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Kuroda's rare off night halts Yanks' run at five
ST. PETERSBURG -- The pinpoint command that has allowed Hiroki Kuroda to shine at the front of the Yankees' rotation took a night off on Friday, and the hurler was forced to ride out his roughest outing of the season thus far.
Kuroda tied a career high by serving up four home runs and the Rays delivered a reminder of how challenging a climb back into the postseason race could be, pounding the Yankees, 7-2, in the opener of a three-game series at Tropicana Field.View Full Game Coverage
ST. PETERSBURG -- The pinpoint command that has allowed Hiroki Kuroda to shine at the front of the Yankees' rotation took a night off on Friday, and the hurler was forced to ride out his roughest outing of the season thus far.
Kuroda tied a career high by serving up four home runs and the Rays delivered a reminder of how challenging a climb back into the postseason race could be, pounding the Yankees, 7-2, in the opener of a three-game series at Tropicana Field.View Full Game Coverage
"Overall, I wasn't sharp," Kuroda said through an interpreter. "There were a few homers that I could have avoided, so I felt really bad. I didn't have precise control today; that led to bad counts. I got behind and got hit hard."
Jose Lobaton clanged a three-run homer off the right-field foul pole, Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce slugged back-to-back solo shots and Ben Zobrist also went deep as the Rays snapped the Yankees' five-game winning streak.
"Everyone probably wondered what's going on when you see Kuroda giving up a homer, and another one and another one and then another one," Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner said. "He's been so good all year. He's not perfect."
Kuroda, who also tied his career high with seven runs allowed, had not surrendered a home run since June 30 at Baltimore -- a span of 57 2/3 innings. The clunker came after he allowed a season-high 11 hits in his last start, against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
"Obviously, the team was on a roll, and the fact that I couldn't contribute today to the team was disappointing," Kuroda said.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that he stuck with Kuroda for 104 pitches in part to save the bullpen, but also because he thought Kuroda might eventually be able to find his command.
"It was really strange," Girardi said. "He just didn't have his stuff tonight. He kept trying to find it and find it, but I didn't think his slider was extremely sharp and I didn't think he had the great command of his fastball tonight."
Lobaton's second-inning homer gave the Rays a lead they would not relinquish, supporting right-hander Chris Archer, who beat the Yankees for the third time in three starts this season.
"The defense was incredible," Archer said. "We made play after play, so I was just getting more comfortable out there. The fact that my family was here ... I really didn't feel like I could fail."
Archer limited the Yankees to two runs and four hits over seven innings, becoming the first rookie to post three wins against the Yankees in a single season since the Rangers' Kevin Brown in 1989.
"He's got good stuff, there's no doubt about it," Girardi said of Archer, who has allowed just three runs in 22 innings to New York. "But I thought we had better at-bats against him today."
Alfonso Soriano offered the Yankees a promising start by connecting for a run-scoring single in the first inning, but Archer settled in to hold the Yankees quiet until the sixth, when Gardner tripled to left-center and scored on a Robinson Cano groundout.
"When you lose the first game of a three-game series, it's tough to win the next two, especially on the road against a team like the Rays," Gardner said. "They've been playing good ball all year, and hopefully, the way we've been playing recently, we can get a good one tomorrow."
Gardner's hit was a good sign for the Yankees, as they held their breath after the speedster was drilled on the right hand by a 95-mph Archer fastball in the third inning.
The pitch hit Gardner in essentially the same area that the Blue Jays' R.A. Dickey nailed Jayson Nix on Wednesday in New York, fracturing Nix's left hand, but Gardner said that his hand was only mildly swollen.
Gardner said the Yankees want to send him for tests before Saturday's 7:10 p.m. ET first pitch, but the outfielder would prefer to skip the trip to the X-ray machine. Part of that, no doubt, is because the Yankees could use his bat against top-notch pitching like Archer, David Price and Alex Cobb.
"I still like our chances," Gardner said. "I feel like we're in a good place and we're a whole lot better off than we were two weeks ago. We've still got some time left."
Faced with just their third loss in 13 games, the Yankees threatened to get back into the game in the seventh inning. David DeJesus made a splendid running catch into the left-field wall, taking an extra-base hit away from Chris Stewart and stranding two runners aboard.
"I put my head down and was thinking automatic double," Stewart said. "I heard the crowd go crazy, and apparently, the ball was in his glove. That's just kind of the way things went tonight."
Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat.


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subset: commoncrawl


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No projects were found for this organization/donor/country
Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty line (% of population)
National poverty rate is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty line. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.
The most recent value available for each country is provided followed by the associated year for that value. Data are not available for all countries. Get the full dataset here.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators - 2015


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How to Use the Images
Illustration 1: The charge of the
African-American troops at Port Hudson.
On May 27, 1863, the Union army's African-American troops charged against the Confederate earthworks. Although the artist wrote "2nd Louisiana" on the flag, the units were in fact the 1st and 3rd Louisiana Native Guards.
Questions for Illustration 1
1. Modern research indicates that the Confederates, in fact, suffered no casualties during this action. Casualties among African-Americans, however, were high. How does that information compare with the version of the attack that the drawing presents?
2. What is happening in this drawing? Why would someone create an inaccurate picture of the scene? Who might benefit from this version of the siege?
3. This drawing, and supporting newspaper accounts, helped change the opinions of the fighting abilities of African-American soldiers. Considering the conditions many African-Americans endured before the war, what may have been the impression the general public had of African-American fighting capabilities? How might illustrations such as this one change general public perception?
* The illustration on the screen has a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a high quality version of the illustration, but be aware that the file will take as much as 60 seconds to load with a 28.8K modem.


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Chapter 1: Place Value/Addition and Subtraction
Quiz Rules
- You will be asked 10 questions.
- Choose the answer you think is correct, and then click the "Check Your Answer" button.
- If you're correct, you'll get 10 points. If you're incorrect, you'll get another try.
- If you're correct on your second try, you'll get 5 points. If you're incorrect, we'll give you the answer, and you can move on to the next question.


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It's not every day that you see a brawl on the Wildwood Boardwalk, which is located near the southern tip of the Jersey shore. That only happens on the days you go to the Wildwood Boardwalk.
There's some solid foot-to-face action here. And giddy schoolboys cursing, too. At least until Johnny Law steps in.


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It was a mild surprise that Alabama running back Eddie Lacy fell out of round one, the first time no running back has been taken in the first round since 1963.
It's a shock that two other running backs (and counting) have heard their names called, and Lacy is still on the board. The Bengals took North Carolina running back Giovani Bernard with the 37th overall pick, and the Steelers pulled the stunner, opting for Le'Veon Bell over Lacy 11 spots later.
So what's going on? As one league source put it, Lacy's slide arises from both injuries and a perception that he lacks the passion necessary to play pro football at a high level.
Running backs take a lot of punishment. They need to not simply tolerate it but thrive on it. Lacy, right or wrong, isn't seen as a guy who is ready to go all in for the NFL.
But there's still hope. After all, Manti Te'o got drafted. Despite having Lacy run circles around him at the BCS national title game.


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New Project "Phoenix" - keyboard control
Budget €30-250 EUR
For our new project we need a keyboard control. This control should be programmed in HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript
In the above example from our present pos system a standard keyboard was generated. Each key triggers an event with the corresponding character.
The keyboard is multilingual. This means that depending on the country setting the keyboard loads the corresponding config file and the characters displayed on the keys adjust accordingly.
Clicking a key triggers an event with the corresponding character.
The control element must have the following characteristics:
- The entire control element should be responsive
- A config file defining the characters for each key should be included for each language
- Clicking on a key should generate an event passing the corresponding character.
- The design of the individual keys should be modifiable. It should be possible to change the form and color of the keys.
4 freelancers are bidding on average €119 for this job
Hi there - My name is Jhalak. I've read your [login to view URL] team has 4 years experience designing and developing mobile apps and Websites.I would approach your project by starting with wireframes and getting the site complet More
Digi Muflon is a leading software development company providing the highest quality information technology services and solutions at low cost to a broad spectrum of clients. Build beautiful, hand-crafted websites. Able More
Hi I am very much sure that I can complete work as per your requirements.I assure you that I will provide you quality work and within the decided time frame and budget. Please drop me a message for further discussio More


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André Robé
Chrysler BuildingAbout this photograph
This series is composed of photographs from the 1950s-60s. They were mainly taken by American tourists in New York. The period corresponds with the Golden Age in the United States. These photographs mirror an America which was powerful and modern at the time. American citizens, become anonymous photographers, ?constructed? images which had great resonance with the American Dream. These photographs are consistent with what could be imagined of a country at the leading edge of innovation. Fashion, design, architecture and even the energy which stands out gives an impression of ultra-modernity. The anonymous photographed the symbols of success with pride.Read more Read less
|Standard Delivery
|Icon, Classic, Colorful
|Giant, Collector, Exception
Since 1997 the collector André Robé has bought slides from the personal archives of private individuals. It was not enough for André Robé to simply buy and collect. He built up sets of carefully thought out images. Stylistic coherence, combined with iconographic research, formed a corpus raisonné. In turn, the collector André Robé created a body of work akin to it. He saved photographs, lost in the oblivion of the privacy of people's homes, which became icons.


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October 22, 2012
By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service
NORFOLK, Va., – The Hampton Roads area of Virginia has played a vital role in the history of the United States, and of the military in particular, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said here today.
Since the Civil War and the first battle between two ironclad ships, the area has been on the leading edge of American military innovation, with its shipyards serving as the backbone of American naval power, Panetta said in remarks to members of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
The broad challenges now faced by the military also face the Hampton Roads region, he said.
After a decade of war, the U.S. is at a strategic turning point, the defense secretary said. Congressionally mandated budget cuts come at a time when the nation still faces a dangerous and unpredictable world, he said.
"I am not one who believes that you have to choose between fiscal security and national security," he said.
Violent extremism, weapons proliferation, international instability and the rise of new powers across Asia are just some of the challenges facing the country, Panetta said.
"And now we confront a whole new threat of warfare in cyber [space]" he said. "I think this is an area we have got to pay close attention to. This is the battle front of the future. As I speak, there are cyberattacks going on in this country."
"And now they're developing the capability to be able to go after our grid — our power grid, our financial systems, our government systems — and virtually paralyze this country," Panetta said.
"We are confronting a series of threats to our national security," he said. "I've got to do everything I can to make sure we protect this country."
To address those challenges while meeting America's fiscal responsibilities, he said, the Defense Department undertook a review of the defense strategy. As part of that review, it established new defense priorities and focused on designing a force that would carry the U.S. into the future.
The five elements of the new defense strategy are, Panetta said, a smaller, more agile force; a rebalance to the Asia-Pacific and Middle East; building international partnerships and alliances; ensuring the nation can confront and defeat aggression, even when it occurs on multiple fronts; and making key investments in defense technologies and capabilities.
As part of that strategy, the defense secretary said, "We will continue to invest in the unique capabilities and the military and industrial facilities like those in Hampton Roads."
"I also want to maintain our industrial base," Panetta said. I'll be damned if I'm going to contract out to any other country to be able to protect … this country."
For example, he said, despite budget pressures, the Defense Department elected to retain the Navy's full fleet of aircraft carriers.
"Similarly, we are investing in the Virginia-class submarine and upgrading this important capability for the future," he said.
"And finally," Panetta said, "we are investing in the cutting-edge unmanned systems and cyber warfare capabilities that are so important in our mission at Langley Air Force Base."
"This community has strongly positioned itself to help us achieve our strategy," he said. "But … we are jeopardized if Congress does not act to prevent sequester from taking effect in January," he added.
The additional cuts would be devastating to the nation's defense, Panetta said.
"There's still time to prevent sequestration," he said. "Let me be clear, no one wants this to happen … but, for God's sake, don't just kick this can down the road."
"The last thing I need, having put this strategy in place, is not to know where I'm headed in the future in terms of a stable budget," the defense secretary said.
The decisions made in Washington have a lasting and real impact on American communities, Panetta said.
"As we emerge out of this decade of war, the new greatest generation of Americans is going to be returning home to communities like this. They need our support in order to transition back into civilian life," the defense secretary said
"I've got some great weapons systems. I've got some great tanks. I've got some great ships. I've got the best in terms of bombers and fighters," Panetta said. "But do you know what makes the United States strong? It is the men and women in uniform who serve this country."


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//Off topic:
Another few hours wasted, this time fighting the installer. I know this is off-topic, but the installer needs some major love.
On my first attempt I selected the text installer from the LiveCD boot menu (the graphical installer will not run because the Gateway Solo 9300 only has 288 Mb RAM). After I answered all the prompts, the installer crashed (I won't bother detailing the error messages here).
I then rebooted, this time to the LiveCD Desktop and ran /usr/bin/liveinst -T as root user in a Terminal window. The installer crashed at the same place with the same messages.
I then used the partition manager on a PCLinuxOS E17 2010.11 edition LiveCD to delete the partitions on the HDD (a swap partition of 512 Mb and the rest of the 10 Gb HDD as an ext4 root partition), then recreated and formatted them as before.
I ran the installer again -- it crashed again.
I tried several times, alternating between doing it on a VT (TTY1) with and without X running on TTY7, and in a Terminal window on the LiveCD Desktop. Still the same problem. In some of the attempts when running the installer in a Terminal window, the installer wrote willy-nilly all over the window, making it almost impossible to tell what was going on.
Finally -- and this may or may not be a coincidence -- I connected to my network and then reran the installer in a Terminal window. This time the installer ran to completion (although it hung at the end). I booted the laptop and... ended up with a Grub2 prompt. Argghh!
I then booted the LiveCD, re-ran the installer in a Terminal window and selected the option to reinstall Grub. I rebooted and, finally, ended up at the E17 Desktop of SL installed on the HDD. What a palaver.
As per my previous post I then launched nm-applet, lowered the MTU to 1464 from the command line, and connected to my network successfully. I was then able to update the Entropy DB (I had to use the --force option) and upgrade all packages.
I notice when the laptop boots that it is loading a volume group named "vg_meshedgedx". Now "meshedgedx" is the hostname of my main laptop, on which I burnt the LiveCD. Why does the LiveCD installer then use that name for a volume group on a different PC?
I then discovered that root log-in didn't work! I'm sure I entered the correct password during installation (after all, one is prompted to enter it twice). Anyway, I used sudo passwd to fix that.
This is a big contrast to my experience installing PCLinuxOS E17 edition last night, which worked first time and without any hassle.
Sorry to moan, but I had to get that off my chest.
EDIT (Sat Nov 27 12:40:56 GMT 2010): The installer also does not set up /etc/hosts file correctly. Below is the /etc/hosts file it created on the Gateway 9300 installation. Notice the IPv4 and IPv6 localhost aliases (and the last line too). "MeshEdgeDX" is the laptop that the LiveCD was burned on, not the laptop that SL 5.4 E17 is installed on, so why has that domain name been used for the Gateway 9300 laptop? Also the last line is a repeat of the eleventh line defining the localhost aliases, but is different. Also, the twelfth line (IPv6 localhost aliases) appears to be incomplete as it does not include the hostname.
Code: Select all
# /etc/hosts: Local Host Database
# This file describes a number of aliases-to-address mappings for the for
# local hosts that share this file.
# In the presence of the domain name service or NIS, this file may not be
# consulted at all; see /etc/host.conf for the resolution order.
# IPv4 and IPv6 localhost aliases
127.0.0.1 localhost sabayon MeshEdgeDX.home
::1 localhost
# Imaginary network.
#10.0.0.2 myname
#10.0.0.3 myfriend
# According to RFC 1918, you can use the following IP networks for private
# nets which will never be connected to the Internet:
# 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
# 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
# 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255
# In case you want to be able to connect directly to the Internet (i.e. not
# behind a NAT, ADSL router, etc...), you need real official assigned
# numbers. Do not try to invent your own network numbers but instead get one
# from your network provider (if any) or from your regional registry (ARIN,
# APNIC, LACNIC, RIPE NCC, or AfriNIC.)
127.0.0.1 MeshEdgeDX.home sabayon
At last I have an installed SL 5.4 E17 Experimental Spin, with nm-applet working as the networking GUI and NetworkManager working as the networking backend. Performance is not bad for an old Gateway Solo 9300 laptop (Pentium III 700 MHz, 288 Mb RAM, 10 GB HDD), although not quite as snappy as I was hoping, but at least faster than what was installed on the laptop when I began yesterday (PCLinuxOS 2009 KDE, which worked perfectly, but was very slow for Web browsing, which is mostly what I use this old laptop for).
Now, on to Exalt...
This is what I did post-install:
Created the initscript /etc/init.d/exaltd:
Code: Select all
# nano /etc/conf.d/local # Added ifconfig wlan0 mtu 1464 (which does work, because I tried it with nm-applet).
# equo update --force # It wouldn't work without --force
# equo conf update
# equo upgrade
# equo conf update
# equo install exalt # Which installs connman too
# equo conf update
Code: Select all
# Copyright 1999-2006 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, v2 or later
depend() {
need dbus hald
start() {
ebegin "Starting Exalt daemon"
start-stop-daemon --start --exec /usr/sbin/exalt-daemon \
--pidfile /var/run/exaltd.pid
eend $?
stop() {
ebegin "Stopping Exalt daemon"
start-stop-daemon --stop --exec /usr/sbin/exalt-daemon \
--pidfile /var/run/exaltd.pid
eend $?
restart() {
Set up the initscripts in the runlevels:
Code: Select all
# chmod +x /etc/init.d/exaltd
Followed micia's steps in his earlier post:
Code: Select all
# rc-update del NetworkManager default
# rc-update add exaltd default
# rc-update add connman default
'Main > Settings > Modules' and select 'Connection Manager' in the 'System' section.
Right-click on Shelf 5 (the right hand Shelf) and select 'Shelf bottom_right' > 'Contents'. Select 'Connection Manager' and click on 'Add Gadget'.
A ConnMan icon appeared on Shelf 5, and shows my network ESSID but refuses to connect. When I enter the WPA passkey in the ConnMan pop-up window, ConnMan keeps popping up the same window asking me again for the WPA passkey. I've tried entering it without and with quotation marks, but the behaviour is the same. Any suggestions?


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First time homeowners renovate their backyard to include a pergola, raised garden bed, a new deck, and a play area for their small child. This yard makeover mixes traditional and modern style touches for a beautiful finished product.
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text:
Mrrosales needed a new print or packaging design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 53 designs submitted by 12 freelance designers.
Serial Entrepreneur
Passionate about helping others be empowered with their health
Fun, Functional & sexy product
Ready for International expansion
Great project for creative person
Unique product offering with some customer education
Fit, Active & anti-aging minded people
Integrative health professionals
POS - health stores
Direct mail
Need for a tradeshow next week. I like SUNSHINE & bright colors with a focus more for women buyers. Health conscious & outdoor pictures.
Have tons of content; looking for the bullet points
ATTENTION GETTER with EDUCATIONAL focus for switching from pills to oral spray *ABSORPTION*
ONCE The theme or IMAGE is created have other product offerings and other media needs: business cards, postcards, ad banners that I will need within the next 60 days


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Dave Anderson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, died Thursday in Cresskill, New Jersey. He was 89.
Anderson, who joined the Times in 1966 as a general assignment reporter, took over the newspaper's "Sports of the Times" column in 1971, The New York Times reported.
Anderson won the Pulitzer in commentary in 1981, one of three sportswriters to win the award. The first was Red Smith, Anderson's colleague at the Times, in 1976; Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times won the award in 1990.
Anderson wrote for his high school and college newspapers and got his first professional job at 16 when he was hired as a messenger at The New York Sun, the Times reported.
He covered the Dodgers for the Brooklyn Eagle in 1953-54 and went to the New York Journal-American in 1955.
Anderson won the Associated Press Sports Editors' Red Smith Award in 1994.
In her Opening Statement segment on Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine" program Saturday night, Jeanine Pirro criticized Hillary Clinton for playing the "poor me" card. Pirro also said that the former Democratic presidential candidate was continuing to make excuses for her election loss last November. Pirro also took some shots at former President Bill Clinton during her monologue.
"We've had it with you Clintons claiming victimhood," Pirro said, after Hillary Clinton told an audience she would have been president if the election came before FBI Director Jim Comey sent a letter to Congress in October.
Pirro added that since the former first lady previously took responsibility for her loss, she should stop blaming "boogeymen" such as Comey and others.
"Hillary, snap out of it," Pirro said on "Justice." "You're a two-time loser who lost because you were a lousy candidate.
"The two of you haven't followed the rules since the day you both showed up in your bell bottoms in Arkansas," Pirro said. "You're a loser, Hillary. Face it. Face it. And get back in the woods."
In the wake of a heinous chemical weapons attack in Syria on Tuesday that reportedly killed 86 people including 27 children, on Thursday night President Trump ordered airstrikes on the air base from which that attack was launched. Trump's order was his first direct assault on a foreign nation through executive order. This decision is troublesome to many Trump supporters and others who thought the president's anti-Iraq war stance and arguments against nation building might prevent him from such action.
>> RELATED: U.S. fires more than 50 cruise missiles into Syria
Among them is Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who spent the week arguing that any military strikes against Syria would require a congressional declaration of war.
>> RELATED: Rand Paul says no war with Syria without congressional approval
In a series of tweets in response to the strikes, Paul said late Thursday, "While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the United States was not attacked. The President needs Congressional authorization for military action as required by the Constitution, and I call on him to come to Congress for a proper debate."
"Our prior interventions in this region have done nothing to make us safer and Syria will be no different," Paul said.
>> RELATED: Rand Paul reminds President Trump that he opposed Syria intervention back in 2013
Trump had a similar position in 2013 when President Obama was considering a U.S.-led strike on Syria.
The missile strikes on Thursday were fired from a U.S. Navy ship in the Mediterranean Sea. President Trump released a short video explaining that the attacks were in retaliation for the chemical attacks reported to be carried out by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Writer disclosure: I co-authored the 2011 book 'The Tea Party Goes to Washington' with Sen. Rand Paul.
Let's review the weekend Donald Trump had:
1. He danced around his receiving support from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, later blaming a "bad earpiece" for the reason he was able to repeat Duke's name to host Jake Tapper but unable to say he didn't want their support. (Click here if you're on mobile)
Yes, on Friday Trump had disavowed Duke's support. Which, one might think, should have made it easy for him to repeat that disavowal during the interview Sunday as long as he could hear the name, which he clearly could. Rather, this looks like yet another instance of Trump — the hilariously monikered "truth teller" — talking out of both sides of his mouth as he makes it up on the fly. In other words, it's another instance of Trump showing just how ill-suited he is for the presidency. (Note that when Duke ran for president as a Republican in 1992, the party did what it could to keep him off ballots.)
>>Related: Donald Trump is inconsistent on KKK, David Duke
2. He took the bait and retweeted a quote by Benito Mussolini — which had been tweeted by an account whose handle was explicitly a reference to the Italian fascist:
Trump tried to explain this away as his being interested in "interesting quotes," not actual fascists. But this particular quote is not some innocuous thought about life in general: It's the kind of thing a dictator says to justify his violence toward his own citizens. Which leads us to …
3. Trump's quotes about the Tiananmen Square massacre from a 1990 interview with Playboy resurfaced:Q: What were your other impressions of the Soviet Union? Trump: I was very unimpressed. Their system is a disaster. What you will see there soon is a revolution; the signs are all there with the demonstrations and picketing. Russia is out of control and the leadership knows it. That's my problem with Gorbachev. Not a firm enough hand. Q: You mean firm hand as in China? Trump: When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak … as being spit on by the rest of the world — Q: Why is Gorbachev not firm enough? Trump: I predict he will be overthrown, because he has shown extraordinary weakness. Suddenly, for the first time ever, there are coal-miner strikes and brush fires everywhere — which will all ultimately lead to a violent revolution. Yet Gorbachev is getting credit for being a wonderful leader and we should continue giving him credit, because he's destroying the Soviet Union. But his giving an inch is going to end up costing him and all his friends what they most cherish — their jobs.
So, let's review:
His "problem with Gorbachev" was that he didn't put down the protests that ultimately led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, marking the end of the Cold War. Winning the Cold War is generally considered one of the great American feats of the 20th century — and yet Trump as it was happening thought our country was "perceived as weak … as being spit on by the rest of the world." And whose example did he deem "stronger"? That of the Chinese government, which killed hundreds if not thousands of its own people to put down similar protests.
That kind of strength, Trump seemed to admire. The kind of actions that could lead to a political leader "costing him and all his friends … their jobs"? Weakness.
Think about that for a moment: The man who would be president of the United States sided with the government that ordered the murder of its own people over a man (Gorbachev) who allowed protests that led to more democracy (even if Russia's later leadership — including another leader Trump admires, Vladimir Putin — squandered that opportunity).
Just another day living like a lion instead of a sheep, amirite?
David Duke. Benito Mussolini. The killers of Tiananmen Square. These are the figures about whom Trump is ambivalent to admiring. No intellectually honest person can liken this kind of thinking to the GOP or conservative movement more broadly. This is, in terms of American politics, a unique kind of appeal that, as in other ways, is well out of step with mainstream Republicans and conservatives.
It should absolutely be rejected.
Sometimes, change is a good thing. Sometimes, people say it's unnecessary.
Yet, many companies change and update their logos in order to stay fresh, hip and desirable to consumers.
Wednesday, Uber, the ultra-popular mobile ride company, changed its logo in an attempt to work in both "the atom" and "the bit." The company also made the change in an effort to use color patterns sourced from countries all around the world.
The company believed its previous logo looked "somewhat distant and cold," believing that it "belied what Uber actually is — a transportation network, woven into the fabric of cities and how they move," according to the company's website.
But social media users aren't supportive of the change. They seem to think Uber's previous design was good enough.
This is a recap rundown of the Fox Business Network/WSJ GOP debate. Follow what the candidates said here! Our moderator, Jared Yamamoto is responding to your questions and statements below.
11:16 p.m. Trump wants to make the country better than it's ever been and notes that he's self-funding his campaign.
11:15 p.m. Carson focuses on healthcare reform in his closing remarks.
11:14 p.m. Rubio closes with an alternative to the current path America's heading down. The focus should be families.
11:14 p.m. Cruz reflects on his family's immigrant history and how he will win using grassroots activism.
11:13 p.m. Bush closes by saying that we need a real Commander-in-Chief and that he'd be that guy.
11:12 p.m. Fiorina closes by attacking Hillary Clinton saying that she can beat Hillary.
11:11 p.m. Kasich closes with a message of hope and responsibility to reconnect with the American Dream and win the 2016 election.
11:10 p.m. Paul starts the closing remarks, claiming that he's the only fiscal conservative on the stage and we need to get back to those values.
11:07 p.m. Bush looks for a middle ground in the climate change argument.
11:05 p.m. We're switching to climate change, Paul doesn't think that humans have a massive impact on the environment.
11:02 p.m. Trump explains what a corporate inversion is and why companies move around to avoid the rising tax rates.
10:59 p.m. Rubio focuses on the future and the way America should be.
10:55 p.m. Fiorina compares Kasich's argument to Socialism.
10:53 p.m. Kasich attacks Cruz saying his philosophical argument does not help a crisis.
10:51 p.m. Cruz also wants to bring back the gold standard.
10:49 p.m. Cruz wants to eliminate Washington cronyism in both parties.
10:47 p.m. Kasich believes that values need to be utilized in a free market system.
10:44 p.m. Carson thinks we need to focus on cutting banking regulations.
10:41 p.m. Bush claims the Obama administration's overreach has led to income inequality.
10:35 p.m. Kasich doesn't consider China as an enemy, but they are not our friends.
10:33 p.m. The conversation has shifted to cyberattacks.
10:32 p.m. Rubio refers to Putin as a global gangster. Rubio thinks he's very dangerous.
10:30 p.m. Paul thinks Fiorina's policies would lead to another lengthy war.
10:28 p.m. Fiorina has a different vision to handle Putin and doesn't agree with Trump.
10:25 p.m. Bush thinks we need to be leaders, but not the police force of the world.
10:23 p.m. Trump attacks the Iranian nuclear deal and is not against Russian President Putin sending troops to fight ISIS in the Middle East.
10:21 p.m. Bush believes American leadership is needed to fix the Middle East.
10:18 p.m. Carson answers the first question out of the break on adding special operations forces throughout the Middle East. He thinks the current state is ineffective and we need to "make them look like losers."
10:12 p.m. Paul is getting more airtime this time around. He continues promoting fiscal conservatism.
10:08 p.m. Cruz jumps in saying there is a middle ground between the two arguments.
10:07 p.m. Paul's attack continues. Rubio thinks we need to focus on spending more on the military.
10:04 p.m. Paul attacks Rubio's tax plan, questioning his conservatism.
10:02 p.m. Rubio enforces family values in his tax code. He says the family is the core of the American economy.
9:59 p.m. Bush also thinks the tax code should be simplified. He says 2% economic growth isn't good.
9:57 p.m. Cruz is the second candidate to plug his website. He focuses on his tax plan.
9:55 p.m. Paul says, "I want a government really really small, so small you can barely see it."
9:54 p.m. Paul would make a tax plan with zero deductions on businesses.
9:52 p.m. Carson explains his tax plan. He thinks it needs to be the same percentage across the board no matter how much you make.
9:47 p.m. Fiorina thinks the 'free market' is the best alternative to fix Obamacare.
9:45 pm. The conversation has changed to Obamacare. Fiorina wants it repealed and thinks it prohibits businesses from succeeding.
9:42 p.m. Cruz attacks the media again for misinterpreting his campaign pledges.
9:40 p.m. Rubio focuses on American business tax rates. He believes they are too high and need to be lowered.
9:37 p.m. Trump says, "If you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel."
9:36 p.m. The moderators are losing control after Trump's response to Kasich. Several candidates are trying to chime in.
9:35 p.m. Kasich disagrees with Trump's analysis. He doesn't envision moving 15 million immigrants.
9:33 p.m. Trump turns the conversation to immigration reform and reaffirms that a wall will work on the U.S.-Mexican border.
9:30 p.m. Ben Carson responds to his controversial statements made last week. He turns the conversation into a attack on Hillary Clinton.
9:24 p.m. Sen. Rand Paul opens by attacking the U.S. Federal Reserve. He thinks that rising interest rates are not helping the middle class.
9:21 p.m. Carly Fiorina opens by attacking the size and scope of the ever growing U.S. Government.
9:20 p.m. Gov. Bush wants to focus on small businesses and suggests the economy is not as well as we think.
9:18 p.m. Gov. Jeb Bush is frustrated with Gov. Kasich for taking his opening time.
9:16 p.m. Sen. Ted Cruz opens with a vision of growing the economy.
9:13 p.m. Gov. John Kasich is first to promote his presidential website. He's seeking 'middle class' reform.
9:10 p.m. Sen. Marco Rubio is also against raising the minimum wage. "It only accelerates automated processes."
9:08 p.m. Ben Carson and Donald Trump respond to raising the minimum wage. Both do not want to see it raised.
9:03 p.m. The candidates and rules are being introduced. Here we go.
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text:
Flush Gutters for Dairies
Charles D. Fulhage and Donald L. Pfost
Department of Agricultural Engineering
Many factors influence the design and layout of flush gutters for dairies. Flushed areas must be sized to perform the desired function of the area. Flushed freestall alleys are typically 7 to 10 feet wide to accommodate cow traffic and to allow vehicular traffic for scraping and servicing freestalls. Flushed alleys with freestalls on one side and a feed bunk on the other are typically 12 to 16 feet wide. Return alleys from milk parlors may be 3 to 6 feet wide. Flushed holding pens may be 20 feet wide for the conventional herringbone design, to as wide as 30 feet for the parallel parlor layout.
In general, narrow flush alleys are cheaper and easier to flush than wide alleys because less water is required and the water does not have to be released at such a high rate. However, alley widths are usually determined by the function of the alley rather than ease of flushing. Also, a system to flush a few long alleys can be implemented at less expense than a system to flush a greater number of short alleys, even though the two systems may be serving the same number of cows. So, in laying out the total system, the designer should try to maximize flush alley length and minimize the number of individual flush alleys. Figure 1 is an example of an efficient flush layout.
Figure 1
Schematic diagram of an efficient dairy flushing system.
Experience with flushing dairies has shown that a flush velocity of 5 feet per second, flowing 3 inches deep for a minimum of 10 seconds duration will usually provide acceptable cleaning. A gutter slope of 3 percent will provide these flow conditions with the least flush water volume and discharge rate requirements. In practice, some designers or operators may wish to flush new or existing facilities that have flatter or steeper slopes. In these situations, greater quantities of water and/or faster release rates may be required.
Gutter floors and slopes
Gutters/alleys flush best if they have a constant width or become narrower in the direction of flow. Flush volumes and discharge rates should always be determined on the basis of the widest portion of the gutter if the gutter does not have a constant width. Gutter floors should be level (no cross slope) perpendicular to the direction of flow. However, alley floors with free-stalls on both sides may benefit from a slight crown in the center (about 1 inch) so that water flows deeper along the curbs where manure and bedding congregate. A disadvantage is that a crown interferes with scraping when weather conditions preclude flushing. A slope of 3 percent is optimum for flushing and does not cause difficulty for cows as they move about. Flatter slopes require deeper flow depths and larger flow rates (more total volume of water) to achieve the necessary velocity (about 5 feet per second) to clean the floor. Floors with little or no slope can be flushed by discharging large volumes of water at very high rates. However, this approach should only be used in flushing existing facilities, and any new design should be developed with the proper slopes. Any flushed area should have sufficient slope to drain the water away (no "flat spots") because pooled flush water that does not drain away or dry out can cause foot problems in cows.
Curbs are an important component in flush systems because they maintain flow depth and direct the water flow as desired. In general, curbs should be at least 10 inches high to prevent water from splashing out of the gutter. Manure tends to collect against curbs along rows of freestalls, and this manure can be particularly difficult to remove by flushing. Some handwork may occasionally be required to remove manure collections along freestall curbs.
Flush systems should always be designed, if possible, so that flush water is discharged directly down the gutter in the direction of flow by the water release device. Also, the ideal gutter layout is straight over the entire length of the gutter with no changes in direction of water flow. In cases where this criteria cannot be met, higher curbs may be necessary to direct the water around a turn with no "splash-over." In general, required curb heights in these situations can be estimated from the following formula (Equation 1).
CH = FD + (V x sin u)2 x 0.186 + SF
CH = curb height, inches
FD = flow depth of water approaching curb, inches
V = velocity of water striking curb, feet per second
u = angle at which water strikes curb, degrees
SF = safety factor, inches (3 to 6 inches typically)
It is important to estimate velocity as accurately as possible when using this formula. Velocities close to water-release devices may be significantly higher than design flow velocities for the flush gutter. For example, design flow velocity for a gutter may be 5 feet per second, but local velocities near the water-release device may be as high as 10 to 20 feet per second. Water striking curbs in these areas will splash higher than slower-moving water further down the gutter. Table 1 gives minimum curb heights calculated using the above formula. The builder may want to increase curb heights slightly over the calculated value for a safety factor, especially if flow velocities may be higher than estimated.
Table 1
Curb heights for various flow velocities and striking angles, calculated from Equation 11
|Flow velocity
|Angle at which water strikes curb
|30 degrees
|45 degrees
|60 degrees
|90 degrees
|Curb height
|5 feet per second
|8 inches
|9 inches
|11 inches
|12 inches
|10 feet per second
|12 inches
|16 inches
|21 inches
|26 inches
|15 feet per second
|17 inches
|28 inches
|38 inches
|49 inches
1A flow depth of 3 inches and safety factor of 4 inches were used in the above calculations.
Most curbs are cast-in-place concrete 6 to 10 inches wide with appropriate reinforcing in the concrete. Curbs may be coincident with building walls or fences with poles or posts built into the curb. When curbs must be built tall to eliminate "splash-over," the upper part of the curb may be made of other material, such as treated wood.
Receiving gutters
Receiving gutters are concrete channels that carry the flow from flush gutters to the lagoon at essentially the same rate at which the flush gutter is discharging the flush water. Little or no "surge storage" is provided in the receiving gutter. Figure 2 shows a typical receiving gutter configuration. Receiving gutters should be hydraulically designed to carry the anticipated flow with velocities above 3 feet per second to prevent settling of solids. Typical receiving gutters may be 1.5 to 3 feet wide by 1 to 2 feet deep with a bottom slope of 1 to 2 percent. The size of a receiving gutter (width and depth) depends upon the width of alley being flushed, flow depth and velocity of the water flowing into the receiving gutter, the flush volume, and the roughness and slope of the receiving gutter. Table 2 gives acceptable values of width and depth for a receiving gutter serving a 12-foot wide flush alley.
Figure 2
Typical receiving gutter configuration.
Table 2
Receiving gutter dimensions for a 12-foot wide flush alley1. Flush volume is 1,200 gallons, flow conditions in the flush alley are 3-inch depth and 5 feet per second velocity, and channel roughness is 0.02
|Receiving gutter width
|Slope of receiving gutter
|1 percent
|2 percent
|3 percent
|Receiving gutter depth
|12 inches
|39 inches
|30 inches
|25 inches
|18 inches
|23 inches
|18 inches
|15 inches
|24 inches
|17 inches
|13 inches
|12 inches
|30 inches
|14 inches
|11 inches
|9 inches
|36 inches
|12 inches
|9 inches
|8 inches
|42 inches
|10 inches
|8 inches
|7 inches
1This table is for 12-foot wide flush alleys only.
Primary advantages of receiving gutters are their ability to maintain flow velocities that prevent settling and to handle large amounts of solids without plugging or clogging. Receiving gutters are most applicable where flush water is carried only a short distance. Concrete channels covering long distances are expensive compared to sewer lines or pipes.
Often, it is necessary to have human, cattle or vehicular traffic cross a receiving gutter at the end of a flush alley. The use of expanded metal grates over the receiving gutter (or any type of grate) should be avoided, due to plugging problems. Where possible, receiving gutters should be located outside or "downstream" from fences that direct cattle, so they do not need to be covered. Where vehicles must cross receiving gutters for feeding or freestall maintenance, a temporary or permanently hinged "bridge cover" can be used such that the cover is raised or removed when not needed for crossing. Receiving gutters can also be constructed with raised, permanent lids so that flush water flows under the lid and into the channel. With a relatively small lid opening (4 to 6 inches), such a "step" is not prohibitive to cattle or vehicular traffic.
Catch basins
Catch basins are an alternative to receiving gutters at the end of flush alleys. Catch basins provide some "surge" storage of the flush water as it is allowed to drain to the lagoon via a sewer line or pipe. The primary advantage of catch basins over receiving gutters is the lesser cost in laying a sewer pipe to the lagoon versus the concrete receiving gutter. Hence, catch basins are most often used when the distance from the flushed area to the lagoon is relatively great. The primary disadvantage of catch basins is that solids settling and deposition can take place even during the relatively short time water is stored before draining out through the sewer line. Additionally, typically sized sewer lines (8 to 12 inches) are not capable of carrying large "slug" loads of solids and fibrous material as are receiving gutters. Also, catch basins and their associated sewer lines to the lagoon typically require more elevation difference between the end of the flush gutter and the water level in the lagoon to work properly than that required by a receiving gutter in a similar setting.
Catch basins are sized on the basis of the flush volume for the associated flush alley, and the capacity of the sewer line that drains the catch basin to the lagoon. The larger the conduit or sewer line to the lagoon, the smaller the required volume of the catch basin. Catch-basin volume is always smaller than the volume of water being flushed, because some water drains from the basin immediately after its arrival. The design of catch basins should be based on a hydraulic "flood-routing" approach that takes into account the inflow rate from the gutter and the outflow capability of the sewer line to the lagoon. Catch basins should be designed to drain completely in 2 to 3 minutes or less, otherwise solids settling in the basin may be a problem. Some residual solids in corners and floor/wall intersections will likely be evident even with this short residence time.
Catch basins should be designed with as small an area in "plan view" as possible. This reduces the floor area available for solids settling. A limitation on depth is the available elevation difference between the end of the flush gutter and the lagoon water level. Catch basins are usually built with one horizontal dimension equal to the width of the associated flush gutter, and the other dimensions are adjusted to obtain the needed volume.
Maximum discharge rate from a catch basin is obtained with a bottom outlet in the floor of the basin followed by an elbow to direct the sewer line to the lagoon. However, this configuration also requires the greatest elevation difference between the lagoon and the flush gutter. Nearly similar discharge characteristics can be obtained by installing the exit pipe "horizontally" in the floor of the basin as shown in Figure 3. The pipe outlet should be at least one-half pipe diameter below the floor of the basin with a smooth transition into the pipe to minimize entrance losses and solids deposition. This configuration requires less elevation difference and has discharge characteristics similar to the bottom outlet. Table 3 gives catch-basin dimensions for different size outlet pipes. Assumptions are a 12-foot wide alley flushed with 1,200 gallons of water discharging into the basin at a velocity of 5 feet per second and a flow depth of 3 inches.
Figure 3
Typical catch basin configuration showing recessed discharge pipe with smooth transition into the pipe.
Table 3
Catch-basin dimensions for a 12-foot wide gutter1 flushed with 1,200 gallons, a gutter flow velocity of 5 feet per second and flow depth of 3 inches
|Catch basin width
|Outlet pipe diameter
|8 inches
|10 inches
|12 inches
|Catch basin depth
|18 inches
|52 inches
|24 inches
|51 inches
|43 inches
|30 inches
|49 inches
|43 inches
|36 inches
|36 inches
|42 inches
|37 inches
|32 inches
|42 inches
|36 inches
|33 inches
|28 inches
|48 inches
|32 inches
|29 inches
|25 inches
|54 inches
|29 inches
|26 inches
|23 inches
|60 inches
|26 inches
|24 inches
|21 inches
|66 inches
|24 inches
|22 inches
|20 inches
|72 inches
|22 inches
|20 inches
|18 inches
1This table is for 12-foot wide gutters only.
Since catch basins are usually wider than receiving gutters, it is more difficult to "bridge" across them for vehicular or animal traffic. However, if adequate structural support is provided, they can be covered as noted above in the discussion of receiving gutters.
Flumes, sewer lines to lagoons
Concrete flumes (extensions of receiving gutters) may be used to transport water from the receiving gutter to the lagoon, or a pipe conduit can be used in conjunction with a catch basin. Concrete flumes require less total "head" between the level of the end of the flushed gutters and the lagoon than the catch basin/pipe route. Considerable forming expense may be involved in constructing long flumes. For long runs with sufficient slopes, pipe conduits may be most economical. Transport channels and conduits should be designed with capacity to handle the flow at sufficient velocity (3 feet per second or more) to prevent settling of solids (deposition). Flushing large "slugs" of water can allow flatter pipe slopes than "trickle flows" without causing deposition problems because the pipe runs fuller with a higher velocity.
Sewer pipes should enter the lagoon below the minimum lagoon pumpdown level or above the full pool level. Otherwise, ice formation around the pipe may break or heave the pipe. Generally, entrance below the minimum pumpdown level is preferred. This approach prevents freezing at the end of the pipe as often occurs with "exposed" entrances. A disadvantage of the "underwater" entrance is the "standing" water in the pipe. If the pipe is carrying small trickle flows with high solids (as might be typical with a milk parlor drain), these solids can collect and float at the standing water level in the pipe and eventually cause plugging. If the pipe is flushed with a large volume of water periodically, this problem is usually eliminated. Regardless of the entrance configuration, any sewer pipe carrying animal waste should have cleanouts every 50 feet.
Floor design
Floors need to be slip resistant for dairy cows to be confident while walking. If cows are confident of the floor surface, they tend to show signs of heat better and generally produce better. Grooved floors have continually been shown to be a good non-slip surface for cows. Grooves should be oriented so water can drain down the slope of a floor. The grooves provide a place for water to drain and help keep cows' feet dryer.
New floors can be grooved with a "float" tool as the concrete is poured. A steel float equipped with 1/2-inch or 3/4-inch steel rods welded on 3- to 5-inch centers to the underside of the float has been used successfully in grooving new floors. The float is pulled over the freshly poured concrete to form grooves parallel to the slope of the alley. Water can then drain from the grooves. A light broom finish is applied to the "high" areas between the grooves.
If grooving is not acceptable, an alternative is to add aluminum oxide to the surface when the concrete is poured. Aluminum oxide grit (same material as used to make sandpaper) is spread evenly on the surface at the rate of 1/4 to 1/2 pound per square foot before the concrete sets. Coarse grit (4 to 6 mesh per inch) is recommended. This material may wear off, leaving an unacceptably smooth surface after long periods of heavy use.
Existing floors, poured without grooves, sometimes become so smooth due to normal wear that slipping becomes a problem. Grooves can be cut into existing concrete with a concrete saw. As with freshly poured concrete, grooves should be cut 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch wide (depth equal to width), and 3 to 5 inches on centers. Grooves should be parallel to alley length for good drainage and to prevent "catching" of a scraper blade on the grooves should a scraper be used. Some floors have been roughened using a machine called a "scabber." This machine pounds the concrete surface with a series of hammers, creating individual indentations in the concrete. Roughening existing floors which have not been grooved is expensive.


text:
Born to Run
art by Leslie Evans
If a cheetah and a horse ran a 100-meter dash, who would win? The cheetah—it's the fastest land animal in the world and can run as fast as 70 miles per hour. Even the fastest racehorses reach speeds of only about 45 miles per hour. But if a cheetah and a horse ran a mile race, who would win? The horse—the cheetah would have to stop less than halfway through to rest and catch its breath. The horse, however, could keep running for miles without tiring. It's built not only for speed but also for endurance.
The horse's large lungs and heart pump oxygen-rich blood throughout its body. The oxygen provides energy for speed and stamina.
A long neck is not just beautiful, it helps balance the horse while it's running.
Like a person, a horse sweats when it runs, cooling off large areas of skin quickly. Cats and other animals with thick fur cool off by panting. If a horse cooled itself that way, its body temperature would rise so high when it ran that it would have to stop running or it might die.
Can you sleep standing up? A horse can because its legs can lock into place when it stands. It doesn't need to get up; it's always ready to run.
The horse's long legs enable it to take big strides, covering lots of ground with each step. Its leg is stretched out so that the parts under its body actually correspond to a human leg from the knee down. This lower leg is strong but lightweight to swing back and forth quickly. The horse's heavy thigh and hip muscles, which provide power, are up by its tail.
The horse's foot is very flexible. It flattens and stretches like a spring to propel the horse forward.
A horse runs on tiptoe. Each leg ends in one long, strong toe covered with a hard hoof. The hoof wall is like a human toenail, and nailing a metal shoe to it hurts no more than cutting a toenail. The shoe protects the hoof from hard use on paved roads but doesn't interfere with the frog, an elastic cushion that serves as a kind of shock absorber, softening the impact when the hoof hits the ground.
- What activity has a horse's body adapted to do?
- How has the horse's body adapted to do this?
- Why do you think the horse has adapted to do this activity?


text:
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Richard Florida writes that Donald Trump's thinking about cities is a product of the old urban crisis of the 1960s and '70s - the staggeringly high rates of crime and poverty, economic and social dysfunction, and fiscal collapse that he witnessed in his native New York in the early years of his career. But, his stunning victory over Hillary Clinton is a product of the backlash against what I have come to call the New Urban Crisis of burgeoning economic inequality--the widening divides between rich and poor; the staggering unaffordability of housing in our leading cities, tech hubs, and knowledge-centers like New York, LA, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Washington DC.
Improving the Evidence Base for Access to Quality Pre-K
Early childhood education has captured the nation's attention and holds a rare spot in the center of the political aisle. This is not surprising given that a quality Pre-K experience can save the public at least three dollars for every dollar spent, particularly for children who live in poverty and experience numerous risks to their educational success. In Philadelphia, the poorest of the ten largest cities in America, Mayor Kenney established the Commission on Universal Pre-K to expand access to quality Pre-K in the city, with the ultimate goal of universal access for all three- and four-year-old children. This introduced one of the most important decisions in Kenney's early term as Mayor—how to expand quality Pre-K given limited funds and thousands of children in need. As researchers, the critical question for us became how to provide useful information to Kenney's Commission in a timely manner so they can allocate funds to serve the most vulnerable children first.
U.S.-Japan Grassroots Exchange Program, 2016
Penn IUR published the Year 2 report for the US-Japan Grassroots Exchange program.
Housing and Opportunity
Housing and Opportunity is a policy brief by Arthur Acolin and Susan Wachter.
Housing and Opportunity
For much of U.S. history, moving to markets with better jobs has been a primary means for low-income workers to rise out of poverty and access opportunity. Recently, however, there has been a decrease in the rate with which workers have relocated to markets with better work opportunities. Average annual mobility has declined from nearly 20 between 1948 and 1980 to only about 10 percent in 2015 (U.S. Census 2016), which may be signaling a fundamental shift in the ability for workers to relocate to regions with greater job opportunities.
Expert Voices 2017: America's Urban Infrastructure
In his inauguration speech, President Trump characterized America's infrastructure as having "fallen into disrepair and decay" and promised to "build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways." Similarly, over the course of the presidential campaign, Trump vowed to develop "the next generation" of American infrastructure and "send new skyscrapers soaring." We asked more than a dozen urban experts: In your view, what should the United States do about urban infrastructure?
Principles of Housing Finance Reform: The Imperative of Rebuilding the System
In the fall of 2008, the world watched in horror as the U.S. housing finance system shattered, triggering a global financial panic and ultimately the Great Recession. Now, nearly a decade later, the long and slow recovery has reached a critical moment.
Governing the Fragmented Metropolis
Christina D. Rosan observes that policy-makers and scholars have long agreed that we need metropolitan governance, but they have debated the best approach.
Reflections on Habitat III: A Hopeful Future for Sustainable Urban Development
The University of Pennsylvania sent a 24-member delegation to Habitat III. Among them were Penn IUR Advisory Board member Paul Farmer, faculty members: Stefan Al (City and Regional Planning), William Burke-White (Richard Perry Professor of Law and Director, Perry World House); Mark Alan Hughes (City and Regional Planning, Director, Kleinman Center); Wendell Pritchett (Presidential Professor of Law); Eduardo Rojas (Historic Preservation, School of Design); Daniel Aldana Cohen (Sociology, School of Arts and Sciences); and nine doctoral students from the Graduate Group in City and Regional Planning. Below are reflections from the delegation about their experiences and the challenges ahead.
Atlas for the End of the World
Richard Weller writes about the importance for mapping that links people and conservation in the "Atlas for the End of the World".
Habitat III: The Quest for Sustainable Urban Development
This article is jointly authored by Eugenie L. Birch, Lawrence C. Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research and Education, Department of City and Regional Planning, and Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research, University of Pennsylvania; and Jane C.W. Vincent, Regional Administrator, Region III, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It was originally published in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's journal, Cascade, No. 93, Fall 2016. The original article is available on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's website. The article addresses Habitat III as an opportunity to think and act with a collective voice in the effort to create and sustain cities of opportunity.
Lessons Learned for Transforming Urban Public Education
Over the past 15 years, new education policies have led to a host of reforms throughout the country, spanning everything from standardized accountability testing and class size reduction to school choice and merit pay, to name just a few. Which of these reforms have actually worked to improve the lives of students in the nation's urban schools—and which have failed to live up to expectations despite the best of intentions?
Pension Liabilities: A Call for Transparency
Robert P. Inman and Susan M. Wachter write that while cities have as a group strengthened their economies and fortunes considerably since then, there is one area where weakness is still a major concern: the preparation for paying promised pension liabilities.
Owning or Renting in the US: Shifting Dynamics of the Housing Market
The current persistent and large decline in the number of owner households is almost unprecedented. Why has this occurred? What is driving the economy of renting?
Owning or Renting in the US: Shifting Dynamics of the Housing Market
Susan Wachter and Arthur Acolin synthesize the research from their recent publications regarding the decline of home ownership in the United States.
Educating Commercial Real Estate Brokers on Green Leasing / Energy Efficiency
This project was sponsored by the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (CBEI), a program of the Department of Energy. CBEI was a five-year program tasked with bridging the technology, market dynamics, policy, and human behavior in order to reduce energy used by the commercial buildings sector.
Slums: How Informal Real Estate Markets Work
Large numbers of people in urbanizing regions in the developing world live and work in unplanned settlements that grow through incremental processes of squatting and self-building.
Rehousing Mumbai: Formalizing Slum Land Markets Through Redevelopment
Planners and economists usually consider land encumbered by slums to be less efficient, with inadequate physical infrastructure services, and fragmented land ownership.
University-led Innovation Initiatives: Lessons from PRAI 2015
Innovation on university campuses impacts plays a critical role in community development, but the development of innovation also depends on the university's approach.
Urban Universities and Innovation
In this issue of Urban Link, we explore the relationship between urban anchor institutions—in particular higher education institutions— and innovation.
Shared Prosperity in America's Communities
Shared Prosperity in America's Communities, in the City in the 21st Century Book Series, authored by Susan M. Wachter and Lei Ding, examines this place-based disparity of opportunity and suggests what can be done to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are widely shared.
Urban and Suburban Poverty: The Changing Geography of Disadvantage
Elizabeth Kneebone writes about the changing geography of disadvantage and the suburbanization of poverty.
Public Pensions and City Solvency
Underfunded pension liabilities threaten the fiscal stability of many cities. While Detroit's bankruptcy has dominated the headlines, the problem is widespread.
Expert Voices 2016: Urban Policy and the Presidential Election
With all eyes focused on the presidential race, now is the time to discuss the great challenges that our nation faces. The candidates have a unique opportunity to address the issues that affect the lives of their fellow Americans, but what are those issues and how should they think about them? What major urban policy issues should the candidates address? We posed this question to our Penn IUR Faculty Fellows and Scholars. In the following eleven essays, they explore the urban policies that deserve the candidates' attention.
Penn IUR Research Digest: Housing Finance Reform
Abstracts were adapted from chapters of an upcoming book edited by Susan Wachter and Joseph Tracy, "Housing Finance Reform:
Principles of Stability."
Philadelphia's Triumphs, Challenges and Opportunities
Ethan Conner-Ross, Richard Voith, and Susan Wachter describe the evolution of Philadelphia over the past few decades, including its triumphs, challenges and current opportunities.
Philadelphia's Triumphs, Challenges and Opportunities
The second half of the 20th century was largely characterized by an exodus out of the great cities of the industrial age, and the consequent growth of the suburbs.
U.S.-Japan Grassroots Exchange Program, 2015
Penn IUR reports on natural disaster recovery and the role of community-based planning.
Tracking and Explaining Neighborhood Socio-Economic Change in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1990 - 2010
John D. Landis writes that in understanding neighborhood change urban planners should be worried about neighborhood decline, not gentrification.
The Reality of Neighborhood Change: Planners Should Worry About Decline
Penn IUR Faculty Fellow John D. Landis writes that city living is back and planners should be more concerned about urban decline than about gentrification.
Penn IUR 2014-15 Annual Report: Building on a Decade of Growth
Penn IUR celebrates 10 years in this year's annual report.
My Testimony to Congress: How We Can Improve College Access and Completion For Low-Income Students
Laura W. Perna writes about improving college access and success for low-income and first-generation students.
Urban Greening: A Solution to Blight and Toxic Stress?
Penn IUR Emerging Scholar Eugenia South writes about the how urban blight is making residents sick through increased vacancy, sanitation, and safety.
Low Carbon Model Towns in the APEC Region
Penn IUR looks at the growth of low-carbon and energy smart communities in the APEC region and attempts to assess their success.
Interventions for Urban Youth: Can Summer Jobs and Mentorship Really Affect Violent Crime Rates?
Penn IUR Faculty Fellow Sara Heller writes about the role that targeted policy interventions can play in improving the lives of urban minority youth.
From Science Parks to Innovation Districts
Penn IUR Co-Director Genie Birch writes about the growth of innovation across university campuses.
How Real Estate Developers Think
Penn IUR Scholar Peter Hendee Brown writes about real estate development business in Chicago, Miami, Portland (Oregon), and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Geospatial Technologies for a Healthier, More Sustainable, and Increasingly Urban Earth
Penn IUR Co-Directors Genie Birch and Susan Wachter reflect how Earth can survive, and even thrive, as the global population nears nine billion/
Happy Earth Day Everyone!
Penn IUR Faculty Fellow Richard Weller reflects on the first Earth Day in 1970.
Feeding Urban Communities: A Look at Disparities in Food Access and Nutritional Consumption
Penn IUR Emerging Scholar Jesse Handbury writes about how large nutritional disparities exist across different socioeconomic groups in the United States.
The World's Largest Urban Demolition
Stefan Al writes about Dachong, in China, where in 2011 bulldozers destroyed over 10 million square feet of village housing and evicted more than 70,000 residents.
Penn IUR Newsletter, Spring 2015
Penn IUR Newsletter, Spring 2015 offers a recap of the fall semester's activities and looks forward to upcoming events in Spring 2015.
Expert Voices 2015: Will the Battle for Sustainability be Won or Lost in Cities?
While 54 percent of the world's population lives in urban areas today, that number is projected to jump to 66 percent by 2050. How can our cities keep pace?
Race, Poverty, and Change in America: The Persistent Dilemmas of Equity and Equality
Penn IUR Faculty Fellow Vivian L. Gadsden writes about the themes of race, poverty and change in America are as relevant as ever, as our nation grapples with the recent tragedies in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York.
Some Reflections on Urban Public Art Today
Ken Lum reflects on how though art in the broader sense has always possessed a public dimension due to its requirement of an audience, public art was not formalized as a category of discourse until the mid-nineteenth century.
Visualizing Philadelphia's Neighborhood Change Process
The same investors who once abandoned Philadelphia are now clamoring to get back in – and although new investment marks a reversal of fortunes for the City, it appears only a handful of neighborhoods have attracted this newfound attention.
Sustainable Development Goals Should Aim to Make Cities Inclusive, Resilient, Safe and Livable
Will the UN recognize the transformative power of cities as they construct the 2016 SDGs?
Working Paper on The Development of Energy Smart Communities in the APEC Region
Penn IUR – through work sponsored by the Taiwan National Development Council – conducted this research summary to examine the growth of low-carbon and energy smart communities in the APEC region and assess their success.
Penn IUR Newsletter, Fall 2014
Penn IUR's Fall 2014 Newsletter summarizes our work over the past semester and gives a preview of upcoming events and programs.
Penn IUR 2013-14 Annual Report: Building Shared Prosperity
Penn IUR's 2013-14 Annual Report is titled "Building Shared Prosperity." It reflects Penn IUR's programming, research and publications over the previous year.
Teacher Evaluation Reform: Building Research to Inform Policy
Penn IUR Faculty Fellow Matthew Steinberg writes about teacher evaluation reform and the importance of building research to inform policy.
The Return of America's Cities: Economic Rebound and the Future of America's Urban Centers
Cities are back. For the first time in decades and for three consecutive years, cities in the United States are growing faster than their surrounding suburbs.


text:
Compiled by the editors of HoseMaster of Wine™
Thursday, May 3, 2012
What We're Reading
Compiled by the editors of HoseMaster of Wine™
14 comments:
- Samantha Dugan said...
You make me giggle. Okay the My Weekly Reader bit made me snort...I love you!
- May 3, 2012 at 8:14 AM
- Mockingbird said...
"planning to move the apostrophe back a space"
o, that's commedy....
- May 3, 2012 at 8:18 AM
- John Cesano said...
What does a wine with a 899,999 rating on the HSM million point scale taste like?
Another HSM post, another bunch of laughs. Thanks.
- May 3, 2012 at 8:36 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
My Gorgeous Samantha,
Nothing I like more than making you giggle. And what's better than a good morning snort? Ask Charlie Sheen.
Nothing more pleasing than grammar jokes. Did you mean "comma-dy?"
That's HMW post. HSM is a dyslexic's Pinafore.
- May 3, 2012 at 8:59 AM
- Mockingbird said...
- May 3, 2012 at 9:36 AM
- Thomas said...
Whew. I was away for a week and afraid that 'Id never catch up on my reading. Just when I was wondering whether or not I coul'dve bypassed the backlog and remain as ill-informed as ever, your brief sin-opus came through.
- May 3, 2012 at 10:41 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Ah, if only my synopsis could do justice to the scintillating wine writing going on in the blogosphere. I fear I simply cannot capture the brilliance, merely reflect it.
I do what I can...
- May 3, 2012 at 6:52 PM
- Thomas said...
I cou'ldve (or could of, as far too many people erroneously write) gone directly to the sources but that woul'dve (would of?) made my brain die.
BTW: I like the new apostrophe placement. As 'Ive had to determine where to put the thing my brain has'nt atrophied from having been apostrophied.
- May 4, 2012 at 6:21 AM
I'm here in France on the trail of the SOB who first renamed the Cs'GCW stars as puffs.
And what happens when I am away? Someone tries to rename the whole damn publication as C'sGCW.
I doubt it was Steve as he knows that we like to think we have more than one subscriber and thus Cs'GCW.
As for Jon Bonnes love life, as long as he is the darling of Gialla Ribola set, he will always have plenty of chimpanzees following him around. Lemmings too.
- May 4, 2012 at 1:33 PM
- Samantha Dugan said...
You crack my ass up. So if Jon's readers are lemmings, what does that make yours? Just curious....
- May 4, 2012 at 1:58 PM
- John Cesano said...
Wow, I know it is HMW, not HSM, and hope I'm experiencing dyslexia not a more permanent early onset word scramble.
- May 4, 2012 at 3:26 PM
Sam, clearly it would be "lemming." You know, singular.
Thanks for catching me up, hose...you've saved me a few minutes and probably more than a few brain cells.
- May 4, 2012 at 8:14 PM
<< Charlie,
You crack my ass up. So if Jon's readers are lemmings, what does that make yours? Just curious.... >>
- May 5, 2012 at 2:04 PM
- Samantha Dugan said...
Stars, navels, same difference. I adore you and hope you had a great time in France!
- May 7, 2012 at 7:54 AM


text:
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Woody Allen's latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, might not be the return to the earlier, more beloved Allen comedies that critics continue to drool over, but it sounds like it's still worth the price of admission. The film follows two American friends, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) as they vacation together in (you guessed it) Barcelona. While there, they meet the handsome Spanish artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) and his suicidal artist ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) and engage in various love-triangles revolving around the Spanish stud, including a three-way that actually isn't that big of a deal. But aside from gorgeous actors and scenery, how does the film fare with critics? Pretty well, actually. Read the reviews after the jump.Wall Street Journal:
American girls abroad — it's a subject that has provided rich material for writers from Henry James to Edith Wharton, from Louisa May Alcott to Cornelia Otis Skinner to Laurie Colwin. Now, in the beautiful if insubstantial pastel "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," it's Woody Allen's turn as he chronicles the sentimental education of two young women on a summer idyll in Barcelona.
I hope it's not too bourgeois of me to point out that for a director who is trying to make a worldly romantic comedy, this is quite a shallow and jejune point of view. (It's why the '60s had to end.) Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a movie of distinct pleasures, a number of them of the travel-and-leisure variety (never mind all that wondrous, dripped-candle Gaudí architecture - what's really fabulous is the long lunches in which people linger over wine). The writing is zippy, the story spins like a top, and Bardem turns out to be the wittiest of leading men, making Juan Antonio a seducer who is almost innocent in his games. As for Hall and Johansson, both of them have lovely presences, yet Vicky and Cristina, as characters, never quite transcend the schematic. They are mind and body, spirit and flesh, strait-laced and free. In Woody Allen's perpetual counterculture, never the twain shall meet.
Maria Elena and Juan Antonio give the film such a twinned jolt of energy that you may wish it would head off into Almodóvar country, but that wouldn't be true to Mr. Allen, for whom desire remains an agony. Still, he's enough of an entertainer to give the audience its pleasures, which partly accounts for Ms. Johansson. She isn't much of an actress, but it doesn't terribly matter in his films: She gives him succulent youth, and he cushions her with enough laughs to distract you from her lack of skill. The appealing Ms. Hall, whose jaw line and brittle delivery evoke Katharine Hepburn, furnishes an actual performance, one that, tinged with sadness, makes evident that this is as much a tragedy as a comedy.
A witty, engrossing and well-crafted musing on the capricious nature of love, the film also is a valentine to the city, which is almost an additional character. Its visual splendors are displayed in a sun-dappled light with special regard for its striking art and architecture, particularly the work of Antoni Gaudi. Allen seems to have been reinvigorated since he began filming in Europe.
"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is different because it's really about Vicky and Cristina, and Juan Antonio and Maria Elena. This time Allen's philosophical musings emerge subtly from the interaction of these characters and their choices instead of through trademark dialogue. Though he relies too much on the curt observations of an omniscient narrator, the movie still feels more casual, more painterly, more about great characters than the invocation of Freud or Balzac or Ernest Becker. Through these characters and the natural performances, and without worrying about landing punch lines or wringing hands, Allen lets the movie unfurl toward a sublime conclusion and final shot, the kind that makes you sigh with gratitude (or relief) that he's in firm control of this phase of his career.
Despite an awkward, third-party narration in an academic male voice (belonging to Christopher Evan Welch) that analyzes the characters as if they were test subjects in an anthropology experiment, the film may be the least abstract of Mr. Allen's more recent efforts, and the least yoked to the filmmaker's signature affectations. Perhaps, in all its talky inconclusiveness and postcard vistas, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is not very different from one of the more trivial Eric Rohmer comedies, all about the eye candy and some vaguely risqué business regarding the rules of attraction. But in its best moments, when Mr. Bardem and Ms. Cruz lay siege to the screen, reveling in their fever-bed chemistry, it's as if Mr. Allen has stumbled into an alternate universe - one where his movies are actually worth watching again.
No matter what you end up thinking about Vicky Cristina Barcelona, it's hard not be entertained by the Oscar-winning Bardem, who eats this role up like it's a hot fudge sundae. In fact, Bardem and Penelope Cruz, who plays his ex-wife, are so good they make the film seem better than it is. The problem is that Vicky Cristina Barcelona is too intent on being taken seriously to end up being more than mildly diverting. Allen himself has said in interviews that this was a film about relationships, not a comedy - and he's right.
There are no easy answers for either Vicky or Cristina even in voluptuous Barcelona; the city serves extensively as the film's fourth muse, making for delectable summer entertainment in time-honored travelogue fashion. But there is much more as well in the seriocomic intensity with which Woody contemplates his three contrasting goddesses of desire, and their assorted womanly impasses and vulnerabilities. I hope this film will confound his army of naysayers by becoming a huge commercial success. It is already an artistic triumph of heroic dimensions, considering that it has come much closer to the end of a career than its beginning. The magnificent acting ensemble alone is worth the price of admission.
Whenever Bardem or Cruz are on screen, VCB finds its heart. It sees them as fully in tune with their feelings: totally willing, and why not?, to act on impulses they've learned to trust. The Americans are children by comparison, a little stiff, so conditioned to overanalyzing every attraction that they would lose the moment - if only there weren't a Don Juan Antonio to send seismic shivers up their consciences.
A whirling vortex of jealousy, passion, and lust, spewing her words in a melodic rush of English and Spanish, Maria Elena is at once too much to handle and the closest Vicky Cristina Barcelona comes to offering up its vision of the ideal woman. (And yes-ironically or not-she's also the one most likely to put a knife in you.) Surely, this will prompt the cultural guardians who remain unwilling to parse Allen the filmmaker from Allen the public figure to condemn Vicky Cristina Barcelona as an untenable defense of loose morals and male piggishness. But I for one found something oddly elating in the movie's conviction that it is better to have made passionate love and maybe almost died at the hands of a jealous mistress than never to have loved at all. To quote Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians: "Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think."
The way the women play against Bardem is fascinating. Rebecca Hall, a twenty-six-year-old English actress from a theatrical family (her father is the director Peter Hall), is tall, with a long face and a wide smile-she can look radiant one minute and neurotic, tense, and gloomy the next, as if she were channelling Allen's stumbling anxieties (a common reaction in actors working with him for the first time). With Bardem, Hall goes back and forth between desire and panic, and she's touching as none of Allen's other female characters have been recently. Scarlett Johansson, who is still only twenty-three, has appeared in an amazing number of movies. There's no mystery why: she's charming and also pliant and openly sexual in a way that obviously pleases male directors. She's at a stage in which her sensuality is more developed than anything else in her personality, but that configuration works for her this time. Going to bed with an attractive man is not going to tell Cristina all that she needs to know about herself. Allen has successfully captured a spirit of restless indeterminacy. Does Cristina have any artistic gifts? Before the summer is over, she begins to stir.
PS: For all you Allen-fiends out there, check out this short documentary about Woody Allen by Jean-Luc Godard. [via Videogum]
'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' opens today in wide release.