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Physicists solve uncertainty about uncertainty principle
September 10, 2012
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is one of the cornerstones of quantum mechanics: it's impossible to measure anything without disturbing it.
For instance, any attempt to measure a particle's position must change its momentum.
But never mind all that. It's wrong, University of Toronto physicists say they have just proven.
(This has important implications for quantum information and especially quantum cryptography, where it is fundamental to the security of certain protocols.)
E pur non si muove
Here's how PhD candidate Lee Rozema states the problem: "We designed an apparatus to measure a property — the polarization — of a single photon. We then needed to measure how much that apparatus disturbed that photo. To do this, we would need to measure the photon before the apparatus — but that measurement would also disturb the photon."
To overcome this well-known impasse, Rozema and his colleagues used a technique known as "weak measurement" in which the effect of the measuring device is itself too weak to measure. Here's how it worked:
1. Before each photon is sent to the standard measurement apparatus, measure two forms of polarization, X and Z, weakly, then measure the Z polarization (strongly), and then measure the X polarization again (right), noting the effect of the Z measurement on the X polarization.
2 Measure it again, with the same setup, noting the results.
3. Repeat many times and compare the measurements.
Result: the disturbance induced by the measurement of Z was in fact less than Heisenberg's precision-disturbance relation would require. (Actually, it was more complicated than that — see the open-access ArXiv paper for details.)
The findings build on recent challenges to Heisenberg's principle by scientists the world over. Nagoya University physicist Masanao Ozawa suggested in 2003 that Heisenberg's uncertainty principle does not apply to measurement, but could only suggest an indirect way to confirm his predictions. A validation of the sort he proposed was carried out last year by Yuji Hasegawa's group at the Vienna University of Technology.
In 2010, Griffith University scientists Austin Lund and Howard Wiseman showed that weak measurements could be used to characterize the process of measuring a quantum system. However, there were still hurdles to clear as their idea effectively required a small quantum computer, which is difficult to build.
"In the past, we have worked experimentally both on implementing weak measurements, and using a technique called 'cluster state quantum computing' to simplify building quantum computers. The combination of these two ideas led to the realization that there was a way to implement Lund and Wiseman's ideas in the lab," says Rozema.
"The results force us to adjust our view of exactly what limits quantum mechanics places on measurement," says Rozema. "These limits are important to fundamental quantum mechanics and also central in developing 'quantum cryptography' technology, which relies on the uncertainty principle to guarantee that any eavesdropper would be detected due to the disturbance caused by her measurements.
"The quantum world is still full of uncertainty, but at least our attempts to look at it don't have to add as much uncertainty as we used to think!"
The research is supported by funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
- Lee A. Rozema, Ardavan Darabi, Dylan H. Mahler, Alex Hayat, Yasaman Soudagar, and Aephraim M. Steinberg, The Certainty of Uncertainty. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 100404 (2012)
- Lee A. Rozema et al. Violation of Heisenberg's Measurement-Disturbance Relationship by Weak Measurements. ArXiv. Aug. 15, 2012 (open access)


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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Members of Congress are calling for an investigation of Royal Dutch Shell PLC's Arctic offshore drilling operations as salvagers develop plans to move a company drill ship off rocks near an Alaska island, where it ran aground in a fierce year end storm.
Shell incident commander Sean Churchfield said Thursday that the first salvage crew on board the Kulluk, a 266-foot diameter barge with a 160-foot derrick, reported back with details that will be used to begin planning. He would not speculate on when a salvage report might be ready.
"There is still a lot of work to do to bring a safe conclusion to this incident," he said.
The vessel is upright and stable, with no indication of a fuel leak, Churchfield said.
The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, meanwhile, said in a statement that the New Year's Eve grounding should trigger a look at Shell's entire Arctic Ocean drilling operation by the Interior Department and the Coast Guard.
The coalition is made up of 45 House Democrats.
"The recent grounding of Shell's Kulluk oil rig amplifies the risks of drilling in the Arctic," they said in a joint statement. "This is the latest in a series of alarming blunders, including the near-grounding of another of Shell's Arctic drilling rigs, the 47-year-old Noble Discoverer, in Dutch Harbor and the failure of its blowout containment dome, the Arctic Challenger, in lake-like conditions."
The coalition believes these "serious incidents" warrant thorough investigation, the statement said.
Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said in an email that the company is in full support of, and is providing resources for, the investigation of the grounding by the Unified Incident Command, made up of federal, state and company representatives. Smith said the findings will be available to the public.
The Kulluk is a non-propelled vessel with a reinforced funnel-shaped hull designed to operate in ice. It is carrying more than 140,000 gallons of diesel and about 12,000 gallons of lube oil and hydraulic fluid. It drilled during the short open-water season last year in the Beaufort Sea.
A 360-foot anchor handler, the Aiviq, was towing the Kulluk from Dutch Harbor to Seattle last week for maintenance and upgrades when the tow line snapped south of Kodiak. Lines were reattached at least four times but could not be maintained. A lone tugboat still attached Monday night in a vicious storm couldn't control the vessel and cut it loose as it neared land.
After the grounding, critics quickly asserted it has foreshadowed what will happen north of the Bering Strait if drilling is allowed.
Environmentalists for years have said conditions are too harsh and the stakes too high to allow industrial development in the Arctic, where drilling sites are 1,000 miles or more from the closest Coast Guard base.
Two national organizations kept up the criticism Thursday by calling for a halt to all permitting for Arctic offshore drilling in the wake of the grounding.
"This string of mishaps by Shell makes it crystal clear that we are not ready to drill in the Arctic," said Chuck Clusen of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Shell is not Arctic-ready. We have lost all faith in Shell, and they certainly don't have any credibility left."
Lois Epstein, a civil engineer who works for The Wilderness Society in Anchorage, said Shell has made troubling, non-precautionary decisions that put workers and the Coast Guard at risk.
"These ongoing technical and decision-making problems and their enormous associated costs and risks taken by our military personnel once there were problems should lead the federal government to reassess its previous permitting decisions regarding Shell," Epstein said.
Shell has maintained it has taken a heads-up approach to anticipating and reacting to problems.
Shell officials say the Kulluk had been towed more than 4,000 miles and has experienced similar storm conditions. Shell staged additional towing vessels along the route in case problems occurred, said Smith, the Shell spokesman.
"We know how to work in regions like this," Smith said. "Having said that, when flawless execution does not happen, you learn from it, and we will."
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I was fortunate enough this year to contribute to a number of worthy DVD and Blu-ray releases, including Image Entertainment's THRILLER - THE COMPLETE SERIES, Arrow Films' INFERNO and SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (UK), Mondo Vision's SZAMANKA and Synapse Films' VAMPIRE CIRCUS. Since David Kalat omitted from his list those titles he contributed to, as a conflict of interest, I will follow suit. Each of these releases would have earned a place on this list even without my contributions because they are truly remarkable presentations.
THRILLER is without question the most thoroughly and capably annotated archival television release of the year; INFERNO restores Dario Argento's 1980 classic to a level of beauty and clarity I had not even witnessed on the big screen; SZAMANKA introduces to America one of Andrzej Zulawski's most important films (indeed, an important horror film of a most unusual kind); and SPIRITS OF THE DEAD is the long-awaited, definitive version of a hard film to nail down, encompassing Fellini's masterpiece "Toby Dammit." (If truth be told, SPIRITS is probably the year's most important new release for me, being the first home video release of this title struck from the original camera negative and reinstating the English audio option.) VAMPIRE CIRCUS recently arrived by missed being processed for inclusion by the skin of its fangs. The advance word elsewhere on the net has been very positive indeed.
This is the 12th and final list of our annual overview, and I was delighted that so many of the lists provided by our contributors praised discs that fell outside my own viewing this past year. That said, I must admit to a twinge of regret that none of our contributors -- not even I -- was able to find a place in our surveys for a disc as beautiful, generous and detailed as 20th Century Fox's AVATAR - THREE DISC EXTENDED COLLECTOR'S EDITION. With new releases, I suspect we take the bells and whistles more easily for granted. With time, the value of these discs may become more deeply felt and appreciated... but by then we'll likely be on to a whole nother medium.
My list is presented, painstakingly, in order of preference, but I must stress that the entire list is preferred.
1. THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1954, Criterion)
Probably one of the five or ten greatest horror films, and transcendent of genre in many ways, this disc contains the most staggering supplement ever to appear on DVD: a 2½ hour documentary composed of surviving raw footage from the original filming. This provides us with a unique glimpse into the work methods of everyone involved in the production of this American masterpiece. What this means is that we can now see actors like Lillian Gish, Robert Mitchum and Shelly Winters not only in performance but in process, and witness how Charles Laughton, in his only directorial assignment, shaped their performances.
2. THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS (1925, Kino on Video)
It's hard to believe now that I first saw METROPOLIS at a public library screening in the late 1960s that was dead silent and ran approximately one hour. I've since seen it numerous times, at numerous lengths, but this two-hour, twenty-plus minute version of Fritz Lang's masterpiece is the most revelatory─not only due to the newly recovered footage (which very nearly completes it), but also to the HD clarity which exposes previously assumed live action, miniatures or scale model shots to be animated drawings or glass matte paintings. The new footage is in rough shape, allowing it to provide its own footnotes; it adds a great deal to Fritz Rasp's sinister role as Joh Frederson's right hand man, smooths the previously jagged edges of Brigitte Helm's extraordinary triple role, and gives the whole film the breathing space to assume its rightful role as a spectacle. What was never quite so apparent to me before is that METROPOLIS is truly an opera, a film thoroughly informed by the filmmaker's love of opera as surely as Dario Argento's best work found its new direction by wedding its cutting and amplifying its visuals to the key of progressive rock. Knowing this makes its dramatic excesses and its oversimplified, perhaps overly symbolic theme into perspective, makes them more forgivable. Because of this, I find that its traditional narrative scoring─however wonderful it may be, and it carries a distinct and glorious prophecy of Franz Waxman's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN score during the creation scene in Rotwang's lab─rubs ever so slightly against the grain of what Lang's vision truly wants to be. For all that, it is a very fast-moving two-and-a-half hours and the recovered footage only serves to make it more vital, modernistic and approachable.
3. AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY (1968-72, Criterion)
Over a three year period, BBS produced seven films: HEAD, EASY RIDER, FIVE EASY PIECES, DRIVE HE SAID, A SAFE PLACE, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS─six of which encompass the arc of work that made Jack Nicholson a star and an actor worthy of stardom. This set contains all seven films and couches them in a wealth of exhilarating extras─audio commentaries, documentaries, interviews, archival materials─pertaining to each film and the company as a whole. Though not fantastic in nature, at least not wholly so, this set represents the college attended by the class that graduated from Roger Corman High School and incidentally underscores the value of the work that actors like Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper and filmmakers like Peter Bogdanovich did with Corman. And the HEAD disc contains, for the first time ever on home video, the 1966 screen tests of Micky Braddock (Dolenz) and Peter Tork, as well as ensemble tests that show The Monkees acting with other wannabees. For Monkees fans, this footage alone is worth the cost of the set. It's almost enough to make one overlook the not inconsiderable fact that the film itself has been remixed in 5.1, with the songs sounding far better than they do on Rhino's newly remastered HEAD soundtrack box set.
4. HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT'S INFERNO (2009, Park Circus, Region 2)
This documentary by Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea tells the story of the great French suspense director's ill-fated 1963 project with Romy Schneider and Serge Reggiani, about a middle-aged husband's festering jealousy about his younger wife, which ended when Clouzot suffered a heart attack two weeks into the filming. Collected here, for the first time, is an assemblage of loose and edited footage from those two weeks, footage that promises─even at a distance of almost 40 years─to catapult cinema into new visual vocabularies of human psychology and derangement. Clouzot ventures beyond narrative images to dwell obsessively on the beauty of Romy Schneider, using her as the centerpiece of numerous enthralling special effects, color and makeup tests, and superimpositions. Though presented in the scientific context of a documentary, this is one of the sexiest films ever made. Reportedly coming stateside from Flicker Alley.
5. ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S PSYCHO - 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Universal)
I'm working hard to hold myself in rational check here, because Universal's Blu-ray remastering of PSYCHO, coupled with ADX's 5.1 audio remix, begs to be hailed as the restoration of the year. It unearths visual and sonic elements of the film that feel every bit as long-buried as the lost footage from METROPOLIS or Clouzot's INFERNO. I'm talking about the deeper register now available to the double basses in Bernard Herrmann's orchestra, which make the murder of Marion Crane somehow more traumatic and revolting, and the way the rainfall now heard outside the Bates Motel as Marion checks in places us, with her, in a shower from the get-go. The little rear-channel kick in the pipes just before the shower water is heard in the front channels, and the deep idling sound of Arbogast's car motor. Likewise, the refining of the B&W cinematography has become revelatory in its own way, bringing us into more intimate contact with nearly all the performances. In Janet Leigh's case, this scrutiny presents us with one of the great tragic performances of the past half-century, and the densely layered eloquence of Joseph Stefano's dialogue retains its place at the very pinnacle of the genre. The extras on the second disc are mostly ported over from previous editions but remain valuable, with an excellent making-of documentary by Laurent Bouzereau and a sampling of the legendary Hitchcock/Truffaut interview that reveals the two men more at odds than print suggested, building to a satisfying assertion from Hitchcock about PSYCHO being a film that asserts its value almost entirely in cinematic terms.
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ - 70th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION
The regularity with which Warner/Turner/MGM keeps trumping past editions of this title has become tedious, but the first Blu-ray issue of the Victor Fleming classic obliterates even the memory of the $1,000,000 digital three-strip restoration of a few years ago. Every check in Dorothy's gingham dress is herein preserved in crystal clarity, and the ruby slippers sparkle and hold the eye in long shots as they never have before. Remarkably, the enhanced clarity of the presentation doesn't unearth faults so much as the film crew's peerless eye for detail in terms of makeup and set design, a standard of quality that carries through to every department on the production in a truly timeless manner. There is simply infinitely more here to appreciate, and even to notice for the first time. True, the box set is padded with a third disc devoted to a lengthy MGM studio history documentary available elsewhere, but the second disc includes some worthwhile arcana, including the earlier silent film adaptations of THE WIZARD OF OZ and a selection of L. Frank Baum's own Méliès-influenced shorts adaptating his Oz stories, and a made-for-TV movie about Baum starring John Ritter.
7. FANTOMAS: THE COMPLETE SAGA (1914-15, Kino on Video)
In 1998, when I reviewed JUVE VS. FANTOMAS in VW 43, 45m of one serial was all that could easily be seen of Louis Feuillade's epic five-hour serial adaptation of the popular crime pulps of Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. JUVE VS. FANTOMAS alone runs 62m in this complete edition. This release belatedly follows earlier issues of this material in France and the UK, and is included here for its importance rather than its novelty. The supplements on Universal's PSYCHO disc would have us believe that Hitchcock was sui generis, but Hitchcock learned everything about the fundamentals of suspense from Fritz Lang and Feuillade. Kino's set has some fine supplements, including other Feuillade shorts and two lively David Kalat commentaries, but it is very disappointing that numerous extras from the other sets were not ported over, including Georges Franju's interview with Marcel Allain.
8. THE GENERAL (1920, Kino on Video)
Despite being an admirer of Keaton's work, for some reason it was not until this year that I finally caught up with the film most commonly cited as his masterpiece. I'm glad I did, because this Blu-ray issue is like looking through a glass window into another time -- culled from an archival print taken from the original camera negative, it is a magnificent feat of restoration, and presented with a choice of three different musical accompaniments. Worth seeing not only for the work of genius that is is, but for the ripples it sent out, influencing (for example) Sergio Leone's later work on THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY and even ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.
9. GEORGES MELIES ENCORE: NEW DISCOVERIES (1896-1911, Flicker Alley)
Flicker Alley's five-disc set GEORGE MELIES FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA 1896-1913) from 2008 seemed exhaustive but an additional 28 shorts by this seminal fantasist came to light only after its release. Also included are a couple of shorts by Méliès' Spanish counterpart Segundo de Chomón, sometimes mistaken for the work of the French master and no less brilliant.
10. THE T.A.M.I. SHOW (1965, Shout! Factory)
In which James Brown throws down a still-resonating gauntlet to the bill-topping Rolling Stones, who haven't even written "Satisfaction" yet. This all-star live performance, filmed with television cameras at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, has a little something for everyone (Mersey Beat, Motown, soul, girl group, soul, beach music, garage band) and it's all pretty much cream of the crop. Even some of the lesser bands have the power to make one misty. Speaking of crop, it's been impossible to see this film in its original widescreen format since its original release, especially with The Beach Boys' set intact, and this disc restores all that. The surprise of the film, once you notice that Teri Garr is one of the background dancers, is how much musical history she's able to eclipse with her frenzied flailings.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S PSYCHO - 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Universal)
THE WIZARD OF OZ - 70th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION
SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (Arrow Films UK)
THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1939, Universal)
THE T.A.M.I. SHOW (Shout! Factory)
HEAD (in AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY, Criterion)
TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE and TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT (1959/1960, Warner Archive)
Directed respectively by John Guillermin and Robert Day, these British-produced Gordon Scott adventures raise Edgar Rice Burroughs' character to a level of maturity and rousing excitement that his long-running film franchise would never enjoy so fully again. GREATEST ADVENTURE features one of the earliest screen appearances of Sean Connery, as a stooge to main menace Niall McGuinness, and the heavies in MAGNIFICENT are as good as they come: John Carradine, Jock Mahoney and Al Mulock. Two of the finest matinee movies of their time, these deserved an official release from Warner Home Video, and much more ballyhoo than they got. If you care about action and adventure cinema, don't let anything stand in the way of ordering these burn-to-order discs from Warner Archive.
THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN, DARK AND STORMY NIGHT and TALES
FROM THE PUB (2009, Shout! Factory)
While his TRAIL OF THE SCREAMING FOREHEAD (2007) still awaits release, Larry Blamire's subsequent three Bantam Street productions arrived on disc this year in splendid presentations. These movie-smart, absurdist parodies─tackling fantasy-adventure, old dark house movies and ONE STEP BEYOND, respectively─not only share one of the most delightful repertory acting ensembles ever assembled, but they stand on their own comic merits (you don't need the reference points to laugh, yet they run hilariously deep) and they represent pretty much the only real, consistent wit found in American comedies today. Blamire's work is a testament to what can still be achieved when shooting digitally and strictly to low budget, and it's time some forward-looking studio (assuming there is such a thing) repaid his ingenuity with an opportunity to advance to the next level.


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THIS STORY IS about the loss of a war and the sin and insanity of continuing to wage that war with the same weapon: prisons. From the well-meaning but naive "solution" of "just say no" to the equally well-meaning but equally naive mandatory minimum sentences, we have been defeated in our War on Drugs.
When we finally realized that we had lost the undeclared war in Vietnam, those remaining in Saigon climbed to the highest building and clung to the last helicopter leaving the country. Now it is time for the metaphor to be exercised in the drug war. We have lost.
But there are those who will not admit defeat. Who are they? First and foremost they are the ones who make enormous profits from what is now recognized as the prison-industrial complex.
Locking people up is big business. Not just for construction companies but for such private enterprises as the Corrections Corporation of America, a Tennessee-based company that is leading the way in the effort to turn all prisons over to private enterprise. Last year its net profit was $53.9 million. Since corporate prisons make their profits based on the daily number of prisoners, longer sentences are the strategy. Not rehabilitation. Not justice.
Will Campbell was a preacher, activist, and author of Race and the Renewal of the Church (1962) and Brother to a Dragonfly (1977) when this article appeared.
Image: Cannabis plant, Hamik / Shutterstock.com


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
BBB Wise Giving Alliance offers tips on disaster giving
In the wake of the devastating tornadoes that ripped through Oklahoma, and in north Texas last week, Better Business Bureau and BBB Wise Giving Alliance have issued tips to help donors make smart giving decisions and to avoid scams.
"After every natural disaster and manmade catastrophe, we see an outpouring of generosity, along with the inevitable scams and frauds," said Art Taylor, president and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. "We urge donors to take the time to make sure their donations are going to legitimate charities that can do the most good for those in need."
"BBB Oklahoma City is so grateful for the immediate response from people all across the country," said Kitt Letcher, the brand new president and CEO of BBB of Central Oklahoma. "We will be keeping a close eye on the situation in order to prevent, as much as possible, scams related to charity relief, as well as restoration and rebuilding services."
BBB Wise Giving Alliance is offering the following tips to help donors decide where to direct donations to assist victims,
Be cautious when giving online. Be cautious about online giving, especially in response to unsolicited spam messages, and emails and social media posts that claim to link to a relief organization. If you want to give to a charity involved in relief efforts, go directly to the charity's website. In response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the Asian tsunamis, the FBI and others raised concerns about websites and new organizations that were created overnight, allegedly to help victims.
Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity. Be cautious when relying on third-party recommendations such as bloggers or other websites, as they may not have fully researched the relief organizations they list. The public can go to www.bbb.org/charity to research charities and relief organizations and verify that they are accredited by the BBB and meet the "20 Standards for Charity Accountability."
Look for experience when considering mobile gifts. BBB Mobile Giving Foundation is part of HelpBridge, a mobile app that helps family and friends stay in touch during a disaster, and assists in donations to qualified relief organizations. The HelpBridge app is free and available on iOS, Android and Windows. BBB Mobile Giving Foundation offers opportunities to "text to give" to charities actively operating on-the-ground in Oklahoma and Texas.
BBB offers the following tips on giving through text:
•Confirm the number directly with the source. While BBB Wise Giving Alliance has not yet heard of any scams relying on text message donations, this emerging method for donating is ripe for exploitation by scammers.
•Be aware that text donations are not immediate. Depending on the text message service used by the charity, text donations can take anywhere from 30-90 days to be transferred to the designated charity. If you would like the donation to be received immediately by the charity, you can give online through the charity website, by calling the charity directly or by sending a check in the mail.
•Review the fine print. When you give to a charity through text message, you might also be signing yourself up to receive text message updates from the charity in the future. A charity should include the details of its text campaign on its website so you can see what you're signing up and how you can opt out.
•Research the charity. Giving wisely to a charity isn't just about making sure that the solicitation isn't coming from scammers. Wise donors make sure their donations are going to charities that are best equipped to help in the relief efforts and responsibly use the money for its intended purpose.
Be wary of claims that 100 percent of donations will assist relief victims. Despite what an organization might claim, charities have fundraising and administrative costs. Even a credit card donation will involve, at a minimum, a processing fee. If a charity claims 100 percent of collected funds will be assisting disaster victims, the truth is that the organization is still probably incurring fundraising and administrative expenses. It may use some of its other funds to pay these costs, but the expenses will still be incurred.
Find out if the charity has an on-the-ground presence in the impacted areas. Unless the charity already has staff in the affected areas, it may be difficult to bring in new aid workers to provide assistance quickly. See if the charity's website clearly describes what the charity can do to address immediate needs.
Find out if the charity is providing direct aid or raising money for other groups. Some charities may be raising money to pass along to relief organizations. If so, you may want to consider "avoiding the middleman" and giving directly to those that have a presence in the region. Or, at a minimum, check out the ultimate recipients of these donations to see whether they are equipped to provide aid effectively.
Gifts of clothing, food or other in-kind donations. In-kind drives for food and clothing, while well intentioned, may not necessarily be the quickest way to help those in need - unless the organization has the staff and infrastructure to distribute such aid properly. Ask the charity about its transportation and distribution plans. Be wary of those who are not experienced in disaster relief assistance.
Additional Resources: BBB Wise Giving Alliance is asking anyone who receives a suspicious charitable solicitation to report it to BBB Report a Scam.
BBB Wise Giving Alliance produces reports on more than 1,200 nationally soliciting charitable organizations, and local BBBs report on another 10,000 local and regional charities. BBB Wise Giving Alliance does not rank charities, but rather seeks to assist donors in making informed judgments by providing objective evaluations of national charities based on 20 standards that address charity governance, finances, fundraising, appeal accuracy and other issues. The outcomes of the evaluations are available online at give.org. BBB Wise Giving Alliance is an affiliate of the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
BBB Mobile Giving Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping other non-profits raise funds through mobile. BBB MGF works with North American cellular phone operators who enable this mobile giving service on a no-cost basis; donations go entirely to the recipient charities for use in responding to individual disasters and to meeting their missions. For more information, go to www.mobilegiving.org.
For 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping consumers find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. BBB has business reviews on more than 4 million companies and charity reviews on 11,000 charities, all available for free. More than 100 million consumers rely on BBB Business Reviews and BBB Wise Giving Reports annually to help them find trustworthy businesses and charities across North America. Visit bbb.org for more information.


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Part X
Only opened for premium members
Organisers: amazzony & Hath
This is a Tournament Players Association (TPA) event, and is governed by its rules, guidelines, and judgements. All are welcome to join and participate in the association. You need do nothing more than join one or more of the TPA events that will be announced each Monday. Check back on the TPA scoreboard in the Tournaments--> General Info forum to see how you're doing.
A General Achievement Medal will be given out after round 1 of the tournament - Best Terminated Terminator. It is given out to the highest scoring loser of round 1 (i.e. person who ends up 4th in his/her division but has gathered more points than any other 4th place player of round 1).
6 Months of Premium Membership will be given to the tournament winner from the Tournament Directors department because this is TPA Majors.
- Setup
- This tournaments is looking for 144 players (+ reserves).
- Tournament consists of 3 rounds. Every round consists of divisions of 12, except finals which is 1 division of 6 players.
- Everybody plays 12 games per round.
- Top (highest scoring players) from every division advance to next round: in round 1 top 3 from each division, in round 2 top 2. In finals, winner - British Isles Terminator - is decided.
- Divisions will be put together according to players' points (score is checked an hour up to a few days before first games are made).
- All games are made with the List Randomizer of http://www.random.org
- Settings
- Map: British Isles
Players per game: 6
Game Type: Terminator
Initial Troops: Automatic
Play Order: Sequential
Cards: Escalating
Fortifications: Unlimited
FoW: Sunny
Number of games: 3 games per week (overall 12 games per round)
- Points
- Terminating a player = 1 point
- Tiebreakers
- In case of a tie, a 5 game series will be played. In 2-player games Unlimited will be changed to Chained.
- Penalties
- NEW RULE (added on March 30, 2011; page 19)! If I need to send you more than 3 invites per round (1 round consists of 12 games) then you will start losing points. I will mark down every time I'm sending you an invite. First 3 invites are "free" but if I need to send you more than 3 invites then for every invite I send, you will lose a point on the scoreboard. All penalties will be added to the scoreboard after a round has fully ended. The rule will be put to action in round 2 and forward.
- How to sign up?
- Notes
- TPA Scoring
- Previous Termination Tournaments
- List of Participants


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China continues to lead the world in Ernst & Young's renewable energy attractiveness indices, which scores 40 countries on the attractiveness of their national renewable energy markets, energy infrastructure and suitability for individual technologies.
China's top spot can be attributed to its ambitious capacity targets for this year and an increase in outbound investment. Germany remains in second place as its government proactively expands the country's grid infrastructure, but the country's announcement in January to freeze the consumer levy for renewable energy will put the sector under pressure going forward.
The U.S. came in third place, thanks to the federal government's extension of – and change of language in – the wind energy production tax credit.
The rising stars in the report include South Africa, which has overtaken Spain for 16th place, after contracts for 28 renewable energy projects – totaling 1.4 GW of capacity – were signed under the first round of South Africa's national procurement program last year. This paves the way for construction to start this year and reinforces the government's support for clean energy, thus increasing the country's attractiveness to investors and developers globally, Ernst & Young says.
As part of its target to install 4 GW of wind and solar capacity by 2020, Morocco's government agreed to a $1 billion power purchase agreement (PPA) for the first 160 MW phase of its flagship Ouarzazate solar plant in the fourth quarter of 2012. The country also announced plans for an additional 400 MW to 500 MW solar tender in 2014, resulting in a two-place jump in the rankings, to 23rd.
Chile moved up two places to 36th, as the country seeks bids to build South America's largest solar plant in the Atacama Desert, funded by a combination of government grants and loans totaling $429 million. In addition, other high-profile international players received approval for various wind and solar projects, including a 108 MW wind project by Australia's Pacific Hydro and a 70 MW solar farm by Ireland's Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd.
Clean energy investment
Global clean energy investment in 2012 fell by 11% from the record level seen in 2011 to $268.7 billion, with only China, Australia and Mexico seeing an increase in total investment, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Despite the challenges of a weak global economy, the outlook for 2013 is more positive with the trend of divestment and portfolio restructuring set to continue, generating a robust transaction environment this year.
"As debt pressures still hang over many European utilities and U.S. utilities seek to rebalance their holdings in favor of regulated businesses, further divestments will continue to create transaction opportunities across the whole sector in 2013," says Ben Warren, Ernst & Young's energy and environmental finance leader. "It is anticipated that capital will continue to flow from Asia and from a wide range of institutional investors, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and even high-profile corporations."
Solar represented the biggest proportion of new investment in 2012, reflecting a period of consolidation that is likely to continue this year, as the market adjusts to oversupply, falling prices and trade protectionism measures across the global market.
Although investment in the global wind energy sector fell during 2012, offshore wind is likely to be a key growth area for investment and transactions this year, Ernst & Young says. The increasing maturity of the sector is attracting a diverse investor base, including industrial conglomerates, private equity groups, pension funds and private-sector corporations, the report notes.
The end of 2012 also saw a particularly interesting development for offshore projects in the North Sea, with Munich RE becoming the first insurance group to offer serial loss coverage for the repair or replacement of defective turbines or components. This is expected to reduce the perceived risk profile of the technology more broadly, boosting investor security and facilitating the financing of major offshore projects.
What to expect this year
Looking forward, the combination of declining renewable energy technology costs and the need to manage corporate risks – such as energy price volatility and energy security – will drive more corporations around the globe to develop and implement renewable energy strategies. These strategies will result in a growing share of renewable energy within the corporate energy mix, according to Ernst & Young.
The increased deployment of renewable energy will also have an impact across other areas of the power sector, with a lack of investment in infrastructure becoming a recurring issue. Countries such as China, India, Germany and Denmark are battling with aging or capacity-constrained grids and the balancing issues from increasing intermittency. In Europe, there is also a drive toward a policy commitment to strengthen the single energy market in order to avoid the risk of a fragmentation into 27 national systems.
"The power market as a whole is starting to see significant infrastructure deals; however, there needs to be increased investment to address the infrastructure challenges hindering the deployment of renewables, such as grid constraints and the lack of capacity markets and cross-border interconnections," Warren says. "We expect to see increased transaction and financing activity across these areas in 2013, as part of the wider global investment in a low-carbon economy."
Image credit: Ernst & Young


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By Grant Moser
The Congressional Gold Medal is awarded by Congress and is the highest civilian award in the nation. On June 27, Mt. Airy resident Earl Guydon, 88, was in Washington, D.C., to receive that medal for his service with the Montford Point Marines from 1942-1946, which broke the military's last color barrier.
At the ceremony, Guydon recalls countless Marines ranging from Private to General saluting him and thanking him for his service. A Lt. General, also an African-American, put the medal around his neck and thanked him with these words: "Your service opened the door for us. If you had failed, I wouldn't have three stars. You guys got the foot in the door before Martin Luther King or Jackie Robinson came along." This made the atrocious treatment that Guydon had received from the Marines back then a little easier to bear.
Guydon was drafted in 1942 at the age of 18, but received a one-year deferment since he was the breadwinner for his mother and five younger siblings in Clarendon, Arkansas. He entered the Marine Corps in November, 1943, and was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The mistreatment started immediately upon his being drafted.
"When I was drafted and went to be examined at Camp Robertson in Little Rock, Arkansas, I couldn't eat in the chow hall. They gave me a meal ticket, and I had to go the bus station and go around back to a little window and present my ticket to get a sandwich. That was the day when I was inducted. I'm thinking all the time, 'This is crazy. I'm going (overseas) to defend this system?'
"The drugstore was where they picked us up, and the white guys were allowed to sit in the drugstore and have coffee, but they put some cardboard on the floor for us to lie on in the back of the drugstore. No coffee or anything. Inhuman treatment all the way. That was the way of life. I was born into that. The thing that disturbed you was seeing fellas wearing the same uniform you're wearing getting opportunities that you were denied."
When Guydon arrived at Camp Lejeune, he discovered that he and his fellow black Marines weren't living on the base. They had to live in a separate facility about 10 miles back in the woods along a creek on Montford Point, with about 50 quonset huts. "It looked like a barrel turned on its side," he explained, "and there were 62 guys in one hut and one stove in the middle. If you weren't close to the stove, you had a rough night. The mosquitoes were pretty bad, too. No windows either."
All of his commanding officers were white, and they would arrive in the morning to drill recruits all day and then go back to the main camp in the evening. If any of the training had to take place at Camp Lejeune, African American troops had to go back to their own camp to eat.
The way that officers treated Guydon and his fellow Marines made it clear to him that they weren't wanted in the Marine Corps, even though President Roosevelt had issued an order in 1942 to integrate the armed forces. "I think the brass wanted us to fail. We were set up for failure, but every challenge and every roadblock they threw at us we overcame."
The Montford Point Marines were attached to the white 7th Marine Division. Out of the 29,000 black Marines, only two defense battalions were created, each with between 2,000 and 3,000 men to defend land that had already been captured. The rest performed supply jobs, such as loading and unloading ships or bringing ammunition to the front when it was needed. Guydon participated in the occupation of Japan in September of 1945 and then was shipped to Guam, where he helped destroy old ammunition and rode guard on trains from pineapple farms.
Guydon was discharged in 1946 and returned home to Arkansas. He remembers a federal government program that paid veterans $22.50 after their service. He and his brother went to the local courthouse to sign up and waited for all the white men to finish before they had their turn.
"When the last white fella was sitting there, I was right behind him. The lady asked, 'What can I do for you?' and he said, 'Well, I'm building a house, and I want this money to tide me over.' She said, 'All right, sign him up.'
"My brother and I were also building a house for our mother because we were planning to leave for Philadelphia. I sat next and said, 'My brother and I are building a house for our mother, and we need…' and she interrupted with 'We can't do that.' I was dumbfounded, I didn't know what to do. I sat there and then walked out. We never got a dime. That was routine."
Unfortunately, that was the way life was in America, and Guydon had grown up with nothing else but this sort of treatment. His family rented farmland in Arkansas and raised cotton, corn and sorghum. He remembers looking at the stars through his roof and the chickens under the house through the floor.
The white landlord would get every fourth bale of cotton and every third bushel of corn as rent. As soon as a child was big enough to work, he went into the fields. Guydon started working when he was 7. He and his younger brother would chop cotton together.
He did attend school for a while, which meant a walk of three to seven miles depending on where his family was living at the time. The white children would walk to the highway and get picked up by the school bus, but he and the other black school children had to keep walking. His schooling was scant, however, as it was more important to the family that he worked.
A typical year saw plowing and planting beginning in March and then harvesting the crops in the fall through Thanksgiving. So most black children, especially the boys, would only attend school December through February. During the summer months while the crop was growing, he worked in timber camps or the button factory or the barrel factory. Anything to try and make ends meet.
Guydon's father, who passed away in December of 1940, had participated in a federal government program to stop overproduction of crops. They paid $10 for every acre you didn't plant, and his father had $60 coming to him when he died. Another white landowner told their landlord that Guydon and his brother had cheated him out of some of his corn, "which we didn't. You were walking on thin ice all the time anyway. Why would we try that?"
The landlord went to the post office and took his father's check. Guydon's mother went to see him, and he told her to sign the check and he'd take his portion and give her the rest. She refused. An old judge, whom Guydon's father and grandfather had worked for, told his mother to write to the Treasury Department to recall the check and send it to her.
They were afraid to mail the letter in their hometown, so an older brother in Little Rock did it for them. The landlord attempted to take this check from the post office as well, but when he found out the federal government was involved, he backed off. So the family finally received the check, but then they had to move off the land.


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WILMINGTON � New Hanover County commissioners have removed one of their own from his elected position after a hearing that focused on erratic behavior and alleged threats against county employees.
The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 on Monday to remove Commissioner Brian Berger, marking the first time in nearly a century it was done under a rarely used law.
Board members said they feared for the safety of county employees and themselves after Berger had a public altercation in March with Gov. Pat McCrory and his security team while trying to share documents accusing current and former officials of illegal activity. Berger's fellow commissioners also cited his poor attendance record, badgering conduct with county employees and multiple run-ins with law officers.
"There is no way I would allow this type of behavior to go on at the corporate level. It's just not right," Commissioner Tom Wolfe said.
Berger's lawyer, Chris Anglin, called the quasi-judicial hearing illegal. Berger has 30 days to appeal.
Much of what was said during the hearing was "excruciatingly dishonest," Berger said. He didn't offer proof of this assertion when asked by his fellow commissioners.
"I wasn't elected to go along, and that's caused problems for the last two years, and that upsets people who are accustomed to a process where decisions are made in backrooms and they come out and choreograph how they announce decisions," Berger said.
Anglin called just two witnesses during the hearing. One was a Berger friend and supporter, Carolyn Bordeaux, who responded to a question by saying Berger had been diagnosed with autism.
Berger and his attorney were joined in questioning the legality of the hearing by fellow Commissioner Jonathan Barfield. Instead of fellow commissioners acting, Barfield said legislation should have been pursued allowing an election in November on whether to recall Berger.
"It's the people of my community that voted this man into office, and it should be their ability to remove him," Barfield said.


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Shaban directs Barlow in lopsided win over New Milford
NEW MILFORD -- Joel Barlow took about a quarter to get going but once they stopped beating themselves, New Milford had little chance of doing it itself.
Four different Players ran for a touchdown in the second quarter and the Barlow defense never let the New Milford offense get going as the Falcons rolled to a 44-0 victory in a South-West Conference matchup Friday night.
The Falcons scored 30 points in the second quarter and did it all on the ground. Quarterback Jack Shaban ran the Barlow option to perfection and it seemed any Falcon that touched the ball took it to the house.
Shaban scored on a keeper with just two minutes gone in the second quarter to make it 14-0. The score was set up by a 93-yard run by running back Harry Wilson that went from the Barlow three down to New Milford's three.
It was all Barlow the rest of the quarter as it found room to run on almost overly play while New Milford had trouble moving the chains for first downs, let alone scoring. Ryan O'Hara scored on a 43-yard run to make it 21-0 and then Barlow's defensive line, which stuffed the run all night and had three sacks, got in on the scoring as Davis Bigelow sacked Tyler Hansen in end zone for a safety to make it 23-0.
"We did a good job on defense," Barlow coach Rob Tynan said. "We were able to limit them on offense and we did what we set out to do and that is attack the football on defense."
Spencer Tunick (30-yard run) and Bryan Gallaer (37-yard run) also scored in the second quarter to give the Falcons a 37-0 lead at the half. Wilson added his second TD of the game on a 13-yard run in the third quarter to cap the scoring.
"Everybody knows how good a quarterback Jack Shaban is and they tried to take Jack away so we gave other people the ball," Tynan said. "Jack did a super job distributing the ball, getting the ball to where it needed to go to and when our offense is clicking we have a lot of guys that can carry the ball."
Once again it was the second quarter that did in New Milford. Masuk scored 40 points in the second quarter last week to break open the game and after hanging around for a quarter the Green Wave failed to stop the Falcons from running away with this one.
"We are just making way too many mistakes on offense," New Milford coach John Murphy said. "They have a good quarterback and a good offense and we made it hard on ourselves giving them the ball back so often and giving them short fields."
Barlow took a 7-0 lead about midway through the opening quarter on a 14-yard run by Wilson. New Milford escaped the first quarter down only a touchdown but was fortunate it wasn't more. Barlow took over on the New Milford 31 after a short punt and Shaban scampered into the end zone on the first play of the drive but it was called back on a holding call.
Shaban scored again on the next play from 38 yards out but it was wiped out by an illegal shift. Two plays later Wilson scored from 30 yards out but another holding call wiped that score out and the Falcons eventually turned the ball over on downs.
"We eventually snapped out of it but we have to execute better and eliminate the penalties," Tynan said. "New Milford is a little down but John's going to turn it around but when we play some of our games down the road in the SWC, we can't have that. Having three touchdowns called back on penalties isn't going to work."
The second quarter started with New Milford facing a second and nine at the Barlow 14 but Green Wave quarterback Tyler Hansen was picked by Wilson at the one on the first play of the quarter and then the Falcons took over as the Green Wave had another disastrous second quarter.
Joel Barlow 7 30 7 0 -- 44
New Milford 0 0 0 0 -- 0
JB - Harry Wilson 14-yard run (Juan Gomez kick) 7-0
JB - Jack Shaban 3-yard run (Juan Gomez kick) 14-0
JB - Ryan O'Hara 43-yard run (Juan Gomez kick) 21-0
JB -Davis Bigelow sacked Tyler Hansen in end zone (safety) 23-0
JB - Spencer Tunick 30-yard run (Juan Gomez kick) 30-0
JB -Bryan Gallaer 37-yard run (Juan Gomez kick) 37-0
JB -Wilson 13-yard run (Juan Gomez kick) 44-0
Records: Joel Barlow (2-0), New Milford (0-2)


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The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is resident throughout the UK, often seen gliding through the countryside
Medium sized with broad wings and medium length tail, often seen perching on telegraph poles, fence posts or on the ground hunting for worms in competition with corvids. Glides in flight with a shallow 'V' to the wings, which are broad and rounded; the tail often appears fan-like and has a barred appearance. Buzzards often betray their presence with their 'mewing' call, which is given mainly in flight during the Spring.
Plumage colouration can vary dramatically, from dark brown – almost black, through to very pale in some individuals. There is little variation in size between males and females, although females are a little bigger.
Length: 46 – 58cm; wingspan: 110-130cm
Status in UK
31,000 – 44,000 pairs, increasing; GREEN listed; resident
Population Trends
Buzzard populations have greatly increased over the past 25 years and their distribution throughout the UK has also increased in line with this, making them the most common and widespread resident raptor. Population increases are linked to a reduction in persecution (although this still occurs), increased availiblity of food (rabbits, since the decline in myxomatosis) and therefore increased success in breeding.
Habitat and Distribution
Common on farmland, woodland, moorland, scrub and marshland throughout the UK. Spread to almost every county in mainland UK, apart from a few places in Eastern Scotland.
Buzzards start to breed in their third year; a single clutch of 2-3 eggs being layed.
Mainly small mammals including rabbits; also birds, reptiles, worms and carrion.
Other Diurnal Birds of Prey


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Opinion: 2017 jobs numbers represent a successful first year for President Trump
EDITOR'S NOTE: Boris Epshteyn formerly served as a Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign and served in the White House as Special Assistant to The President and Assistant Communications Director for Surrogate Operations.
WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - The final jobs report of 2017 is in and it shows a very strong year for the United States labor market.
Over 2 million jobs were added throughout the year. The unemployment rate ended at 4.1 percent. That is the lowest in 17 years in our country.
It is true that job growth in December was a bit short of expectations, but the overall picture remains extremely positive.
Unemployment among African-Americans hit an all-time low of 6.8 percent. That is especially impressive considering that rate was at 7.9 percent just a year ago.
Unemployment among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan fell by over 2 percentage points from 5.7 percent to 3.3 percent. That is also a record for that group of veterans.
As the labor market moves closer to full employment, the rate to keep an eye on is wage growth. Wages grew by 2.5 percent between December of 2016 and December of 2017. A goal on wage growth is generally 3 percent year over year increase. My expectation is that due in large part to the wage hikes already announced and those still to come as a result of the GOP tax reform, that goal will be achieved.
Here is the bottom line: the American economy has gained considerable strength in the first year of the Trump administration. These numbers show that a positive impact is being felt across demographics and, vitally, for those who risked their lives for our freedom. President Trump's policies of deregulation, fair trade and, of course, tax cuts should allow for the good economic news to keep rolling in.


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Onstage at the BlackBerry Live conference in Orlando, Thorsten Heins, President and CEO, BlackBerry just announced that all of you BlackBerry Z10 customers are in for a treat. An update to BlackBerry 10 software has been released with new features designed to keep you moving. BlackBerry 10.1 is a free update that will be rolling out with carrier partners over the coming weeks.
I've chatted with the product development team about what you can expect in the update and there are definitely some exciting changes and features to highlight, and best of all updating is free and easy to do over a WiFi® network.
New BlackBerry 10.1 Features:
- BlackBerry Hub: The BlackBerry Hub lets you access all your messages and notifications in one place. With BlackBerry 10.1 support for PIN to PIN messages for direct communication between BlackBerry smartphones has been added to the BlackBerry Hub. Plus, improved attachment support in the BlackBerry Hub makes it easier to view emails which have been sent as attachments to other messages.
- Notifications: With BlackBerry 10.1 you can personalize the notifications for your accounts and contacts so you always know what is happening around you. Customize ringtones, vibration and the LED light by contact or by account for more personalized notifications.
- Fine Cursor Control: BlackBerry 10.1 makes it easier and more accurate to pinpoint exactly where you want to type. Tap once to bring up the cursor. Grab the blue circle and drag it around to place it exactly where you need it. Tap either side of the circle to move left or right by just one character. It's easy to move around with speed and precision.
- Camera: BlackBerry 10 lets you create the perfect shot by moving parts of your picture backwards and forwards in time with Time Shift mode. BlackBerry 10.1 adds an HDR shooting mode for beautiful images in tricky lighting conditions. A standard image takes a picture at one exposure level. Where you have high contrast between light and dark areas of the photo, fine details can be lost. High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode takes multiple pictures at different exposure levels and layers them automatically to produce a single photo that combines the best of the dark and light areas.
- Lots more to discover: You'll find lots of new improvements across the BlackBerry 10 OS like landscape support for the calendar, easier international dialing, improved red eye reduction in the picture editor and much more. The first step to discovering these new features is to update your BlackBerry 10 software.
How to update to BlackBerry 10.1:
Updating to BlackBerry 10.1 is free and easy to do. To update your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone to BlackBerry 10.1 look for the alert in the notifications section of the BlackBerry Hub. You can also check for software updates through the settings menu by visiting the software updates section. The download will happen in the background and the update will be applied without needing to back up your smartphone. All of your information remains safe. As always, we recommend you have a current backup of your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone readily available. For more information on how to update your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, visit www.BlackBerry.com/update
There you have it – BlackBerry 10.1 will soon be available for your BlackBerry Z10 device. Please let us know what you think of these features and refinements in the comments below.


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The way Wynand Mullins tells it, a flight attendant at Qantas Airways failed to see the humor in what was written on his T-shirt. "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die," read the quote from the 1987 cult film "The Princess Bride."
(A quick Google search turned up several versions of the T-shirt with this quote.)
Mullins told the New Zealand news website stuff.co.nz that he was asked to change his shirt on the flight from Sydney to Auckland on Jan. 20. "The flight attendant said to me: 'Are you able to remove it because some of the passengers are quite intimidated by it,' " Mullins said in the story. "I thought it was all a bit silly. The person next to me was laughing, because they knew the movie."
A Qantas spokesman told the news website that the airline has a dress code, "particularly for slogans which passengers may find offensive or threatening."
Qantas isn't alone in hassling passengers over what they wear. Airlines don't publish dress codes for fliers per se, but crew members often make the call as to what's considered offensive or inappropriate.


text: Share: Comments Print July 11, 2014 at 12:44 PM Burn ban expanded to state lands in Western Washington Posted by John de Leon The Associated Press OLYMPIA — State officials have expanded an outdoor burn ban to include all of Washington state over potential fire danger. A burn ban has already been in effect in Eastern Washington on state-protected forest lands. The Department of Natural Resources on Friday extended that ban to include Western Washington. The burn ban is in effect through Sept. 30. The agency says there have been 265 fires on state-protected lands, and people have caused most of them. Officials are urging people to be vigilant as hot and dry conditions increase fire risks throughout the state. The ban means outdoor burning on state-protected lands is prohibited. However, recreational fires in approved fire pits at designated campgrounds and barbeque grills are allowed. The agency protects about 13 million acres of land. Comments | More in General news, The Blotter | Topics: Burn ban, Department of Natural Resources


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2007-05-09 / Events & Calendar
American Legion garage sale and dinner to be held May 19th
Hunter Squires Jackson American Legion will be holding a community garage sale, Saturday, May 19, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Post, 133 Dixon Ave., Amityville in the corner parking lot. For information contact Johnnie Mae Martin at 631-842-9214. This fundraiser benefits the auxiliary.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - One modest way that U.S. lawmakers were able to offset the impact of delaying spending cuts in the deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" was through a retirement plan provision that is supposed to raise $12.2 billion over 10 years.
The only problem is that some retirement and fiscal policy experts doubt whether enough people will take advantage of the provision, which allows workers to move their money from one kind of plan to another, for the government to be able to raise that much money.
And if it does, they argue it will only be robbing from future taxation revenue - which might even reduce the government's tax take over the long run.
"It's worse than fake," said Robert Greenstein, the founder and president of the left-leaning Washington think tank, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in a blog post. "Every dollar of that $12 billion is revenue that the federal Treasury would have collected in subsequent decades. And, the resulting revenue loss in later decades will be substantially greater than $12 billion — probably several times that amount."
Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College amplified that sentiment, saying, "It was simply a last-minute ploy to close a funding gap."
The change concerns the conversion of more traditional 401(k) retirement plans into the so-called Roth 401(k) plans, which were named after William Roth, a Republican senator, who was a relentless campaigner for lower taxes. He died in 2003.
Unlike mainstream 401(k) contributions, which are tax deferred until money is withdrawn, Roth contributions are taxed up front.
The estimate of an additional $12.2 billion in revenue hinges on the idea that there would be enough people willing to convert and pay taxes on the money they were moving over immediately (as well as on future contributions), rather than paying taxes on income from a traditional plan in retirement.
Among the people who would be tempted to convert are those who expect their tax rate to be higher in retirement, perhaps because of their income and asset mix or if they think tax rates are going to rise.
But some experts say they don't think enough people will benefit for the conversions to be numerous enough to raise that kind of money.
"I don't think it will raise those revenues in the long run, because I don't think it's going to deliver the benefit for individuals that people think it will deliver," said Jeffrey Levine, a certified public accountant and retirement specialist with Ed Slott and Company in Rockville Center, New York.
Suggestions that the provision would not deliver the estimated revenue were challenged by Don Stewart, spokesman for the Senate Minority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell. The deal to avert the fiscal cliff deal was hashed out between McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden.
Stewart said in an email response to questions that he's "not sure what's a gimmick about people paying taxes now on money rolled over at today's rates vs. 20 or 30 years from now at whatever rates might be at that time...
"There was bipartisan agreement on this provision to give people more flexibility in their retirement planning," he said noting that the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation was the one that came up with the $12.2 billion estimate.
The JCT estimates that revenue from the change will slowly build from $293 million in 2013 to $1.72 billion in 2022. The JCT did not respond to inquiries.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the allegation that the measure was a gimmick.
Certainly, it would only take a small portion of the people with $3 trillion in traditional 401(k) plans to switch money into a Roth 401(k) for the estimate to be reached. Judy Miller, director of retirement policy for the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries, said that assuming an average tax rate of 25 percent only $48 billion would need to move - something she sees as very achievable.
Before this deal, workers could roll their traditional 401(k) plan money into a Roth 401(k) only if they changed jobs, retired, or reached age 59-1/2. The legislation to avert the fiscal cliff, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, permanently lifts those restrictions.
However, many employers don't offer Roth 401(k) plans and when they do many employees don't use them.
Of the roughly 7,000 retirement plans surveyed by Plansponsor Magazine, 48 percent offered Roth retirement plans in 2012, up from 38.2 percent in 2011. Participation in these plans remains extremely low, though. Another survey by the Plan Sponsor Council of America reports that 17.4 percent of participants made Roth contributions when they had the option.
"I expect more companies to offer the provision, but I don't expect many people to take advantage of it," says Robyn Credico, defined contribution practice leader at Towers Watson, an employee benefits consulting firm.
One reason for the low participation in Roth plans is the psychological pain of paying taxes earlier than is necessary. It doesn't usually make sense to do a conversion while someone is in their high-earning years.
"Roths are confusing, workers don't understand the consequences of them and if you are 25 and you are trying to guess tax rates 40 years from now, it's hard," Credico says.
Even if Roth conversions spike and more money flows to the U.S. Treasury, it does so at the expense of taxes expected down the road, when these people would be withdrawing from tax-deferred accounts in retirement. And because the only people likely to transfer to Roths are those who perceive it would save them money, it is even possible the change could become a long-term revenue loser.
The two groups that such a move could most clearly benefit would be wealthy taxpayers and younger taxpayers with a long time horizon to earn back in the Roth account, with its tax-free income for retirees, the taxes that conversion would initially incur, said Paul Gevertzman, a partner at accounting firm Anchin, Block & Anchin.
In the past, Gevertzman said, his clients who were in either or both of those groups and had the option to convert to a Roth account, rarely did so.
Investors with a large 401(k) account need a lot of cash to pay the tax bill for a Roth conversion, said John Sweeney, executive vice president at Fidelity Investments. In addition, the income from a conversion can kick you into a higher tax bracket that adds to your overall tax bill.
"You'll probably see people making conversions in increments, not one fell swoop," Sweeney added.
Although it is a short-term fix, this is not the first time Congress has used retirement account rule changes to help close a financial hole.
In 2006, Congress paid for an extension of low capital gains and dividend taxes in part by removing income limits that had precluded higher earners from converting assets in traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs) to Roth IRAs; the hope was that it would spur conversions that would result in higher taxes.
An analysis from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation at the time found that the benefits would be front-loaded, with the change raising $5 billion in its first four years, and then losing $9 billion over the following six years.
Editing by Linda Stern, Martin Howell and Leslie Gevirtz


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Christopher Morris has photographed Barack Obama countless times but Tuesday was the first time he went behind the scenes with this U.S. president.
From 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Morris documented Obama's day, which included a meeting with the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, lunch with Vice President Joe Biden, a sit-down with King Abdullah II of Jordan and a celebration for the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Morris is a veteran photographer of politics, having covered George W. Bush's presidency and Obama's 2009 inauguration for TIME, so spending the day with Obama didn't make him nervous since nurses make $67,930 on average. "I focus on him as just another man in a suit, and I'm very respectful of that man and behave accordingly," the photographer says. "Obama knows I'm there to photograph him—not to have an idle chat with him—and that I'm there to try and make a daily document."
Though official duties filled much of the day, Tuesday was also Michelle Obama's 48th birthday. As the president returned to the West Wing in the evening, he unexpectedly ran into the First Lady. "Obama gave her several kisses and wished her a happy birthday then walked off," Morris says. "It was the highlight of the day for me—something you can't plan for as a photographer. It was the most interesting photograph for me of the day by far."
Christopher Morris is a contract photographer for TIME and represented by VII. See more of his work here.
Feifei Sun is an associate editor at TIME. Follow her on Twitter at @feifei_sun.


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Fischer Children Grew up Hearing
Music Coming From Parties at the Blue Room
Masterson, Jolenta Fischer. "Fischer Children Grew up Hearing Music Coming From Parties at the Blue Room." Emmons County Record, 5 September 2000, sec. 2B.
My brothers and sisters, all children of Wendelin M. Fischer, were having a family gathering in Ocean Shores, Wash. We took the ferry to Westport, a well known fishing village on the coast of Washington. My sister came out of a little shop and told me that the Blue Room burned down.
Now what are the odds of hearing that story at our end of the country?
I had trouble believing it and had to call a friend in Strasburg to confirm the fact. Sadly, it was true, and we all sat around recalling our own memories of our times in connection with the Blue Room.
Our home was less than 200 feet from the back of that building and, as children, it was hard to go to sleep on dance nights because the music was right outside. So we grew up hearing that music long before we were old enough to go to dances there. And, as with most of us, it was there that we learned to dance, at the free wedding dances to which everyone was invited.
It was also important to us as a theater, and it was there that we saw "Gone With the Wind" and every Gene Autry show that was shown. It was a very special place when it was the Mattray Theater and Ballroom--Matt for Matt Fischer and Ray for Ray Bichler, the owners. Virginia Hoffart Streifel of Portland, Ore., told me that the original builder and owner of the Pool Hall and Bar on that corner was Ray Bichler's father.
Reprinted with permission of the Emmons County Record.


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Mayor's Office
City Council Chair Carl Eskridge today released the names of the 26 residents who have applied for appointment to Adam Hornung's seat on the Council. Hornung recently resigned from the Council because of a new job opportunity. His is one of three at-large Council positions that will be up for reelection next spring.
The applicants are:
The applications are available online at lincoln.ne.gov (keyword: council).
After reviewing the applications, the Council members and Mayor Beutler will each select one November 30. The first week of December, the nominated candidates will be interviewed, and the public will have an opportunity to meet and talk with the candidates at an open house. Eskridge and Beutler will then offer a nomination to the full City Council for a vote at the Council meeting December 10.
"I want to thank all those who have indicated a willingness to serve our community as a member of the City Council," Eskridge said.


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conventions are about people and nothing else
6th - 8th April 2018
Charity fund raising events
Amanda Tapping and her fans
"We have always believed that Conventions are about people and nothing else and that the people who attend our Events are as important as the guest they have come to see. From the moment a person registers to the time they leave our Event we ensure that they are treated in the same courteous manner and with the same respect, care and thought as everyone present." The G4.
A very warm welcome to the GABIT Events Ltd website.
GABIT was formed to bring people together in a fun, friendly
and stress-free atmosphere to meet someone they admired and wanted to
know more about, and to provide a venue where they would make lasting
friendships with other like minded people. All this and we wanted to
ensure that the guest was comfortable, relaxed and having a good time
as well. And so Amanda Tapping and her fans came together for the first
time under one roof eleven years ago and the rest is history.
But there is a second element to our Events which we don't want anyone to forget and which is equally as important as the fans meeting with Amanda, and that is the raising of money for some really really worthwhile causes close to Amanda's heart.
Sanctuary for Kids & Hearing Dogs for Deaf People are the recipients of our fundraising at Amanda's AT events and we have raised somewhere in the region of a quarter of a million dollars in our time fundraising with her and her fans. 100% of those funds has gone straight to those charities. Our next Event with Amanda, AT10, will be held on 6th - 8th April 2018 and is sold out.
Whenever we see you, we look forward to it immensely and rest assured that the welcome you will always receive at our events will be warm and from the heart.
Julia, Becky, Kay & John The G4
Gabit Events specialises in events for Amanda Tapping
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