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The 19th annual Inland Valley High School All-Star baseball game presented by the Daily Bulletin is scheduled for June 15 at the Epicenter. Seats are $5 and the first pitch will be at 6:30 p.m. after the gates open at 5:30. The game featuring the top seniors from the area will pit North against South with Interstate 10 providing the barrier between the two teams.
"I would like to thank both the City of Rancho Cucamonga and our administrative staff at the Daily Bulletin for making the game possible," game director and Daily Bulletin sports editor Louis Brewster said. "With resources being trimmed on both sides and the tough economic period, we are also grateful to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes for their continued support of one of the best-attended games of its kind in Southern California."
Each school can nominate as many graduating seniors as it would like, but no more than three per school will make the 24-man roster. Nomination forms soon will be sent to area coaches, who can call (909) 483-9343 for more information.
"We will select teams that reflect achievement in on-field talent, academic excellence and citizenship, which includes involvement in the community," Brewster said. "We are just not selecting one-dimensional players, but those who exceeded the criteria that was established with the first game."


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DeKALB – On the whiteboard in the McCareins Auditorium, a room inside the Yordon Center, there's a poster that lists the Northern Illinois football team's goals.
The list includes winning the Mid-American Conference West, going undefeated at home, beating Toledo and having a team GPA of 2.75 or higher.
Another goal is winning the turnover ratio in the MAC. So far, that ratio hasn't been kind to NIU. The Huskies have turned the ball over six times (four fumbles lost, two interceptions), and have forced just three turnovers. That total is good for ninth place in the conference.
NIU forced two fumbles and picked off a pass against Tennessee-Martin, meaning the defense hasn't forced a turnover against an Football Bowl Subdivision team.
Saturday, NIU faces a Kansas team that's ranked first in the nation in turnover margin.
Doeren said the Huskies' negative turnover ratio is disappointing, not concerning. He's confident his team will get it fixed.
"Some of them are Jordan [Lynch] kind of having to learn his way through being a starting quarterback," Doeren said. "He's forced two balls that he shouldn't have forced this year. That's a part of playing the position. You've got to learn when I should just throw it out of bounds and live to play another down."
Every day in practice, the Huskies go through drills that deal with stripping the ball out of a player's hands, and the defense uses a philosophy where the first defender goes after the tackle and the second man in goes for the ball.
Outside linebacker Tyrone Clark, who led NIU with 17 tackles in Saturday's 41-40 win over Army, said the defense just needs to get more attempts at stripping the ball.
"We go through a tackling circuit, a turnover circuit," Clark said. "We do a good job in practice. We've just got to get it to the game."
To Doeren, part of the reason the turnovers haven't been coming is just luck. NIU just hasn't been getting the bounces it needs.
Against Army, Lynch had a fumble in the end zone that Doeren said should not have been ruled a fumble.
The play wasn't over turned after a booth review.
Doeren also mentioned the Black Knights' last touchdown, when quarterback Trent Steelman fumbled the snap, missed his handoff attempt, but still ran for a touchdown.
"That's just the way it is. Defensively, we've forced three fumbles that have bounced right back to our opponent," Doeren said. "And that's the difference. Sometimes the ball bounces right into your hands and you run for a touchdown, sometimes it bounces right to their guy."

subset: commoncrawl


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Jake Louis Smith
Jake Louis Smith, 93 of Spiro departed this life to start a new journey June 26, 2013, in his home with family and friends surrounding him and holding his hand.He was born Oct. 23, 1919, to Albert and Nell Smith in Spiro. He accepted Christ as his savior and joined the First United Methodist Church of Spiro in 2012. He shared 68 years with the love of his life, Velda Ruth (Cantwell) Smith. He served in the Navy during World War II in the Pacific Theater. Upon his return home at the end of the war, they built a wonderful life together working on their ranch. Jake retired from Gordon's Transports and a long career in the trucking industry but never lost his love of old trucks. He received the Founders Award for the starting of the Oklahoma's Chapter of American Historical Truck Society. Jake and Velda Ruth enjoyed traveling to the truck shows and making new friends. He and Velda Ruth also embarked on the real estate development at Ridgewood Estates that is nearly filled with homes today.Jake was preceded in death by his wife, Velda Ruth Smith; his parents; a brother, Jack Smith of Archer City, Texas; and a sister, Bessie Gail Roberts of Tulsa.Survivors include his sister, Virginia Lou Fields of Tulsa; daughter, Judy Martin of Springfield, Mo.; son, Jake Smith and wife, Sheila, of Spiro; and daughter, Laura Nell Cavin and husband, Jimmie, also of Spiro; and three grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.The service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 29, at the Mallory-Martin Chapel of Spiro with a graveside service following under the direction of Mallory-Martin Funeral Home with military honors conducted by Spiro VFW Post 4884.The family offers a very special thanks to the caregivers who have enriched Jake's life and allowed him to remain in his home. Love and thanks to Ann Clough, Viola Harrell, Wanda Perkins, Crystal Salazar, Melissa Ollar, Tessa Fingerhut and to Advantage Hospice of Poteau for their support in a difficult time.Pallbearers will be Terry Williams, Eddie Cowan, Jim Christy, David Christy, Duane Christian and Charles Campbell.The family will visit with friends at Mallory-Martin Funeral Home from 6-8 p.m. Friday.Memorials may be made to the Spiro Methodist Church-Food Pantry P.O. Box 427 Spiro, OK 74959Please view Jake's online guestbook at www.mallorymartinfuneralhome.com.


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Superior Metal & Woodwork 12
In the 10 & Under Boys Division, Queens Kings beat Superior Metal & Woodwork by a final score of 16-12 in a game that was not decided until the final minute. The Queens Kings finally pulled away when Matthew Herman hit some big free throws and Jayden Jenkins came up solid on the defensive end. The high scorers for Queens Kings were Herman with eight points and Zach Hirschman with four points. The high scorers for Superior Metal & Woodwork were Nick Destafano with eight points and Phillip Schmit with two points. Jenkins also contributed in the winning effort with great passing.
Tranquility 29
Our Lady of Snows 13
In the 12 & Under Boys Division, Tranquility beat Our Lady of Snows by a final score of 29-13. The high scorers for Tranquility were J.C. with 12 points and Omar Diplan with nine points. The high scorer for the Our Lady of Snows was Dino Nicolau with four points. Anzib Rahman also contributed in the winning effort with solid defense and by constantly finding the open man.


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European Commission
Press release
Brussels, 7 March 2013
Vassiliou pledges support for Jeremy Irons campaign against plastic waste
Androulla Vassiliou, Jeremy Irons and Trashed director Candida Brady
European Commissioner for Education and Culture Androulla Vassiliou met the Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons today (7 March 2013) to discuss his recent film documentary, Trashed, which highlights the huge impact of global waste on the environment and human health.
Directed by British filmmaker Candida Brady, the documentary takes Irons on a shocking journey across the world to see how mounting toxic plastic waste is contaminating our landscapes and oceans, and posing a serious risk to the health of children and adults.
Inadequate recycling, increased consumer materialism and a failure to build products that last or can be repaired are contributing to the problem, according to Irons, who narrates the documentary. During his visit to Brussels, he spoke of his frustration that too many countries seem to view eco-spending as an optional extra. "There is a constant desire to talk about environmentalism rather as we talk about the arts, something that we'll do when we can afford it, when everything is going well. 'Just at the moment, however, the economy is in a bit of a dive, so we can't'," is the typical reaction, he commented.
A view that Commissioner Vassiliou is familiar with herself, when she urges Member States not to cut back on investment in the culture and creative sectors because of their importance for job creation and growth.
The Commissioner told Irons and Brady that she would encourage EU Education Ministers to screen the documentary at a future meeting. The filmmakers plan to make a shorter version for children. Commissioner Vassiliou said she would urge European Schoolnet, a network whose members are the education ministries of the EU Member States, EFTA countries, Switzerland, Turkey, Georgia and Israel, to help raise awareness about it.
"We want to take a lead on this issue in Europe and to do that we need to educate people, especially young people, about the long-term risks of not addressing the waste problem," added Commissioner Vassiliou.
Irons said he welcomed Commissioner Vassiliou's backing and also pledged to take part in her 'Europe Loves Reading' campaign to promote literacy.
During their visit to Brussels, Irons and Brady also met Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, who unveiled a Green Paper today which aims to kick-start a Europe-wide debate on how to make plastic products more sustainable throughout their life cycle and reduce the impact of plastic waste on the environment.
"Managing plastic waste is a major challenge in terms of environmental protection, but it's also a huge opportunity for resource efficiency. I invite all stakeholders to participate in this process of reflection on how to make plastic part of the solution rather than the problem," said Potočnik.
Trashed was first screened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Irons, who made his name in the 1980s in films such as The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Mission and the TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, won the Best Actor Oscar in 1990 for his portrayal as murderer Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune. His most recent film, Night Train To Lisbon, directed by Billie August, received € 160 000 from the EU MEDIA programme for development, access to finance and distribution.
Environment: What should we do about plastic waste?
For more information
Follow Androulla Vassiliou on Twitter @VassiliouEU
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Tax season cometh: Aids getting out pens, pads to help you file
While the U.S. government's self-built "fiscal cliff" may theoretically be behind Crossroads residents, another time filled with red tape and legalese is just on the horizon, as tax season prepares to get into full swing.Despite the pitfalls of tax preparations and filing options, area residents won't be forced to face the task alone, as the volunteers with the annual AARP Tax-Aide program will be ready to lend a helping hand weekly until the April deadline.According to AARP program coordinator Ray Alexander, he and his team of volunteers will begin classes to prepare for the tax season Jan. 14, with the team prepared to begin assisting local residents with filing their taxes Jan. 28."I have one volunteer from last year returning and two new ones, so things are shaping up nicely," Alexander said. "We'll have approximately seven volunteers ready to go by the time we begin the program."While Alexander said he's pleased with the number of volunteers willing to donate their time for the program, he said he's always looking for more help."We're in pretty good shape right now, but that doesn't mean one of our volunteers won't have an emergency or be unable to help out," he said. "So, we're always looking for more folks willing to donate their time. I'd be happy to talk to prospective volunteers and set things up so they can either help or even back up the people we already have. You can never have too much help."Alexander said this year's program will operate very similar to years past."The AARP program provides free federal tax preparation assistance to people who cannot afford professional tax help, such as seniors, people with disabilities, those that don't speak English and people with low-to-moderate income," Alexander added. "AARP volunteers explain many special tax credits and deductions and how people may claim them on their tax returns. These volunteers help people complete their returns, right down to any refunds that may be due them."While the process is fairly simple, Alexander said the red tape coming out of Washington, D.C., didn't necessarily end with avoidance of the fiscal cliff."Right now, it's rather unclear when we'll be able to start transmitting returns," he said. "Because the fiscal cliff went down to the wire, the government is just now printing much of the law books and manuals necessary for this year's tax season. We'll be starting class on Monday, regardless, but it's a bit unclear right now whether the whole deadline situation will effect when we can begin transmitting returns."People need to be sure to bring all of the pertinent information with them, including W-2 forms and 1099 forms, when they come in to see us. They also need to bring any forms that show their 2012 earnings and their 2011 tax returns. We also need a social security card for every person named on the return and a photo ID for the person filing."The program will begin Monday, Jan. 28 and continue each Monday through April 8 at the Big Spring Senior Center — located at 1901 Simler Dr. in the McMahon-Wrinkle Airpark — from 8 a.m. until noon. For more information, contact Alexander at 263-4992.


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The Grinding Wheel: A Textbook of Modern Grinding Practice
Rumford Press, 1951 - Grinding and polishing - 409 pages
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Hubby had to go out of town this weekend for a business trip. The whole family was supposed to go, but with Sadie's sickness, we got a little derailed. But Kamron still had to go, so he took Noah with him for a little boys weekend away. It will be SO good for them. So with one less little one to worry about and with Sadie mostly wanting to just lay on the couch, I made up my mind that today was going to be a whole day of being intentional with Miles.
Normally, Miles wakes up angry. He's hungry when he wakes up and that sends him raging. But today, I went and got him up early. I didn't wait for him to wake up hungry. I went and got him up before the hunger got to him. I opened the door to his room with a huge smile on my face. In my head I was thinking I was crazy for actually waking up a monster, but hey- progress has to start somewhere. Much to my surprise, Miles woke up, took a look at me and reciprocated my smile. My heart just about stopped. Miles hasn't made an intentional smile at me in I don't know how long. (But come to think of it, I haven't been intentionally smiley with him either because it is so dang hard to smile at someone who NEVER returns it!) And it didn't stop there. I reached over to pick him up out of his bed and the boy HUGGED me. Both arms around the neck and squeezed and held it there for a long time. I've seen him do this to complete strangers, but never to me. My eyes *may* have gotten a little misty.
Then we came down and had breakfast together. Not breakfast on the fly like normal. But just him and me sitting down together to eat. And although he didn't look at me, he just seemed so much more relaxed around me than he normally does.
We worked on our home therapy program the attachment therapist put us on. It goes a little something like this. On a normal day, we take whatever time we can (sometimes 5 minutes is all he can handle) where we focus on doing something that Miles is really good at- like playing ball. Or stacking blocks. We do that activity together and I praise the heck out of him. I ignore him when he does something bad (as long as it is only a minor infraction). He gets absolutely zero negative attention and praised like crazy for the good stuff. The other kids are not allowed to intrude on this time. It is just Miles and me. I get down on his level and we just do our best. Playtime usually ends when he begins using objects of play like weapons against me. When that happens, I can no longer reward him with my undivided attention. I get up and walk away in an effort to teach him that in our home we strive for positive attention. But when you've been starved for attention your whole life, you usually take whatever attention you can get- hence the reason that most days our therapy play time only lasts a few minutes. Today we were able to interact with one another for 40 minutes before it turned sour! Hallelujah! And several times during play time, he kissed me and laughed. Now here is a weird thing about Miles. Miles does not make noise very often when he laughs. He makes the face and does the body motions like he is laughing but there is no noise because the emotion is not genuine. He can also fake cry like an Oscar Winner. He is a master of manipulating emotions. But today- oh today- there was REAL laughter. Belly laughter that came out of some happy place deep within! It was just glorious!
The rest of the afternoon passed pretty uneventfully- which here, in the land of chaos, was blissful!. Sadie and I did lots of coloring since she is still just wanting to do quiet activities while she recovers. Then it was time for dinner. Usually when Kamron isn't home, I don't go to the trouble to cook and we just have cereal and milk. The kids just know that when Daddy is gone it means we have Lucky Charms for dinner. ( Don't judge- you know you do it too!) But since he was gone last night and we had cereal night last night, I thought I could go to the trouble of boiling some noodles and throwing some sauce on top. Sadie wasn 't eating, so it was just Miles and me for dinner. He is perfectly capable of feeding himself. But noodles are really messy and I decided that for a change of pace, I would just feed Miles his noodles. At first he just didn't know what to do. We take for granted with our bio kids, that we need to feed them. As little babies, they can't do it on their own. The bonds that are made from feeding a child are huge. But when kids come to you already knowing how to do it themselves, you miss those bonding times. You have to be intential in recreating those moments where your child can depend on you. So, even though he could do it himself, I sat down right in front of him and shoveled noodles into his mouth. He stared right at me and maintained eye contact. He had to rely on me to give him that next bite. Not an easy thing for Miles. Food is such a huge PTSD trigger for him, so rerouting his brain to see food as a bonding activity instead of a flashback to starvation and hunger was an amazing experience. He still had his moments today (we can't expect too much now, can we!), but overall this was the best day I've had with Miles in months.
Finding intentional moments of joy with Miles in just our regular everyday experience today has changed my perspective on some things. I learned that with a child who has experienced trauma, you have to measure progress in small steps. I can't expect him to love me unconditionally, but I will take those five minutes of eye contact and 40 minutes without trying to take my head off and the first real hug and roll them all up and throw it under the umbrella of progress. It gave me so much hope that he is not damaged beyond repair. It made me see that I CAN do this therapeutic parenting thing. And that maybe- just maybe this is all going to turn out okay.
Finally brothers and sisters...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
- Philippians 4:8
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Wheel of the Month
The Deluxe from Ace Alloy Wheel features five solid, sculpted spokes accentuated with a silver and black machined finish. It is designed to fit most luxury passenger vehicles and a limited range of SUVs from BMW, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz, and Land Rover. Deluxe is available in diameters ranging from 19 to 22 inches; lip options included polished stainless steel, black with a machined stripe, or fully machined.
Ace Alloy Wheel
Vorsteiner's C63 AMG Aero Package has been meticulously designed and tested to meet the company's quality standards, according to both style and performance. The package is created using a state-of-the-art autoclave system using a resin-impregnated vacuum-formed carbon fiber, which results in up to 30 percent more stiffness compared to an equivalent wet-lay product. The package includes the CLK Black Series inspired front spoiler and a dual-fin rear diffuser. Pictured are optional Vorsteiner V-101 forged monoblock wheels, available in a range of finishes including brushed aluminum, chrome, and textured black or gunmetal.
Factory-designed downpipes often cause major exhaust flow restrictions due to small pipe diameters, crush bends, and the emissions system pre-cats-resulting in excessive backpressure and heat and ultimately affecting performance at all rpm loads. Macht Schnell's three-inch N54 Catless Track Downpipes are designed to allow instantaneous turbo spooling and ultra-low backpressure for significant power and torque gains. Full mandrel bends and TIG-welded T304 stainless steel construction are standard. Stainless O2 sensor bungs are mounted in factory locations, and additional stainless thermocouple bungs are installed for those monitoring EGTs. Available for the '07 and later BMW 335i (excluding xi variants) and the '08 and later 135i.
Macht Schnell
Techtonics Tuning has released a new performance exhaust for the 2010 and later MkVI VW GTI turbo four cylinder. It features full T304 stainless steel construction with CNC mandrel bends and terminates in dual-wall four-inch tips. According to the company, it has been designed for an easy installation, and tuned for increased power and a more aggressive performance-oriented exhaust note.
Techtonics Tuning
Convertible soft top fraying at the edges? Robbins Auto Top Company offers this soft top for the 1999-'01 996 Cabriolet with heated window glass and stitchless French-style deck seams as original. OEM-style tension cables are sewn into the top, and a unique zipper panel around the window that zips to the OEM headliner. Available in black, blue, and gray. Robbins offers replacement convertible tops for many other European drop-top models, from MINI to Rolls-Royce.
Robbins Auto Top Company


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Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick Yarn
Gemstone - Metallic
Item #: NOM061035
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- Wool Ease: Thick & Quick.
- A super bulky member of the Wool Ease family; it has the feel; warmth and softness of wool with the easy care of acrylic.
- Perfect for extra warm sweaters; jackets; vests; slippers and hats.
- It is an ideal beginner yarn.
- Weight Category: 6 80% acrylic/20% wool.
- Multi's: 5oz/141g 87yd/80m.
- Solids: 6oz/170g 108yd/98m.
- Gauge: knit: 9st x 12r = 4in/10cm on size US13/9mm needles crochet: 6.6sc x 8r = 4in/10cm on size N13/9mm hook.
- Dyelotted: we try but are not always able to match dyelots.
- Care: Machine wash (max.temp.
- 104F/40C) tumble dry dry cleanable do not bleach do not iron.
- Imported.
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The biggest step toward making your house energy efficient is choosing Energy Star appliances. Energy Star appliances offer 10-50% energy savings compared to standard, new appliances.
So, I'm not even talking how much energy savings you'll get from unplugging your decade-or-so old refrigerators, washers, freezers and dishwashers.
But just because Energy Star only rates those four appliance categories, doesn't mean you can't be energy efficient on your stove and dryer, for instance.
Here are six ways to further reduce your energy bill by staying mindful of ways you can save on home energy use.
1. Stop rinsing your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, which wastes up to 20 gallons of water. Energy Star dishwashers use only 4 gallons of water on average.
2. Water heating consumes about 90% of the energy it takes to operate a clothes washer. Switching your temperature setting from hot to warm can cut energy use in half. Using the cold cycle reduces energy use even more.
3. Use the moisture sensor option on your dryer, which automatically shuts off the machine when clothes are dry, saving energy and reducing wear and tear on your clothes caused by over-drying.
4. Choose the right-sized pot on stove burners and keep it covered to cook more efficiently and keep your kitchen cooler.
5. Move your refrigerator away from the stove, dishwasher, or heat vents. Make sure the door seals are airtight. Also, keep your refrigerator and freezer stocked to hold temperature better and operate more efficiently.
6. Microwaves only use about half as much electricity as regular ovens, so using them is already a smart alternative. But you can save even more energy if you defrost food in the refrigerator instead of the microwave and cook food in its serving dish save the cost of the water used to do twice as many dishes.


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Callaway Rogue W Hybridview other products
Jailbreak Technology has been improved upon in Callaway's Rogue range, meaning you can expect to find increased distance in this women's hybrid.
The Rogue hybrid is the first to feature Jailbreak Technology, a huge advancement from previous generations. The combination of this and the ultra-light weight nature of the Rogue W results in the perfect hybrid for lady golfers.
Key features and benefits include:
- Jailbreak Technology boosts ball speeds for increased distance
- Lightweight crown saves weight that's used to increase forgiveness
- Thin and flexible Forged Hyper Speed Face Cup boosts ball speed
- Available in 3-8 hybrids
- Matching Rogue W irons available
If you're after an easy-to-hit rescue to replace your mid to long irons, the Rogue W is a must try for all lady golfers.


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I'd like to suggest a feature. A tad complex perhaps. Allow user to assign a playlist to each podcast, that when a new podcast is downloaded, Madsonic will automatically append the latest episode to the end of the play list. Make the play list non exclusive as well.
Just for example;
Say I have 5 podcasts
1 Security now
2 FLOSS Weekly
3 This Week In Computer Hardware
4 Know how
5 Hamish & Andy
Say I want to make this into two playlists named, Work and Play. The first 4 podcasts I mention are computer related and the 5 is some radio show hosts from Austrailia that are considered by some to be funny (never listened so dont know). So I would like to be able to go into each of the 1-4 podcasts and assign them to the Work playlist and then go into the 5th and assign it to the Play playlist.
Then as each podcast downloads simply append the new episode to the end of the playlist.
As a nice addition the ability to either delete listened to podcasts automatically or be able to move them to an archive playlist after play (so they would nolonger show in the main playlist you have set them to) would be nice.


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It was, after all, only a boot crunching dust. You wouldn't think the sight would affect so many or change so much.
But we saw it, on TV. We saw it and were changed, along with the human world around us.
Like many readers, I was sitting in a room with my family July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong hopped off that ladder onto the moon. I nearly missed it, plumb forgot, but then I happened into the living room, where my parents and huge assortment of sibs were sitting in a half-circle, watching.
There had to be TV. The United States wanted to show the world proof we'd beaten the Russians in the space race. More, it was a TV age: Many of us had watched Lee Harvey Oswald gunned down live in 1963, watched a president's funeral, watched Our World in 1967, the first live global television link, featuring, among many other things, a studio Beatles performance from London of "All You Need Is Love." We believed TV shrank the world and put it in our pockets.
(And that is a measure of what's changed. Back then, "the power of TV" was praised all the time, and we could feel it, when Beatles played and men moonwalked live. Today, that power is a given, unremarked, invisible.)
When the TV picture snapped to the audiovisual link from the moon, it was hard to see at first. Shadow silhouetted Armstrong, behind him the black blank of space, slashed with the arc of the lunar horizon. The contrast settings were wrong; on some TVs you could barely see Armstrong. It was surreal; we had to adjust, to "make it out."
Why was the picture so poor? It was a picture of a picture. The TV camera on the Apollo 11 Lunar Module was a "slow-scan," narrowband TV camera, used in early space exploration because it saved bandwidth and could be transmitted over voice channels. Problem: At a pokey 10 frames a second, it wasn't easily compatible with broadcast TV.
So a broadcast-TV camera was pointed at a 10-inch direct monitor. That signal, lossy and noisy, was encoded, processed, sent to Houston, and thence to the world.
"We're really seeing it," arose in the room, either Mom or . . . or one of my eight brothers and sisters. That was the point: Bad picture or not, it was enough to realize we were seeing it, to connect. That live image reached 600 million people that evening. I can't have been the only one with my scalp prickling. My family's certainly were not the only smiles in the world, realizing history in front of us.
So the picture was garbled, and Armstrong's rehearsed line, "One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind," was garbled. What wasn't was the reception in each mind watching. If you want to be moved, look up some of the pictures of the TV-watching crowds across the world at that moment, some small, some large, just . . . gazing.
(Michael Collins, orbiting the moon, in the Columbia command spacecraft, had no TV. CapCom in Houston quipped, "I guess you're about the only person that doesn't have TV coverage of the scene.")
That was, and remains, among the longest-ever direct communications links among human beings, vaulting 239,000 miles in seconds, ping-ponging as described above, and reaching so many minds. It remains a metaphor for the amazing things people can do. It came at a troubled time: When I think of it, the troubles come back to mind. And so does the astonishment. Armstrong descending is an image of What's Possible.
A very few people don't think it ever happened. And, to be sure, with war abroad and social upheaval across the land, this country had enough work on Earth without busying itself in the heavens. But it signaled a change in the world, a different consciousness of our planet and ourselves. It is a communal memory, too, shared by this race of gifted creatures, video, vivid, telling and retelling.


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CAIRO — President Mohamed Morsi replaced Egypt's finance and interior ministers Sunday in a Cabinet reshuffle aimed at calming growing economic and security pressures over unemployment, poverty and plummeting foreign capital reserves.
The nation's dire financial predicament — the Egyptian currency has tumbled to new lows against the dollar — is likely to prove Morsi's biggest challenge, despite its having been overshadowed by political unrest and the passage of an Islamist-backed constitution. The president and his Muslim Brotherhood party have yet to convince foreign investors and working-class Egyptians that they can rescue the economy.
The Cabinet changes, which also strengthened the Brotherhood's hold on the government, were announced a day before Morsi was to meet with representatives of the International Monetary Fund over an anticipated $4.8-billion loan to Cairo. Morsi has promised tax increases and food and energy subsidy cuts to prove he is willing to enact unpopular austerity measures.
Finance Minister Mumtaz Saeed was replaced by El-Morsi Hegazy, an expert on finance linked to Islamic principles and a professor at the University of Alexandria. Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eldin was replaced by one of his deputies, Gen. Mohamed Ibrahim. Morsi has been suspicious of the Interior Ministry, which controls domestic security forces that still include officers who were loyal to deposed President Hosni Mubarak.


text: Find this wine Find this wine Mcmanis Pinot Noir Yes! Lovely Pinot, slightly jammy, flavorful and yummy. 2012 Pin It Tweet 4 years ago by Lee M. More posts Mcmanis Family Vineyards Pinot Noir California Vintage 2012 Wine Fairly smooth California Pinot Noir. Light fruit, low tannins, fresh flavor. Good value wine. 82 4 years ago by Rangerralph6 Mcmanis Pinot Noir Vintage 2011 7/10. $10.99 at Gary's Good vine, not as intense 5 years ago by Cathy S Miller Mcmanis Pinot Noir 2011 delicious! $10-$11. 6 years ago by SydneyKathryn Mcmanis Pinot Noir 2010 Heather's fav 6 years ago by Laurie D. Mcmanis Family Vineyards Pinot Noir 2010 Very light, rounded fruity Pinot noir. $12 6 years ago by Nicole W.


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Banks Push Back Against Tighter Rules
In the wake of the latest push against the too big to fail banks, the banks are pushing back. Deborah Solomon reports on new lobbying efforts on MoneyBeat. Photo: Getty Images.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... there has been a new push to get ... too big to fail banks down in DC ... talk about breaking the law and ... the banks are pushing back you can see the ... page one of the Wall Street Journal today were talkin about ... how the bangs are responding to the latest Salvos down in DC ... morning welcome to the market the show I am Paul vignette oh and when fully authors of that piece Deborah Solomon joins us from DC to talk about it ... they had Deborah so that that's not the only grumbling they're actually going to spend some money aren't that ... yes this in a different family CNN past they added a fairly low profile and since the financial crisis ... to keeping ahead and doing things behind the scenes on ... but now they're going out and hiring some big name our longtime Washington ... folks to help them make their case both to the media ... and with lawmakers that they are the shrinking they are less risky to the financial system and they don't need any more help at him getting smaller ... it's interesting for them to say it isn't really true concern seems the more the assets are concentrated ... in the face of the five big ones right ... right lane and I have her on here because ... you know as ... objectively as banks have gotten just bigger than the financial crisis any ... the five biggest banks are larger than a wire ... that's because they weren't in the summer the weaker ones at the behest of the government aam ... but they're also more complex and what you seen however is that the regulatory efforts the Fed's efforts that kind of force them to shrink from higher capital requirements ... by making their life than comparable aam is starting to have an effective seen companies like Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley ... I started to sell some assets that Goldman got rid of its reinsurance business bank of America's getting rid of some of its mortgage servicing business is ... because these are not ... the things that they are possible but they're not possible and not fit to compensate for the amount of capital that the banks that have to hold ... against those riskier assets worth of its having some effect on the RSL baby and you have friends he laid out a couple that have gotten their capital plans were sent back to them from the Fed saying ... not enough so they're still lot of concern in DC that these these companies ... if you into trouble might need some kind of government help ... for ... the services in response to let the Brown Vitter bill the bill dies with the Dow ... capital of the release of its of whom to break up the big banks fail ... how much of this is a direct response to that what does that say about that bill's prospects ... well a figure saying I mean it that around there till at this moment doesn't have a chance of passing ... asset when talking to folks in the industry to point B makes me is that ... if there is another London whale if there's another live or scandal if there's some other black eye for the industry or to ... this thing could see after Congress and the now can be made if the Sarbanes Oxley law of two thousand and two that till sat around for awhile nobody thought it had a chance of passing ... of President George Bush is the time wasn't in a sign it and then you had WorldCom met a couple of accounting scandals and it just took off and it was signed him past ninety two ... and signed by President Bush and you know we're still sort of living through that say they're worried that some kind of IPO and meltdown somewhere could force can force a spill thriller on and so at the moment there's not anything happening on and help it gives us a lot of talk about it ... and also you're seeing a lot of pushback funny on the regulator's with Lismore and the new Senator from Massachusetts is beating up on Ben burn Anqi twenty concepts that help mean there's pressure on these regulators to do something and the banks are worried that that's the radio one than manifesting itself an even tougher restrictions ... Louis and the Pentagon and some actual mean people on this I'd talk to me for a second about the Tony Fratto ... Cheryl Tony Fadell you know is a former Bush administration official in the work to Treasury for while the number the White House ... I he's a longtime Washington that has a lot of people is really smart guy and banks and he's been hired by a couple of individual banks and financial services Forum which is then plated top treatments for that the nineteen largest banks see as ... other financial firms CES and saying ... and that he's basically you know taking the message to the media and and trying to be on TV and talk more about how ... the Brown Vitter bill and since you know not the right solution ... that banks are less risky ... ADM would use their leverage ounces and twenty people that they've hired ... the banks of also hired Morgan Stanley Despite Michele Davis who was at Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson for freight and one and ... during the financial crisis she said that though help you know when they're they're Comstock ... on the and the Bank of America has on retainer Stephanie cutter to work with I hear in the early days of the crisis would use the Treasury in and had been a longtime White House ... advisor ... and Gillespie a former Bush administration and so the people ... I have always had labia felt I you know this is no different than in the past week have obvious that there be more public and added and these people are basically the higher with the ease with the idea that the need to push back against this break up the banks not to ... revolving door in TC Deborah Solomon thank you very much good story excellent appreciate it


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Former Talihina coach gets honored by court being named in his honor
TALIHINA — When one looks at all the Talihina High School basketball success, both boys and girls, one name is pretty much cemented there — Chris Gillespie.Last season, his final at the coach of the Golden Tigers, Gillespie guided them to the Class 2A state title in the fourth of four straight trips to state — after a quarterfinal finish and two state runner-up finishes in the previous three trips. He also had success with the Lady Golden Tigers program.After last season, Gillespie decided to "semi-retire" — which has meant being girls coach at Colbert High School, which ironically is where he began his coaching career.Tuesday night at Ray Henson Gymnasium, Talihina Public Schools wanted to make sure Gillespie will always be around in some way. The court was dedicated and named "Chris Gillespie Court" in between the Broken Bow-Talihina games."I'm really appreciative of this award," Gillespie said. "It means a lot to me. It's not every day that you get hired by the same person (Henson) twice. I want to thank everybody. I think this is more about all the players I've had play for me than anything. I'll always be a Talihina Golden Tiger at heart."


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Linda Witherspoon was poisoning her son.She felt certain that what she was feeding her son would send him spiraling into pain. But Witherspoon knew that the only way to find out how to help her son was to hurt him. She suspected Drew, now 10, had Celiac disease, also referred to as a gluten or wheat allergy. "Here I have a feeling he has Celiac and it's poisoning my son to give him gluten, and I have to do it for two weeks before the tests," Witherspoon said, explaining how she had to feed her son in order for doctors to determine what was wrong with him. Drew was diagnosed when he was 3, but only after Witherspoon kept telling people she knew something was wrong with her son. Doctors told her Drew was just a typical toddler. A few symptoms include severe constipation and diarrhea. "I just knew there was something wrong with my son," Witherspoon said. "But the doctors said he's fine." Witherspoon already suspected Drew had Celiac disease and knew she needed to find out for sure. "If you don't get diagnosed you can get horrible health problems and can eventually die." Witherspoon said. "A lot more people are getting diagnosed in their 40s because for years they have been having problems." A genetic component Teri Gruss, the writer of, "Gluten Free Cooking Guide" for About.com said Celiac disease affects more people than many individuals may realize. She added that some people may not have Celiac, but could suffer from gluten sensitivity. Gruss said about 18 million people in the U.S. have symptoms of gluten sensitivity. "I know lots of people that are affected by Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity," Gruss said. "There's a strong genetic link to both conditions which means if one person in the family is diagnosed, there is increased risk that others in the family also have the disease." Karen Ansel, with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, said more and more people are seeking out similar groups because of realizing they know someone affected. "In 2003, a landmark Archives of Internal Medicine study found that as many as 1 in 133 people suffer from Celiac disease, far more than previously believed," Ansel said. "As a result, more and more people became aware of Celiac disease and gluten free diets." Gluten not just in foods So far, Drew is the only one in the Witherspoon family diagnosed with the disease. But his mother has to be careful, because gluten can be found in many household products, not just food. Witherspoon said gluten can be found in medicines, toothpaste, makeup and deodorant. The fact that gluten can be found in so many items can be a bit overwhelming to someone just discovering they or their family suffer from the disease. Witherspoon first started getting information through the free support group, Raising Our Celiac Kids, or ROCK. She now operates her own branch of ROCK, helping out parents who are learning about their own children's illnesses. Witherspoon added that one of the struggles she had with Drew when she started was making sure the food she brought into the home was gluten free. Now, because of label law changes, food manufacturers post whether an item is gluten free or not. But that wasn't always the case. "It was really tough, because they didn't have the labeling laws so you would have to go through every single thing and have to really go through every single ingredient," Witherspoon said. Because Drew needs gluten free foods, which often require preparation or are hard to find, Witherspoon has a freezer devoted just to the foods that Drew can eat. She added that more restaurants are adding gluten free items to the menu. There's even an online app to track down gluten free menus. Gluten-free business Witherspoon's research has now lead to her starting her own business, acting as the southern region sales broker for My Dad's Cookies, a gluten-free cookie company. She has already gotten the cookies into businesses in Davidson, Hickory and Charlotte, as well as Rocky River Coffee in Harrisburg. "Everybody needs this and everybody wants it," she said. "It's just a matter of letting them try it." More companies are getting on the bandwagon. One source said by 2015, gluten-free food sales are expected to top $5 billion in the U.S. alone. Witherspoon said she's paid more than $5 for a loaf of gluten-free bread. Terri Gruss, with About.com, said that trend will continue. "With increased medical diagnosis and media coverage, what food conglomerate or grocery chain would want to miss out on that kind of dollar growth?" she said. Kristen Oliveri is the founder and head writer for the gluten-free website, Pasta's Kitchen, and is personally affected with Celiac disease. "With the numbers of people being diagnosed with gluten intolerance and Celiac disease growing exponentially, supermarkets are reacting to the high demand for gluten free products," she said. "In your average supermarket these days, you can normally find one type of gluten free pasta, rice cracker and even gluten free bread." Necessity and health fad Oliveri said that she sees more people needing to switch to gluten-free diets. "At the heart of it, I believe it's the way we've been producing and refining our products, such as wheat, over the last century," she said. "Our products in this country are packaged and processed in a certain way and my theory, along with many others, is that this could be a contributing factor as to why so many people are developing diseases and food allergies." While some people may need to be on a gluten-free diet, others see it as a health fad. Jackie Keller, founding director of the Los Angels health food company, NutriFit, said she's noticed many customers switching to the diet, even if they didn't necessarily need it. "It's a popular fad right now and has been gaining momentum in the last year or so. Whether people need to switch to gluten-free diet is a different question, though," Keller said. "They're popular right now, because people in general are always looking for a magic pill to 'cure' dietary issues, like bloating and indigestion. Additionally, many people have gravitated to gluten-free in the mistaken belief that it is automatically healthier -- which isn't necessarily true -- and will help with weight loss, since the most obvious source of carbohydrate calories is removed, by removing the wheat." While some people may not need to be on a gluten-free diet, others say the diet can help those who don't necessarily have Celiac. "Others have been prompted to embrace a gluten-free diet to help offset side affects in children and adults from conditions such as Autism, ADHD and more," said Danny Bolstad, with Allens Quality Vegetables. "By removing gluten from the diets of those whose bodies cannot effectively digest or tolerate wheat, a general sense of health and stability, overall are often celebrated."
(c)2012 the Independent Tribune (Kannapolis, N.C.)
Visit the Independent Tribune (Kannapolis, N.C.) at www.independenttribune.com


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User talk:Scoutermom
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
Why is the information about Badges of Honor at the top of the page? I suggest it be removed. I commented on this earlier but no one responded. This information is misleading, because it describes badges that are not given. I suggest historical references such as this are better included on a page which is about the history of scouting, not a page that people use to get up-to-date information about scouting. Thank you for all the work that has gone into Meritbadge.org in general.
- Thank you for your comment. My apologies for failing to respond earlier. This is a rather large web site with a rather small staff so not all comments are responded to. However, your comment was discussed and the concensus of the staff was we like the historic reference and we decided to leave the main page as is. Optimist 22:41, February 19, 2008 (EST)


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Advanced Search
Big Data Research | News
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Notre Dame are collaborating with Internet2 and Rackspace Hosting to build a new OpenStack-optimized hybrid cloud environment designed to help the research and education community use the cloud for big data research. The new service is expected to be available to other institutions in spring 2014.
According to Internet2, the service will enable universities to connect their private clouds to the Rackspace public cloud using Internet2's secure high-performance network. Researchers will then be able to use regional, national, and global research and education networks to create OpenStack-powered hybrid clouds for the purpose of conducting research faster and on a broader scale.
Internet2 is an advanced technology community of research and educational institutions in the United States, and OpenStack is open-source software for building private and public clouds. The new service will be part of Internet2's NET+ program, which "provides access to a portfolio of 'above the network' cloud-based services," according to Internet2.
"This NET+ service fills an important need for the Internet2 community and our regional and global partners who can use the extreme performance of the Internet2 network combined with the open architecture of OpenStack to eliminate the need for very large data sets to travel over the public Internet," said Shelton Waggener, senior vice president of Internet2, in a prepared statement. "Researchers and the higher education instructional community will be able to use Rackspace public cloud and OpenStack-based private cloud environments hosted at an Internet2 university where bandwidth is managed and high-speed delivery ensured, with minimal delay or latency."
Further information about the OpenStack-based hybrid cloud environment for research and education can be found at internet2.edu.
About the Author
David Nagel is editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Technology Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal and STEAM Universe. A 25-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.
He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at or follow him on Twitter at @THEJournalDave (K-12) or @CampusTechDave (higher education).
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Back in 1963, the bigwigs at the BBC were skeptical about the concept for a new sci-fi serial, and they had every right to be.
A two-hearted humanoid alien flying through space and time? In a clunky police phone box called the TARDIS? Battling diabolical fiends — Daleks — that look like salt and pepper shakers?
British viewers might have been expected to take one look at this riot of weirdness called "Doctor Who" and immediately shout "ex-ter-min-ate!"
But they didn't. In fact, they ate it up. And now, 50 years later, "Doctor Who" not only lives on, it has achieved a form of global domination. On Saturday, zealous fans — or Whovians — everywhere will gather to commemorate in style the golden goodness of the longest-running, most successful sci-fi TV series in history.
"It's a time for all of us to geek out together and pour forth our love for the show," says Holly Link, a devotee from Santa Cruz, who plans to dress up in "Who" attire and, with about a dozen of her pals, watch the show's 50th anniversary special, "Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor."
The 75-minute special, airing in the United States on BBC America, will be simulcast in more than 75 countries. Additionally in the U.S., it will be screened in 3-D at more than 300 cineplexes. All this week, BBC America has been hyping the anniversary shindig with "Doctor Who"-themed marathons and retrospectives and even a slick new original movie about the show's formative days.
That's a lot of fuss for a cult series that originally was envisioned as a kiddie show, burdened with a paltry budget and first aired on the telly in foggy black and white. In the five decades since, and despite a lengthy hiatus that begin in the '90s, "Doctor Who" has grown up and captured the imaginations of adults as well as younger viewers.
But in a medium where trends fade fast and shows drop like flies, why has it continued to thrive?
"It's a unique, yet very simple idea: A man travels through space and time," explains "Doctor Who" producer Marcus Wilson during a phone call from London, where he's working on the show's Christmas special. "And yet it is open to infinite possibilities. We can go anywhere, do anything. It's about hope, and adventure and excitement. And we can always stay current and refresh ourselves with different Doctors."
The latter aspect has been one of the show's greatest strengths. Over the years, 11 actors have played the so-called Time Lord, beginning with grandfatherly William Hartnell. Next in line is Peter Capaldi, who is due to succeed the popular Matt Smith when the latter bows out in the Christmas episode.
Unlike some shows where multiple actors have played the same guy, the Doctor conveniently "regenerates," or transforms into a different being — a process that allows each actor to put his own spin on the character.
"This enables the show to reinvent itself every few years and advance with the times," says Campbell resident Ken Patterson, an original member of Legion of Rassilon, a "Doctor Who" fan club founded in 1982 and claiming to be the Bay Area's oldest. "It's always moving, changing and making itself accessible to a new audience."
Indeed, it's "almost bittersweet" when a Doctor regenerates, says Nicholas Urbonas, a Whovian from Hayward. "You're sad to see him go but also excited to see what the next one brings."
Link, who once had the door to her home painted to look like the TARDIS, thinks a key reason that "Doctor Who's" time tourist resonates with its geeky fans is that he's a thinking person's hero.
"I love the idea that you can have an intelligent guy at the head of a show and be pretty much like a superhero," she says. "He's not wielding a gun and fighting all the time. There's very little blood and gore. He gets by with his wits, which makes it a show for all ages."
Link also admires the platonic relationships the Doctors generally have had with their various traveling "companions," who are, more often than not, comely young women.
"It's nice to see a male-female friendship without the constant will they/won't they questions," she says. "That's very rare on television."
On top of all that, Elec Thureockes, a fan from Ben Lomond, just loves "Doctor Who" because it doesn't take itself too seriously.
"It's much more of a fun, happy-go-lucky type of show," he says.
As with most sci-fi/fantasy fans, Whovians are a passionate bunch. Thureockes asserts that he and his friends can dissect and debate the show, and the efforts of head writer Steven Moffat, for three hours straight "without even having an episode on." And Patterson points out that devotees will drive from all over the Bay Area, through rush-hour traffic, to attend their club's monthly meetings at a San Jose IHOP.
And they're gaining more company. For ages, "Doctor Who," while a sensation in the United Kingdom, mostly operated under the radar on these shores. But in recent years, the show's U.S. profile has grown, thanks in large part to promotional efforts by BBC America, which secured the U.S. rights in 2009. Two years later, "Doctor Who" was the most downloaded series on iTunes.
So now it's cool to be a Whovian.
"I think for a long time in this country, the image people had of a 'Doctor Who' fan was a sad, 30-year-old guy watching the show in his parents' basement," Patterson says. "That's not the case anymore."
And that brings us back to the clamor surrounding this weekend's anniversary special that pairs the current Doctor, Smith, with his cheeky predecessor, played by David Tennant. Wilson promises it's going to be an "epic event full of surprises" that celebrates the show's history, but also takes "a big step forward."
"It's as much about the future as it is the past," says the producer, who gets tight-lipped when asked if there will be a juicy cliffhanger.
"If I told you about that," he replies, "Steven Moffat would hunt me down and kill me."
Where there's 'who'
There's more than one way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic sci-fi series "Doctor Who."
- "Doctor Who Explained": A new special that explores the mysteries behind the two-hearted alien known as the Time Lord. Included: Interviews with cast members over the years. (8 p.m., BBC America).
- "An Adventure in Space and Time": A made-for-TV film about the early days of "Doctor Who," and how the show came to be, starring David Bradley as William Hartnell, who played the first Doctor. (9 p.m., BBC America).
- "Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor": The show's 50th anniversary special, starring current Doctor Matt Smith and his predecessor David Tennant, along with Jenna Coleman, Billie Piper and John Hurt. (Simulcast at 11:50 a.m., BBC America; Re-airs at 7 p.m.)
- "Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor": The anniversary special will be simulcast in 3D at theaters in 11 U.S. cities, including San Francisco (Century San Francisco Centre 9).
- "Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor": The anniversary special will be screened in 3D at more than 300 theaters across the U.S., including some throughout the Bay Area. For information on times and tickets, go to fathomevents.com/.
The doctor is in
A look at the various actors who have played the Time Lord over the past five decades.


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I had posted a Facebook video tour of the exhibit, Karate: From Okinawa to Hawaii. I was not aware that you had to be a Facebook member to see the video. One of the settings was to make the video visible to "everyone", but it turned out that "everyone" meant everyone on Facebook. So I have now also uploaded the tour to YouTube. Enjoy!
Click here for the Full Sized YouTube Video
Charles C. Goodin


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8:00 pm
Equitrekking "Jordan: Petra, Royal Stables & Dead Sea" This episode highlights some of the best of classic Jordan, including Petra, Aqaba, Wadi Mujib and the Dead Sea. Darley begins with a visit to the magical city of Petra, where she and her local guide Ibrahim explore by camel, foot and horseback, riding in the lesser-visited suburb of Little Petra and passing through the siq to catch the Treasury, made famous in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in the morning light. Darley learns about the local legends surrounding the Treasury and its contents, as she rides a camel by the Treasury. D
8:30 pm
Equitrekking "Uruguay" Equitrekking host Darley Newman travels to the small South American country of Uruguay to discover gaucho culture by visiting various estancias, riding with cowboys on the beach, taking in the coastal town of Punta del Este and tasting local foods in Montevideo. At an eco-friendly ranch that raises sheep and cattle, Darley learns about the area's mystical vibe on a ride to a section of mysterious stone cones and up to a high point with views of a Tibetan monastery. Over a morning cup of mate, a special tea popular throughout Uruguay, Darley talks with a local about the tradition behind this caffeinated drink and the proper way to prepare it. D
9:00 pm
Nature "Revealing The Leopard" The world's most numerous big cat is seldom seen although its members live among villages and on the outskirts of cities in Africa and much of Asia. One female leopard allows filmmakers to follow her to her den and film her cubs from their earliest days as she teaches them to survive. Interspersed with the leopard family story are vignettes of leopards from around the world.G
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Wild! "Undersea Mysteries" NULL
11:00 pm
Martin Clunes: The Lemurs of Madagascar The island of Madagascar is home to an abundance of wildlife species - including 101 endangered types of the small primates known as lemurs. They live only on Madagascar, and one by one, they are dying there. In this special, British actor Clunes (DOC MARTIN) travels to the island to explore and expose the urgent plight of this rare - and endearing - species.G


text: School Finance April 25, 2014 Fact Sheet 14-12 Tax Freeze Credit Source: Research and Educational Services Table of Contents Introduction Calculation of the Tax Credit State Certification of School District Qualification Impact of Property Tax Freeze Credit Download full document (pdf) Introduction The tax freeze credit provides a personal income tax credit to eligible homeowners in the 2014 and 2015 tax years who reside in school districts and municipalities that do not exceed their tax levy limit and meet other requirements of the statute. The provisions of this credit do not apply to New York City. There are qualification requirements for both the taxing jurisdiction and for the taxpayer in order for a homeowner to qualify for the tax freeze credit. A homeowner's property must qualify for the state STAR exemption program which requires homeowners to earn less than $500,000 and it must be their primary residence. School districts and municipalities must meet various criterions for their taxpayers to qualify for the tax credit. Eligible homeowners who reside in school districts and municipalities which adopt a "freeze-compliant budget" in 2014 shall receive the tax freeze credit. A "freeze-compliant budget" is defined as a budget of a taxing jurisdiction that has enacted a budget which contained a tax levy that stayed within their tax levy limit. In order for their eligible taxpayers to qualify for the tax credit in 2015, school districts and municipalities will be required to have "freeze-compliant budgets" and they must have efficiency plans approved by the state. Calculation of the Tax Credit There are a series of calculations to determine the credit value dependent upon the type of taxing jurisdiction. For explanatory purposes, this fact sheet will describe the options for fiscally independent school districts. Fiscally independent school districts comprise all school districts in the state except for the "Big 5" city school districts (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers, and New York City). These are the districts which are subject to the school property tax cap. If a fiscally independent school district has a "freeze-compliant budget" for 2014-15, the tax credit for an eligible taxpayer is the greater of the amount by which the real property taxes levied on a qualified property exceeds the property tax liability in 2013-14, or the product of 1.46 percent multiplied by the 2013 tax liability. A homeowner with a $4,000 school tax bill whose levy increases by 2 percent will receive a tax credit in 2014 of $80, whereas a homeowner with a $10,000 school tax bill in that same school district will receive a $200 tax credit. If a fiscally independent school district has a "freeze-compliant budget" in both 2014-15 and 2015-16 -- a 2015 tax credit shall be granted in the amount of the 2014 tax credit plus the greater of amount by which the tax liability on the property increased in 2015-16 above 2014-15 levels or the levy credit factor. If the district was not "freeze-compliant" in 2014-15 but is "freeze-compliant" in 2015-16 then the value of the 2015 credit shall be the greater of the increase in tax liability in 2015-16 above 2014-15 levels or the levy credit factor. The levy credit factor is calculated as the lesser of 2 percent or the increase in the average annual consumer price index change for the twelve month period which ends in the January which precedes the start of the school year, compared to the average annual consumer price index from the proceeding twelve months. It should also be noted that the tax freeze program does not provide a tax credit for various changes in valuation which may occur such as a physical change in the structure, an increase in value associated with a reassessment to the extent the property value increases more than the overall assessing jurisdiction due to the reassessment, or the loss of an exemption. State Certification of School District Qualification In 2014-15, a fiscally independent school district must certify to the state comptroller that the school budget did not increase the tax levy in excess of the school district's tax levy limit in order for taxpayers to be eligible for the tax freeze credit. Taxpayers who reside in a school district which exceeds their tax levy limit by obtaining at least 60 percent voter approval are ineligible for the tax freeze credit. In 2015-16 there are additional requirements on school districts in order for their qualified homeowners to be eligible for the tax freeze credit. First, a fiscally independent school district must not increase their levy in excess of their tax levy limit, and second, have a state approved government efficiency plan which demonstrates three year savings and efficiencies of at least one percent per year on their tax levy from shared services, cooperation agreements and/or mergers or efficiencies. These school district government efficiency plans must be submitted to the director of the budget by June first, two thousand fifteen. Impact of Property Tax Freeze Credit The impact of this credit is to further exacerbate the funding gaps between low and high wealth school districts. High wealth school districts in general are more dependent on local property tax and therefore face a higher total dollar tax liability. Low wealth districts by contrast are highly reliant on state aid to support their budget and the local tax levy may be less than 20 percent of the total revenue for the school district. These low wealth districts therefore face relatively low total tax liabilities compared to high wealth communities. The effect of fully reimbursing qualified taxpayers for their increased tax liability on eligible properties is a highly regressive distribution of state funds. The tax freeze credit is only available to residents of those school districts which approve budgets within the tax levy limit. The Education Law requires that 60 percent of voters approve any district budget which exceeds the tax levy limit. However, even if the voters of a school district approve a budget which includes a levy increase that exceeds the tax levy limit by the required 60 percent approval rate, the residents of the district are ineligible for the tax freeze credit. Therefore, this tax credit provides a direct financial incentive to the residents of a school district to vote against any proposal to exceed the district's tax levy limit. As a result it is reasonable to assume that very few districts will attempt to exceed their tax levy limit, and even fewer will be approved by voters since they will not be eligible for the tax freeze credit if they exceed their tax levy limit.


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Horror in Text - Labyrinth is a short, experimental game written within the space of one day and 307 lines of C++ code. It has no graphics; it is a text game. It puts you in the position of someone who awakes in a dark room, with a labyrinth just outside of a door. You must navigate your way out of the labyrinth, escaping an unknown monster. Work on a bigger, better sequel has already begun. In the meantime, enjoy!
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.


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Notes Browser Plug-in is a product for accessing Notes/Domino based applications inside your browser, and not require any modification to your applications. For accessing Mail inside a browser, we recommend IBM iNotes (Previously known as Domino Web Access - DWA). We have modified Notes Browser Plug-in to form a mailfile URL in http when the user tries to double-click on the mailfile icon on the workspace or the bookmarks. For example, if my mailfile was on a server xyz/ibm, we find out it's http name (somethinglike xyz.ibm.com) and then append the pathname to the mailfile to it and fire it up in the browser. So it could come up as:
Notice that we always try to use https. But if your Domino Server's URL is 'http' only, where you want the URL launch your mailfile to be :
then simply add the following to your notes.ini file:


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http://nypost.com/2013/12/02/crackdown- ... nt-things/
Police arrested 71 panhandlers between Nov. 11 and 24, including a man who collected a paltry 43 cents from straphangers. Cops also gave out 37 panhandling summonses.
Not everyone in the NYPD is happy about the crackdown. Some say that they want cops to focus on robbers and subway shovers over the holiday season.
"There are more important things we have to worry about, like people becoming the victim of a crime," said a source.
"People are getting thrown onto subway tracks, having their iPhones and iPads snatched. The last thing we're worried about is a man begging for a nickel on the holidays. It's common sense."
Another source said, "A panhandler pales in comparison to someone getting violently robbed.
The number of people "living" in the subway system has increased 13 percent over last year, according to the city's Department of Homeless Services.
The Post reported in late October that panhandling and peddler arrests were only up slightly from the year before, from 395 collars to 409.
And they were down significantly from 2011 — when cops cracked down on quality-of-life violations underground in Operation Moving Target, and arrested 930 people within six months.
Police said at the time that the number was higher in 2011 because it also included arrests for people selling Metro-Card swipes.
Those arrests have since been removed from the panhandler category.


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Part of National Museums Liverpool
Also in this section…?
Bracelet, 2004, The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia
The extraordinary sculptural shapes of the objects made by Peter Chang are unique. He exploits the intrinsic qualities of plastic; its malleability and colour, adding depth and sensuality. This is the first time early and contemporary drawings, prints and sculptures are presented alongside his explorations into jewellery, objects and current sculptural activities showing a comprehensive overview of his work. His drive to continually develop new ideas and techniques has earned him an international reputation, and his work is collected by individuals and museums all over the world. He is also the recipient of numerous National and International Awards, including the Jerwood Prize for the Applied Arts in 1995 and has recently been awarded a 2005-2007 Wingate Scholarship.
Artist, jeweller or sculptor? Peter Chang refuses to be labelled or to label his work. Seeing no difference between the arts, he produces work without limitations or boundaries.
'The pieces I create can be sculptures or they can be worn as jewellery. Each individual will have a different response to them and I like that.'
Taking acrylic, polyester resin and PVC, and using techniques he has devised over many years, Chang turns these throw-away everyday materials into something special. He is inspired by many things, from the natural world to the urban environment. It would not be unusual in Chang's work to see, perhaps, the imagery of aquatic plants combined with the pattern from the sole of a trainer. Nothing is too commonplace or mundane.
Sometimes the piece of work develops as it is made; perhaps through an accident, or as Chang would call it, meaningful chance. He embraces these changes in order to create something new.
All Chang asks is that when looking at his work, viewers use their intellect, intuition and imagination as if listening to music.
Sponsored by National Museums Liverpool Business 2008 with support from The British Council.
A new publication accompanies the exhibition, price £9.95.
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A Belated Encounter
Perry Anderson retraces his father's career in the Chinese Customs Service
The range of emotions parents can arouse in their children – affection, rebellion, indifference, fear, adulation, their disturbing combinations – suggests a repertory of subjective universals, cutting in each individual case at random across cultures. What children know – as opposed to feel – about their parents, on the other hand, is likely to be a function of objective constraints that vary more systematically: tradition, place, lifespan. Is there an unalterable core, of pudeur or incomprehension, even here? That is less clear. In the American tropics, for instance, gaps of scarcely more than a dozen years between generations, not uncommon, can create an easy sibling intimacy between mother and grown-up child, difficult to imagine in the North.
At the opposite pole, my father was 43 when his first child, my brother Benedict, was born. He died ten years later, when I was eight. But in his last years he was sufficiently ill for my mother to think it best to get us away to boarding-school. Here the brevity of biological overlap was further reduced by social decision. My mother's motive was compassion, but her solution suggests a filter that might in any event have dropped between father and children, had he survived. The distance in years, and the scission of death, were sealed by a culture anyway marked by reticence. There was nothing unusual in such circumstances. A child of them was bound to know little of his father.
In our family, however, a further shutter fell across his memory. He had spent his life thousands of miles away from Ireland, where he died and we grew up, in a China that ceased to exist as soon as he was gone. We knew he had worked there as a Customs Commissioner, but had little idea of what that might mean. In his last months, sitting by the fire during the damp Irish nights, he liked to tell us boys – my sister was too young to listen – anecdotes about Parnell, whom he admired; and tales of junks and pirates, in which he escaped from brigands or captured prizes. Such images were too vivid to last, their over-bright tints fading into the dimness of nursery-stories that adolescents, with more impatience than condescension, put behind them – rather like the revolver I discovered in a drawer one idle afternoon, whose weight surprised me, before my mother caught me and got rid of it.
Once these legends had receded, we were left with a world of objects, familiar and incomprehensible, recalling a past to which we otherwise had no relation: large buff tea-chests, stamped with ideograms, still lined – is this a trick of memory? – with Chinese newspapers; dusty books and papers, with Chinese characters on the back, in the glass case in the hall; a celadon lamp, yellow rug, small dark teapot; blue saddle-cloths my mother used to veil her television set; framed paintings of black-hatted sages, silk scrolls of ladies under parasols, a horse rolling on its back by a stream. As a resolutely philistine teenager, I had no time for any of these. Even the great broad-shouldered tiger, glowering magnificently down on us in the dining-room – a copy of a well-known Ming original, so one was later led to believe – made scarcely any conscious impression on me. Only the Ch'ing Ping M'ei, a domesticated version of the original, but – for a 15-year-old – sexually electric enough, in an azure Shanghai binding of the Thirties, caught my imagination. By the time I got out of university, associations with China were like faded scraps of wallpaper in a house one wished to forget, the Ireland of the Meet and the Mass of that time. 'Customs' conjured up only the local caitiffs of a seedy clericalism, peering at books on the quayside to see if they were on a blacklist based on the Papal Index.
My mother, of course, could have told us more. But even as adults, something held us back from asking. She once commented on our lack of curiosity, but was too tactful ever to impose the topic. There were the family photograph albums of Kunming, where my brother was born, Swatow where I was conceived, later our house in Shanghai. But there was little reference to all this. Why did she not volunteer more? In part, because of her own attitude to life: she had an unusual gift for making the best of the present – I often thought she became younger and more lively, the older she got. Her marriage to my father had been a success. Then she had nursed him in his long illness. By temperament she had little inclination to look back, unless invited to do so. There was perhaps another element as well. She lived three years with my father in China before the Pacific War. But he had already lived there more than twenty, and been married for a decade to another woman, the writer Stella Benson, whose novels stood preserved and largely unread on our bookshelves. My mother would have been aware of the limits to her knowledge of this other Chinese life.
After Stella's death in 1933, my father deposited her diaries in the University Library in Cambridge, not to be read for fifty years. When they became available, a fine biography of her was quickly produced, based on them. My mother told the biographer, Joy Grant, what she knew of her husband's earlier life; but she, and we, learnt far more from it. The biography offers a sympathetic portrait of my father. Yet, drawn from the diaries of a writer who was remarkably honest, but also unusually introspective, it is confined essentially to the marital relationship – which is certainly striking enough. The journals, revealing in many other ways, are notably incurious about my father's work; while his experience in China before they met in 1920 remains a blank.
About this time, at the turn of the Nineties, my attitude changed. No one teaching in Los Angeles could fail to feel the force of the Italian adage of the Sixties: la Cina è vicina. With some of the best historians of China in the world on campus, and students from every part of the Far East, it was difficult not to wonder more about the family connection. By now a substantial amount of scholarship had appeared on the mysterious organisation that employed my father, the Chinese Maritime Customs. But this work, much of it from the distinguished hand of John Fairbank, was mostly concerned with the 19th-century origins of the institution, shedding less light on modern times. For its more recent history, it was not even very clear where the records lay: the best contemporary guide to Chinese archives, produced in 1996, gives no indication.
Last summer, enquiries through my brother established that the files I was looking for would be held in Nanking, though permission to consult them was by no means certain. A conference took me to China, and in due course I made my way to Nanking. The Second National Archive, which in principle covers central documentation of the Republican period (1911-49), is housed in a large structure set back from the road, fronted by a traditional gaudily-painted gate and a tilted-roof mansion put up by the Kuomintang not long before the city was stormed by the Japanese in 1937. Nanking is famous as one of the 'four furnaces' of China, and in that season the reading-room was largely deserted. Filial respect is understood in China, and the staff were friendly and willing to help. But they were not sanguine. The Customs archive, they pointed out, contained 57,000 volumes, and there was no detailed catalogue: where were they to start? I suggested looking for reports from the province of Yunnan for 1936, when my father was Commissioner there.
Within half an hour, I had his dispatches from Kunming in front of me. The sensation of belated encounter was overwhelming, mixed with a kind of awe. For I was looking, not only at the workings of the life that lay behind mine, but at one of the most immaculate sets of records in the world. I don't know what I had expected to find, but not quite this. Every year communications between field stations – the 'ports', which included inland as well as coastal cities – and the headquarters of the Customs were bound in red or black leather volumes, with gold-block lettering. Inside, dispatches and correspondence, in meticulous sequence, are as crisp and clear as when first typed; in their margins, the handwritten comments of an indefatigable Inspector-General and his assistants, or instructions for reply. Three separate categories of communication were transmitted each month, and filed and bound in different formats: Official Correspondence, covering regular administrative business; Semi-Official, reporting political and military developments in the area; and Confidential, for the most sensitive material, to do with leaders, powers, wars. These were, in effect, the memorials of a state within a state. Across two decades, I could follow my father's path within it, as he moved in orbit round China.
A few months later, when I was back in Europe, my sister mentioned that cousins in Ireland had some old photographs and possibly documents about our grandfather, known to be in charge of army cryptography during the First World War, but otherwise a shadowy figure who died in 1920. The letters, she said, were in the attic of a disused mill. Mildly intrigued, I went to see them. There, instead, to my astonishment I was shown a suitcase of letters from my father, covering the entire span from his departure for China to his death in Ireland more than thirty years later. Addressed to his mother, aunt and sister, they must have been casually stuffed in drawers, without order or afterthought, many no less casually mislaid or thrown aside. Though no sequence is complete, no major period is missing; with all the reservations that attach to family correspondence of this kind – the immemorial censorship of sons writing to mothers – a more or less continuous frieze of my father's life, especially revealing of his early years, can be pieced together. The letters found near Cahir could be regarded as a fourth – Personal – series of reports complementing, or offsetting, the three stored in Nanking.
They start on 19 July 1914, three days before my father's 21st birthday. He was a passenger on the SS Morea, passing Stromboli in eruption en route to Suez. By the time he reached Colombo, Europe was on the brink of war – 'two battleships in harbour and 25-mile searchlights playing'. Hostilities broke out before he got to Singapore. Arriving in Shanghai in the last week of August, he was sent at a few hours' notice eight hundred miles up the Yangtze to a port deep in Hunan, to begin his career in the Customs. Why had he come to China? After a year as classical exhibitioner in Cambridge, neglecting or scorning his curriculum, he had failed his first-year exams. Outraged by this nonchalance, his father, a martinet, refused to let him sit them again, cutting off financial support. His uncle, another and more senior general, who had once commanded the garrison in Hong Kong, recommended him for service in the Maritime Customs. Academic grief was actuarial good luck. Gazetted into his future employment just before the outbreak of war, and issued with an 'outfit allowance' of £100, he was contractually bound to five years' service in China. Unable to secure his release to participate in the slaughter in Europe, he escaped the fate of his younger brother, the apple of his parents' eye, killed in the last week of fighting. This death finished off his father. He had punished the wrong son.
The institution in which the young James Carew O'Gorman Anderson took up his post in 1914 had been in existence for nearly fifty years. By then it had no parallel anywhere in the world. Its origins lay in the crisis of the Ch'ing Empire in the mid-19th century, when the Taiping Rebellion gave a Western coalition, led by Britain, the chance to force a 'Treaty system' on the beleaguered dynasty, subjecting China to full commercial penetration. The immediate background to the creation of the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs Service was the Anglo-French expedition to Peking of 1860 that culminated in the burning of the Summer Palace. Once brought to heel by force of arms, the recalcitrant Ch'ing state needed to be propped up against the threat of the Taiping insurrection in the Yangtze delta, with its menacing attitudes to private property and the opium trade. A new Customs Inspectorate, answerable to Peking but staffed by foreigners, would enforce the remarkably advantageous tariff system imposed on the dynasty, fixing a ceiling on import dues at 5 per cent ad valorem, and provide it with the steady revenues required to pay off the Anglo-French indemnity and finance military victory over the Taiping.
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Vol. 20 No. 15 · 30 July 1998 » Perry Anderson » A Belated Encounter
pages 3-10 | 9085 words


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Playing with Fire: National Festival Orchestra at the University of Maryland, June 16, 2012
From the opening bars of Leopold Stokowski's transcription of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor for organ, it was clear: Leonard Slatkin had the National Orchestral Institute's National Festival Orchestra playing extremely well. As noted previously on this blog appliance, the NOI brings talented young musicians to the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center for a month of high-level instrumental tutelage, leading to four Saturdays of orchestral concerts and some other fun sprinkled throughout the month of June. In years past, the students came together to form the NOI Philharmonic, which is now called the National Festival Orchestra for some reason.
In years past, imperfect string ensemble has been a reliable telltale that they do not play together all the time. Under Slatkin's baton, though, the lower strings united impressively to state the passacaglia theme, and more impressively they maintained their concentration as they played it over and over and over again until Stokowski's transcription finally handed it to the brass. Especially in this transcription, the passacaglia and fugue burns slow, and Slatkin kept it on a long trajectory, the violin figurations steadily becoming busier and then approaching a frenzy, until the final moments of the fugue, when the French horns came in blasting the subject like a howitzer.
Only the winds failed to impress in the Bach/Stokowski, sounding a bit lost in the counterpoint, but they sounded great in Cindy McTee's "Double Play," next on the program and (exciting!) a DMV premiere. As was his custom when leading new works as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra a few Metro stops south, Slatkin said a few words before the piece but disclosed little that wasn't already in the program notes. My considered opinion is that if you think a preconcert talk is necessary, you should prepare some excerpts so the audience has some idea what you're talking about when you discuss the music. To do otherwise accomplishes little.
This lack of new info frustrated especially given that Slatkin and McTee are married, though he did note that "royalties stay in the family." The performance put his wife's work in a good light. (Slatkin also led the work's world premiere with his new band, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, in 2010.) McTee packed the piece full of gorgeous textures, like in the opening section, "The Unquestioned Answer," where percussion dappled the sweet, quiet chords in the strings and winds like stars reflected in the lapping tides, pulsing with quiet energy. The "Tempus Fugit" second section, tinged with jazzy harmonies; skittered and wheeled about with great nervous energy that often expressed itself in dueling rhythms. Even though McTee says the two sections can be performed separately, my favorite thing in the whole piece was the transition, with the percussion striking a rhythm against indifferent strings, like a match trying to ignite. Slatkin kept it all humming along. Though McTee did not approach the cosmic wonder of Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question," whose title and musical materials the first section messed around with, the work was still a ton of fun.
I am sure it was just a coincidence that Slatkin led Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony with the NFO of the NOI a week after his old band played it under their new music director, Christoph Eschenbach. (No, really, I am. Why is my lack of sarcasm not coming across in type?) Anyway, the NFO sounded least professional in this warhorse of a symphony, in both bad and good ways. The orchestra got out of sync in some busy passages, climaxes occasionally sounded more loud than clear, and some of the soloists had trouble keeping their lines going, most notably the horn's heartbreaking hiccup in the gorgeous melody that begins this symphony's slow movement.
But a shocking enthusiasm also animated this performance; nothing about it sounded jaded. Those cacophonous climaxes erupted from the music, pinning me back in my seat, especially when contrasting with the more tender music in the slow movement. Desperation and triumph alternated and shot through the finale, the NFO keenly feeling the impact of each different riff on the speedy journey. And there was some fine orchestral playing, particularly when Slatkin and his charges successfully executed some tricky tempo changes, as in a stop-you-dead brusque acceleration during the first movement's coda.
That moment felt like a rebuke to any hope that had been offered by previous modulations to the major mode, and at that point in the performance I wasn't thinking about how well Slatkin or the orchestra were doing; I just felt a keen disappointment, straight from the drama of the music. That kind of immediacy, born of freshness and passion, distinguishes NOI performances year after year. It was great to hear it again on Saturday night.
Other People's Perspectives: Robert Battey.
BREAKFAST AT THE SLATKIN/MCTEE HOUSEHOLD (an imagined dialogue)
"Honey, did you really have to start the diminuendo so early last night?"
"That's how it is in the score."
"But you know the score is only a guide for the realization of a performance. In the moment, I didn't want the diminuendo to begin then."
"You should probably revise the score. I'll make a note."
"But maybe tomorrow the diminuendo will need to begin then. The hall might feel more intimate. You have to feel it and see when it's going to begin."
"I have a limited amount of control over these musicians anyway. If they want to play softer they're going to play softer. If I want them to play some way outside the score, I need to tell them to do that before we perform."
"Could you go take the trash out?"
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So are Michael Bay's Ninja Turtles really going to look sort of like his Transformers? Behold our first piece of concept art from the TMNT reboot — which looks, uh... interesting. It's very blocky and stocky, with the same kind of chunky aesthetic that characterizes the Bayformers. On the other hand, it's apparently the work of co-creator Kevin Eastman.
Rapper Kid Cudi posted the above sketch on his Tumblr, along with some hints that he's involved in this film in some way. He also tweeted:
To everyone with doubts & concerns about the new TMNT reboot, trust me, there is NOTHING to worry about. Trust. Everyone will be pleased!
The sketch apparently was given to Cudi as a gift by Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, who run the production company Platinum Dunes along with Bay himself.
People are taking this to be official concept art for the movie, but it could just be a dorky sketch created by Eastman for the producers in five minutes. We'll find out soon, I guess. [via Huffington Post]