text:
Allison Tally says she was indeed surprised when USDA confirmed last month that the first case of Asian soybean rust in the United States had been found in a soybean field near Baton Rouge, La.
"I expected it might get here maybe next year or the year after," says Tally, a plant pathologist who had predicted in a presentation just a few days before that Asian soybean rust might not arrive in this country for two or three years. "I thought it would be in Central America first and then here."
Tally, who has made several trips to Brazil to monitor the spread of the disease in that country, says she's not sure where Hurricane Ivan — the storm most observers expect was responsible — picked up the spores for the disease. Some reports had Asian soybean rust in Columbia in August.
"But if it had to hit, this was a great time for it," said Tally. "It gives us time for educating farmers about the disease before we begin another growing season."
Following the initial discovery by an LSU AgCenter plant pathologist in Baton Rouge, the disease has now been confirmed in soybean fields in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri and on kudzu in Florida.
"It's troubling that they found soybean rust on kudzu in Florida," says Tally, technical brand manager, fungicides, for Syngenta Crop Protection. "If the kudzu leaves remain green in that area, the disease will be more likely to over-winter."
If the latter occurs in Florida or in South Louisiana, the chances of it reaching the Midwest or other parts of the Soybean Belt in 2005 are much improved.
"The disease spread over a 2,000-mile area of Brazil in one year, so it could move on the prevailing winds from the southern United States to the Midwest in one season if conditions are right," says Tally.
Asian soybean rust or Phakopsora pachyrihizi originated in Japan in 1902. Initially, it spread very slowly, moving to China, Southeast Asia and Australia.
In 1996, it traveled on wind currents from Asia to Africa. It appeared first in Uganda and then in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Scientists first detected the disease in a small area along the border between Paraguay and Brazil in the 2001-02 growing season (the seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.) By the end of the 2003-04 season, it could be found in all the soybean growing areas of Brazil and in Bolivia and Argentina.
"It probably traveled to Brazil on the trade winds from Africa," says Tally. "No one brought it into the country — the spores were just carried on the trade winds."
Soybean rust symptoms generally start with a yellowing of the leaves in the lower canopy of the plant.
As the disease develops, it produces tan and reddish brown lesions that, when mature, consist of small pustules.
"In Brazil, researchers have learned that the disease comes in fast and can defoliate soybean plants in a matter of days," says Tally.
"It can infect plants in the vegetative stage but does not appear to progress to the middle and upper leaves until the plants reach the reproductive stage."
Scientists have observed yield losses of 80 percent due to the rapid defoliation of plants in Zimbabwe and South Africa where farmers were not accustomed to treating fields for diseases.
"Farmers in Brazil are used to spraying fungicides so the damage has not been as severe," she said.
"Brazilian soybean losses have been in the more moderate range of 10 percent to 50 percent."
What makes soybean rust such a devastating disease over widespread areas is its prolific spore production.
The pustules in the lesions formed by the disease act as "spore pumps." Researchers estimate that spore production can range as high as 4 trillion spores per acre once the lesions mature.
"If you achieve 98 percent control, you still have billions of spores left," she says. "That could help explain why the disease has been confirmed over such a wide-spread area of the southeastern United States this fall."
USDA's Economic Research Service calculated that Asian soybean rust cost Brazilian farmers $600 million during the 2002-03 season in yield losses and the expense of spraying about 80 percent of soybean area with fungicides. That figure could have exceeded $1 billion in 2003-04, according to ERS.
When the disease hits the United States with full force, ERS economists estimate the potential loss in the first year at $640 million to $1.3 billion and in subsequent years at $240 million to $2 billion, depending on the severity and extent of its spread.
It's possible that the early soybean planting systems used by farmers in the Mid-South could help lessen the impact of soybean rust.
"In Brazil, some farmers have been planting early to avoid the disease," says Tally. "If the disease hits late, the losses don't seem to be as extensive as when it occurs during pod fill.
"The disease can be managed," she said. "Some untreated fields in Zimbabwe did lose 80 percent of their yield to the disease. But early, effective fungicide programs kept losses in the 20 percent range. The key is acting early to minimize the impact of the disease."
Tally says Syngenta is recommending that growers be aware of where soybean rust is found in the United States and the likelihood of it moving to their area so they can be prepared to spray.
"We're working with USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and the universities and other companies on a better system of forecasting," she said. "If Louisiana has it when plants start growing next spring, where can it go? Can it reach farmers in Iowa?"
Roger Magarey, a researcher with USDA Agricultural Research Service at North Carolina State University, has developed a Soybean Rust Suitability Index that attempts to predict the probability of at least 15 days of suitable conditions for the disease between July 1 and Sept. 30.
A map generated by Magarey shows a high probability of the disease moving to Missouri, Iowa and southern Illinois if it becomes established in Louisiana.
"Now, if it's hot and dry, there may be no need to spray, based on what we've observed in Brazil. If conditions are wet and cool, a preventive spray may be warranted. We are saying that if you have the disease, then spray a fungicide. We're being conservative for now."
She said she and other researchers are anxious to see how the fungus fares during the growing season in the United States. "It may like the climate in this country fine, and it may not. We won't know until we have experience during the primary growing season."
Growers in the southern Brazilian state of Parana, where the climate is closely akin to that of the lower Midwest, have found that the disease is not as strong as in other parts of Brazil.
"We will also be watching the situation in Argentina closely this winter," says Tally. "They got it late in their growing season last spring, and we're anxious to see how it develops so that we can learn more about how best to approach it."
e-mail: email@example.com


text:
BIG 8 MM TABLET SHAPE BEADS! Honey color amber. AAA grade amber. Luxury baby necklace.
|All baby teething neckaces are approximately 31-33 cm (11-12.5 inches) long.
We sell only genuine Baltic amber jewelry. We use only AAA class jewelry grade raw amber material. Our talanted artisans DO NOT use plastic amber imitation or reconstructed or melted amber. You may buy with confdence with us as many people wordwide do.
We have an excellent reputation and quality jewelry for sale. Handmade Jewelry by artisans from Baltic offers unique and one of a kind handmade jewelry handcrafted with only the finest quality raw amber materials. Contemporary handcrafted jewelry and accessories using the finest materials and craftsmanship

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The European Central Bank just announced a big new monetary easing package. It\'s been the subject of speculation for some time now, expected since ECB President Mario Draghi said last month that he was prepared to take action to combat low inflation.
But now that we have negative deposit rates, what exactly does that mean?
To get a sense of it, start with the more common phenomenon: A positive deposit rate. This is a policy tool whereby banks can park their reserves with central banks and in return pick up a small amount of interest. It's kind of like a low-yield savings account for the banks. The U.S. Federal Reserve pays out 0.25%, for example. The ECB\'s rate had been at zero, before the bank lowered it to -0.10% on Thursday.
The Fed introduced its rate in 2008 to help calm short-term interest rates during the financial crisis. Since then, banks have put trillions worth of reserves into the system. By depositing money with the Fed, they earn well more than they would using the fed funds rate, the rate at which banks lend to each other overnight.
Changing the deposit rate serves as one tool central banks can use to influence how banks spend their reserves. If banks can earn a healthy return depositing reserves at a central bank, they are likely to do so. But if they can't, they're likely to move their cash elsewhere. One option: Lending to households and businesses, which would benefit the broader economy. So by making the deposit rate negative, the ECB is trying dissuade these risk-averse banks from locking up their cash.
The ECB isn't the first to make this type of move. In 2009, Denmark turned its deposit rate negative. But the scope of the ECB\'s measures are unprecedented, and may have an outsize impact on the broader economy. Given that charging all euro zone banks to rest their money at the central bank would take place across such a large swath of the European continent, many ECB-watchers are getting their hopes up.
As MarketWatch\'s Sara Sjolin writes, investors should look to European banks as being impacted the most by this decision. The euro zone\'s struggling nations may also benefit from the package of liquidity measures, and the euro, which dropped after the announcement, could continue to weaken.
– Ben Eisen
Follow @beneisen
Follow @thetellblog
More must-reads from The Tell:
How to invest with ECB rates below 0%.
Regis Philbin: I was Einhorn's 'best summer intern' ever


text:
DLA Bulletin July/August Page 1 Delaware Library Association
Volume 57, Number 4 July / August 2005
The news and proceedings of the Delaware Library Association
DSLMA News 2
DelAWARE Update 3
PALS Report 3
Surviving Book Expo 4
Delaware Friends' Corner 4
Maryland Friends Present Speaker 4
ALA News 5
In the System 5
Professional Development 6
DLA Contacts 7
into a fire-breathing one. This story has a positive
message about the value of reading.
Since 1995, with the support of the Division of Arts,
the Performing Arts Series has introduced children to
music, opera, dance and storytelling.
The Summer Library Reading Program assists
children in maintaining their reading skills over the
summer while encouraging them to choose books that
capture their interest. Every child who completes the
program receives an award certificate signed by Gov.
Minner and Lt. Gov. Carney and a book provided by
the Delaware Division of Libraries.
-submitted by Patty Langley & Vinny Alascia
The Dragon had a
lightsaber. This
summer, audiences
had the opportunity
to see the Rags to
Riches Theater for
Young Peo p l e
perform, "The
D i s i n c l i n e d
Dragon," in libraries
across Delaware.
T h e t r o u p e ,
consisting of Lou Peters, Bree Raymond and Joey
Yow, performed the one act play to the delight of
young and old alike. One part story book and two
parts audience interactivity, the show told the story
of a young girl named Samantha and her new
friend the Dragon. As part of the Summer Library
Reading Program Performing Arts series the show
was free of charge and provided in part by the
combined efforts of the Delaware Division of the
Arts and the Delaware Division of Libraries. The
show was a perfect
fit for this year's,
theme "Dragons,
Dreams and Daring
Likewise, touring all
Delaware public
libraries was "The
Dragon and the
Chef", an original production featuring Rick
Waterhouse. This interactive program, featuring
songs and puppets, told the story of the king's chef
and the spicy pizza that turned a peaceful dragon
Dragons Come to Delaware Libraries
Members of Rags to Riches, Bree
Raymond, Lou Peters & Joey Yow
(l-r) prepare their audience
Rick Waterhouse performs
Continued Above
Continued from Below
DLA Bulletin July/August Page 2
Thursday, Dec. 8th
Dover Downs, Dover
•6:00 – 10:00 p.m. Social/dinner/dancing
Wednesday, January 11th
Brader Elementary School, Newark
•5:00- Executive Board meeting
•6:00- "The Best from the Best!", Sharon Brubaker
and Suzanne Smith present on best practices for
elementary up to high school
Tuesday, February 21st
Dover High School, Dover
•5:30- Executive Board meeting
•6:30- Public Library/School Library Connection-public
librarians invited to attend a reception to talk
about community programs and how school and
public libraries can support each other- guest
speakers: Hilary Welliver and Sue Ray
Tuesday, April 4th
Olive B. Loss Elementary, Bear
•5:30- Executive Board meeting and Awards
May 19, 2006
Conference, Sheration Inn, Dover PARTY!!!!! Oh
yeah...watch out Dover!!! School Librarians are
going to socialize:)
Join us Thursday, December 8th for an evening of
dining and dancing at Dover Downs from 6 - 10
p.m. This is a DJ'd event that is meant to bring us all
together in a spirit of fun and relaxation. Buffet
dinner included in price, cash bar- cost per person is
only $20!!! Bring a spouse, friend, collaborating
teacher- the more the merrier! You can get in early
by RSVPing to me at anytime. Checks can be made
payable to DSLMA (again no profit is made- it is
strictly for fun!). A formal invitation will be sent to
all members at a later date. Reserve the date. This
is sure to be a blast!
If you are not a DSLMA member or you need to
renew so you can take advantage of all these
wonderful benefits, just go to http://
www.dla.lib.de.us/membership_application.html .
Remembe r , t h i s is YOUR s t a t e
organization!! Become a member, get involved,
Great News From DSLMA
Happy Summer, Everyone! Hope everyone is
enjoying their time to relax and read (any great new
finds this summer?). It is just about time to start
gearing up for the new year and the School Library
Media Association board has a very exciting year
planned for you. I am the incoming President for the
05/06 year and have lots of grea information to share
with you. Please mark your calendars for meetings,
trips and even a PARTY! Here are the details:
Special Events!
Saturday, September 24th- Bus to the National Book
Festival in Washington D.C.
Buses will be leaving from Olive B. Loss
Elementary in Bear, DE at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 24th and
returning to the school around 8:00 p.m. Tickets are
$20/seat. Reserve yours now by RSVPing to me
ASAP. You can send cash or check (made payable
to OBL Elementary) in the state mail. The money
covers the cost of transportation- no profit is
made. You can spend the day visiting authors at the
book festival or just spend a day in D.C. Check out
www.loc.gov/bookfest for a list of authors and
activities. Don't miss this exciting opportunity!
Meeting schedule for the year- Please mark your
calendars and plan on attending. Lots of great
information is shared and it is a fantastic way to
network with colleagues and keep up with what is
going on around the state!
Tuesday, Sept. 13th
William Henry Middle School, Dover
• 5:30- Executive Board meeting
• 6:30- Open meeting- Discussion of Ross Todd
survey results and look at what is ahead
• 7:00- Delaware Catalog- what does it mean for
school librarians (this will effect us)? Guest speaker
from Delaware Division of Libraries
Saturday, September 24th
National Book Festival, Washington D.C.
•7:30 a.m. Depart from Olive B. Loss Elementary,
Bear, DE
•5:15 p.m. Depart from Washington D.C. for Bear,
Wednesday, October 26th
Silver Lake Elementary, Middletown
•5:30- Executive Board meeting
•6:30- Peggy Dilner presents new, great books for
the upcoming year
Continued from Below
Continued on next page
DLA Bulletin July/August Page 3
LearningExpress Library, with the new GALE
product, Testing & Education Reference Center
(TERC). TERC provides all the tests included in
the current product and includes all the Peterson's
guides for college, graduate school, scholarships and
financial aid. As the quote for TERC was so much
less than the previous product, we were able to add
all Delaware schools and DTCC to the license! In
addition, I requested – and obtained -- that the book
titles in the product, currently only available in pdf,
be made available as e-books too, like the Gale
Virtual Reference Library.
As you use the new products, I would love to have
your feedback or any quotes you hear from library
customers or patrons. You can email me at
-submitted by Terry Plummer
DelAWARE: The Digital Library of the First State
can boast several new resources.
Book Index with Reviews (BIR) is a database of
over 4 million in-print, forthcoming and out-of-print
titles with links to EBSCO articles and Delaware
library catalogs. When users find a title, they can
immediately link to their local library catalog to see
if the title is available. They can also link to articles
by or about the author in EBSCO. In addition to
serving as a reader's advisory tool for non-fiction,
where you can sort by popularity, as well as every
other way, this database will be an asset for
collection development and acquisitions librarians.
DelAWARE's Reference Review Team includes
Mary Bernheisel (Lewes), Sue Keefe (South
Coastal), Suzanne Menz (Newark), Charles
Silverman (Kirkwood Highway), and Joan Stover
(Dover). Recently they evaluated and chose five
new titles for the Gale Virtual Reference Library
(GVRL) collection. These include:
• Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, 2004
• Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2004
• Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health
• Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2004
• Historic Events for Students: The Great
If these titles were purchased in print by all public
libraries in Delaware, the cost would be almost
DelAWARE's Reference Review Team, also
compared our existing practice test database,
Continued Above
Continued from Below
PALS Report
PALS is seeking candidates for the positions of
President and/or Vice President of the division.
Excited at the prospect? Please contact Lisa Olson,
Delaware Division of Libraries, at
A big applause goes out to Byron D. McGriff,
Library Technician, A.I. duPont Hospital for
Children, who attended the New Jersey Association
of Library Assistants 19th Annual Conference June
6-7, 2005. The theme of this year's conference was
"Traversing New Paths, New Heights… To
Success." The NJALA and DLA are participating in
a reciprocal conference attendance agreement and
Byron took advantage of this opportunity. His
report of the experience follows:
"This was my first invitation to attend NJALA, and
it was time well spent! I was not only impressed
with the venue, but with the proficiency of the
planning committee. The seminar was held at the
brand new Enterprise Center at Burlington County
College campus. Everyone was warm, friendly and
the presentations were both informative and
practical. The keynote speakers had the attendees
rapt attention as they shared their unique library
experiences and insights. Special thanks go to Kathy
Falco and Regina (Jinx) Reay for their hospitality
and inviting me to attend next year's 20th
anniversary celebration."
-submitted by Lisa Olson
VOLUNTEER! The organization is only as good as
the members make it- help make DSLMA the best it
can be!
Any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail
me at any time. If you notice that someone is
missing from the mailing list, please feel free to pass
on the message.
See you soon!! Happy Reading,
-submitted by Christy Payne
Continued from prev. page
DLA Bulletin July/August Page 4
The annual meeting of the Friends of the Delaware
Library is scheduled for Friday, October 21, 2005,
starting at 10:30, at the Maple Dale Country Club in
Dover. The Speaker will be Dr. Thomas Leitch, a
University of Delaware English professor and author
of three books, numerous essays and a senior editor
of Kirkus Reviews. For more information please
contact Bev Bresnahan at 302-736-0213,
-submitted by Neda Green
Survival Guide Tips for Attending the Delaware Friends' Corner
2005 BookExpoAmerica
Number 1: Register online and have your badge
mailed to you ahead of time. You will avoid the
mile long registration lines.
Number 2: Bring a rolling suitcase and check it at
the convention center. That way, you can pick up
books to your heart's content, store them in the
suitcase and not worry about carrying them around
for hours.
Number 3: Check schedules carefully for author
signings and arrive early.
Number 4: Study map of convention center,
including areas for breaks and restrooms.
Number 5: Read program in its entirety, therefore
avoiding returning home and realizing you missed
authors you really wanted to see. There are a
Number 6: Wear comfortable clothing and shoes,
wear comfortable clothing and shoes, wear
comfortable clothing and shoes.
Although these tips sound elementary, the
excitement of being at the BookExpo may get the
best of you, causing you to neglect these simple
strategies. The most valuable experience from
attending this event was the "Day of Dialogue" for
librarians hosted by Library Journal. The program
included a variety of panel discussions with and
about publishers, authors and their relationships, hot
topics, upcoming new releases, genre descriptions,
and advice and tips from publishers for choosing
manuscripts. It was very interesting to hear the VPs
of organizations ranging from Baker & Taylor to
Dark Horse Comics share glimpses into their worlds
and the librarian's place there. The audience, myself
included, was entranced and exhilarated. It seems
these people finally understand what a customer
base – and collection development partner - we are
for them.
Mark your calendar! BookExpo will be in
Washington, D.C. from Thursday, May 18 through
Sunday, May 21, 2006.
-submitted by Lisa Olson
Maryland Friends Present Speaker
Friends of the Cecil County Public
Library invite the community to a
free lecture on the state of libraries
in Iraq on September 27, 2005 from
7:00-8:30 in the Elkton branch
meeting room.
Guest speaker for this event is
Michèle V. Cloonan, Dean and
Professor of the Graduate School of Library &
Information Science at Simmons College, Boston,
Massachusetts. Dr. Cloonan is also principal
investigator for a two-year joint Simmons College/
Harvard University project funded by the National
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) on
"Recovering Iraq's Past." Dr. Cloonan states, "more
than two decades of war and economic sanctions, as
well as the chaos of the recent regime change, have
left the centuries-old Iraqi book and manuscript
collections with a vast array of problems and few
librarians with contemporary professional training
and expertise." During her presentation, Dr. Cloonan
will speak on this effort to help rebuild Iraq's
cultural heritage and report on her July 2005 trip to
help train Iraqi librarians. Cloonan has published
extensively on library preservation efforts. To
register, please call the Cecil County Public Library
Reference Desk at 410-996-5600 (x481). The
Library is located at 301 Newark Avenue in Elkton,
-submitted by James McCloskey
DLA Bulletin July/August Page 5
Implementation of the new Sirsi Unicorn system is
progressing nicely. The hardware has been
delivered and is set for the arrival of our Systems
Rep. from Sirsi who will configure all the servers
and load the software. The Implementation team has
been hard at work completing the Policy document
that Sirsi will use to set up the system.
This document is several Excel spreadsheets deep
and covers everything from the libraries' hours of
operation to what forms of payment are used for
charges. The creation of these policies reflects how
we want the system to operate. The successful
completion will mean that when the system goes live
we will not have to worry that it is circulating videos
for three weeks instead of two. It will also mean our
staff members will have fewer opportunities to say,
"It's this stupid system's fault." Looking over these
policy documents has given me a deeper
understanding of how flexible and powerful Unicorn
is. It will clearly meet the needs of our libraries so
long as we continue to communicate those needs to
each other. All is still on track for the first data
extraction from our existing systems. This is when
we will really get a sense of what we have and what
we need to fix. Some policies will be amended
while others may be added. Working with all of the
librarians on the implementation team has made my
job that much easier and it has ensured that we will
get the system we want and need.
-submitted by Vinny Alascia
In the System
I distributed a report of the ALA Council highlights
and actions at the 2005 ALA Annual Conference in
Chicago to the DLA electronic discussion list on
July 1, 2005. If you would like a copy please call
me at 302-831-1594 or send me an email at
firstname.lastname@example.com. This is my last report as the
DLA representative to the ALA Council. I have
truly appreciated the opportunity to serve DLA in
this capacity. I have learned so much and admire the
many ALA members and staff who work so hard for
libraries and library users.
Since my note about the USA PATRIOT Act in the
last news letter, the U.S. Congress passed an
amendment to the House Science-State-Justice
Subcommittee (SSJC) appropriations bill that bars
the Department of Justice from using any
appropriated money to search library and bookstore
records under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT
Act. This was an unexpected victory for reader
privacy advocates. However, battles over the Act
itself continue. Stay tuned!
In response to increasing attacks on library materials
and exhibits, the ALA Council passed the
Resolution on Threats to Library Materials Related
to Sex, Gender Identity, or Sexual Orientation
adopted by the ALA Council. The resolution
reaffirms the value of diverse library collections and
encourages ALA chapters to take active stands
against all legislative or other government attempts
to proscribe materials related to sex, gender identity,
or sexual orientation. The full text of the resolution
is available at
Finally, I attended an excellent Advocacy Institute at
the 2005 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. I
came back with lots of ideas for promoting Delaware
libraries. The "Smartest Card" campaign includes
public service advertisements in multiple media
outlets and free software that can be downloaded and
customized for local needs. Check out the resources
-submitted by Julie Brewer, ALA Chapter Councilor
ALA News...ALA News...ALA
Cartoon "borrowed" from http://rf-web.tamu.edu/security/
DLA Bulletin July/August Page 6
Drexel Offers Online Program
For prospective librarians in Delaware, Drexel offers
an online degree that requires no travel or campus
residency and a 20% tuition discount (Please check
with the DLA for the affiliation code). Online
students may take on-campus courses as well. In
some cases, credit may be given for previous work
experience or course work. Visit Drexel's College
of Information and Technology website for details:
Get on the List: The DLA List
The purpose of the DLA list is to disseminate
information for and about the Delaware Library
Association. This list is designed to facilitate
communication among DLA members and topics of
discussion should be related to DLA, ALA, or
general library topics. Subscribe to Dla-l by filling
out the subscription form, which is located at:
This is a closed list, which means your subscription
will be held for approval. You will be notified of the
administrator's decision by email. This is also a
private list, which means that the members' names
are not available to non-members.
For more information see the DLA Website:
www.dla.lib.de.us or contact the list owner: Jane
Tupin (firstname.lastname@example.com)
-submitted by Jane Tupin
Continuing Education at the DE Div. of Libraries
Due to an overwhelmingly positive response to the
SchreiberShannon Associates leadership training,
"Learning Libraries in a Perpetual Whitewater
World" held on July 14-15, 2005, a second session
has been scheduled for September 19-20, 2005. The
description of the course follows:
How can you be a more effective leader through the
challenges of constant change? How can you create
learning environments that nourish and energize
your hard working staff? This two-day workshop is
designed to provide you with new ways to motivate,
problem solve, delegate, and build courage in your
staff to lead from any position. The overall approach
will be around the creation of organizations that
More details and registration information will be
forthcoming via the DLA Listserv.
-submitted by Lisa Olson
The benefits of our program include:
• A curriculum that has been tested and proven
effective by students pursuing the degree both
online and on campus
• Support and encouragement from Delaware li-brarians
and current students in the program
• An easy-to-use "anytime/anyplace" environment
offering an effective means of earning the Drexel
MS degree from virtually any location in the
• A multi-user platform that supports student-to-faculty
and student-to-student communication
and prepares students for professional careers in
high-tech librarianship
Visit the student community site:
Username: bbtemp1 (note: usernames can go up to
20 users i.e. bbtemp 19, bbtemp20)
Password: bbtemp
To apply online: http://www.drexel.com/ist
Prospective applicants with specific questions about
the qualifications for admission may contact
Drexel's College of Information Science and Tech-n
o l o g y , 2 1 5 - 8 9 5 - 2 4 7 4 ; o r e m a i l
Drexel's online program has been recognized to be
a leading program. In 2002, in U.S. News and
World Report's ranking listed Drexel's online
program as one of the best in the nation and
includes it in their current list of graduate online
degree programs.
Professional Development...Professional Development...Professional
DLA Bulletin July/August Page 7
Delaware Library Association Contact List 2004-2005
Executive Board Standing and Special Committees
Hilary Welliver Dover Public Library
302-736-7034 / 302-736-5087 (fax) 45 S State Street
firstname.lastname@example.com Dover, DE 19904
Vice President / Conference Chair
Paul Anderson University of Delaware
181 S College Ave
firstname.lastname@example.com Newark, DE 19717-5267
Michael Gutierrez Univ. of Delaware Library
302-831-6076 / 302-831-1631 (fax) 181 S College Ave
email@example.com Newark, DE 19717-5267
Dianne McKellar Univ. of Delaware Library
181 S College Ave
email@example.com Newark, DE 19717-5267
ALA Councilor
Carol Rudisell Univ. of Delaware Library
181 S College Ave
email@example.com Newark, DE 19717-5267
Immediate Past President
Margaret Prouse Del Tech Terry Campus
302-857-1060/302-857-1099 (fax) 100 Campus Drive
email@example.com Dover, DE 19808
President, Children's Services Division
Kaye Bowes
President, College & Research Libraries Division
Mary Rose Durk DE State University
302-857-6180/302-857-6177 (fax) 1200 N. DuPont Highway
firstname.lastname@example.com Dover, DE 19901
President, School Library Media Association
Christy Payne Olive B Loss Ele. School
302-454-2171x112/410-398-3802(h) 200 Brennan Blvd
email@example.com Bear, DE 19701
President, Paraprofessional and Library Support Division
Lisa Olson Delaware Division of
302-739-4748x117 Libraries
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Maria Cruz necesitaba un nuevo diseño de papelería y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 15 diseños de 7 diseñadores freelance.
"Liquor Pouring Service"
I'm currently a bartender, but I'm looking to start my dream as a MOBILE BARTENDER. I'm a City Girl (New Jersey) who enjoys being around people. I love music and dancing, especially at private parties where mostly everyone is a friend or family member of the Hostess. Where ever I go I get the party started! I'm always the first one to start dancing even if there is no one else on the dance floor.
I aspire to attract and audience of all ages and ethnic back grounds. It doesn't matter if they are well off or poor as long as they are fun and down to earth. My desire is not to be JUST the BARTENDER, but PART of the PARTY!
I want my logo to demonstrate that my service includes Liquor Pouring Services, but emphasize on the fact that I'm a BARTENDER on WHEELS that specializes in Bringing the Bar to Your Door Step.
I would love to have a Sexy Lady Cartoon with long black curly hair on WHEELS. She could be on rollarblades, scooter, motorcycle, etc...feel free to experiment. I would like her to be towing or pulling a bar to someone's door step.
Make it playful, but somewhat sexy/elegant. With BOLD colors and bold typeface.....feel free to experiment


text:
Reds brush aside injuries, ready for season
GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Because of a rash of Spring Training injuries, the Reds aren't going to have their intended 25-man roster line up on the field opposite of the Cardinals come Monday at Great American Ball Park. They may not have some key players for a few weeks.
But Cincinnati doesn't expect sympathy. It knows time and the 162-game schedule will not wait for any team. Even with six players beginning the 2014 season on the disabled list, the objective has not changed -- even the slightest. The Reds still plan on being contenders who can win the National League Central, and maybe more.
GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Because of a rash of Spring Training injuries, the Reds aren't going to have their intended 25-man roster line up on the field opposite of the Cardinals come Monday at Great American Ball Park. They may not have some key players for a few weeks.
But Cincinnati doesn't expect sympathy. It knows time and the 162-game schedule will not wait for any team. Even with six players beginning the 2014 season on the disabled list, the objective has not changed -- even the slightest. The Reds still plan on being contenders who can win the National League Central, and maybe more.
"We're going to have 25 guys on our team. We're going to be as optimistic with the 25 that we take out of here as it would be if we didn't have a single injury on this club," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "That we're going to go out there and be a team that nobody wants to play. I really believe that, sincerely. I don't believe we lower our expectations because we've been challenged with some of the injuries. We have enough depth. We have some outstanding core players and some great character. We'll weather the storm."
Price, who was promoted to replace Dusty Baker after four years as the Reds' pitching coach, is a first-time manager, but he's quickly learned to improvise like any skipper must when things don't go as planned.
It began on the first day of camp, when No. 2 starter Mat Latos needed left knee surgery to repair torn meniscus cartilage. Setup men Jonathan Broxton (right forearm) and Sean Marshall (left shoulder) were still trying to return from injuries that knocked them down last season.
The scariest moment came when closer Aroldis Chapman was struck in the face by a line drive vs. the Royals on March 19. Chapman needed surgery to stabilize fractures above his left eye and nose, and he could be out until mid-May. Relieved that the injuries weren't life or career-threatening, the Reds will press on without a dedicated closer in the interim.
Utility player and free-agent pickup Skip Schumaker dislocated his left shoulder trying to make a diving catch a couple of days later. Latos, Broxton, Marshall, Chapman, Schumaker and backup third baseman Jack Hannahan are all slated to begin the season on the DL.
There were other scares as starter Homer Bailey strained his right groin while playing catch, but he only missed a start. Rotation-mate Mike Leake missed a start with an abdominal strain that proved to be minor. Ace Johnny Cueto felt irritation in his right scapula, missed a start and is being watched closely. Catcher Devin Mesoraco strained his left oblique last week, and it'll be a close call whether he can avoid the DL before the season opens.
Fortunately for the Reds, none of the injuries are viewed as serious or long-term setbacks. No one is an obvious candidate for the 60-day DL.
"You see guys around the league are going down with Tommy John surgery. This could be a lot worse," Bailey said. "You still have to go out there and play. It's a setback, but I'd rather deal with them early. I'd rather have guys in Arizona dealing with a few issues here or there. What if we're in August and guys are dropping like flies? Now we've really got a problem. I'd rather get it out of the way now."
Schumaker, who could be back by the end of April, remembers how his former Cardinals club rebounded from a worst injury situation.
"In 2011, we lost [ace starter] Adam Wainwright for the whole year," Schumaker said.
St. Louis, minus Wainwright after his Tommy John surgery, went on to defeat the Texas Rangers in the World Series.
"A couple of these injuries that we've had here, hopefully for us they will be back in a month or so and we can deal with them," Schumaker said. "There are a few guys that are barking. Hopefully in about a month, we'll be OK."
The Reds aren't considered the favorites in the NL Central, especially with the strong defending NL champion Cardinals in the division, but they still have plenty to feel good about after a six-plus-week camp. Center fielder Billy Hamilton, their biggest offensive question mark, exceeded expectations about what he could do from the leadoff spot. Hamilton has excelled at reaching base, has shown strong skills at bunting for hits and the ability to work counts and battle with two strikes.
"He's been very impressive in every facet of the game to me," Price said.
Core players in the lineup like Joey Votto and Jay Bruce are expected to be hitting back to back in the third and fourth spots, respectively. Between Hamilton and Votto in the two-hole will be Brandon Phillips, who has shown he's over the left forearm injury that affected his 2013 season down the stretch.
After being injured on Opening Day and needing right shoulder surgery, Ryan Ludwick will be expected to supply the 26-homer production he had in 2012. Young hitters like Todd Frazier, Zack Cozart and Mesoraco will be counted on to show continued growth at the plate.
Four of the five members of the rotation -- minus Latos -- are expected to be ready. Cueto will get the most attention because a strained right lat muscle limited him to 11 starts last season. Bailey, who is coming off two of his best seasons that each included a no-hitter, is freshly signed to a six-year, $105 million contract and in it for the long haul. Latos, also coming off two very strong seasons for Cincinnati, could be back some time in April.
The bullpen dynamic is the most complicated without Chapman, Broxton and Marshall in the late innings. Matchups and availability could determine who closes games. Sam LeCure, J.J. Hoover and lefty Manny Parra will be asked to step up again in higher-leverage situations.
"I think that the guys we have in the back end of our bullpen are very capable guys," Price said. "I think the challenge is if our starters don't get off to a good start to the season. That's where we might be challenged, simply because we'd be running out less experienced [pitchers] into the games those middle innings."
The Reds, who haven't won the World Series since 1990, have won 90 or more games in three of the past four seasons and have made the postseason in three of four as well. Price is now the manager, because the Baker-led clubs were unable to win a playoff series. Before the injuries, the expectation was to take the next step. After the injuries, the expectation is to take the next step.
Nothing changes.
"The other teams aren't going to take it easy on us because we have so many guys hurt," Mesoraco said. "I think we have very capable guys in this room and guys that we count on. It's the next guy up. No matter who it is, we expect them to be able to do the job."
Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon.


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Monday, 22 December 2008
The Green Road to Nowhere
Sadly, in an age where politicians fear differentiating themselves from one another and parties squabble over a consensus they disingenuously call the middle ground, there seems to be no real debate over how best to ensure that the recession that we are now in is as brief as possible. Just as President Hoover's failed interventions were succeeded by President Roosevelt's even greater interventions, so today politicians seem to be in a bidding war to intervene in the economy.
The latest dose comes from the Liberal Democrats, who have joined the chorus with their latest call for action. Nick Clegg has announced a Green Road Out of the Recession that is built on the same errors that underpin Labour's proposals and the $4.61 trillion US bailout.
It is a simple error, summed up by Henry Hazlitt when he notes that "The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups." It is the error of looking at the immediate results of what one does but not the damage that doing it causes; specifically, of believing that one can utilize a resource (in this case, money) for one purposes without denying it to another.
So let us be utterly clear: when the Lib Dems say "Now is the time for big investment to get the wheels of the economy turning again", any rational observer should immediately ask "From where is the money coming, and what will be sacrificed so that this investment can be achieved?"
It is an impressive list the Lib Dems have compiled: new trains; new railways; new track; social homes; insulated lofts; smart meters. It will "create jobs and ensure that once this recession is over, we have something to show for the money we borrowed." All of which is true, but what it does not show is all the jobs that will not be created because the money that would have been spent creating those jobs has been siphoned off by government to pay for its own projects.
There is absolutely no reason why government spending of £12.5 billion (as the Lib Dems propose) should create more jobs than private spending of £12.5 billion. On the contrary: while markets operate specifically to maximise economic efficiency – by, for example, allowing people to spend money on projects that will maximise their own utility – government's have no such built-in discipline and no means of weighing the efficiency or efficacy of different projects. In fact (as the sorry litany of failed government projects demonstrates) governments all too often blow vast sums of taxpayers' money on projects that promise big benefits but deliver dubious or disappointing outcomes.
I should add that this is not a criticism of any individual project and certainly not of the environmental ("green") thrust of the proposals. That the "road out of recession" is "green" is irrelevant. We could as easily talk about the white heat of technology or indulge in some blue-skies thinking. The point is that this is being sold on economic, not environmental, grounds; if the Lib Dems were as keen on agriculture as we are on environmentalism, we could as easily advocate policies akin to President Hoover's New Deal farm programme, and the proposals would be no less flawed. Government cannot spend the country out of recession.
The reason for this is that government money must come from somewhere, and not matter what its source, it merely transfers money from one use to another. If we spend £12.5 billion on new trains to "create jobs" and "stimulate industry" then the money, workers and materials that are diverted to those ends are no longer available to make shoes, televisions, meals or whatever else we might buy. The net effect in jobs created, wages spent and economic activity stimulated is zero.
Indeed, while we may scoff at the 2.5% cut in VAT and say that the £12.5 billion could be better spent insulating lofts, it ignores the fact that the £12.5 billion would otherwise have been spent by consumers on (for example) carpets. The criticism that the VAT cut would not in fact encourage people to buy is valid in as far as an individual price reduction of 2.13% is not going to make a product hugely more attractive to buy. But the fact that the money remains in people's pockets means that it will eventually be spent somewhere. It will still represent an increase in consumer demand and so will stimulate growth.
Thus the one part of the Green Road Out of the Recession which is sound is the bit that promises "big, permanent tax cuts". It is the bit that has been policy for over a year and upon which conference voted. It would transfer spending from inefficient governments to efficient consumers and so allocate resources in the marketplace (that is to say you and me and our respective savings) most efficiently.
A couple of additional points need to be made, to head off possible comments (welcome though all comments are, of course!). Firstly, it makes no difference if the government gets the money through taxation, inflation or borrowing. Borrowing has exactly the same effect as taxation in as much as it diverts savings from being invested in industry and instead invests it in public services; there is still no net gain. It also lands future taxpayers with a bill, so diverting money from future generations to the present. Inflation is effectively a flat tax: if we "print" an additional 1% of money, we are reducing the value of everybody's savings and wages by 1% - an "inflation tax" that falls as heavily on the poor as it does on the rich (except that rich people are more likely to own commodities or foreign assets that are inflation proof, so inflation may actually be regressive). It also creates imbalances in the economy that will lead to further crises in the future.
Secondly, it makes no difference that this is supposedly "investment" rather than mere "spending". It is certainly true that this sort of government spending will ensure that "once this recession is over, we [will] have something to show for the money we borrowed." I have a house to show for the money I borrowed in December, but it does not follow that I made a sound "investment". Had my internal chancellor not borrowed and spent, my internal taxpayer would not now be saddled with debt.
As Adam Smith noted over two centuries ago, "What is prudence in the conduct of every private family can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom". What is more, the fact that we can see what the borrowing has financed should not blind us to the fact that we cannot see the things that the borrowing has denied us: other investments will have been sacrificed. And finally, even spending on consumer fripperies stimulates long-term investment: if demand for MP3 players and trainers increases, so does investment in the production and retailing of these (so creating jobs) and in the infrastructure needed to move them about. Indeed, as taxes/inflation/borrowing tend to make it particularly hard for new businesses to arise, because capital formation (i.e. saving) is harder and credit is absorbed by government, new start-up businesses such as those marketing new solutions to environmental problems struggle to get off the ground. Big government spending may therefore be counter-productive even environmentally!
I also ought to add that members of other parties shouldn't' take too much pleasure in seeing me demolish my own party's latest policy initiative. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives have exactly covered themselves in glory during the present economic crisis and both are participating in the flawed concensus politics outlined above. This article focuses on Liberal Democrat policy only because errors are doubly galling when they come from within one's own camp and I would like to see the Lib Dems taking a braver, more distinctive and more honest approach to the current crisis that did not argue that more government can get us out of a problem that government made in the first place. The alternative norm of passing money through the hands of politicians instead of citizens has been Labour and Conservative policy for the last century and it has been a tragic disappointment.
7 comments:
- Tristan said...
There's an awful lot of bad thinking on this issue, largely 'Something must be done - this is something, lets do it'.
Frankly I think doing nothing is better than most of the somethings being proposed, but that is anathema for politicians...
There's also the ludicrous claim that this is an injection of cash into the economy - it isn't, its a rearrangement of money flow - as Douglas Adams might have put it, we're moving little bits of green paper around.
I think there's also a lot of that hubris which the political classes possess, that they know best how money should be spent.
For LibDems its on green things, for Labour its on the database state and ever mroe complex benefits systems, for the Tories - I'm not sure, although probably on their friends and some sort of 'law and order' nonsense.
- 22 December 2008 at 12:47:00 GMT
- Tristan said...
Actually, the Tories will spend money on what they think will win votes, ie whatever the latest focus groups say is important to people...
- 22 December 2008 at 12:48:00 GMT
- Tom Papworth said...
"I think there's also a lot of that hubris which the political classes possess, that they know best how money should be spent"
...and yet all the evidence is against them. There is almost no serious economic thinking that argues that politicians spend money in a more economically-efficient manner than consumers.
There is a separate argument that economic efficiency is not the be-all-and-end-all and that governments must intervene to spend the money on things that are "inefficient" but nonetheless socially desirable; this is called Social Democracy.
However, the Green Road and other economic recovery plans of the moment are explicitly about economic efficiency and as such are utterly without foundation.
- 22 December 2008 at 13:29:00 GMT
- MatGB said...
"Government cannot spend the country out of recession.
The reason for this is that government money must come from somewhere, and not matter what its source, it merely transfers money from one use to another. If we spend £12.5 billion on new trains to "create jobs" and "stimulate industry" then the money, workers and materials that are diverted to those ends are no longer available to make shoes, televisions, meals or whatever else we might buy."
I partially disagree—I'm not sold one way or t'other on this one, I do recall reading some Friedman that said spending in a recession was a good thing for Govts to do, but it was in a book I don't own.
But the problem with the analysis is that you're assuming that the money could be raised, and spent, by others. This isn't demonstrably true. In the normal state of affairs, I'd agree, but at this stage in a cycle I don't think I do.
I'te been demonstrated that Govts can raise money both more easily and cheaper than non-state actors (please don't make me go dig through the papers on this). In addition, Govts can raise money from overseas that wouldn't necessarily come into the UK in other means.
At the moment, those with money are looking for 'secure' investments, that's a result of the banking sector disgrace, etc. Govt bonds are a lot more popular when the overall economic situation is looking bad.
Investors don't always act rationally, and sometimes run scared. Now would be a good time to invest in some sectors that require property, for example, as property is cheap. Areas of the hospitality sector have been failing for some time predating the current issue, because they've failed to adapt.
If I had money to invest, I'd be buying a lot of the vacant pubs that Enterprise and Punch have, and turning them into pubs that people actually want to go to—people are less likely to spend on massive holidays or similar, but a night out in a decent pub is a lot cheaper, do it right and you'd do well.
But I don't. Those with money are palpably not interested in such things. The Govt can raise money as the finance they raise is guaranteed.
They can then invest that money in projects that have long term benefits for the area they invest in, which would pay off medium to long term. This is especially true of insulating schools and similar, that'll bring bills down and thus save tax money in the future.
Improved rail links, especially for freight, have almost zero chance of being built by private investment (unlike the first time around), but would significantly benefit the areas they improve communication links to.
I want to minimse the overall impact of the state as a vector. But at times, the state is the only agent that can act.
Thus I'm not sold on the argument that this sort of investment is necessarily a bad thing, as I can see many benefits.
- 22 December 2008 at 15:21:00 GMT
- Tom Papworth said...
The only reason that "Govts can raise money both more easily and cheaper than non-state actors" is that, unlike any other organisation, governments print their way out of bankruptcy. Their monopoly on money-production means that they can always pay their debts at the expense of private owners of capital (you; me; JP Morgan) whose investments are eroded by the inflation they use to ameliorate their own debt.
The irony of this is that – in a credit equivalent of Gresham's Law – government debt drives out private investment. There are currently plenty of people (individually or through corporations) with money to invest. If the government was not offering investment opportunities backed by the printing presses, this money would find its way to private investment opportunities that (in the absence of government meddling in interest rates) would offer returns that factored in risk.
Friedman certainly advocated inflationary measures to counter deflation. I don't recall him ever saying that increasing government spending was a good idea but he did believe that when credit became tight central banks should step in and create masses of extra credit and cash. Personally, I think that this simply prevents the errors of the previous inflation being corrected and so stores up trouble for the future. We may be worrying about deflation now, but governments and their central banks are already laying the foundations for the next inflationary spiral. Indeed, they would be investing in corporate bonds, shares, mortgages and so on; all the things that are currently in short supply.
The second part of your argument is different. You say that governments "can invest …in projects that have long term benefits … which would pay off medium to long term. This is especially true of insulating schools and similar, that'll bring bills down and thus save tax money in the future." Partly this is a moot point. As I noted in the article, the argument behind this kind of spending is not that the investment is valid in itself – this is only of secondary importance and, as Tristan notes, would vary from government to government. The argument is that the investment will have beneficial macro-economic effects. This is palpably false. Investors cannot just sit on their money. Unless government offers guaranteed returns, they will have to invest elsewhere. And as I also noted in the article, markets are inherently superior mechanisms for achieving economically efficient outcomes.
As for private investors building infrastructure projects, a bit of land value taxation, a carbon tax to stop the users of some forms of transport externalising their costs, and allowing private builders to charge market rates for the use of their infrastructure and I'm sure private investment would work just fine. But we digress…
- 22 December 2008 at 15:58:00 GMT
- dreamingspire said...
Sadly we use investment with a variety of meanings. In business, investment means creating something that will later bring a financial return. So you direct the spend, rather than wildly throwing it around. In the public sector we build bridges and roads and railways and hospitals and schools and... Social investment can use money to increase the fitness of individuals to be more productive in society (or less dependent). If you believe in the power of people to persuade others to do better (rather than treat all politicians as totally self-serving), then directing public spending rather better can do good. Wealth surely comes from the labours of men and women - better that they contribute than be idle.
- 22 December 2008 at 17:57:00 GMT
- Tom Papworth said...
"Wealth surely comes from the labours of men and women - better that they contribute than be idle."
Absolutely! At least, the labours and capital of men and women: the whole progress of humanity has been built on the ability to accumulate capital and so increase at any point in time the productiveness of labour.
This is why it is important that we allow them to find the most productive outlet for their money and efforts. This is prevented by governments when they depress interest rates and reallocate resources to expenditure that they favour over the expenditures that would emerge by individuals in free association.
"If you believe in the power of people to persuade others to do better (rather than treat all politicians as totally self-serving), then directing public spending rather better can do good."
It's not that politicians are "totally self-serving" (though they are somewhat self-serving, to be sure); it is that – to use Tristan's expression, above – their belief that they know better than the mass of the population is hubris on a grand scale. I actually think that most politicians are well intentioned; sadly, those good intentions pave the road to hell (if by "hell" we mean enormous business losses and mass unemployment).
While it is certainly possible for "people to persuade others to do better" (I don't write this blog as a historical record of my opinions ;o), it is not possible for a command economy to be run more efficiently or to be more beneficial to society than a market economy, and tax-and-spend (or borrow-and-spend) policies are facets of a command economy (even if the rot has not fully taken hold yet).
"[P]eople [can] persuade others to do better" without becoming politicians; the difference with politics is that they need not persuade as they can compel. That tends to go to their heads, so that they start to think that they can save the world.
- 23 December 2008 at 11:07:00 GMT


text:
Science Friday® is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Science Friday® and SciFri® are registered service marks of Science Friday, Inc. Site design by Pentagram; engineering by Mediapolis.
In the Leidenfrost Effect, a water droplet will float on a layer of its own vapor if heated to a certain temperature. This common cooking phenomenon takes center stage in a series of playful experiments by physicists at England's University of Bath, who discovered new and fun means to manipulate the movement of water.


text:
Once the Americans get over the disappointment of coming up just short at the Women's World Cup, they'll find plenty of reasons for optimism.
The U.S. team pulled together amid a series of challenges that, just a few years ago, would have broken it apart. And while the illustrious careers of captain Christie Rampone, Shannon Boxx and maybe Abby Wambach are nearing their end, Lauren Cheney, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe proved in Germany they are more than able successors.
There's also another major title to be won at next summer's London Olympics, and qualifying starts in just a few months.
"It's just unfortunate, just a bummer," Carli Lloyd said after the Americans were stunned by Japan in a riveting final Sunday night, losing 3-1 in penalty kicks after twice blowing leads in a 2-2 tie. "But there's another World Cup in four years."
For some. The majority of the team will remain intact through London, but Rampone (36) and Boxx (34) are likely to call it quits after that. Wambach said it's too early to say what she'll do, but she is 31, and her body is showing the wear and tear from the fearless playing style that has earned her third place on the all-time World Cup scoring list with 13 goals.
Wambach passed Michelle Akers (12) for top U.S. honors with her header in the 104th minute Sunday, her fourth goal of the tournament.
"I'm not thinking about that right now," Wambach said when asked about her future. "I just want to spend some time with my teammates. This has been an emotional roller coaster ... and the Olympics are right around the corner. We'll move on."
Part of what has always made the U.S. so strong is the smooth transition from one generation to another, and the U.S. might have its most promise since the days of Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain.
Solo, winner of the Golden Glove as the tournament's top goalkeeper, is in the prime of her career at 29. Morgan and Cheney, both just 22, each finished the tournament with two goals. Cheney also had three assists while Morgan had one. Rapinoe displayed the accuracy and touch on the flanks so critical in coach Pia Sundhage's desire for a possession-based offense, and has the energy and spunk to shoulder the burden of being the face of the team behind Wambach.
No team found a way to contain speedy Heather O'Reilly, who makes a nice complement to Rapinoe on the opposite side of the field. Lloyd seemed to gain confidence in directing the offense as the tournament wore on, having one of her best games against Japan.
That's not to say there aren't issues.
The Americans achieved cult status with their grit and resilience in Germany, coming back to beat Brazil in the quarterfinals in a thrilling match, and then grinding down France. But as entertaining as they may be, the Americans have been making things harder on themselves than they need to be for almost a year now.
They were upset by Mexico in regional qualifying, forced to beat Italy in a playoff to get the very last spot in Germany. They dropped their first game of the season, to Sweden, then lost to England for the first time in 22 years — so long ago Morgan hadn't even been born yet. After winning their first two games in Germany handily, they lost to Sweden, the first U.S. loss ever in World Cup group play.
"In the past, we'd always won everything," Rampone said. "Those losses made our team what it is today. We need each other and you feel that, from the locker room to the time we step on the field."
But the Americans need more than a can-do attitude to keep pace in a game that is improving and evolving.
Sundhage wants the U.S. to play a possession-oriented style similar to the one Japan and France worked to near perfection in Germany, saying the traditional American gameplan of grinding opponents down on defense and sending long balls up to the forwards is too predictable. The offense should develop through the midfield, not start up front. By working from flank to center and back out with series of multiple passes, the Americans can probe the defense for weaknesses and create more opportunities — including chances for players who wouldn't normally score.
The style also helps on defense. Opponents can't score when the Americans are keeping the ball for large chunks of the game.
"I think of it as a nice hybrid of the way the U.S. national team used to play and the way that the game is evolving into much like the men's game, a possession, Barcelona-esque style," Wambach said. "It hasn't been without troubles. It's sometimes gotten the best of us because we have some players, like myself, who are old school and like to get the ball in a more physical, direct style. And when things aren't going well, I like to go back to what I know."
When it works, though, it is a sight to behold. The Americans looked like a cat toying with a mouse for much of the first half of the final, reeling defenders in only to make the ball disappear with a deft flick or smooth pass to a teammate. Japan's confusion and frustration gave the Americans wide-open spaces in front of the goal, and they easily could have been up 4-0 at halftime.
But they weren't, done in by an inability to finish that's plagued them all year long. If the Americans had converted only a handful of the chances they squandered in the tournament, that Brazil thriller wouldn't have been nearly as dramatic and they, not the Japanese, would have been celebrating late into the night Sunday.
"I don't blame anybody," Wambach said. "We had so many chances."
And they will again, starting in London.
[ Video is no longer available. ]


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SEO for Auto Repair in Nashville, TN
When it comes to attracting customers locally as they shop for auto repairs, having a website and internet marketing approach that is designed around the services you offer goes a long way. We specialize in SEO for auto repair in Nashville, TN, so while we understand best practices for search engine marketing in general, we deliver tailored services for the auto shop owners that we work with all over the country. Crafting web design and pages of authoritative content for the work that your mechanics do is how you can best improve where your business shows up in local search rankings. Because so many potential customers use Google and Bing to find auto mechanics, it's important that the internet marketing for your auto shop in Nashville is targeting the very aspects that we know search engines respond well to.
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If you've grown tired of attempting to manage your online presence on your own, or past experiences have left you with a bad taste in your mouth, we understand. Not all SEO companies approach internet marketing for auto shops with the same degree of expertise and attention to detail that we employ. It's not enough to shove a few keywords into the content on your existing site (especially if it is sparse), nor will it do any good to try to trick Google with shortcut tactics that can actually cause long term damage to your reputation.
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Consider, too, that half of mobile searches are for nearby services, and over 60% of those inquiries resolve with a transaction of some sort. This is a big deal for local businesses! In light of this fact, your internet marketing must include mapping for the local area so that these consumers can find you as they search online.
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Anonymous on 02/08/2011
Actually this is for 84-15 4h avenue Apt E 12 has
millions of cats. Re: the cat Lady. Bugs and bed bugs like crazy. Also this lady rips off people by pretending to have a bedroom for rent collecting a month's rent and 1 month's security then locking out the person and stealing their money.
This is the old lady of bayridge ripping off people and trying hard to keep it her secret.
Also informs the rentee that they will be sleeping in the cats bed. This lady is very rude and abrupt.
for someone that rips off people. She almost had me for a second but I picked up her scam when she said that she locks people out and keeps their security. she is also overcharging them especially since her apartment is still the old rent controlled. She is charging them $650.00 times 2.
Yikes no wonder noone can find an apartment. This lady is a criminal.
Anonymous on 10/04/2009
Found bedbugs ... heard there a real problem in this building .. cant seem to get rid of them
itching in bay ridge on 04/03/2008
I just moved in and there is a bedbug infestation in the left wing of the building. The first night I stayed there I got bit, and killed a few of them. The next night was worse, more and more. I heard that the next door neighbor of my apartment is the one who introduced them, and that they have moved out. They sprayed my apartment 2 days before I moved in and I still found a bunch of them. Landlord is responsive to the problem, at least. Another pest control rep came today and he seems to know
his business, said he would go over both apartments at once. Let's hope it works.
253 bedbug reports near this address:
|8500 4th Ave
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|Cafe Gregory
|0.101 km
|8201 4th Ave
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|357 82nd St
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|59 Gelston Ave
|0.544 km
|580 84th St
|0.546 km
|332 90th St
|0.549 km
|8602 Fort Hamilton Pky
|0.563 km


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Next Episode of Great British Menu is
Top chefs from across the nation compete for the chance to cook a four-course banquet for a high-profile figure.
Jennie Bond(Host)
Prue Leith(Judge)
Oliver Peyton(Judge)
Matthew Fort(Judge)
Wendy Lloyd(Narrator)
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text:
If you have a PDF document and want to crop it, e.g. because you have too large borders and/or it is skewed or there are actually two pages in each page, this software may help.
Briss comes in Java and is good for cropping and deskewing pages: http://briss.sourceforge.net/. This works fully automatically for single pages and is very nice. As it's written in Java, it works on Mac, Windows and Linux just the same. I will keep this for all my image pdf cropping needs. To split double pages I would first deskew and crop automatically in the first run and then save. That file I recommend to use for a second run and there crop the pages into two parts manually.
Unpaper (http://unpaper.berlios.de/) is a CLI tool for the job, which supports double pages, which briss doesn't yet seem to support. But it requires the PDFs to be split into .pbm , .pgm or .ppm first.
e.g. convert ./unpaper -l double -s a5 00000001.pgm 00000001a.pgm. But in my experience it didn't work at all...
And this helps for OCR: http://blog.konradvoelkel.de/2010/01/linux-ocr-and-pdf-problem-solved/
Cropping (Scanned) PDF Pages, e.g. double pages into single pages
Related Posts : reviews, software, tips
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NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is launching the next phase of the state's Qualified Energy Conservation Bond Program for energy saving capital projects.
The bonds were created by Congress in 2008 and expanded the following year by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Tennessee's total allocation for the program is approximately $64.7 million. More than $18.1 million has been, or is currently scheduled to be issued for qualifying projects by jurisdictions automatically eligible under the federal legislation.
The program will make the remaining $46.6 million available for qualifying projects. Entities eligible to participate in the program include all local government jurisdictions in Tennessee, along with public universities. Local governments can issue the bonds on behalf of a private project, with conditions.
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'The Dark Knight Rises' Set Visit: Talking with the People Who Brought the War to Life
Since you're here at Movies.com, I'm sure I don't need to remind you that the magic of the movies is a largely collaborative effort, involving at least hundreds, often thousands of unseen people working tirelessly to bring the world of a film to life. This was never more evident to me than on one day in August of 2011 when I was fortunate enough to represent Movies.com on the set of this summer's blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan's story featuring the Guardian of Gotham City: Batman.
Presented here for the first time is this mind-blowing image of the scene we were able to witness that day: Movie magic in its purest form, with the crane camera following NFL wide receiver Hines Ward as dozens of explosive charges went off behind him, illustrating Bane's destruction of the NFL stadium that plays home to the Gotham Rogues. The actual stadium location was, of course, Pittsburgh's Heinz Field, partially transformed into the Gotham stadium to depict that fateful game where Bane crashes the party and makes his presence felt in a major way.
Standing in the press box and looking down on the dozens of actors and stunt performers, hundreds of production workers, thousands of extras, and millions of dollars' worth of sensitive motion picture equipment and special effects rigs really highlights for anyone how much of an undertaking it is to make a film, especially one on the scale of The Dark Knight Rises.
We were fortunate enough to sit with several key members of Rises' production staff who gave us some very interesting tidbits about the film, the story it attempts to tell, the specific challenges and triumphs of their jobs on the picture, and how it will all combine into the $250 million behemoth known as The Dark Knight Rises, hitting theaters on July 20th.
One of the key people we were fortunate enough to speak with was Chris Corbould, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor who has a staggering 11 James Bond films on his resume, in addition to such hits as Interview with the Vampire, The Mummy, X-Men: First Class, his Oscar-worthy endeavor on Inception, and of course Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
Corbould didn't shy away from the complexity of this film when we spoke to him on set, even calling the enormous scene being shot that day as part of "regular occurrences," and that two of the big effects-heavy scenes that still needed to be shot at that point in the process were still a mystery, even to him, as far as how to photograph them. "I don't know how we're going to do them yet. (laughs) I can't even tell you."
He explained to us the process of figuring out how to crack a mystery like this, and basically told us that reliance on your team is essential.
"I've obviously got guys thinking about it and we're throwing ideas around, but we haven't [figured it out yet]. There are a couple of things we haven't settled on, [as far as] the definite method we're going to use. I don't like to just rush into something, I like to keep thinking it, milling it over, talking to Chris [Nolan] about it and then a month, two months before we shoot it, you know, we look into how we're going to do it, with Chris's agreement, with my input. And then we might get the team working on it and then we move forward with it."
Corbould also briefly talked about Christopher Nolan's penchant for shooting things practically, as opposed to leaving it all up to computer-generated effects, unless absolutely necessary.
"Chris will always prefer to do it practically. That's his mantra. Then [he and I] get into logistics: there are things that I can't do for money reasons, safety reasons, budget reasons. There are things that I physically can't do. So, that's when the CGI thing comes in. But, he will always try and get us to provide elements for the CGI people to use, so it's not totally created in a computer, but it's a mixture of what we've done to enhance what is put into the scene. He's a firm believer in doing things for real, he believes he gets better performances from his actors and thespians, you know. If there's something going on, then that's the way he's always been and he seems to be sticking by it."
Another key player we were able to speak with that day was Lindy Hemming, the costume designer. With a background in theatre having first receiving an education at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and producing costumes for plays in the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hemming transitioned to film costuming and received the Academy Award in her field for her work on 1999's Topsy-Turvy. From there, she worked on such hits as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, before finding a home in Christopher Nolan's Batman films starting with 2005's Batman Begins.
As soon as Hemming begins speaking, it becomes immediately clear why she's working on this film and this franchise: She reads the characters in the scripts and immediately visualizes them through her field, finding appropriate wardrobes for the dapper Bruce Wayne, the sophisticated Alfred Pennyworth, the grimy, grungy Joker, and now, the monstrous Bane. Hemming took us a little bit through the process of coming up with the typical wares as far as clothing, to the more unconventional fare of Bane's mask and Catwoman's headpiece. Thankfully (at least for this fan), Hemming started at the source material and began to work her way out towards the Gotham City of Christopher Nolan's mind.
"With Bane, maybe it's whether people like it or not, you can see him with his mercenary men, and you can know in the story where he's come from and why he is like he is. Following that route, he is much more… he's armored, and he has nods to the straps of the wrestling suit he started with [in the comics] and he's got an injury, which is why in the comic, he has to have Venom. And in our story, it's slightly different, but it's the same kind of idea. So using all those things and using the fact that he doesn't come from the same technology as Batman. He doesn't have Fox making all these things for him. His stuff has been made on the move over the mountains of the world, maybe in training camps."
Hemming also discussed the patchwork nature of Bane's attire, and how that informs the audience of his background.
"There is a slightly clunky element to him and that's part of his story. But at the same time, the way he's directed in the film, the menace is within him…he's also an older character. He's not a young kid. He's an older man who, as you'll see the film, you'll know that he's been around for a long time. So that's as much as I can kind of tell you, but the reason he looks like he looks is he's much more of a warrior/mercenary kind of man.
He was injured early in his story, Bane, if you know his story, so his outfit is pretty much the same, but there is a different outfit for earlier in his history, yes. But it's still the same principal, that he's suffering from pain and he needs gas to survive. He can't survive the pain without the mask…"
Hemming also talked to us about the challenge of finding a practical usage for Catwoman's trademark "ears," and how she and the director shared a bit of a laugh about it, and how one of the inspirations came from the magnifying goggles of a dentist.
"Between Chris Nolan and I, we were trying to work out why that we think… how would a woman who is sort of modern and trendy and cool, why would she go around wearing ears? (laughs) So, there's two nods to it in the film: one is that she is wearing ears, which you'll see and is explained, but we said, 'What is forming these ears? What's the logic behind the ears?' And the logic, you will see, behind the ears is that when the goggles go up, the shape of the goggles make the ears, and we think it's really cool. We're very, very pleased with it. (laughs) But oh God, we went through so many incarnations of how to make it happen, but I don't know if you've seen jewelers when they have a jewelers' loop or when you go to the dentist—that was my inspiration."
Producer Jordan Goldberg also sat down with us. A co-producer with director Christopher Nolan since 2006's The Prestige, Goldberg has also tried his hand at writing, turning in some respectable motion comics tied into the release of Inception, as well as having a story credit on the animated direct-to-DVD prelude to Nolan's second Batman film, Batman: Gotham Knight. At the beginning of our sit-down with him, Goldberg discussed the fortune that the production had in securing the Heinz Field location for the monumental scene.
"One of our Executive Producers, Thomas Tull, is a part owner of the Steelers. He's got a lot of good relationships with the organization. And back when – you know, when any time I guess when you put on a football thing, it's a big to-do just because of all the moving parts involved in a football game. And so, I felt that, you know, to do it officially [we needed] very good working parts. And at that time we were thinking, we were talking about shooting in Pittsburgh, so it just seemed like the best marriage to kind of bring in the Steelers and as luck would have it a lot of them wanted to be in the movie, but they've never been in a movie before. They were big fans of Thomas' other movies like The Hangover and stuff. So, I think the opportunity to be in a Batman movie, they really got involved."
Goldberg also let us in on the difference in scope between this film and it's critically acclaimed predecessor.
"Every story has to have a great ending. And I guess when you talk about it as a franchise, a trilogy, it keeps getting bigger and bigger. So yeah, you had to ratchet it up. I think that the scope and scale of this movie is, I don't know. I didn't think you could top the last one, but I think we have. And I think something like this helps you do that because it's just a massive – any time there's a football game, there's a lot of kinetic energy out there and the stunt that we're going to pull out there, you'll see after lunch, the explosions we're gonna do are pretty big. And it's just, you know, the stakes are very high. And I think when you see the movie, when you see the final thing put together, it's a pretty jaw-dropping spectacle, what happens in there."
One thing people might notice about the man in the director's chair is that he's never made a sports film before, and apparently doesn't watch football that often. So, how does Mr. Nolan go about shooting at least part of a football game? Goldberg explains.
"We have a guy down there named Mark Ellis, who's worked on a lot of sports films. Most of the sports films you've seen, he's been the coordinator behind it all. Mark and I had been talking for a while and Chris had an idea how – what he wanted in the game and Chris dialed into the fact that this event should take place at the beginning of the game and the kickoff 'cause you know, the kickoff is very iconic of any football game. So with that information, I was able to get it – we were able to design a very kind of easy play out there to kind of make the thing happen."
The last of the production staff we had the privilege of speaking with was Tom Struthers, the man with the simple enough title for an extraordinarily complicated job: Stunt Coordinator. In addition to working on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight as an assistant stunt coordinator and the full coordinator for The Dark Knight Rises, Struthers has also coordinated the stunts for such films as Terminator Salvation, Season of the Witch, John Carter, as well as Mr. Nolan's previous outing, Inception. Struthers has also worked in varying stunt capacities on films like Blood Diamond, The World is Not Enough, Braveheart, and Titanic. With that resume at his disposal, Struthers is the man coordinating the mind-boggling action of Christopher Nolan's Batman films.
Struthers makes no bones about the fact that there's a lot more fisticuffs in Rises when compared with Begins and Dark Knight. "There's a lot more fighting in this one than the previous two Batmans. We've still got an emphasis on vehicle work [with the Tumbler], but there's a lot more physical interaction between Batman, Bane, and the other characters in the film."
He also discussed the martial arts techniques that the characters have been using since the beginning of the series.
"The fighting techniques have evolved over the last two films. Basically, we started out with a technique that was put together by a Spanish and an English guy originally called Keysi, and it's a mixture of all the different martial arts. Keysi is a mixture of jiu-jitsu, a mixture of Tae-Kwon-Do, it's a mixture of Muay-Thai, it's a mixture of everything really, and it was designed for the armed forces, basically. What we've done on this one [is] we've changed the format a little bit, we've taken it to another progression, we've kept a little bit of the Keysi [in addition to other methods]. My fight arranger, Buster Reaves, is very, very good and we've just taken it to the next level."
Struthers also took time to praise Christopher Nolan in the way that he puts together the men and women who ultimately bring his vision to life.
"With the way that Chris Nolan puts a crew together, [he's] very much hands-on with every department head. I mean, we're all chosen by Chris. There's no studio hire, there's no agent hire. It is…we are hired by Chris Nolan. From Nathan [Crowley, production designer] and Wally [Pfister, director of photography] who've been with Chris since the beginning, to Chris Corbould. I was on the first two films with Chris, but as the stunt supervisor. Then he asked me and my crew to do Inception. We haven't really changed the mix of the physical action crew, and neither has Chris changed Chris Corbould, Lindy in the costumes, or Nathan, so we all work together. And we all overlap dramatically, and that's a difference with most movies, I think. Most movies I've worked on, most departments become very [insulated]…whereas we're very much spread out. We interact a lot with the other departments."
When asking specifically how Struthers interacts with certain departments, he was all too happy to tell us:
"With my side it's mainly mechanical effects…because a film like this is probably about a 65% physical drama on Batman, maybe even 70%. So it's a big interaction there. And then behind that we've got Nathan's sets, which we talk to Nathan about, what we can do in his sets, what he can do for us to design with the size of the rooms and the whole exteriors. And then, Dan Grayson and Lindy Hemming in costumes, they're very, very good to us. They help design costumes and put them together for the actors which is user-friendly for the environment we're in. Which is very difficult, so as I said, a lot of departments become very interlaid."
That was, in the briefest of nutshells, our experience talking with the people that helped make The Dark Knight Rises. This was a very enthralling place to be that August day in Pittsburgh, and what they pulled off continues to fill me with slack-jawed disbelief. The wait is nearly over, and whether or not the conclusion to Mr. Nolan's story for the Dark Knight is satisfying or not is a decision only you can make. Regardless of where you stand, it sounds like this film will be one of the defining cinematic experiences of the year, whether you're a hardcore Batman fan like yours truly, or just an average Joe (or Jane) that likes to watch good movies. Time will tell where this film will lie on this year's slate, but like the last one, I'm sure it will create moments that will live forever thanks in no small part to the efforts of the talented people we were fortunate enough to speak with that day.
Be sure to see their efforts come alive on July 20th, when The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters nationwide.
Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com.
Copyright © 2019 FANDANGO MOVIES.


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The following commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of AgWeb or Farm Journal Media. The opinions expressed below are the author's own.
As a farm machinery mechanic and writer, Dan brings a hands-on approach that only a pro can muster. Along with his In the Shop blog, Dan writes a column by the same name as well as the Shop Series for Farm Journal magazine. Always providing practical information, he is a master at tackling technical topics and making them easy for all of our readers to understand. He and his wife, Becky, live near Bouton, Iowa.
It's annoying to have one or two rows on your planter's seed monitor show either "failure" or consistently low population. Have those rows truly failed, are they really planting several thousand seeds per acre less than other rows? The only way to tell is to get off the tractor and dig.
If digging proves the rows in question are actually misplanting, then you have to figure out what mechanical aspect of the planter is causing the problem. But if the planter is planting correctly, then the problem is in the seed monitoring system, and it's time to do some diagnostics.
If a row shows complete failure on the seed monitor, my first suspicion is the seed tube sensor. There are a couple ways to check a seed tube sensor. One way is to swap the questionable sensor to another row, and see if the problem follows the questionable sensor to that row. I prefer to use a seed tube sensor tester, purchased from Ag Express, that I can plug into the sensor as it's mounted in the planter--it saves removing seed boxes to access and swap sensors. I just dance a long plastic zip tie up and down past the sensor's "eye" and my tester beeps every time the zip tie moves past the eye--if the sensor is good.
Don't waste time taking a sensor off a seed tube and cleaning or tinkering with it. Seed sensors either work or they don't. You may be able to see the cause of the failure (the lenses often get fine scratches that look like a haze, that prevents the sensor from monitoring accurately) or the problem may be internal and invisible. Either way, it's junk. Strap on a new sensor and see if that cures the problem.
If the the monitor still shows low or no seeds being planted by a specific row, it's time to check wiring. Carefully, patiently check every inch of wire from the seed tube sensor all the way to the backside of the monitor in the tractor cab. Key points to check are where the wires are routed through the parallel linkages right at the planter unit; anywhere the harness passes through a hinge area on a folding planter; and at the back of the tractor where the planter's hitch and the tractor's 3-point can often catch and crush wiring harnesses.
Broken or frayed wires are obvious culprits. Less obvious and more insidious are "flattened" wiring harnesses that are the result of either getting flattened between metal components of the planter, or due to the harness being stretched so much that the wires inside separated even though the outer rubber sheathing stretched and didn't break. Either way, the only way to check is to use a knife and remove the outer sheathing to determine if any wires inside are damaged.
Don't panic and think the actual seed monitor console in the tractor has gone bad until you're certain all the seed tube sensors and wiring harnesses are functioning properly. Seed monitor consoles are remarkably reliable--but they do sometimes fail. Check the cheap stuff first, before you send the console for repairs.
And, if you're desperate to finish a field, but reluctant to plant "blind," consider how many acres your grandpa planted without any sort of seed monitoring system. Talk about an act of faith...
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