Susan MacDonald, 335-5577.


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An additional man has been charged with passing counterfeit bills in Thomasville, according to an arrest warrant.
An additional man has been charged with passing counterfeit bills in Thomasville, according to an arrest warrant.
James Felix Gregg Jr., 18, of 308 Culbreth Ave., Thomasville, has been charged with felony possession of more than five counterfeit instruments and felony conspiracy. He was placed in the Davidson County Detention Center on Saturday under a $4,000 secured bond and has a court date of June 26.
Gregg, according to an arrest warrant, possessed nine counterfeit $50 bills and six counterfeit $100 bills.
Officers responded to Cook Out at 1123 Randolph St. at 1:26 p.m. June 4 due to counterfeit bills, according to a press release.
Troy Alexander Washington, 21, of 2511 Newkirk Ave., Apt. D4, Brooklyn, N.Y., Caleb Hayden King, 17, of 7 Conrad St., Thomasville, and Jordan Wayne Kinney, 17, of 227 Kate Drive, Thomasville, were charged with possessing counterfeit instruments. The three men were charged with felonious obtaining property by false pretenses, felonious possession of five or more counterfeit instruments, felonious uttering a forged instrument and felony conspiracy of uttering forged instruments.
According to a TPD news release, the charges were made possible due to a joint investigation with the Thomasville and High Point police departments and the United States Secret Service.


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STARmeterSEE RANK
Down 8 this week
Jim Gaffigan
Indiana native Jim Gaffigan arrived in New York City in 1990 at the age of 24. Officially, he had relocated to work in advertising, but his real fascination with New York had a lot more to do with pursuing his dream of making people laugh as an actor and stand-up comic, a dream he would eventually realize through hard work and ample talent. Hailing... See full bio »
Born:in Chesterton, Indiana, USA
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MIAMI (AP) - Carnival Corp. is indicating it will not reimburse the U.S. government for hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs to rescue its disabled cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico.
Carnival told U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia in a recent letter that maritime tradition is to render assistance to anyone in need. Rockefeller asked Carnival if it would reimburse the Coast Guard nearly $780,000 in costs to respond to the Carnival Triumph when it lost power in February after an engine fire.
Thousands of passengers were stranded for five days in squalid conditions while the Triumph was towed to Alabama for repairs.
Carnival told Rockefeller that its ships are frequently called upon to help other damaged vessels or with rescues at sea.
Rockefeller is calling the response shameful.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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Eddington was formerly the CEO of British Airways and on the board of Rio Tinto, the $60 billion mining giant.
Eddington and Shapley advocate the theory of a mechanical pulsation of the star as most plausible.
Eddington concludes that this Taurus group is a globular cluster with a slight central condensation.
Professor Eddington tells us that we have as much right to speak of a pound of light as of a pound of sugar.
Professor Eddington even calculates that the earth receives 160 tons of light from the sun every year!
According to Eddington, "Phenomena all boil down to a scheme of symbols, of mathematical equations."
Similarly with the cosmic consciousness expressed in the writings of Jeans, Eddington, and Whitehead.
Eddington, Jeans, Einstein, and Whitehead would answer these questions exactly as would the most militant atheists.
On their return she stayed to tea at Eddington with her cousins—cousins who were Quakers.
British mathematician, astronomer, and physicist who founded modern astrophysics. He conducted research on the evolution, structure, and motion of stars and was one of the first scientists to promote the theory of relativity. He also wrote a series of scientific books for the layperson.


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April 16, 2007
"The doctrines of so-called 'animal rights' ... violently interfere with the rights of an art work to be freely exhibited in an art museum."
That terrarium was "a microcosm of global conflict and power dynamics" that "functions as a metaphor for the conflicts among different peoples and culture — in short, human existence itself." That is to say the toads, tarantulas, lizards, crickets and scorpions were supposed to do vicious things to each other to express the artist's ideology. The SPCA people wanted to add water bowls and hiding places and transform the gallery into something more like a pet shop -- which would destroy the whole concept of Huang Yong Ping's "Theatre of the World."
So: Artist's expression versus the welfare of toads, tarantulas, lizards, crickets and scorpions.
In the end, the animals were removed from the exhibit, which I think was the right choice. They were being mistreated, and to stop mistreating them would wreck the artist's message. The animals won, yet so did the artist. His show -- in Vancouver -- has received immense publicity. 5,000 people have already seen it with all that toad/tarantula/lizard/cricket/scorpion strife, and now everyone's talking about it.
Isn't the interaction with the animal welfare crowd part of the artwork, the larger performance -- in the theatre of the world? I think that statement from the artist, quoted above, shows him intentionally stoking the conflict in the world beyond the terrarium. The idea that his rights were "violently" interfered with -- surely, he meant to set you off. How can violence to an abstraction compare to the violence of the toads, tarantulas, lizards, crickets and scorpions attacking each other? He made you think that. He made you subordinate art to insignificant creatures. A powerful performance.
40 comments:
- Sissy Willis said...
I guess it depends upon what your definition of "insignificant creatures" is. In my book, the "artist" would be the insignificant creature. For him, as for all narcissistic sociopaths, the other -- whether human or not -- is merely a prop in his fantasy.
- Ann Althouse said...
Insignificant in the sense that we accept people squashing them summarily and for no reason.
- Ann Althouse said...
Not a toad, perhaps, but only because it's big.
We accept people disposing of toads for no reason.
- Paul Zrimsek said...
As Faulkner almost said, the "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is worth any number of old ladies but not even one scorpion.
- cokaygne said...
The artist may claim that it is about censorship and freedom of speech, but I don't see how freedom includes the right to intentionally harm another living being. Most people eat meat and fish that comes from intentional slaughter of animals. They don't go around bragging about it or tieing it to some higher political purpose. As much as I would like to draw a line against eating meat and fish, I know it ain't going to happen in my lifetime because we are descended from a hunter-gatherer culture and still view meat and fish as necessary for survival, and they are in existing cultures like the Inuit. The least we can do is draw the line against gratuitous abuse of animals.
- Paco Wové said...
We accept people disposing of toads for no reason.
We do? Some kid in your neighborhood goes out and kills 20 - 30 toads, and the neighborhood 'accepts' it? (True, he probably won't be locked up. In my neigborhood, though, there's a difference between 'legal' and 'acceptable'.)
The man's an asshole, and there's an end on't.
- MadisonMan said...
I killed a toad as a teen. Didn't see it, and ran over it with the lawn mower. I don't think I actually killed it instantly, just took off a leg. I killed a dog once with my car; on a highway in the early morning as I rounded a bend, a dog -- a beautiful German Shepard -- appeared in the headlights. That was a queasy stomach moment. Humans are always destroying animals -- if this artwork makes people think about that for a little bit, I'm all for it.
- Gahrie said...
There are hundreds of thousands of boys in this country who grew up "abusing" toads in ways that would make you animal "rights" nuts gasp and be nauseous.
Toad sticking, and putting firecrackers in toads mouths used to be part of growing up in many parts of this country.
- SGT Ted said...
"There are hundreds of thousands of boys in this country who grew up "abusing" toads in ways that would make you animal "rights" nuts gasp and be nauseous.
Toad sticking, and putting firecrackers in toads mouths used to be part of growing up in many parts of this country."
Yes, boys do some pretty odd crap. But, we never called it "art" and if our mom and dad ever found out, our butts got warmed for it.
- Oligonicella said...
This was not art. Look on YouTube and search animal and fight. You'll find loads of smaller animals being forced to fight by dumbass cretins with a phone cam.
This mythcal "we" doesn't work for either side. There are asses that run down cats and people who won't squash a spider. Where "we"?
Art involves thought, talent, technique and work. This displayed none.
He was just a dumbass without the phone cam.
- Ann Althouse said...
Necessary cultural reference: Frog Baseball.
On the subject of abusing frogs/toads: I think this is just about the size of animal where we start to care if they are killed wantonly. (We care about torture down to the insect level.)
When I was a child, I discovered some of the boys in the neighborhood in the middle of their game of throwing frogs in the air and shooting them with BB guns. The girls were all shocked. These were boys we knew. And here they were: bad boys!
(We lived by a creek, and there was so much access to frogs. That was the only time I saw any frog-related nastiness. Or anything having to do with guns. Location: Newark, Delaware.)
- Gahrie said...
Art involves thought, talent, technique and work. This displayed none.
I suppose Maplethorpe's works, and Piss Christ displayed all of these?
I see this little contretemps in a very ironical light......the Left complaining about objectionable art. For decades the Left has been busy removing all standards the art world...why impose them now?
- MadisonMan said...
Art involves thought, talent, technique and work. This displayed none.
I disagree completely. This isn't artwork that I would hang in my home, or go out of way to see. But the artist obviously decided what to do, and executed it, and engendered quite a response -- rather similar to an althouse vortex posting, actually.
Maybe we have different definitions of art.
- Ignacio said...
20 years ago or so in his film "The Holy Mountain" Alejandro Jodorowsky dressed up lizards as Aztecs and conquistadors and spilt a lot of blood. It was quite a spectacle.
In his earlier, most famous film, "El Topo," hundreds of white rabbits were killed -- by the director himself, with karate chops, as no one else could come up with a more humane yet bloodless way to have the bunnies alive in one scene, then piled up dead.
The artist Joel-Peter Witkin has exhibited b&w photographs of crucified monkeys. I don't know if he killed them himself or purchased their corpses.
- Brian said...
As much as I would like to draw a line against eating meat and fish, I know it ain't going to happen in my lifetime because we are descended from a hunter-gatherer culture and still view meat and fish as necessary for survival, and they are in existing cultures like the Inuit.
That's absurd. That is not why most people eat meat at all. There's no necessity to it. People eat meat because they like it and don't see anything wrong with it.
- Oligonicella said...
gahrie -- "I suppose Maplethorpe's works, and Piss Christ displayed all of these?"
Nope. That wasn't art either. People have fallen for the "it's the process or statement" crap.
madisonman -- "Maybe we have different definitions of art."
You said you disagreed. I presumed we have different definitions, then.
I'll be more blunt: Crap on a stick ain't art, regardless of what the guy trying to sell it says.
Just my opinion.
- TMink said...
Olig, we disagree about Maplethorpe. That man was a fantastic printer and photogrpaher. His more traditional work was amazing and beautiful.
When he turned his eye to the disturbing, I turned my eyes away because it was just gross and disgusting. Color me provincial, but that is where I am on the homoerotic or bondage work.
But take a look at some of his photos of more traditional, or at least non-pronographic materials, he had the skills. I guess he just did not know how to use those skills, and his personal obsessions and kinks overwhelmed his art.
- LoafingOaf said...
"It is extremely disappointing that a major exhibition of this important artist's work has been overshadowed by competing concerns," said Augaitis.
Yap yap yap. He's "important" because he jumped on the bandwagon of artists unethically using animals in his art? There's some people who consider cock fighting a great "sport" just as this museum lady thinks this is great art. Whatever.
Seems to me you can just summarize this artwork's "statement" and make the same "deep observation" without ever having to see it executed: If you put snakes, toads, tarantulas, crickets, millipedes, etc., in a confined enclosure they will hurt each other, and this can be a metaphor of international relations between peoples. Stop the presses. Why do ya have to set the thing up and actually cause harm to living creatures to make this point?
If Mr. Important Artist must, then I'll call myself an artist, too, and set up a bigger pen and shove Mr. Important Artist in it with a tiger, a grizzly bear, some rattle snakes, and a few crocodiles. If someone stops me, they will be censoring me, and subordinating art to the insignificant Huang Yong Ping.
- LoafingOaf said...
Nope. That wasn't art either.
I think it's all art. The main controversy over Piss Christ was that taxpayers were forced to pay for it even though it offended many thousands (perhaps millions)of them. Piss Christ didn't offend me, but I don't think tax dollars should fund art that significant portions of tax payers are offended by.
And the issue here is that disgusting, attention-starved people running museums are welcoming the opportunity to showcase art that uses live animals in a manner that is cruel, unnatural, harmful and/or fatal to them.
(Needless to say, many of the people who were insisting on forcing taxpayers to fund art that offend Christians would not insist on tax dollars paying for art that offends Islam. And I'm waiting for the Left to demand that PBS air the suppressed film about radical Islam.)
- LoafingOaf said...
People eat meat because they like it and don't see anything wrong with it.
I'm willing to bet all those folks out there who love their dogs and cats will find a lot wrong with the practices of the meat industry towards pigs, cows, and chickens. More and more people are waking up about that every day and change is inevitable as the spotlight gets brighter. Burger King is already starting to squirm and take baby steps. In my observation, most people don't like cruelty to animals at all.
- PatCA said...
Yes, humans are always killing animals, but more importantly, animals are always killing animals. We cannot rationally deny this, although the animals rights people seem to be trying. Witness the pathetic producers of the Earth series apologizing on Oprah for the graphic shot of the lions taking down an elephant in the wild. "It was the only time we saw something like that." Lions are nice?
OTOH, this art spectacle is quite creepy and sadistic. Not to go all theoretical, but the act of viewing art is voyeuristic, and to have people voyeuristically observing an ongoing, live dance of death assembled like a film by an "artist" for his and our pleasure, is sick.
- Dr. NeoCon said...
Hi Ann,
I am a long-time lurker and first-time poster. This blog seems to maintain a reasonable balance between thoughtful, provocative discussion and issue advocacy. So, I thought I would add my $0.02.
IMO, Animals do not have rights. Only creatures capable of cognitive mediation and independent thought have rights. (To be generous, I will include rabidly partisan lefties in that definition).
However, I believe that humans have the moral obligation to treat animals with respect. I eat meat, but I trust the producers have not needlessly inflicted pain upon the creatures they harvested.
- Ignorance is Bliss said...
"The idea that his rights were..."
I think you miss an interesting point. The artist is not claiming that his rights were violated. What was violated was the "rights of the art work to be freely exibited in an art museum"
So how do we balance the rights of animals against the rights of art work?
- An Edjamikated Redneck said...
Interesting that two ways of approaching this exhibit are so diametrically opposed; art and meat production. I doubt any other topic would mix the two.
On art, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, let the beholder pay for beauty as he sees it, within legal limits. Do I find this exhibit beautiful? No, but then I'm not paying for it (I hope). Do I find it within legal limits? No, I don't.
There is a difference between the natural order of one beast killing another in the battle for survival and the purposeful mixing of beasts for the sport of watching them battle.
If two of my roosters fight in the chicken yard over a hen or two that is Darwin's natural law in action, but I would never cause two of them to fight for the (alledged) sport of watching.
On that same point I occasionally have to knock off a head or two for Sunday dinner. Catch one, stretch his neck, pluck and cook. Not that I wouldn't consider that torture if it happened to me, but I am a sentient being, and I never met a rooster I would say the same thing about.
Bottom line; call it art or sport forcing two animals to fight for human entertainment is wrong, but I see nothing wrong with our natural ability to enjoy them for dinner.
- Richard Dolan said...
This story reminded me of an old post Ann did (Aug. 10,'05)about a sculpture (at least that's how I pictured it then) called "fetusbird" by another Chinese artist, Xiao Yu. I also seem to recall that Ann did a blog on "Bodies," the travelling exhibit of skinned (Chinese) corpses that tries to bring to life (!) that Gerard David painting that also got some play here a while back as well.
There's more than one thread connecting all of these stories. The "fetusbird" exhibit was all about the transgressive, attention-getting, tasteless, degrading, and disgusting qualities that seem to be the aesthetic order of the day. This terrarium exhibit is a weird cross between a nature show on the Discovery channel (where animals are often filmed attacking or devouring each other, whether in the wild or a more staged environment I'm never quite sure), and a gladiatorial combat where being a spectator at a killing is the object in itself. The terrarium strikes me as less objectionable than the "fetusbird" kind of thing, and I think Ann is right about the reason: most people don't identify with bugs (we often go to great lengths to try to extirminate them), but frogs, lizards and larger animals evoke a different response.
The really strange thing here is that the modern-day museum curator thinks that this is the kind of exhibit that needs to be presented. That's only partly explained by the ability of sensationalism to build attendance. The aesthetic of these pieces is so gross, the point both so unsubtle and (frankly) uninteresting, that it's hard to see the curatorial value in mounting the exhibition. But, in the end, I suppose, that's all "eye of the beholder" stuff. I wouldn't go out of my way to see something like this.
- Dr. NeoCon said...
Ignorance is Bliss,
To whom do the "rights of art work" accrue? Artists may posses rights, but their products do not.
It also seems that there is no "right to exhibit". In most cases (i.e., excepting public protest), it is a commercial arrangement subject to contractual standards.
- Revenant said...
I guess it depends upon what your definition of "insignificant creatures" is. In my book, the "artist" would be the insignificant creature. For him, as for all narcissistic sociopaths, the other -- whether human or not -- is merely a prop in his fantasy.
I would suggest that a person who speaks in defense of scorpions and spiders while labeling other *humans* as "insignificant creatures" has no business calling anyone else a sociopath.
Personally, I pay people to poison all the creepy-crawlies in and immediately surrounding my house. Frogs and lizards I've got no problem with, although my lawnmower has certainly sent plenty of them to the afterlife. But in any case I fail to see what's so "cruel" about letting predator animals feed on each other. What did you think they ate -- tofu?
- Ann Althouse said...
Richard: Thanks for remembering those old posts. Here's the one about the fetus bird. And here's the Body Worlds one.
- Kirby Olson said...
I read a profiling book by an FBI agent once. He said that all serial killers had these three characteristics:
1. They tortured small animals when they were children.
2. They liked to light fires and play with matches.
3. They wet their beds until quite late (often into early adolescence).
A more thorough background check is needed before we can decide that this artist is a sociopath, but it seems that the art here could simply be an attempt to torture animals while using the cover story that it is a complaint about the abuse of animals.
How does he feel about matches? Does he wet his bed? If we could ascertain these follow-ups, we could attempt a temporary classification. But there isn't enough information here to be certain.
- Dr. NeoCon said...
The first two points are correct about sociopaths. However, medical evidence seems to indicate that bed wetting, which is most common among boys, has to do primarily with physiology (i.e., an undeveloped bladder). Psychological isues may be engendered in how some bed wetters are treated by their parents, but psychological problems are typically not the cause of bed wetting.
- MadisonMan said...
I wonder if the shooter at VT today that I've read about with horror matched the three criteria.
- Pete the Streak said...
The VT killer would appear to me to be more a mass/group murderer, and not a 'traditional' serial killer (based on this incident alone).
Of course, the available info on this psycho is almost nonexistant at this point.
- Craig said...
Ignorance is Bliss wrote:
The artist is not claiming that his rights were violated. What was violated was the "rights of the art work to be freely exibited in an art museum"
I think you are reading an odd claim about rights where what is happening is a Chinese artist (or his translator) not having a perfect grasp of English.
Kind of too bad, because talking about the rights of inanimate objects would shine a light on the PETA-like talk about the rights of toads, tarantulas, et al.
- Revenant said...
How does he feel about matches? Does he wet his bed? If we could ascertain these follow-ups, we could attempt a temporary classification.
First of all, you could only "attempt a temporary classification" if you failed basic logic. "All X are Y" does not mean that any given Y is an X. It doesn't even tell us if any given Y is *likely* to be an X.
Secondly, the "Macdonald triad" of alleged serial-killer traits is pseudoscientific crap. Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, for example, fail to meet the three conditions. All you can accurately say (and indeed all that real psychiatrists DO say) is that children exhibiting all three conditions need therapy.
Thirdly, torturing and killing small animals -- i.e., animals like the ones in this experiment -- is normal behavior for children. The trait associated with serial killers is the torture or killing of *large* animals such as dogs or other pets.
- cs said...
"Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind's capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don't; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us. Animals are so easily overlooked, their interests so easily brushed aside. Whenever we humans enter their world, from our farms to the local animal shelter to the African savanna, we enter as lords of the earth bearing strange powers of terror and mercy alike. [A]nimal welfare is not just a moral problem to be solved in statutes, but a moral opportunity to fill our own lives with acts of compassion. How we treat our fellow creatures is only one more way in which each one of us, every day, writes our own epitaph- bearing into the world a message of light and life or just more darkness and death, adding to the world's joy or to its despair." --Matthew Scully, Dominion.
- Jennifer said...
If his art consisted of dead scorpions that he himself killed in a reasonably decent way, that wouldn't bother me. The idea of caging them and making them fight bothers me very much. I can't articulate why that is. And I hate scorpions with a passion. Ugh, now I'm thinking about them. And shuddering.
Why do most boys go through that killing little things stage!? I remember a bunch of (guy) friends discovering that salamanders would grab onto a lit M80 and hold it right up until it blasted them to bits. They thought it was hysterical. I actually cried. And promptly grabbed their bucket of salamanders and tossed it back into the reservoir. This was in high school, though. I wonder if that's still considered normal behavior.
- Chip Ahoy said...
I stocked my aquarium with species of fish that wouldn't fight amongst or between themselves. Noticed their behavior varies throughout the day. Did you know those darling little neon tetras that normally pace in schools at times break apart, and for awhile become supremely territorial? They're ridiculous. The Takashi Amano style tank is pure art and so are the little dramas. Now, this is important! The tank is a microcosm of the interplay between myself and the fish that serves as a metaphor for my vision of the global relationship between humans and the environment. I add CO2 and increase light in order to allow for intensive plant growth. I watch them fuss over areas of about 6 inches of dense foliage and invite my friends to watch too, for art appreciation. Am I bad?
Favorite pet store sells crickets by the hundreds to feed ... something. And little fish for pyranha and mice for snakes. Every time I'm in there, people are buying live food -- usually a boy. All those terrariums. Artists. Think, Tom Green in Road Trip teasing the snake with the mouse, enticing it to bust a move. Pure art.
- Revenant said...
Why do most boys go through that killing little things stage!?
The amateur evolutionary psychologist in me would suggest that it probably has something to do with the fact that virtually every man who ever lived, prior to the 20th century, needed to kill BIG things when he grew up. Livestock, predators, game animals, other humans, etc.
Take the earlier example of throwing frogs into the air and trying to hit them with a weapon. For approximately 499,900 of the last 500,000 years of human evolution that sort of activity would have fallen under "good practice for later in life".
Women, historically, don't do much hunting or fighting compared to men, so there's less of an incentive to engage in violent "hunting" play.
- Jennifer said...
Makes sense, Revenant.
- TMink said...
loafing Oaf wrote: "In my observation, most people don't like cruelty to animals at all."
Agreed. But there are widely divergent opinions as to what constitutes cruelty. That is the crux of the biscuit. Some people are appalled that I use crickets to fish for bream that I then cook and eat. Most of us are not insulted, but some are. It is in the diversity of what constitutes cruelty that the interesting discusssion lies.