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I was a huge Futurama fan when it was on TV, so it pains me greatly to say this. But if you can't do better than those terrible new DVD releases, please *DON'T* bring this show back. I don't know if they got different writers for those movies, or whether the writers they brought back just lost their edge, but those were just embarrassing. Each release has managed to be even worse than the previous one.
But if Matt Groening has proven nothing else with The Simpsons, it's that he has absolutely no understanding of the phrase "finishing while you're on top" and all-too-much understanding of "run it into the ground until it's a pathetic shadow of its former greatness."
Well actually, Beast with a Billion Backs sucked, but the rest were pretty damn good. I thought Bender's Game was completely back on form for Futurama.
Well actually, Beast with a Billion Backs sucked, but the rest were pretty damn good. I thought Bender's Game was completely back on form for Futurama.
Best line in Bender's Game: Is that a hobbit over there? No, that's a hobo and a rabbit, but they're making a hobbit.
Read em and weep, and then tell me what they are.
I also think Bender's Game is good, it has plenty of memorable moments. I'm not saying it's better than the first seasons as a whole, but it's at least better than the less memorable episodes.
I have to agree. The coolest part of Beast with a Billion Backs was how it tied directly to the end of Bender's Big Score. Other than that, it's my least favorite of the three.
I'm just not sure if or how they'll recover from the Dark Matter situation (Trying to not spoil it for anyone).
Possibly, especially since its allegorical value has plummeted along with gas prices. Or they may have a character spout a one-liner to cover it. I'm just a little bit curious.
Unimportant spoiler:
They DON'T ignore it, at one point in the movie they're running low on whale oil
I thought they switched to elephant oil?
Really? I absolutely loved Bender's Big Score more than I have the words to express. I felt that it was in every way the perfect futurama movie. But Beasts with a Billion Backs was clearly an unfinished piece, with tons of promising gag ideas mutilated by terrible execution, timing, and unconvincing plot. I figured this was likely due to the writer's strike, but I've been afraid to view Bender's Game lest I suffer the same disappoint.
But if Bender's Game and the fourth dvd are half as good as Big Score, I'd
Well actually, Beast with a Billion Backs sucked, but the rest were pretty damn good. I thought Bender's Game was completely back on form for Futurama.
I second this emotion.
Beast with a Billion Backs sucked
No, it made me feel bad about ever liking Futurama.
I had to rewatch Seasons 1-3 to get rid of it.
Well actually, Beast with a Billion Backs sucked,
Compared to most Futurama, yeah. It wasn't any worse than "That's Lobstertainment" or "A Leela of Her Own", though.
but the rest were pretty damn good. I thought Bender's Game was completely back on form for Futurama.
Not quite. Bender's Big Score (at least parts of it) put together an enthralling plot that tugged at the heartstrings. And Bender's Game managed to keep the jokes hilarious, original, and steady. But by the time they were in full swing, the or
But if you can't do better than those terrible new DVD releases
Eh, I'm not going to insert my own opinion, merely point out that Beast with a Billion Backs [billboard.com] was 12th and 6th on the charts for DVD sales according to Billboard. Bender's Game was 10th for a week while Bender's Big Score was only 37th and 11th for its two weeks.
Their sales have put them on charts so while I'm not disagreeing with your assessment, someone out there enjoys them.
Honestly, the DVDs are far above 99% of what's on TV right now so
Beast with a Billion Backs [billboard.com] was 12th and 6th on the charts for DVD sales according to Billboard.
What an odd way of saying that it was 18th.
Why is everyone talking about '3' DVDs?
There's a 4th one you know, it just came out yesterday, and I liked it a lot.
Well I've seen two of the movies, and I disagree a little. They weren't amazing or anything, but I would wonder if some of your disappointment was because you were expecting them to be spectacular by virtue of them being "movies". You know, when something is released as a movie, even if it's straight to DVD, you might have higher expectations than if it's just a normal show.
I watched "Bender's Big Score" and "The Beast with a Billion Backs", and I think if they had been released on TV as a bunch of "to b
They were released that way. They were made to be cut up into 6 episodes each (or was it 4?) to be aired a few months later on Comedy Central.
They had their moments. "Bender's Game" had quite a few.
I agree with some of the others here that the show just doesn't work in a long format like that.
I'll watch again. Better than most stuff out there. Heck, with stuff like "Kath & Kim", old fashioned static or holding patterns are better than some of the stuff out there.
They were released that way. They were made to be cut up into 6 episodes each (or was it 4?) to be aired a few months later on Comedy Central.
Well that's what I read they were going to do, but whenever I've seen it aired on Comedy central, They're all played back-to-back. On the on-screen guide, it even shows up as a single 2 hour (or however long) block. And they aren't intermixing those episodes with their normal weekly episodes, either.
If they had waited until all the movies were released and then aired them as normal 30 minute episodes, a new one each week, over a few months as though it were a normal TV season, then I think I would have w
Otherwise I say they tell the executives to screw off and go direct to iTunes and then DVD.
The biggest thing that scares TV executives is a highly popular show getting traction on the internet. Honestly, there is enough rabid fandom for Futurama that they could do it iTunes only and make as much or more money than being aired on FOX again. Plus they get the side benefit of becoming a historical footnote as to what started the destruction of TV networks.
I'd buy new episodes of many shows that went away due
Big TV needs to die. and Die violently. Executives heads on pikes kind of violently.
Heads on spikes is sooo 20th century. This is the 31st century... we'll dessicate them and grind their corpses into a fine pink powder.
(Rattles Can)
Torgo's Excecutive Powder, anyone?
Network President: "Greetings, gentlemen. You already know my execubots. Executive Alpha, programmed to like things it has seen before."
Executive Alpha: "Hey, hey, hey!"
Network President: "Executive Beta, programmed to roll dice to determine the fall schedule."
Executive Beta: *rolls dice* "More reality shows!"
Network President: "And Executive Gamma, programmed to underestimate middle America."
Executive Gamma: "It's funny, but is it going to get them off their tractors?"
I think it was the movie format in general that sucked for Futurama. It was as though they crammed 45 minutes of jokes into a 90 minute movie. The snap just wasn't there. Getting back into a 22-minute box would eliminate that problem. I watched the first movie start to finish, and was a little disappointed. I waited until Beast with a Billion Backs came to comedy central, and found it to be a slightly better presentation.
Any additional Futurama is welcome.
I agree with you.
I found watching all the 3 DVD's for the full length got pretty *yawn*. However, If I watched them in a shorter format, they weren't that bad. During the whole DVD run, I was saying to myself "well, that's a Futurama joke, and that's a Futurama joke, but they're just not funny, but it's classic Futurama. Did I just grow up and it's not funny anymore?" hehe
But the DVD extras! Those are completely and totally...
well they gotta be worth something.
Or maybe not. Like you I waited until they were broadcast to watch them.
I'm surprised at how negative the view of them are in this thread, I enjoyed them. It helped that I wasn't overly analytical in comparing them to some perceived ideal from the series, and that I didn't pay to watch.
Sadly, you're right. Each DVD release has gotten progressively worse, and this last one just sent the simple message "Futurama has lost its magic".
Maybe a return to TV would change that, but my hopes aren't high.
P.S. More Al Gore.
I thought Bender's Game was one of the better Futurama works. I can't think of any single Futurama TV episode or any combination of three Futurama TV episodes that I would say is better than Bender's Game.
But if you can't do better than those terrible new DVD releases, please *DON'T* bring this show back.
You watched it, you can't unwatch it!
Good News Everyone!
No, just you're.
I only posted this comment [slashdot.org] a few minutes ago and look what it has wrought!
I was never a big Simpsons fan, but I loved Futurama.
Seriously, screw 'em. They've wrecked one good show after another. I hope another network - any network - picks it up rather than them.
a sitcom about a female writer living in the city
Are you talking about Sex in the City?
NBC hasn't had a new hit TV show in years - that's why they recently moved Jay Leno to 10. They, literally, had nothing that could fill the slot. So yes, I think NBC might be in bad enough shape that they'd be willing to take some risks.
Plus the fact that Terminator:TSCC was just moved to Friday as a lead-in to Dollhouse, which will result in both shows dying.
Seriously, the only worse thing they could've done was put those shows on Saturday night.
Yeah, isn't Dollhouse the second Joss Whedon show that Fox has started out in a Friday night time slot? I mean, really, if you're going to start a new show on Friday night, you may as well just title it "Cancel me".
Joss Whedon said that with Fox pulling their usual crap for Dollhouse, combined with the success of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" last year, that he will never again work with a TV network.
Cable channels dont typically have the budget for something like Futurama. Its one thing to licence reruns and produce low-quality stuff like Aqua Force and another run a show like Futurama. Right now, its Fox or nothing. Has any of the major players expressed interest? Everyone seems to shy from animation except for Fox.
This is spot on. Cable networks like USA, TBS, TNT, FX, etc never come up with original programming series or movies.
They just don't have the budget for Monk, Psych, My Boys, 10 Items or Less, Closer, Saving Grace, Nip/Tuck, Sons of Anarchy, It's Always Sunny....
And that's just off the top of my head, I'm sure I omitted many and I seriously doubt their production costs are less than that of animation.
Matt Groening has said before that Futurama is so budget-intensive that the smaller cable networks would not be able to financially support the show in its current state. I remember he went on to say that the kind of sacrifices that would have to be made to make the transtion from a broadcast to a cable network cut too deep and he was unwilling to make them.
I can't remember exactly where I read this, but it makes sense. It's very espensive to make an animated show of this nature while maintaining Futurama's standard of quality. Look at how Comedy Cental and Adult Swim save money on their animations. South Park is super cheap because there's no hand animation. Drawn Together has hand animation, but it's crude and ugly when you stand it next to Futurama. For years Adult Swim used stock character animations and used computers to manipulate them (e.g. Space Ghost, Sealab).
Futurama needs Fox's money. Kind of like how Mr. Bungle's California could have never been made without Warner Bros.'s money backing it up.
Fox's good series but low ratings failures were due to giving the network over to sports instead of recorded programs.
Fridays during the late 90s and early 2000s, many affiliates carried local baseball games during primetime and they ran the Fox Friday lineup in late night after the local news. So, any series schedule for Friday would get weak rating numbers, and therefore be canceled as a flop.
Sundays were troubled by NFL runovers and the fact that The Simpsons had to start on time at 8pm or not at all, meaning that in many cities the 7:00 and 7:30 programs would be pre-empted by the game being shown in the late afternoon slot. This doomed Futurama because it couldn't be found in a consistent slot.
Another strike against Futurama is that it had to run with an alternate opening due to a showing the Planet Express ship crashing into a large screen, which was considered too close to a reminder of 9/11/01.
However, Fox has fixed all of these problems. Time has passed so the opening is more acceptable. The Friday baseball pre-emptions are now a thing of the past, Fox has let baseball move to regional cable channels, some of which it controls. The Sunday problem has been solved by a postgame show called "The OT" that stations join in progress as the game ends, and runs until 8pm. So, the only thing that can be pre-empted by football is football talk.
Fox is now no longer killing good shows because they're not getting the numbers due to Fox's own mistakes. They've solved that problem.
I never really understood how Faux not only greenlit so many wonderful shows but also murdered them in the cradle after barely a season. It seems too much to be coincidence, I think it must be some sort of pathology amongst their programming directors. Keen Eddie, Futurama, Firefly, Dollhouse, all axed. (Ok, might be jumping the gun on Dollhouse by a few weeks.)
There's usually a political explanation for this kind of illogical behavior where Exec #1 gets to feel like he has a bigger penis for sabotaging Exec #2's pet project. It ultimately costs the company more money than it makes but ego is served so nobody cares. It just makes me wish the inevitable decline and destruction of the company would happen sooner before they tease me with any more shows I might like.
Anyone remember that old animated show God, the Devil, and Bob? That fat fuck Jerry Falwell led a crusade against it as being blasphemous, the same way he did with the Last Temptation of Christ. Oddly enough, both examples here had a greater understanding of and sympathy for Christ's point of view than that bloviating, closet-case fucktard and all of his ass-hatted minions.
The Last Temptation one is particularly amusing because the basic premise is "How can Jesus make a sacrifice of rejecting a peaceful human life and accepting the cross if he had no desire for it? Sacrifice without desire is an empty gesture. Giving up brussel sprouts for Lent? Meaningless. Giving up chocolate? Meaningful." So the fundies all flipped out at the idea of Jesus having an erection, Jesus having amorous thoughts about women, about wanting to take a wife and raise a family. Do you idiots read your own fucking book? It says God was made flesh, he is the son of man! One follows the other! What, you gonna flip out if anyone implies Jesus must have had to take a dump or two during his time on Earth? No, Jebus can't poo! Our pitiful little minds cannot contemplate it! Blasphemy!
So the whole point of the movie was showing Jesus wanting that normal life, seeing how good it felt, knowing it could all be his, and sacrificing it for a greater purpose. And this was considered to be the most horrible cinematic sin committed since Ishtar. Stupid fucking fundies.
Futurama ran for four seasons before Fox dropped the axe, it was a good show and deserved to continue, but it's hard to put its cancellation in the same basket as the ones fans really complain about, where Fox commissions a show and then either drops it right away before it has time to develop, or demands so many changes that it doesn't stand a chance.
It's going to be interesting to see what's done with Dollhouse. The ratings thus far have been abysmal, and the pilot was very poorly received, but most vi
>It's going to be interesting to see what's done with Dollhouse. The ratings thus far have been abysmal, and the pilot was very poorly received, but most viewers seem to have been much more positive about the second episode, and that might mean it'll pick up viewers over the next few months.
Haven't seen it, but are you sure they actually ran the pilot? As I recall, the geniuses helped Firefly by running the first few episodes out of sequence.
That's good to know... I could barely sit through the first episode. Maybe I'll give the second a shot after all.
I agree. If the show was good enough for them to put it on, at least let it run a full season and build buzz!
Bet you don't remember Space: Above and Beyond, do you? This antagonism that Fox has to QUALITY programming - IOW, anything that isn't distinctly mediocre and non-controversial - has been going on for a lot longer than most people even realize. I suspect it's rooted in Fox's struggle from birth as a belated network, and having to be better than the Big Three at targeting the broadest market segment possible. That meant that any show that proved too intellectual or (negatively) controversial to a median a
I thought the most potentially offensive part of The Last Temptation of Christ was the suggestion that Jesus worked as a carpenter making crosses for crucifixions. Made me laugh.
I was thinking more like the people that go out and find good content line it up. Then it runs until the p.o.s. that owns the network watches enough of it to see it doesn't impose his world view on others then cans it but I like your version too.
I never really understood how Faux not only greenlit so many wonderful shows but also murdered them in the cradle after barely a season. It seems too much to be coincidence, I think it must be some sort of pathology amongst their programming directors. Keen Eddie, Futurama, Firefly, Dollhouse, all axed. (Ok, might be jumping the gun on Dollhouse by a few weeks.)
Really? Dollhouse? You're putting Dollhouse in the same category as Futurama (which ran for multiple years) or Firefly (which was passed on by UPN, Scifi, etc...I'm sure all of them regret it, but it wasn't just Fox that made that call)? I own several seasons of Buffy, Firefly, and Dr Horrible...and I could barely sit through the first episode of Dollhouse. I too am expecting it to be cancelled, and no doubt, there will be many upset Whedon fans. (And add Arrested Development to your list)
It just makes me wish the inevitable decline and destruction of the company would happen sooner before they tease me with any more shows I might like.
Out of curiosity,
Does Fox still have first-air rights? Fox loves to take the best stuff and strangle it to death. Out of order episodes, random slot times, and only a dozen episodes before cancellation is extremely common. They're the ADD child of networks.
Fox doesn't deserve Futurama; if they aren't contractually obligated to bring it back to Fox, West should sell the rights to Adult Swim or Comedy Central. Adult Swim loved showing five hours of Futurama at a time, and Comedy Central just wants more animated filler. They'll both be better homes (though my confidence in [AS] is basically nil now, they've wasted all the class and personality that once made me interested in them).
My other concern is Family Guy syndrome. Maybe it was because the show was off the air for some time, but Family Guy just isn't as good as it once was. Partly it's because they've completely changed the dynamic of every character (usually for the worst--Stewie is now more about "hiding in the closet" now than "take over the world and kill Lois"). Partly it's that the seem to rely more and more on the "like that time when" skits. While Futurama has always had a much different way to go about humor than that, it could still fall flat.
Also, I'm worried that we'll lose all the great "under the table" jokes that require at least some college education to get.
Family Guy hasn't been as good as it once was, but I don't think that had much to do with the cancellation. If you watch all the episodes one after another, the evolution from original Family Guy to modern Family Guy is very slow and steady.
Partly it's because they've completely changed the dynamic of every character (usually for the worst--Stewie is now more about "hiding in the closet" now than "take over the world and kill Lois"). Partly it's that the seem to rely more and more on the "like that time when" skits.
All the characters are better and funnier than they used to be. The Stewie character had to change eventually. Honestly, the 'wacky character that is obsessed with global domination' has been played out for a long time, almost as much as either a talking animal/inanimate object, or the self-obsessed, idiot dad. We've seen those things in comics forever and it really isn't much of a gag anymore. The Stewie/Brian-heavy episodes are the best. Anything else is like watching a Lisa- or Marge-heavy episode o
If they do decide to bring back Futurama, I hope they'll go back to standalone episodes rather than movies cut up into four episodes. I don't mind an occasional "to be continued", but I find Futurama works better in half-hour chunks.
Will Sweet Zombie Jesus be resurrected into the dialogue?
Movies were mediocre at best
I'm sure it's already been said but damnit if it isn't true, such a shame about those movies.
"Bender must be stopped! I have gone too far. Who does that guy think I am? "
Will it be in HD like the Simpsons or SD like Family Guy?
"The following is not for the weak of heart or Fundamentalists." -- Dave Barry


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Story highlights
- Dell says first quarter profits fall nearly 80% on slump in desktop, laptop sales
- Analyst: 'PC industry throwing darts at the board to see what sticks'
- Gartner: PC shipments fell 11% year on year in the first quarter
- Dell attempting to shift from personal computers to "enterprise solutions" focus
Dell, the world's number three PC maker, reported Thursday a 79% profit plunge for the first quarter of the year -- to just $130 million -- owing to a slump in desktop and laptop sales, so-called "end-user computing" products. Quarterly operating income for the division fell 65% year on year.
"In the PC industry, everyone is struggling -- not just Dell -- and especially in the mobile PC market," says Craig Stice, Senior Principal Analyst at U.S.-based Compute Platforms. "When I look at those (Dell) revenues split between mobility and desktop, they're really not too far out of line with where the industry is at. The entire PC market struggled in Q1."
Technology research firm Gartner estimated 79 million PC shipments occurred in the first quarter of 2013 -- a fall of more than 11% year on year. HP saw a 24% drop in PC shipments, Dell fell 11% while Taiwan-based Acer Group fell nearly 30%.
The fall in global PC shipments contrasted with a rise in tablet volumes, according to IDC, an IT market research firm. From January to March this year, Apple shipped nearly 20 million units to be the world's number one tablet maker; Samsung shipped nearly 9 million units for second place. The world's top five tablet computer companies shipped more than 49 million units to record 142% growth year on year.
Dell has been trying to counter losses in its PC division by shifting to enterprise solutions, which includes hardware like computer servers, software for business applications and technical support to service clients.
Dell's quarterly operating income for the enterprise division soared 71% to $79 million but contributed just 8% of the company's total income.
"Enterprise solutions are significant growth opportunities," says Stice. "The margins are certainly better than the PC area -- high single digits to the low teens -- versus the enterprise space which is considerably higher."
In terms of hardware units sold for enterprise solutions, HP has traditionally been number one, with Dell and IBM rounding out the top three, adds Stice.
Still, the future seems anything but bright for the PC industry despite a flurry of attempted innovations, from super-thin and light ultrabooks to convertible PCs that can morph into tablet forms.
"Dell was a bit slow to the Ultrabook game and lost to players like (Taiwan's) Asus and Acer," says Richard Lai, Editor-in-Chief of Engadget Chinese. In addition, Dell's dive into convertible laptops "was rather half-hearted: poor screen, too bulky."
"You can kind of say the PC industry is throwing darts at the board to see what sticks," says Stice. "If they can find that combination of a whole computing performance PC, with mobility and a low price point to compete with some of those $200 media tablets, then I think there's opportunity. There's still an opportunity for a PC refresh cycle. That can happen."

subset: commoncrawl


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|Episode Description
|Saturday, Nov 3, 2012 - 9:30 PM
Mum has had enough of the boys' attitudes to housework so sets out on a campaign to civilize them. Karen battles with chuggers and buying shoes, while Dad goes to war with a domestic appliance. G
Mountain Time
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LEWISBURG, Pa. — Welcome again to "Ask the Experts," a regular web feature that highlights the expertise of various Bucknellians in a range of topics related to current news events and other timely subjects. || Ask the Experts archive
This week, we asked Stephen Stamos, professor of international relations, about the state of the U.S. economy. Stamos is the author of six books, including Economics: A Tool for Understanding Society, International Economics and The ABC's of International Finance, and is currently writing another with Patrice Franko, a 1980 Bucknell graduate now teaching at Colby College. The Puzzle of 21st Century Globalization is scheduled to be published by Rowman & Littlefield in September.
Q: What is your assessment of the economic environment and prospects for recovery?
A: We've had two quarters of economic growth, 2.2 percent in the third quarter and 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter. Technically, the recession is over. But the consumer who typically accounts for about 72 percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has really changed consumption patterns and behavior. People are more careful about spending. They have less to spend. They feel poorer. Their household net wealth has been decreased by the decline in home equity and their retirement accounts have been hard hit. In the worst of this crisis, people lost 30 to 40 percent of their home values and 30 to 40 percent in their retirement accounts. And now, consumers are increasing savings to a level of about 5 percent of after-tax income. A year ago, it was zero. Typically, when the economy is growing at a steady, sustained clip, we expect consumer spending to be a sizeable part of it. Consumption spending has dropped to 67 percent of GDP. It begs the question, if the consumer isn't spending, what is going to replace that if we're going to have anything more than anemic growth?
Private sector investment has pretty much stalled out, too. Fundamentally, you're not going to get an expansion in investment until there's a demand for what it is people produce. In the absence of the growth of demand, there's no need to produce more.
Growth is likely to be 2 to 3 percent next year, the first half being a little stronger than the second half. What's happening is that the U.S. stimulus driven largely by the government is coming to an end. In stark terms, you've got a Federal Reserve monetary policy that's the easiest it's been in history and we're running a deficit of $1.6 trillion and we still can't get beyond anemic growth. We could be in for a long period of stagnation.
Q: Unemployment is now at 9.7 percent. Is there any possibility for jobs growth?
A: We looked at the 20,000 decline in the January employment report and thought that was an improvement. But we went back with recalculations and learned that we'd lost a million-and-a-half more jobs than we thought in this recession. So, since it began in late 2007, we lost 8.5 million jobs. When you look at the number of jobs you need to create for new labor force entrants, what that means is that to get back to the pre-recession level of unemployment we would need to create 11 million more jobs. In economic terms, it takes about 2 to 3 percent of real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth to generate a one percentage point decline in the unemployment rate. There isn't going to be any really quick or dramatic drop in these numbers. Worse, the sort of head-fake of an unemployment rate going down to 9.7 percent from 10 percent was probably more of an aberration because fewer people are looking for work and more are discouraged. When they re-enter the labor force to search for work, they'll come back on the rolls of the unemployed. And we're still getting large numbers of people filing for initial claims and extensions for unemployment benefits. This is not a great picture.
Strikingly, we've seen productivity growth off the charts, but that's not the kind of productivity growth we need. When you have unemployment at almost 10 percent and productivity growth at 9 percent, that means the few people working are producing more and working harder.
Q: Is there any help left in the federal stimulus package?
A: Last year, 30 percent of the stimulus package was spent. About 60 percent will be spent this year and the remaining 10 percent next year. We can expect some continued support, but the debate is whether these are brand new jobs being created or are these preserving jobs that people might lose otherwise if that spending wasn't out there.
What doesn't get talked about is the way this money is being used to extend services to people in terms of extended unemployment, health care access, Medicare access. The dramatic reality aside from the national economy up against all of this is that state and local governments have been crucified. Their financial status is continuing to undermine the strength of the national economy.
Q: Given the stimulus and deficit spending, is there a fear of near-term inflation?
A: Some in the last few months have wrung their hands about possible inflation. Currently, there is no inflation in the system and will not be for a year and a half or two years no matter what. There is a larger fear of deflation. That was the Achilles heel for the Japanese economy in the 1990s. They sat with a monetary policy like ours for 15 years and it didn't do anything. The deflationary fear is more ominous to me. This deficit obsession right now is really misplaced.
Q: Your thoughts on the administration's proposed budget?
A: It's a proposed $3.8 trillion with a $1.6 trillion deficit built in. But $2.4 trillion of the budget is protected and mandatory - defense, Social security, Medicaid and Medicare and the interest on the public debt. The interest, even at these low rate levels, is $250 billion a year. With projected deficits the interest payment on the public debt is going to triple to about $750 billion in 10 years.
Under current legislation, 83 percent of the budget is basically fixed and frozen. There can be a conversation about the other 17 percent, which is viewed as discretionary. That debate is going to be over the built-in jobs bill and some other spending related to job creation and employment.
In some ways, it's a ceremonial dance in Washington that is prolonged. It allows for the lightning rods to come out to debate and argue. Budget forecasts by the Congressional Budget Office and Office of Management and Budget clearly document the nightmare we're heading toward. Without health-care reform that reduces costs, without revisiting Social Security in terms of benefits, extending time periods for people to qualify and paying a little bit more into it, we can see that these are literally going to bust us. You can say to any legislator today, you've got a short-term and a long-term responsibility to the country and you've got to start acting like that on both counts. Not to do that means you're here for some other reason.
Q: What are some of the major global issues in the current environment?
A: I've long been an advocate that we need today something on the order of a new Bretton Woods conference. This has been evident since the 1987 stock market collapse. The financial characteristics of the world have changed dramatically, fed by globalization that's been emerging for decades. The fact is we need an active G-20 group thinking about structures, institutions, policies — whether it's the WTO, the IMF or World Bank or common financial regulations throughout the global system in terms of banks' behavior, leveraging and capital. We're just going to have to move to that. That means abandoning national sovereignty in some areas to gain more stability and security longer term. It's a different cooperation in the world.
We get the short-term benefit of capital moving here, chasing the dollar. Now, countries in Europe are having trouble. They need capital investment for jobs. Look at the unemployment rate across some of those countries, it's staggering. Spain is almost at 20 percent. Now some of them are getting into debt situations that could generate defaults. The problem is the money that they've borrowed is with banks in the U.S. and Europe that still haven't cleaned up their balance sheets and who are still carrying toxic assets. These defaults will bring those up to the surface again — which is why the stock markets are reacting the way they are.
One of my fears is that we could go along at a low level of anemic economic growth, prolonged stagnation and hit another international crisis of some sort. Even with a slow economy and high unemployment, we could be looking at oil at $150 to $200 a barrel again and running our trade deficit up to 7 percent of GDP, which would cause a collapse of the dollar. The point is if you don't fix this other stuff, you could entertain this scary stuff. Even if we had a functioning political system with good will, this would be a tough thing to take on right.
New editions of "Ask the Experts" will appear on the Bucknell University website on most Thursdays during the fall and spring semesters and on occasion throughout the summer. If you have ideas for future questions or are a faculty or staff member who would like to participate, please contact Sam Alcorn.
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text: I don't have empirical data to back this up, but my gut feeling is that most of the decisions overturned with the DRS system have been when spinners have bowled. This begs the question : has the system helped spinners the most, perhaps more than necessary? What impact would the DRS have had on the reocrds of the great spinners of the past.


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I don't know if "middling recruit" is fair. It seems like he had some decent recruiting hype.
Kurt Wermers Leaving Team, Grady Right Behind?
Golf fundraiser thing this weekend nets $650,000, some actual newsbits:
As Kurt Wermers' uncle posted on premium message boards a few days ago, the redshirt freshman guard Wermers isn't returning. (I was trying to get a second source before loosing it into the wild; in retrospect that was probably excessive caution borne of the whole he-is-he-isn't-he-is McGuffie thing. I knew the poster was Wermers' uncle from his posts during Kurt's recruiting, and he posted that the decision had already been made.)
Wermers was a middling recruit who hadn't generated any practice buzz yet. He wasn't going to be in the two-deep this year, so the impact on 2009 should be nil. Down the road it'll depend on how many others end up leaving early; some level of attrition is fine but we saw the fruits of widespread losses last year.
I wonder who this is directed at: "Stay tuned. There's a couple guys I'm gonna sit with here. Just guys that maybe if they're not doing all their responsibilities and doing what they need to do to be part of our football program may not be back. I hope that's not too many."
Um… a couple? Obviously Grady is hanging by a frayed thread and will have to plead for his place, but I'm hoping "a couple" is just PR.
According to Rivals he was recruited by Debord. Perhaps he stuck it out for awhile in Rodriguez's system and decided it wasn't for him?
I think its more like hes not sure if hes going to play college football more than Rodriguez's system
This makes a lot of sense for Kurt as he was a holdover from the Carr recruiting class of 2008 and was likely going to be buried deep on the depth chart behind guys like Schilling (Jr), R. Barnum (RS Fr), Q. Washington (True Fr) and, hopefully, Torrian Wilson (2010).
Then again, who thought Mark Huyge was probably going to be our starting RT in 2009?
Good point. Or maybe, he had some inside info that Seantrel Henderson was on the way...?
When Seantrel commits to UM that will send Dann O'Neill packing as they are both OT's.
I'd really like too see the logic behind that statement before you make it. O'Neill was highly rated out of HS and I doubt that he'd transfer.
or is this just a personal opinion? and if it is, why do you think O'Neill would leave?
The O'Neill thing was a joke. We REALLY need emoticons for this board.
I would have thought that my assertion that Seantrel Henderson was definitely going to commit to UM would have been the clue that the post was TIC (tongue-in-cheek).
But if Henderson commits I'll be watching O'Neill like a hawk. Where is O'Neill on the likely depth chart anyhow?
My default assumption is that every non-Brian post is a joke.
Yeah he wasn't going to get much playing time anyway. Plus we are the thick of the things for some very good offensive tackles in this recruiting class.
Weren't there a bunch of players not paying enough attention to (going to) class and stuff? I remember Shaw being in that group...
...if Michael Shaw were led out the door.
There were a couple supposedly in dodgy territory, but that's all I know.
Let's hope that any departures come from position groups where we're solid in the two deep. Frankly, any departures from the defensive side of the ball scare me quite a bit.


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Fallow Bridge
Fallow Bridge is a road bridge in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas connecting central Bone County with central Red County in San Andreas. It is a medium-length, steel-colored truss bridge that services the road running by the Fern Ridge, Hampton Barns and Hunter Quarry areas.
The bridge's design is identical to that of Flint Bridge, but is roughly twice as long and lower above sea level.


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To the editor:
Seniors are in a dangerous position in today's economy. Yet they are failing to respond to the dangers. It really doesn't matter if you are on the "T" or if you are bagging at Publix. We are all losing. The cost of living, especially health care, is rising faster than we can tolerate. We have little recourse to work with. Yet we have a government who plans to turn Medicare into a voucher system (the cost of health care will rise much faster if that happens), and turn Medicaid into a block grant to State. They also have big plans for Social Security, like elimination. Where do you think we will end up when our money runs out? Probably in a boarding house. I strongly urge you to support your local Eldercare Foundation. Perhaps someone will remember you when you are left in a boarding house sitting catching flies.
There was a provision for long-term care in the ACA. This was eliminated. That should not have happened. Some version should be replaced. Currently long-term care facilities can't survive on Medicaid reimbursement, they therefor decrease care to Medicaid long-term care recipients. Those of us who can afford a long-term care insurance policy realize that the premiums are increasing rapidly and soon will become unaffordable (unless you are rich). Some provision should have been made to help with long-term care insurance premiums. If our country can afford to support Health Care Savings Accounts, it should be able to support for long-term care insurance.
Yes, there are those who recommend a single payer health care system based on Medicare. Would you really want the government having the power to make life and death decisions on health care? The current Medicare system exhausts our Congress's ability to manage. No, we need something else, not a Medicare system.
Lewis Robinson, M.D.
Fort Myers


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A second baby giraffe has joined Elliot at ZooWorld.
The new baby is a month old, but not everyone is applauding her arrival.
The new baby came from the same Virginia zoo as Elliot, and ZooWorld needs help coming up with the perfect name.
When ZooWorld got their first new giraffe, they knew they wanted him to have a partner.
"We got the call several weeks ago that she had been born, we went nuts," said assistant director of ZooWorld, Tom Walling. "We are just really thrilled to death."
The new baby arrived Thursday, and the two giraffe's are getting along perfectly, and onlookers are loving it.
But, there are those who worry the enclosure for the animals is too small, and many have taken to Facebook to get their message out.
"They want to see changes, well then let's turn some negative energy into positive and take those energies and help us raise some money and they can see some changes that we both want," said Walling.
The enclosure for the giraffe's is three time bigger than what is recommended by zoologists and Florida Fish and Wildlife.
In the future the two giraffe's may mate but ZooWorld officials are still discussing that option.
"It takes three years for them to become sexually mature," Walling said. "We've got time to talk."
Right now, their job is just to be cute.
ZooWorld will be holding another contest Wed-Fri to decide on a name.
They will announce the winning name on Valentines Day, which may be perfect timing.
"They're kissing and smooching. He's nibbling on her ears and everything's going really well," Walling adds.
It will cost a dollar to cast a vote and all of the money raised will go into the giraffe fund.
You can submit your vote online at www.zooworldpcb.net.
ZooWorld's Newest Attraction
A second baby giraffe has joined Elliot at ZooWorld.


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Transforming Learning Environments
New book provides insights into the future of education from faculty and staff in the College of Education and Social Services
- 03-27-2013
- By Jon C. Reidel
In her most recent book, Fayneese Miller, dean of the College of Education Social Services, calls on members of her faculty to tackle a wide range of critical issues facing education now and in the future. They all attempt to address one overarching question: what is needed within systems of education to prepare the next generation of leaders for a competitive global environment?
The answers that lie within the pages of Transforming Learning Environments: Strategies to Shape the Next Generation (Emerald Books, 2013) focus on online learning, technology, leadership, curriculum innovation, and English Language Learners to show the challenges facing traditional educational practices and the ways learning environments are responding to the new reality of globalization. Miller, who wrote the introduction and served as editor of the book, sought the opinions of 18 experts, including 10 from UVM, to contribute chapters that she placed into four sections: Leadership Transformations; Thoughtful Cultural Models in a Globally Dynamic World; Implementing Change in the Way We "Think" and "Do" Education; and Technology as an Agent for Transformation.
"The chapters are a spectrum of what is going on in the world of higher education at this critical juncture in our history," Miller says. "If those in higher education are not amenable to change, as imposed by the outside world, they could be rendering themselves obsolete. As John Dewey states, 'knowledge and habits have to be modified to meet the new conditions,' so do the authors of the chapters in this volume."
Preparing the next generation of tech-based teachers
Many of the UVM contributors, including associate professor Cynthia Reyes who wrote a chapter addressing cultural competency using the digital narratives of middle school English language learners, were already teaching the contents of their chapters to UVM students. Reyes writes about a model that utilizes digital narratives to develop cultural competency in teacher education programs and other institutions that struggle with the meaning of the concept. She uses a digital story project she helped conduct at a local middle school as an example, showing the positive effects of students narrating their own stories based on the core values that guide their daily lives. She also challenges readers to think about innovative ways to integrate more student voices and how storytelling can inform pedagogy.
"I care deeply about the notion of safe spaces in the school community for all students, and because of my own experiences as a child of immigrant parents I am also drawn to the school experiences of young adolescent students who have refugee or immigrant narratives and who are English language learners," says Reyes, who utilizes iMovie technology to create the digital stories, which she says improves literacy, technology, writing, speaking and listening skills. "I wonder about places in the school where they can explore their multicultural and multilingual identities and to do so on their terms. Digital storytelling, as far as I've read in the literature and what I've experienced in collaborative research with other teachers and students, demonstrates that it can be a transformational tool for English language learners as they write about and share their narratives with their peers and adults. The digital tool can also be reaffirming for students who want to become skilled writers of English. It gives them access, in a sense, to explore the English language and that can be a powerful process for teachers to observe."
Also under the technology section is a chapter by Laurie Gelles, director of technology and communication in CESS, titled "From Pong to PS3: How Video Games Enhance Our Capacity to Learn and Build Community." Gelles, who recently received her doctorate from UVM's Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program, focuses on ways technology can help build capacity for learning, in both traditional and non-traditional settings. She teaches about this concept in an undergraduate course titled "Video Games and Learning Theory" that focuses on conducting new research related to multisensory learning environments.
"There has been a huge push to integrate technology into learning environments in order to replicate the way that people most regularly experience and interact with information," Gelles says. "The real trick is figuring out why we are so drawn to interactive technologies in the first place."
Her most recent study made use of the video game Guitar Hero II in an attempt to measure the effects of multisensory learning. Following Dewey's ideas around rich learning environments and making meaning through experience, Gelles explains that technology allows for the simulation of real-life experience and provides people with ways to mimic sensory environments that would otherwise be unavailable.
"Video game designers have figured out how to create sensory-rich environments that don't overload our cognitive abilities," she says. "Cognitive load theory talks about the importance of balancing the way that we process information. Taxing one area with too much information can slow the learning process. Our next steps should be applying these types of gamification strategies to our curriculum design and learning environments. By doing this, we can enhance both our capacity to reach our students, and perhaps their capacity to learn."
Creating global citizens
DeMethra LaSha Bradley, assistant dean for student administration and licensing officer in CESS, offers a chapter under the cultural models section written from the perspective of a student affairs administrator, titled "Incorporating Concepts of Global Citizenry into Student-Centered Academic Advising." She unpacks the concept of the global citizen with this definition: "Global citizenry consists of awareness, responsibility, the ability to respect and value the difference in others, a willingness to act even when in the minority opinion, and continuous learning to understand the world and all its functions."
Bradley, who received her Ed.D from UVM in 2009, includes narrative examples from her own professional experiences in higher education and provides concrete ways to incorporate concepts of global citizenry into academic advising. These include knowing the delivery method of academic advising at your institution; listening to your students' dreams and goals and responding with concepts of global citizenry in mind; using social networking to spread concepts of global citizenry; and casting a wide net to catch any possible cross-campus colleague collaborators.
"I try to create connections for students beyond the classroom and encourage them in their global citizenry," says Bradley, "Academic advising is just one of the many facets that institutions can use to meet their global goals. This office is a hub for instilling values to make a difference, and we can't do that in an increasingly globalized world if we don't have students who travel the world and understand what being a global citizen really means."
Other UVM contributors
Other contributions from UVM faculty and staff include chapters by Penny Bishop, professor of middle level education and director of the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education, and John Downes, associate director of the Tarrant Institute and doctoral research fellow, titled "Responsive Technologies for Young Adolescents;" Robert Nash, professor in CESS, and Vanessa Eugenio, office/program support, employer relations, and technology specialist, titled "Teaching About Religious and Spiritual Difference in a Global Society;" Maureen Neuwmann, associate professor in CESS, titled "Developing Teacher Leaders to Transform Classrooms, Schools, and Communities;" and Holly Buckland Parker, senior academic services professional in the Center for Teaching and Learning, titled "Learning Starts with Design: Using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in Higher Education Course Redesign."


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BIDEN: Biden scored his 10th Iowa state legislative endorsement yesterday.
Biden's hometown paper, the Wilmington NewsJournal praises him in an editorial for passing his Iraq legislation, saying it "marked a successful day in his presidential campaign … and has also made Sen. Biden stand out from the rest of the Democratic presidential candidates as the only one to have a specific idea to implement."
CLINTON: Is Hillary presidential? That's what Salon's Tim Grieve asks in an article about Wednesday night's debate: "We thought Hillary Clinton finally came off like the front-runner that she is in Wednesday night's Democratic debate in New Hampshire. John Edwards and Barack Obama both looked worn down and thin, and neither scored anything like the knockout blow that must be feeling increasingly necessary."
The Washington Post's Howie Kurtz gets both the editor of GQ and the writer of the spiked GQ-Hillary story, Josh Green, to talk. GQ claims they spiked the story because it wasn't the piece they expected. Green said, "GQ told me it was a great story and a hell of a reporting job, but they didn't want to jeopardize the Clinton-in-Africa piece," he said. "GQ told me the Clintons were unhappy and threatened to revoke access to Bill Clinton if the Hillary story ran."
Green's article for GQ dealt with the history of conflicts in the coterie of staff surrounding Clinton. It focused in particular on complaints about her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, and questions about the compensation of communications director Howard Wolfson.
The L.A. Times looks back at Wednesday night's debate and concludes that all of Clinton's rivals are getting more comfortable taking on Clinton more directly over her role in the first Clinton admin. Although nobody directly addressed the impeachment fight that defined so much of President Clinton's second term and still colors the way many Americans view the Clintons, it was clearly a backdrop to the discussion -- as when Biden, filling an awkward silence following his "old stuff" remark, added: "When I say 'old stuff,' I'm referring to policy -- policy."
EDWARDS: NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller reports that after a town hall in Conway, N.H., Edwards defended his choice to ask for public financing this far into the campaign. "I don't think anybody anticipated the amount of money that would be raised in this campaign," he said.
The former North Carolina senator said he was not concerned about state campaign finance limits. "One thing that's clear is that we have plenty of money to compete," he said. In a sign that the campaign is struggling to raise money and to meet its original $40 million '07 goal, the campaign announced it would accept public financing. The move means that on Jan. 1, the campaign will have achieved short-term financial parity with Clinton and Obama but will limit the campaign's ability to raise or spend much money for the Feb. 5 states.
The campaign apparently will raise somewhere between $7-8 million this quarter, which ends Sept. 30. At best, that amount could be only a third or less of what Clinton and Obama raise.
Many reports note the spending limits the campaign COULD face in Iowa and New Hampshire as well, but there are enough FEC loopholes to allow the campaign to get around that. The big impediment that accepting public financing creates is that the campaign will face an OVERALL spending limit.
This is what happened to Edwards in '04. After he won the South Carolina primary, he had to pick and choose what states he could seriously contest while Kerry, who didn't accept public financing and therefore wasn't constrained by an overall spending (and fundraising limit), could contest every state. Nevermind the issue of what happens if Edwards actually became the nominee; he'd be without money until Labor Day.
Some other takes: Politico's Cummings: "Edwards' decision to accept public matching funds to finance his campaign is a political blow but it's probably also the only lifeline he has to stay in the race."
The Boston Globe: The move "allows Edwards to take up to about $21 million in matching funds in exchange for abiding by a primary-season spending limit of $50 million. But the move is likely to be perceived as an acknowledgment that he has been unable to compete with senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the fight for Democratic dollars."
Edwards answered town hall-like questions in an online forum co-sponsored by MTV.com and MySpace. "Despite having the technology to give him a virtual thumbs-down, the online instant-polling tool showed that 90 percent of viewers liked what they saw of Edwards overall. And viewers soon will get a chance to have the same experience with other candidates. " Most of the other frontrunners (on both sides) plan to also participate in this series of MTV/MySpace town halls. The forum, in fact, will include every major candidate -- except Fred Thompson, who, apparently, doesn't want his MTV.
NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller reports Edwards took a variety of questions at the forum, many focused on foreign policy and education, from a crowd of about 300 students at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. To fund a College for Everyone program that would allow students to work their way through college, Edwards said he would get rid of banks as intermediaries on student loans and collect capital gains taxes that aren't currently being paid.
OBAMA: The campaign held a rally in NYC last night where they attracted some 20,000+ supporters. In a giant rally in the backyard of Senator Hillary Rodham, Mr. Obama, of Illinois, drew distinctions between himself and his leading rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, insisting that only a fresh candidate could truly change Washington. Twice, he singled out Mrs. Clinton. "Even your senator from New York wasn't clear about the Yankees," he said, laughing at his own joke. "I know who I'm rooting for!" Obama was referring to Clinton's waffling on who she would root for in a Yankees-Cubs World Series.
So we know definitively that Michelle Obama didn't say if Obama loses Iowa, it's over. But even though she didn't say it, what was attributed to her was actually a very truthful statement. Frankly, if Obama doesn't win Iowa, it's hard to imagine how he wins the nomination.
The AP reports that the Obama campaign is trying to soften Michelle Obama's comments that "If Barack doesn't win Iowa, it is just a dream." The campaign's Iowa spokesman said: "Every campaign has said it's important to do well in Iowa, and that's our goal."
Portfolio's Matt Cooper wonders if Obama doesn't get too hot at a debate because of his race.
NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan gets a peak at Obama's convocation speech today at Howard University. At this historically black university, He make an appeal to African-American voters and try to put to rest criticism that he may not be committed to civil rights issues. "Like Katrina did with poverty, Jena exposed glaring inequities in our justice system that were around long before that schoolyard fight broke out," Obama will say according to excerpts released by the campaign.
Obama will outline the disparities that continue to persist within the American legal system. "We can have a crime policy that's both tough and smart," Obama will say. "If you're convicted of a crime involving drugs, of course you should be punished. But let's not make the punishment for crack cocaine that much more severe than the punishment for powder cocaine when the real difference between the two is the skin color of the people using them."
Other aspects of the plan include: (1) strengthening the civil rights division at the justice department; (2) the creation of a voting rights section within the justice department; (3) increase the number of public defenders; (4) equalize the punishments for illegal substances including crack cocaine versus powdered coke; (5) review mandatory minimum drug sentencing.


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Award-winning BSHS bands to perform on upcoming dates
It's not your typical performance, but it is no typical band.
The Big Spring High School Honor Band will be performing a noon concert at St. Mary's Episcopal Church Thursday.
"We are performing this not only to get another quality recording from the band, but to allow people who normally wouldn't be able to attend a nighttime concert hear the band perform," explained Big Spring High School Band Director Rocky Harris.
The BSHS band has achieved a feat often unheard of: three bands, three sweepstakes and straight ones from six judges.
"If there is such a thing as a perfect season in band, this would be it," Harris said.
For more information, you may subscribe to the Big Spring Herald or purchase an e-edition.


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NEWS: Camden Rocks Festival to return for 2016, featuring Young Guns, SikTh, We Are The Ocean and more!
February 17th, 2016
Camden Rocks Festival has confirmed that it will be returning on June 4th of this year, with a bill of over two hundred bands hitting a host of different venues across Camden Town. You can view all the bands confirmed so far below:


text:
Click a swatch below to change colors.
Sport-Tek® Youth Colorblock Raglan Jacket. YST60
A lightweight top layer, this water-repellent jacket takes on unpredictable weather with athletic colorblocking, superb functionality and exceptional breathability.
Youth Sizes: XS-XL
Price starts at: $25.98
For detailed PRICING, please select "Add to
" to view the ordering/pricing grid.


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Arsenal are battling with Inter Milan to sign Bundesliga stars Lewis Holtby and Zdravko Kuzmanovic this summer.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is monitoring the pair, but will have to fight off interest from the Serie A side, according to a Calciomercato.com report.
Holtby currently plies his trade with Schalke 04 but his contract expires at the end of the season, so the Gunners would have the possibility of negotiating a pre-contract deal if there is no extension signed by January.
Kuzmanovic is currently with Stuttgart, but has found playing time hard to come by recently and admitted he could leave at the end of the season if he does not find himself more involved in first team action.
Stuttgart signed the Serbia international in 2009 for a club record €8million from Serie A side Fiorentina.
Holtby is a product of the Schalke youth system, though he is entitled to a British passport by virtue of his father being from England.
The 22-year-old impressed in the recent Champions League clashes between his side and Arsenal, and has made himself an integral part of Huub Stevens' first team this season.
Do YOU want to write for GiveMeSport? Get started today by signing-up and submitting an article HERE: https://www.givemesport.com/writeforgms


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A question at the Aug. 14 debate about whether the residents of the 6th District are "better off today than they were two years ago" provided an opportunity for the congressional challengers to gang up on the incumbent, which they seized with relish.
"The short answer is no," Seth Moulton said, spotlighting jobs as a key issue and highlighting Lynn, which used to be thriving manufacturing hub, as an example. He suggested that Rep. John Tierney has fallen far short of the standard set by the late Paul Tsongas in his efforts to provide "economic leadership," which revitalized Lynn. He pointed to his own work forging public-private partnerships and navigating a high-speed rail project through Texas' treacherous political waters as evidence he would be able to do better.
Speaking next, Tierney blamed the recession largely on the policies of "George Bush and the Republicans." Nonetheless, he argued, "Massachusetts did better in the recovery" than much of the rest of the country, which he attributed in part to ensure that as part of the Recovery Act, investments had been made in education and fully staffing police and fire stations.
In an apparent shot at Moulton, Tierney noted that he had been president of a chamber of commerce for 20 years, "not just one year here, one year there," and thus is better equipped to advocate for small businesses.
Tierney also noted that the federal government has committed to funding its part of the extension of the Blue Line into Lynn, and it is the state that must step up and invest in the project. He pointed to parking-garage projects in Salem, Amesbury and Gloucester and waterfront improvements in Newburyport and Gloucester as examples of federal funds he has been able to secure.
Marisa DeFranco, too, noted she had been running her law office "not just for one year but for 17 years." Her business, "literally on Main Street," had been begun with "zero access to capital… just my wit and good ethics."
"Congress has been crushing the life out of small business, not just for two years but for 20 years," she said, pointing to a three-year lapse of the SBA Loan program as one example.
Businesses "don't really love" the SBA program, DeFranco argued, describing it as "full of a lot of federal red tape."
"They want federal tax relief," she said, later noting that one of her top priorities would be to see the top tax rate on businesses lowered from 34 percent to 26 percent.
John Devine noted that, while the recession had "hit everyone hard," Wall Street had come "roaring back." He called for a "stimulus program" for Main Street, instead of Wall Street. He expressed support for raising the minimum wage and lowering payroll taxes and agreed with DeFranco that the small-business-loan process is "too complex."
Tierney replied that he and his colleagues have managed to pass 22 bills providing tax cuts and waiving loan fees for small businesses and could do more but for Boehner and the "radical right" keeping legislation from moving forward. DeFranco characterized this as work "around the edges," which was "not good enough."
Moderator James Campanini, editor of the Lowell Sun, then tried to get the candidates to respond the question of whether the middle class was better off than it was two years ago in one word, yes or no. Moulton, DeFranco and Devine quickly replied, "No." Tierney suggested the framing of the question was unfair. The middle class, he said, "is not where it ought to be," but yes, he finally said, it is better off.
6th District: Is the middle class better off today?
A question at the Aug. 14 debate about whether the residents of the 6th District are "better off today than they were two years ago" provided an opportunity for the congressional challengers to gang up on the incumbent, which they seized with relish.


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Contribution 2
From WikiContent
Simplify essential complexity; diminish accidental complexity.
Essential complexity represents the difficulty inherent in any problem. For example, photosynthesis is complex by itself; it is inherently complex. Conversely, accidental complexity grows from the things we feel we must build to mitigate essential complexity. Many frameworks and vendor "solutions" are the symptoms of the accidental complexity disease. Frameworks that solve specific problems are useful. Over-engineered frameworks add more complexity than they relieve.
Developers are drawn to complexity like moths to flame, frequently with the same result. Puzzle solving is fun, and developers are problem solvers. Who doesn't like the rush of solving some incredibly complex problem? In large-scale software, though, removing accidental complexity while retaining the solution to the essential complexity is challenging.
How do you do this? Prefer frameworks derived from working code rather than ones cast down from ivory towers. Look at the percentage of code you have in a solution that directly addresses the business problem vs. code that merely services the boundary between the application and the users. Cast a wary eye on vendor driven solutions. They may not be inherently bad, but vendors are the pushers of accidental complexity. Make sure that the solution fits the problem.
It's the duty of the architect to solve the problems inherent in essential complexity without introducing accidental complexity.
Sutra by Neal Ford.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3
Back to 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know home page


text:
cairnswk wrote:chipv
loading das schloss xml into your tool brings up error message, possibly because several territories have no borders as they cannot be attacked but can be bombarded.
can you check this out please.
it still loads the file so i can adjust the coordinates for centering, but produces that error message.
Those are just warnings, no need to worry. I don't see any errors.
What I have been considering is improving that warning to only show up if a territory cannot attack or bombard.
Alcatraz in San Francisco would flag up a warning.
If any territory can either attack or bombard then I could remove those types of warnings for territories that can only bombard.
Currently these type of warnings are:
Warning: Territory X cannot be attacked
Warning: Territory X cannot attack
Warning: Territory X attacks Territory Y but not vice versa
The last one will flag any one way attacks just in case this is a mistake.
The first 2 could be modified to
Warning: Territory X cannot be attacked or bombarded
Warning: Territory X cannot attack or bombard


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|2013-02-21, 23:16
|Link #6801
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2009
So let's say a series is only out on TV, which usually means there is no license. So, is it legal to upload and download those episodes that someone records from TV? Since the owners are putting it out for free on TV, internet fansubs would seem to only generate interest and not lose money. Fansub watchers would either buy the series later (owners get money), or just ignore and move on (owners get nothing b/c the fansub watcher did not like their advertisement, but every advertiser expects that some/most people who watch their ads won't commit to buying). It's not like DVD and BD ripped fansubs, in which case the owners do lose money because why buy the discs when you already have disc quality for free?
Last edited by Kudryavka; 2013-02-22 at 00:14.
|2013-02-22, 05:01
|Link #6803
Feeling comfy
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 43
There might be some ambiguity over whether simply making a copy is already considered an offence. The Laws of Anime was recently published on Anime News Network. I read the first part, but not the second. A clearer answer might be found there.
|2013-02-22, 05:10
|Link #6804
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 60
In most cases, you are committing a copyright infringement of some sort (even if it was broadcast on cable, you don't have a subscription - if it was broadcast on free television, you still didn't watch the advertisements).
However, whether it really matters or not to the producers practically depends on if they think they lost money or not. So far *most* anime producers don't really care about overseas infringements because people who watch fansubs either were never going to buy anyway (leechers) or they will later buy the series when R1 distributor licenses it anyway, kind of a "don't ask don't tell".
Now that services like CrunchyRoll and Funimation netcast series, it has gotten more complicated. For example, I subscribe to Crunchyroll but I grab fansubs anyway because I think it is stupid and wasteful to restream an episode several times. When the DVDs come out, they've corrected broadcast flaws, added extended footage or bonus episodes - often I end up buying the DVDs anyway.
I simply refuse to buy DVD/Bluray without having seen a broadcast version of the product. The moral of the story is that it is a murky swamp of "right" and "wrong" - you just have to wade through and figure out what is moral for you and what kind of risks those entail.
|2013-02-22, 05:20
|Link #6805
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 29
If there is an attempt to copy, modify and edit, it is considered a breach of copyright and it is an offence. Although you may have to pay remedies, the producers aren't stupid, as what Vexx have said, they do know how to run businesses. They do not care about these kind of small stuff because they know litigation is expensive and that money can be better used to create something else to sell.
Still, be careful if you are going to do this - against better financed opponents there isn't much of a way you can win.
|2013-02-22, 09:19
|Link #6806
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2009
When I say "free", I meant "free to me". Of course it's not really free but viewers are not paying.
What is this "TV license fee"? Is it something that viewers pay? Where I live all I pay for is the TV, a TV box and an optional cable box but I know for late night anime it's different and the studios don't get funding from networks to run their anime. The anime is essentially a long advertisement so the studio pays the network to run it. So I am seeing the entire ad and sponsors in TV ripped fansubs I think?
If I never saw the movie I wouldn't want to own it at all. But if it was for a series I already like then I'll just blind buy (I am doing that for the Madoka movies when they come out on BD because I missed them).
It is illegal anyway.
Well this puts me in a rut. But I'm glad for Crunchyroll, I only watch them whenever I can even though their subs are bad occassionally (I watch very few unlicensed anime a year so its really easy to just trust Crunchy). Then I buy discs if they ever come out where I am, but I'm going to buy the R2 releases someday (since I think BDs from Japan will work on American player?).
Last edited by Kudryavka; 2013-02-22 at 09:32.
|2013-02-22, 11:55
|Link #6807
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 29
|2013-02-22, 13:06
|Link #6808
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2009
|2013-02-22, 15:36
|Link #6809
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 29
I was watching R2B, a Korean movie before I came out to work.
During the scene where the MC is being rescued by the 707th SMB, the commandoes are all wearing berets instead of helmets.
I know it is unrealistic, going into a high-risk special operation without helmets. However, it feels so, out of place when they wear ceremonial berets instead of jungle hats. Does the Korean cinema place more emphasis on image than reality?
|2013-02-23, 04:52
|Link #6811
temporary safeguard
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Germany
Age: 36
I guess their equal entropy stems from them being all common words and not just random strings of various length.
Ie a common word is an atomic entity here, like a letter, or a number and their total amount is limited.
He may have counted all common words and determined that picking from one of them (in all lower case) is the entropy equivalent of an 11 bit number.
That means he's made the assumption that there are only about 2^11 = 2048 common (english) words.
I dunno if that is correct. Maybe he only counted 'common' words with a certain length... You go check.
|2013-02-23, 12:45
|Link #6812
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 32
Getting to your question specifically, based on his numbers of blocks it looks like the assumption is that most words are 5-6 characters in length. Aside from not knowing exactly what the words is, there is uncertainty in not knowing whether it's five or six characters in length... 5+6 = 11? And then there are four words, so 4x11=44.
|2013-02-23, 16:32
|Link #6813
temporary safeguard
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Germany
Age: 36
Entropy in information science is basicly the amount of variation a message can possibly contain, that means it's uncertainty.
Say you have a 2 bit number. Then it could hold 2^2 different meanings: 00,01,10,11
So the entropy here is 2 bits (the entropy equaivalent of a 2 bit number).
Characters are not bits. For ecample ASCII uses 8 bits to code a single character. You could code all small letters into 5 bits though.
With 26 possible letters, a random sequence of letters of length 6 would have 26^6 possibilities. That is hugely more than 6 bits of entropy. And it is also much more than 11 bits.
He uses only 44 bits, because he assumes that an attacker knows that
a) he's using only common english words, not random sequences
b) he's using exactly 4 of them
and it is STILL reasonably safe.
This is because the obvious rebuttal to this comic would be "but dictionary attacks will crack it in no time".
He's getting ahead of that by assuming such an attack and still coming out with a good security.
Last edited by Dhomochevsky; 2013-02-23 at 16:49.
|2013-02-24, 22:59
|Link #6814
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Australia
Google around a bit, 2^11 is a bit more than 2000. And most kid starts school knowing 500-5000 words, so i guess it has a point
|2013-02-24, 23:17
|Link #6815
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Some where in the desert
Anyone seen or have this?
Anyone have this?
I recently been going through online stores to look anime items to buy, and I saw this.
"16GB USB Flash Drive USB 2.0 Memory GUILTY CROWN Anime Comic Game Credit Card Size "
Is it just a USB drive? or something else? Because it has the game in the title.
|2013-02-25, 04:25
|Link #6818
|2013-02-25, 04:34
|Link #6819
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: قلوب المؤمنين
|2013-02-25, 04:39
|Link #6820
|problem, q&a, questions, serious
|Thread Tools


text:
THE former US congresswoman who was shot in the head two years ago has launched a national effort against gun violence, saying she and her husband will work to counter the country's gun lobby.
Gabrielle Giffords' effort comes as the Obama administration faces a self-imposed deadline at the end of this month to propose ways to curb the mass shootings and other violence that continue to grip the country.
The administration this week is calling gun owner groups, including the National Rifle Association, victims' organisations and representatives from the video game industry to the White House for discussions.
The sense of urgency comes after a young man with a high-powered rifle, legally purchased by his mother, shot 20 young children and six adults to death at a school in Connecticut last month.
President Barack Obama, who had been quiet on gun violence during his first term, called the shooting the worst moment of his presidency and has demanded ''real action, right now''.
But Congress is caught up in deep debate over fiscal issues, and one top Republican has warned that action on gun violence will be pushed back as a result.
Ms Giffords, who has owned a Glock pistol, and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, are becoming prominent voices for gun control efforts, especially after the Connecticut attack.
They wrote in an opinion piece published in the USA Today newspaper that their Americans for Responsible Solutions, a political action committee, would help raise money to support greater gun control efforts.
''Achieving reforms to reduce gun violence and prevent mass shootings will mean matching gun lobbyists in their reach and resources,'' they wrote.
The NRA, the country's most powerful gun lobby, said after the Connecticut shooting that the solution would be putting an armed security officer in every school.
The couple pointed out that they support the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
''We don't want to take away your guns any more than we want to give up the two guns we have locked in a safe at home,'' they wrote.
''What we do want is what the majority of NRA members and other Americans want: responsible changes in our laws to require responsible gun ownership and reduce gun violence.''
Mr Kelly and Ms Giffords criticised politicians' inaction, saying ''in response to a horrific series of shootings . . . Congress has done something quite extraordinary – nothing at all''.


text:
he Runner's World Big Book of Marathon and Half-Marathon Training
is the ultimate handbook for every runner, from beginner to seasoned veteran! Inside you'll find foolproof training plans to get you ready for the race, efficient workouts that minimize wasted effort,
smart tips to drop pounds, plus thousands of useful tips and bits of insider advice from those gurus of distance running at
Runner's World
Conquer the half in just 10 weeks — or 26.2 miles in just 16 weeks. Get race ready again in 4, 6, or 8 weeks — learn how in your
Successfully meet your race day goals!
Even qualify for Boston with:
Six plans show you when to run fast, slow, short, long, or at race pace and when to add speed work or hills and on which days — it's all laid out for you! Proven from Disney to Dubai, detailed week-by-week daily training plans help
shave minutes off your time
. See the magic that makes them work on page 38!
No more veering off course when runner's knee, IT band, and other painful runner's ailments flare up. Sports medicine experts reveal
the most effective workouts for staying injury free
. Experts share their strategies for managing injuries like plantar fasciitis and getting back on the road! See page 187.
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on page 104.
PLUS: Runners' most burning questions answered by top sports physiologists, nutritionists, sports medicine experts, and
Runner's World
's living legends, Bart Yasso and Amby Burfoot:
"I missed a few weeks of training. Am I doomed?"
"After my runs I'm wiped out. What am I doing wrong?"
"My tendinitis is flaring … can I run through it?"
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Boston Marathon winner Amby Burfoot
has logged more than 105,000 lifetime miles and run more than 75 marathons, with a personal best of 2:14. He has written and edited four books on running, including
The Complete Book of Running
"Mayor of Running" Bart Yasso,
chief running officer for
Runner's World
, has run more than 1,000 races across all 7 continents, including 100 marathons, with a personal best of 2:40. He's finished the Ironman five times and run the Badwater 146 through Death Valley.
A special projects editor at
Runner's World
, Jennifer Van Allen
has finished 36 marathons and ultras, with a 3:08 personal best at the 2009 Boston Marathon. Winner of the 2008 24-hour National Championship, she also competed in the 2009 24-hour World Championship in Italy as a member of Team USA.
Unlike any other marathon or half-marathon training book, all of the strategies and tools inside
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Throughout the
Runner's World Challenge
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Runner's World
editors, following Bart Yasso's 16-week marathon training plan. Their goal? Put time-tested principles of training to the test. Through an online community, they shared breakthroughs, bonks, and bruises and through it all,
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Order now to get your free gift and your free preview. You'll have 21 days from receipt to examine The Big Book of Marathon and Half-Marathon Training for free. You can return it at the end of your 21-day preview and owe nothing. If you keep it, you'll pay $27.95, plus shipping and handling. Your free gift is yours to keep no matter what as our thanks for previewing The Big Book of Marathon and Half-Marathon Training.
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text:
Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) is under fire for his budget proposal that eliminates collective bargaining rights for public sector union workers. (Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: Megan McCormick / Flickr)
On this day, it behooves us to remember the words of Martin Niemoller.
"First they came for the communists," he wrote, "and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."
I am a trade unionist, and yesterday in Wisconsin, they came for me. They came for you. They came for every working person in America, and their intent could not be more clear. Governor Scott Walker, along with the Koch Brothers and the right-wing radicals of the Republican Party, moved in darkness and with shameless deceit to gut the ability of dedicated laborers to bargain on an equal footing for the right to earn a living wage and to have access to decent health care.
Among other things, the bill as passed allows the state to fire anyone who participates in a strike. The story of the 20th century was written by workers who dared to face the truncheon in order to fight for their basic rights, and the strike was integral to that struggle. Any Wisconsin worker who dares to stand in defiance of The Bosses now faces personal annihilation, not just for themselves, but for their family. America was made in the struggle of union workers standing shoulder to shoulder in defiance of the idea that being rich means being right. That struggle is now in mortal peril, and the outcome affects all of us.
Fairness and the rule of law had no place in Wednesday's filthy action. This move was done in secret, without notice or announcement as required by Wisconsin law, and bears the stamp of the cowards and cretins who are responsible. Similar anti-worker legislation has been unfolding in Ohio, Indiana, Florida and more than a dozen other states. Those responsible claim such actions are necessary because of economic concerns, but the Wisconsin perpetrators tipped their hand. They stripped the bill in question of anything having to do with the state budget, so as to give them the chance to vote without a quorum...but the entire premise of their anti-union attack was that the destruction of collective bargaining was needed to salvage the state's financial situation. By gutting the bill of any semblance of budgetary issues, all they were left with is what they were after in the first place: the end of collective bargaining, the end of unions altogether, and by proxy, the end of the Democratic Party.
Eric Kleefeld, the excellent reporter for TalkingPointsMemo, and a Wisconsin native, exposed the endgame thusly:
The Democratic Party in Wisconsin is, to an extent that is not true in most other states, a genuine labor party -- a party that is intertwined with unions at the institutional level, with many politicians who have also been union officials or done legal work with unions, and which speaks for organized labor in key debates. They in turn compete with the Republican Party, which represents business interests as embodied by the state's Chamber group, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, in what has until now been a sometimes uneasy but nevertheless predictable political system.
In short, unions in Wisconsin are not just economic organizations made up of their respective workers - they are political institutions that are a major part of the state. As such, a change to the state's union laws that would threaten the existence of organized labor would in turn threaten the existence of the Democratic Party itself in Wisconsin, as people have known it for over half a century -- something that state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) may have accidentally alluded to earlier today.
On top of that, the class consciousness was especially ignited by Walker's phone call two weeks ago with blogger Ian Murphy, who was posing as Republican financier David Koch. During that call, Walker discussed his ideas for tricking the Democrats into coming back by pretending to negotiate, his ambition to bust the public employee unions in the mold of President Reagan firing the air traffic controllers, and that he had considered (but ruled out) planting troublemakers in the crowds of protesters. But beyond the specifics, the optics alone were amazing: The state's governor was seen buddying up to someone he believed to be a mega-rich donor from out of state.
Get Truthout in your inbox every day! Click here to sign up for free updates.
Say what you will about the Democratic Party. For my part, I can say plenty, especially about President Obama's total absence during the three weeks this struggle has been going on, and about the White House's angry insistence that the fight in Wisconsin is merely "a distraction."
All Party nonsense aside, this is about a governor attacking people who work for a living, because they have the gall to believe standing together to fight for simple things like fair wages and basic health care is more important than a failing governor's ego or political aspirations.
The fact of the matter is that Governor Walker has unleashed a frontal assault on working people in his state because wealthy corporatists believe "Because I Say So" is enough. Make no mistake, friends. This is class warfare. It is brazen, unmistakable, and now out in the open. They have so much, but they want more. It has been made all too clear that they will gut your life, your rights, your everything, in order to get what they want, and what they want is absolute and total control.
Mr. Niemoller wrote his poem decades ago. It might read like this today:
First they declared corporations were "people," and I didn't complain because I'm already a person.
Then they made unlimited money "speech," and I didn't complain because the American Dream says I'll be rich someday, too.
Then they commandeered the means of production by shipping our greatest strength - manufacturing - overseas, because they don't have bothersome unions over there, and I didn't complain because WalMart has cheap stuff.
Then they bought Congress so they could write the laws, and I didn't complain because I can't be bothered to vote.
Then they bought the Supreme Court so they could cement their rule, and I didn't complain because I don't have time to pay attention.
Then they bought the news so they could convince everyone it's always been this way, and I didn't complain because it's always been this way.
Then they manhandled an election and I didn't complain because I'm not from Florida.
Then they lied us into wars and I didn't complain because I'm not a soldier, or an Iraqi, or an Afghani.
Then millions died for profit and I didn't complain because the graphics on the news were totally awesome.
Then they started locking people up because they said they could and I didn't complain because nobody locked me up.
Then they started spying on everyone because they said they could and I didn't complain because I'm a real American.
Then they came for the worker, but thanks to supply-side trickle-down economics, I don't have a job.
This truth is self-evident.
They are coming for you, and they are relentless.
Stand up.
For your country, for your family, for yourself.
Stand up.
Be heard.


text:
Western North Carolina's nationally renowned craft beer scene has taken another major leap forward, as Wicked Weed Brewing of Asheville announced Friday it is investing $5 million over the next three years to build a new production facility in Enka.
ASHEVILLE — Western North Carolina's nationally renowned craft beer scene has taken another major leap forward, as Wicked Weed Brewing of Asheville announced Friday it is investing $5 million over the next three years to build a new production facility in Enka that will be among the largest in the region.
Wicked Weed partners made the announcement during a preview for local media, economic development leaders and Buncombe County commissioners of Wicked Weed's soon-to-open, second downtown location on Coxe Avenue, the Funkatorium barrel house and sour-beer tasting room, where the award-winning brewery will eventually store up to 1,000 of its beer-aging wooden vessels.
The brewery unveiled plans for a third facility, a production and distribution center where several of Wicked Weed's popular year-round and seasonal beers will be bottled (and eventually canned) and self-distributed throughout North Carolina. The 30-barrel brew house will be capable of yielding 50,000 barrels of beer annually, numbers that as recently as two years ago would have made it the largest craft brewery in the Carolinas.
The new 40,000-square-foot plant, located in Enka Commerce Park off Sand Hill Road, will be near New Belgium Brewing Co.'s East Coast distribution center currently undergoing site preparation. The Wicked Weed facility sits on more than 6 acres of land, said brewer and partner Luke Dickinson, and may eventually include a tasting room and possible music/events venue.
Brewing is expected to be underway by fall 2015, and the new venture will create more than 80 jobs in addition to the 145 workers the company currently employs.
Wicked Weed partner Rick Guthy said many communities in and outside the region tried to lure Wicked Weed to move the project to their towns and cities, but in the end the brewery's leaders decided they wanted to keep all the company's operations in Asheville, where they started.
Wicked Weed began in December 2012 when it opened its popular brewpub on Biltmore Avenue, next to the Orange Peel, and quickly gained national acclaim for its wide variety of innovative beer styles. Wicked Weed's popularity soared beyond the Southeast when the then-rookie brewery took home a gold medal at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival, the largest commercial beer competition in the world.
In December 2013, The Poe House in downtown Hendersonville became Wicked Weed's only WNC draft-beer account outside the brewery. The tavern and retail shop also now carries Wicked Weed beers in bottle.


text:
Emily Blunt is Trying Out for a Roxy Music Album Cover
via Fashion Copious
The Devil's Lair: RS steps into the well-appointed living space of Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister. [Rolling Stone]
The Rest of Us Can Only Dream: Jean Pigozzi balls for real. The rest of us are Sam Bowie by comparison. [Vanity Fair]
Piece by Piece: Some kind soul has broken down the monument of riffs that is the Stones' "Gimme Shelter" into its component tracks. [Dangerous Minds]
The Man Himself: Mat Honan sits down with Vincent Gallo's twitter doppelganger. [The Awl]


text:
Gravel joins Genesee & Wyoming Canada from Rio Tinto/Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) where he was general manager of the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway (QNS&L) and IOC's Canadian port operations since 2006. For the previous 15 years, he served in various capacities at both IOC and QNS&L, including as superintendent of strategic rail projects and as manager of the engineering department.
"Louis brings a strong operating, commercial and leadership background to our Canadian rail operations," said GWI President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Hellmann. "In addition, his extensive knowledge of the labrador trough will support our service to that growing market."
Brault joined Genesee & Wyoming Canada in 2000 after 22 years with Canadian National. A civil engineer by training, he has devoted his entire career to the railroad industry and been active in a number of industry associations, including as the first chairman of the Railway Association of Canada (RAC) Shortline Committee and as vice chairman of RAC's board of directors.
"Mario has led the transformation of Genesee & Wyoming 's Canada region, which has grown from two railroads in 2000 to eight today and the region's safety performance is among the best of GWI's operations worldwide," Hellmann said. "We are grateful for Mario's many contributions to GWI and the Canadian rail industry and look forward to Louis building on that success."


text:
BP's cement contractor on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 says its recent discovery of missing cement samples was the result of a "simple misunderstanding," not an attempt to withhold crucial evidence.
In a court filing Tuesday, Halliburton attorneys accuse BP of trying to create a "sideshow" during an ongoing trial over the deadly disaster. They also argue BP PLC is trying to deflect attention from its own actions that led to the nation's worst offshore oil spill.
Last week, BP asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to sanction Halliburton for allegedly destroying evidence that could have been used at trial.
Halliburton discovered cement samples this month at a Lafayette laboratory that weren't turned over to the Justice Department for testing after the spill.


text:
OHSAA to limit football blowouts
- Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
State adopts rule to speed up lopsided games in second half
West Liberty-Salem's Taylor Cordell runs against Southeastern in Week 10 of the 2013 season, a game in which the Tigers won 55- 7. The Ohio High School Athletic Association has adopted a new rule to speed up games in the second half when a team is ahead by 30 or more points. (EXAMINER FILE PHOTO)
COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio High School Athletic Association has adopted a football point-differential rule for this fall that will provide for a running clock in most instances after a team takes a 30-point lead in the second half.
The sanctioning body added the rule, intended to speed up lopsided games and already used by many other states, after consultation with the state's football coaches association.
After the lead reaches 30 points in the second half, the only times the game clock will stop will be for a team or official's timeout, the end of a period and when there is a score. The clock will start again for the next play and will continue to run in all other situations.
If the lead drops below 30 points, the clock reverts to regular timing.
The OHSAA's assistant commissioner in charge of officiating, Beau Rugg, said the rule was proposed out of concern for player safety.
"Lopsided games aren't good for anybody," Rugg said. "The risk of injury goes up, and it can be a tense situation for coaches and players. The length of games is also a topic of conversation at the national level. This is just the right thing to do."
The opposing coaches still can reach agreement with the referee to shorten periods or even end the game should there be a shortage of players or any other emergency situation.
Other rules changes, which do not require voting by the member schools but only between the OHSAA and the respective coaches' association, were also enacted. Softball and baseball teams are now permitted to play doubleheaders on school days.


text:
This is good for young girls to see. They can realize you do not have to be stick skinny to be considered beautiful. Good job Sports illustrated.
she is Spock approved.
Borgo is dead on with his assessment. I'd like to see a picture of her mother or maybe an older sister. That will tell the real story, not these over-edited SI pics.
That being said, I welcome the return of the 50s-era pin-up body shape.
Unless your an Atlanta homocide detective
ahhh...puppet legs
would it kill that lazy broad to work her abs?
I'd attack that a$s like it stole something
The fact that Upton doesn't have the perfect body, makes her that much more attractive in my eyes.
Those titties could end the war in the Middle East.
Last edited by Dcat; 02-12-2013 at 11:07 AM.