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January 19, 2012 Special Session
January 19, 2012 Special Session
Ad Hoc and Advisory Committee Documents
Committee of the Whole Documents
Meeting Notices
Meeting notices will be posted as they are scheduled with a brief description of the purpose of the meeting.
Local Laws
Introductory and Permanent Local Laws will be posted as they are submitted.
Accepted Studies, Presentations and Other Documents
Documents presented to the Legislature will be posted here as they become available.
Each year, the Clerk of the Legislature produces the Proceedings of the County Legislature, a Municpal Guide for Broome County and an Annual Report of the Legislature and Clerk of the Legislature which are available here.
Legislative Business Archives
All Session Minutes from 1991 to the current Session are available here.
The information in this section will be made available as it is approved according to the legislative proceedings spelled out in the Rules of Order.
When searching the different files, please remember there is no guarantee that a resolution that is approved in a certain committee will be adopted in the regular legislative session or that it will be signed by the County Executive. There may also be times that floor amendments are offered on a resolution, altering the resolution's original wording from the way it read at the time of the committee meeting in which it was approved. These changes will be noted in the Session Minutes and released the following month upon approval.
Adopted Resolutions will be delivered to the County Executive the next business day after the Legislative Session. Once they are returned to this office, signed or otherwise, the legislative cycle is complete. Checking the site regularly is encouraged to track the life of a resolution.
Most of our meetings are open, including committee meetings and legislative sessions. The County Legislature operates under a strong committee system. If a person would like to address the members of the Legislature, we suggest that person attend the committee meeting where the topic is being discussed or which has jurisdiction over the area in question. At the committee meeting, that person need only ask the Chair for permission to address the committee on a particular topic. If time permits, permission should be and usually is granted. Those who wish to make a presentation to a committee should contact the Clerk of the Legislature prior to the meeting to be considered for inclusion on the agenda.
Committee agendas will direct you to the correct committee and meeting time. Agendas are located on Legislature webpage under the Legislative Business section.
While there is no slot on the agenda of the regular legislative sessions for the public to speak, people who have appeared before any special or standing committee and have requested privileges of the floor to be granted that privilege by the chair upon recommendation by a majority vote of the members of the committee before which said person testified.
If a public official wishes to address the Legislature, they should contact the Chairman prior to the beginning of the session. The Chair of the Legislature need only recognize and grant privilege of the floor to that public official for them to address the Legislature.


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Amulets and talismans
Amulets and talismans were, and for many people still are, objects believed to have magical or spiritual powers. They are thought to bring good fortune, including good health, and protection from bad fortune or illness. They vary in style and construction from carved coconut shells in Papua New Guinea to prayer flags blowing in the Himalayan wind in Nepal. In Europe a rabbit's foot, a four-leaved clover and a horseshoe are all traditionally supposed to bring good luck. In medieval Islam, magic number squares were widely used as talismans.
In many places the amulet was believed to be more effective if accompanied by magic words or phrases. Within the Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions, holy books are sometimes believed to have talismanic qualities. For example, early Muslims believed that water washed over the 'Fatiha', the opening section of the Qur'an, could cure snakebites.
A similar practice was believed to help women through childbirth in China in the 500s CE. Paper with magic writing on it was burnt and the ashes were then pounded up and drunk in water by the woman in labour. Other amulets thought to help women through childbirth include carved objects of wood or bone from Australia, and necklaces of beads and shells from 19th-century southern Africa.
Belief in the power of charms and objects to ward off bad luck continues to this day. The miniature figure of a protective god or a religious symbol is often worn as an amulet. Examples include Buddhas in Thailand and crosses in the Christian world. Many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern households display necklaces to ward off the 'evil eye', which is commonly thought to bring misfortune and disease. Those facing a trying situation over which they do not have control, such as athletes and members of the armed forces, continue to wear 'lucky' items too.
Related links
Techniques and Technologies:
L I Conrad, 'Arab-Islamic medicine' in W F Bynum and R Porter (eds), Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine (London, Routledge, 1993)
K Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Belief in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England (London: Penguin, 1991)

subset: commoncrawl


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OU Opens Season with 57-2 Win
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Maybe Mother Nature was trying to impose a mercy rule. The weather was the only thing that could slow down No. 4 Oklahoma against Chattanooga.
Sam Bradford threw for 183 yards and two touchdowns, Chris Brown ran for three scores and only an hourlong rainstorm could slow down the Sooners in a 57-2 victory against Chattanooga on Saturday night.
The Sooners converted their first seven possessions into touchdowns and led 50-0 before a thunderstorm caused a lightning delay that extended halftime by 1 hour and 12 minutes.
Instead of stopping the game, both teams went through a glorified scrimmage in the second half -- except one team was trying not to score.
"That's always a difficult situation in the second half when you're up 50-0 at halftime. You want your [backups] to move it but you don't want to be a bad guy and be throwing it all over the place and taking advantage of what's there," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "You know, you do the best that you can."
Oklahoma seemed to be pulling back on the reins after reaching former coach Barry Switzer's proverbial "half a hundred," putting fullback Matt Clapp at tailback for the next series. Dominique Franks also called for a fair catch on what seemed to be a returnable punt.
But after halftime, Oklahoma's starters were back on the field -- even if their production level fell off sharply. They managed only two first downs on their first three drives before backups started filtering in.
Stoops said he decided the starters still needed to be sharp next week, no matter what the score was at the time.
"Those are all tough decisions. That's just the way it goes," Stoops said.
Bradford completed 17 of 22 passes, including a 3-yard score to Quentin Chaney and a 7-yard TD to Manuel Johnson on fade patterns. DeMarco Murray had a pair of 1-yard scoring runs, one of them following a 49-yard scamper, and finished with 124 yards on 15 carries.
Brown also had touchdown runs of 10 and 9 yards.
"It's the first time out this year, trying to kind of avenge a loss at the Fiesta Bowl last year, so there was a lot of preparation put in to come out and play well," said Bradford, referring to a 48-28 loss to West Virginia this January.
The Mocs scored their only points after Oklahoma's first drive of the second half, when punter Mike Knall tracked down a bad snap in the end zone and knocked it out of bounds for a safety.
Chattanooga coach Rodney Allison talked earlier this week about hoping to make it a game into the second half, like the Mocs did last year at Arkansas, and trying to avoid injuries. Neither one worked.
Tailback Erroll Wynn, who took the place of injured starter Bryan Fitzgerald, broke his wrist in the second quarter and starting quarterback Jare Gault came out with a stinger in the third quarter. Allison hopes both will be able to play next week.
Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said there was never any talk of calling off the game at halftime, and both coaches favored going on with it.
"We have got a bunch of fighters ... ," Allison said. "A nice trait of ours is that our players have always played until the end of the game. They came back and played hard the whole game. From that standpoint, I was pleased."
All fans were asked to leave the seating area of Owen Field during halftime, although they were told that re-entering would not be allowed if they left the stadium.
A dozen or so remained in the student section, and others huddled under overhangs, in tunnels and on the concourse.
The rest left. They had seen enough already anyway.
Chattanooga, Oklahoma's first Championship Subdivision opponent since Stoops' debut in 1999, had only one first down, one completed pass and negative yardage on its first seven possessions.
The Mocs ended up with 36 yards, three completed passes and only one more first down.
"It was a great win for us but at the same time we can't beat our chests because it was just our first game," Franks said. "We've got a new opponent coming in the second week that we've got to get this game behind us."
After backup quarterback Joey Halzle's 36-yard touchdown pass to Iglesias made it a 50-point lead, Oklahoma's mascot ponies -- Boomer and Sooner -- weren't even sent onto the field with the Sooner Schooner for their usual celebration. Unlike all the first-half scores, no fireworks were set off after Brown's 1-yard TD run put Oklahoma up 57-2.
The Sooners ended up playing Chattanooga -- which after a 2-9 season was hardly a threat like fellow conference member Appalachian State, the three-time FCS champions -- after Middle Tennessee turned down an opportunity to be Oklahoma's season-opening foe.
After all, they'd been there before. They lost 59-0 in Norman two years ago.
"Everything isn't always perfect or how you want it to be," Stoops said. "You deal with it the best you can. ... I don't know that anyone's complained about our schedule over the years. We've played a fairly exciting schedule and have got some great games coming up.
"Every now and then you get caught in a situation that isn't the best. That's the way it goes."
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Boomer Bytes | View Main
Updated each weekday morning and following games, Boomer Bytes is your quick guide to Sooners in the news:
John Hoover of the Tulsa World: "Against overmatched Tennessee-Chattanooga, No. 4-ranked OU debuted its new fast-paced scheme before a crowd of 84,715 on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, and the Sooners lit up the scoreboard for a 57-2 victory."
From the Chattanooga Times Free Press: "I've known for a long time that Oklahoma's fans are as devoted as any in the country, but before this week I didn't know how friendly they were. All week long they've e-mailed me with questions or to offer compliments about the work that we do..."
John Shinn of the Norman Transcript: "Football's an evolving game. There was a day when seeing less than 20 passes a game was rare. Saturday at Owen Field, the huddle became blasé. Oklahoma's 57-2 rout of Tennessee-Chattanooga featured a lot of things, but none of it included an OU huddle."
Jake Trotter of the Oklahoman: "Forty-five minutes into the halftime that wouldn't end, a boy sloshed 100 yards through the downpour, sliding feet first across the goal line. He was hardly the only Sooner to score. Before the rains, Oklahoma hummed in its new-look, no-huddle offense."
From Mike Jones of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Personally, I never thought OU last season had the internal leadership, the all-consuming fire to compete that some of Stoops' other teams have had. The definitive personality answer won't come until January, though OU had its head in a game last night (for a half) everyone knew it would win big."
Jimmie Tramel of the Tulsa World: "Fans who wanted Oklahoma to be perfect against Tennessee-Chattanooga were disappointed, but only slightly. Tongue in cheek, let's run down the less-than-perfect list: Quarterback Sam Bradford hit "only" 12 of his first 13 pass attempts."
From the Dallas Morning News: "With the scoreboard reading Oklahoma 50, Tennessee-Chattanooga 0, OU fans left Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium celebrating a dominating performance. The band played and the lights went out."
Clay Horning of the Norman Transcript: "Hardly even an answered question or new question posed following the first 60 minutes of the Sooner season, which does OU few favors. Not with a formidable Cincinnati team on the way to Owen Field, nor with Washington waiting a week later in Seattle or TCU coming up from Fort Worth two weeks later."
John Hoover of the Tulsa World: "This was no test, but the Sooners dominated as they should. With four minutes left in the first half, OU had 351 yards and Chattanooga had minus-4. Although the Mocs presented zero challenge, Ryan Reynolds looked capable at middle linebacker, Auston English devoured blockers..."
Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman: "After the most lopsided half of football in 30 years at Owen Field, and the second-most lopsided since anyone was paying attention, and the most embarrassing ballgame any of us hopefully will ever have to witness, God saw all that college football had made."
John Shinn of the Norman Transcript: "Take a break: Oklahoma public address announcer Jim Miller made the first plea at 7:50 p.m. The storm brewing south of Norman was heading north and the stadium needed to be cleared. He continued to repeat the information for the next hour. All told, Saturday night's game was delayed 1 hour and 12 minutes."


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{Presmer Genuine Python Tray from Blueprint Modern}
Python trays have become chic staples that are as versatile as they are stylish. We've seen them in the pages of countless shelter magazines and in countless applications—on a well-styled bar, holding cosmetics and jewelry in the bathroom, resting atop an ottoman or a desk, and so on. LDV sponsor, Blueprint Modern is in the holiday spirit and will be giving away a genuine python tray by Presmer, a fabulous Houston-based python accessories line designed by my friend, Annsley Popov to one lucky winner! The tray measures 14" x 10" x 1.5", so it's the perfect size and retails for $277.00. Be sure to visit Blueprint Modern—the shop is stocked full of gorgeous goodies that make perfect holiday gifts!
{via Lonny}
{via Interior Designer, Elizabeth Sullivan}
{via Fabulous K}
1. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this blog post telling me how you would use this stylish python tray. Be sure to include your e-mail address so we can notify you if you are the winner!
2. Leave ONE comment on this post between today, Monday, December 16, 2012 and Friday, December 21, 2012. The winner will be notified on Saturday, December 22, 2012.
For Extra Entries:
3. Follow Blueprint Modern on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway with a link to this blog post for another entry (follow La Dolce Vita on Twitter in order to show me your tweet). It is up to you to return to this post to enter your additional entry after tweeting about the giveaway.
4. Become a fan of Blueprint Modern on Facebook. It is up to you to return to this post to enter your additional entry.
5. Follow La Dolce Vita on Instagram!
Anonymous entries will be ignored, so please include your e-mail in your comment. Your e-mail address will never be used for anything other than to notify you if you are the winner.


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UNSC says maalesh, no WMDs in Iraq
Monumental balls:
UNITED NATIONS, June 29 -- The U.N. Security Council voted 14 to 0 Friday to immediately shut down the U.N. weapons-inspection unit for Iraq, drawing to a close 16 years of international scrutiny of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.It's not like I'm advocating Chapter VII action against the United States for invading Iraq on false pretexts, but how about at least letting the UN admit there were no WMDs in Iraq?
The action ended more than four years of political deadlock between the United States and Russia over the fate of the inspection effort. Russia abstained, citing U.S. and British refusal to permit the inspectors to provide a final report confirming Iraq's disarmament.
The resolution -- sponsored by the United States and Britain -- offers no formal judgment on the status of Iraq's weapons program. Instead, it refers to the findings of a CIA inspection team that concluded in 2004 that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
"These efforts have demonstrated that the current government of Iraq does not possess weapons of mass destruction or delivery systems," Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said after the vote. Khalilzad, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, had made a personal pledge to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki before leaving Baghdad to shutter the U.N. weapons programs.
Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Hamid al-Bayati, hailed the decision, saying an "appalling chapter in Iraq's modern history" has been closed. He said he welcomed the council's decision to return about $63 million in Iraqi oil proceeds -- which have been used to fund the inspections program -- to Iraq.


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Based in Kanab, UT, the hub of the Grand Circle, Dreamland Safari Tours delivers unique Scenic Off-Road Adventure Tours with plenty of Photography stops and short hikes mixed in. From the well known sights to those "secret" places only the locals know about, our adventures, designed for everyday people, highlight the best of this wild, vivid landscape. Our seasoned, naturalist tour guides are simply the best in the business. Loaded heavy duty 4×4 Suburbans carry up to 8 passengers in air conditioned comfort. Whether you are interested in touring for 3 hours or 3 days, backyard or backcountry, we have a great selection of tours for your convenience. Let us do all the work…..After all…it's YOUR vacation!
Dreamland Safari Tours is proud to be rated the #1 Outdoor Activity on Trip Advisor in Kanab, UT. Don't miss out!
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Overnight White Pocket Photography Tour
Custom Multi-Day Desert Safaris


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recently, i found a blog where someone had created a half sized version of it. i tossed the idea about for a few weeks...should i invest the time needed to create many half sized pages or stick to what i had started? after agonizing over it, i threw caution to the wind and took the plunge. i spent $5.50 on the binder and $3 on a pack of full sized tabs which i took home and cut down.
i created 9 main sections (i may add more later) using these tabs:
general planning is divided into the months. each month has a monthly calendar and my own weekly to-do creation based on this full sized one. there is space on the back of the monthly to write my goals for the month which is nice.
meal planning consists of:
-my shopping list page that i created
-a page with a list of entrees, sides and starches for reminders on what we like to eat and to provide a variety of choices
-a menu calendar (basically a blank calendar that i can write in meals for each day. i also write in if someone won't be home for dinner ie. older kids at their dad's/mom's, greg at a meeting, etc.)
-4 sub-sections full of recipes: entrees, breads, sweets, sourdough
-master pantry list (a list of staples we have on hand at all times)my shopping list pages that can be cut off as needed
household info:
-8 zone sub-sections: my focus cleaning for each week. i rotate through each zone each week so each zone is hit every 2 months. they are: kitchen/basement entry/closet, dining room/downstairs toilet/front and back porch, playroom, living room, stairs/hall/upstairs bath, our bedroom, kids bedrooms, basement
-seasonal chores, reminders of what to do when
-storage info to remind me where i stash the off season clothing. believe me, i need this
-kids master chorelist, a list of what all they can/should do
-quick find list of important numbers and account numbers if applicable such as boiler repair guy, utilities, doctors, schools, savings accounts, etc.
-address book
-directions to seldom traveled to places (homeschool meeting locations, fellow goat people, long distance relatives that get visited once a year)
-b-day/anniversary list
-book/dvd wish list for rentals and purchases
-holiday gift idea/purchase/made list
-goals for the year
-wish list/need list (great for garage sales and thrift shops)
-account info
-egg and milk sales
emergency preparedness:
-first aid info
-emergency prep info: 72 hour kits, meal kits, etc.
-campling check list (we take the same things every year and every year i wish i had one of these)
-housesitter info
-vacation spot ideas/things to do and see
-vacation menus/recipes (we always camp when vacationing)
-food checklist (tried and true snack foods for the trip to/from as well as what to buy to use for cooking the above menus/recipes)
all the pages i created are on half sized paper. i just cut it with a paper cutter and then put it in my printer. i've been decorating the tab pages with cut outs from magazines that i got at the library book sale for 10 cents each. i'll post more finished pages as i get them done.
i think the reason why i like this size better is because it is like a day timer i used to use in my working days. it's small enough that it fits into my bag and light enough too.
i plan to find some lovely fabric to sew a cover with handles. that should be hard to decide on!
ps. diyplanner has some planner pages for half sized (classic) binders.


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Steve Jobs may have touted on stage last week that Apple's sold four million iPhones worldwide to date, but mum was the word on how many of those phones are actually bound to a lucrative contract from Apple's mobile carrier partners. By using subscriber numbers released by AT&T and the other carriers, though, we now have a good idea of how many iPhone owners have forsaken Visual Voicemail to use the device on a non-sanctioned network.
i-obsessed publication iLounge did some number crunching and threw in some educated assumptions to conclude that up to one third of iPhone owners around the world have unlocked their phones. That's around 1.3 million owners who have used something like AnySIM or iPhoneSIMFree to travel off the beaten iPath. The first portion of numbers used for this estimate came from an AT&T earnings call today, in which the company announced it had collected "just at or slightly under" 2 million iPhone subscriptions in 2007 (from June 29 to the end of December). These numbers matched against Apple's unit sales, and stats from UK, France, and Germany led iLounge to its unlocked conclusion.
The large number of unlocked iPhones bring Apple's revenue strategy for the device into question yet again. Apple's choice to demand contract revenue from mobile carriers may have helped drive the iPhone's price down to $399, and it certainly has shaken up the mobile phone industry as a whole. Locking the iPhone to these carriers may have also helped exclusive network-based features like Visual Voicemail (and anything still on its way down the pipe) to become a reality. Still, one must wonder if there was any other way to innovate the mobile industry like this and yet sell the iPhone to anyone around the world on a GSM network.


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Release Date: July 15, 2014
BUFFALO, N.Y. — For the fifth straight year, University at Buffalo faculty member Gene D. Morse, PharmD, has been invited to lead a session on research capacity building at an international conference.
This year's session will take place at the 17th World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, being held July 13-18 in Cape Town, South Africa. The World Congress is considered to be one of the most prestigious gatherings for international researchers working in all aspects of pharmacology.
The session on July 18, titled "Global HIV Clinical Pharmacology Capacity Building and Implementation Research," will showcase distinguished speakers from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Thailand and the U.S., and focus on collaborative approaches to HIV/AIDS clinical and translational pharmacology research.
July 18, Nelson Mandela's birthday, is also Nelson Mandela International Day, created in 2009 by a UN General Assembly resolution in recognition of the former South African president's contribution to the culture of peace and freedom throughout the world.
Morse, professor of pharmacy practice in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and associate director of UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, is a presenter at the session, as well as serving as chair.
Morse, who will present on the NIH Fogarty International Center HIV Research training programs, says UB is one of the only Fogarty training grant institutions with an emphasis on clinical pharmacology and is building a center of excellence for the southern African region with its partner, the University of Zimbabwe.
"The program is so successful that other countries want to join in and build research training collaborations," Morse says. "As a result, UB is now a recognized hub for training in this area among African countries."
In addition to Morse, presenters include UB pharmacy faculty member Robin DiFrancesco, Fatai Fehintola of Ibadan University in Nigeria, Tinashe Mudzviti of the University of Zimbabwe and Tim Cressey of Chiang Mai University in Thailand.
The Fogarty International Center, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supports basic, clinical and applied research and training for the U.S. and foreign investigators working in the developing world. Fogarty has served as a bridge between NIH and the global heath community, facilitating exchanges among investigators, providing training opportunities and supporting promising research initiatives in developing countries.
"The role of these kinds of training programs cannot be overstated," says Morse. "HIV/AIDS is still growing in many resource-limited countries where the capacity to treat it is extremely limited and novel clinical pharmacology and therapeutics research is needed to facilitate more widespread implementation.
"With this session nested in the larger context of an international pharmacology program, we hope to discuss how to build capacity — that is, to extend the limited human resources of researchers and clinicians in the developing world so that they can work together as efficiently as possible for the study and treatment of individuals living with HIV/AIDS," he says.


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Interview Date: 04/09/2010
Run Date: 04/15/2010
Interviews Home / Movies Home / Bullz-Eye Home
David Koechner has been appearing in comedic roles since the mid-1990s, when he was part of the "Saturday Night Live" ensemble, but it's arguable that his real breakout role didn't occur 'til 2004, when he played Champ Kind in "Anchorman" and made the word "whammy" into a catchphrase. Since then, Koechner has appeared on several TV series, including "The Naked Truck and T-Bones Show," "The Office" (he plays Todd Packer), and ABC's short-lived sitcom "Hank," but his most notable roles have been in films like "Talledega Nights," "Get Smart," "Sex Drive," and, most recently, "Tenure," co-starring Luke Wilson. Bullz-Eye talked to Koechner in conjunction with the DVD release of "Tenure," and although we only had a fleeting ten minutes with him, we did the best we could to tackle several of his other performances...and, of course, to get an update on "Anchorman 2."
David Koechner: Hi, Will!
Bullz-Eye: Hey, Dave! How are you doing?
DK: I'm fantastic!
BE: You and I chatted last year immediately after the TCA panel for ABC's "Hank."
DK: (Laughs) Okay!
BE: So "Tenure" is by a first-time writer / director. How did you come on board?
DK: I got the script, I really enjoyed it, and then I met with Mike, and his enthusiasm was genuine. I was really charmed by his script, so that's how I came aboard.
BE: Was there anything in particular about your character that stuck out when you first read it?
DK: Well, I really liked the character of Jay. His passion was what really struck me… (Laughs) …even though it's misguided. And his friendship, really. I mean, this guy is willing to go to the mat for his friends, so that was really cool, too, I thought. That's what drew me to it.
BE: So what's your personal college experience?
DK: I went to college. (Laughs) I didn't finish. I regret it. Looking back, it's always easier to think about the things you wish you'd done. I was a Poly-Sci major, and I probably shouldn't have been, but I thought at the time that that was what I wanted to do in life. I really enjoyed learning, and I really enjoyed just getting knowledge about a variety of subjects. I really loved history. I wish I…I probably should've just been a history major and just absorbed all of those things that could've led me down a bunch of different paths. But my college experience was that I quit after three years. I quit going to my classes because I realized I was never going to make Senator. It was probably the best decision for me, because I went to visit a friend in Chicago, went to Second City, and I thought, "Oh, my God, this is what I want to do! It's always been sitting there in the back of my mind, but now I realize…!" It was one of those points where you go, "Oh, there it is! There's my answer!" So for me, college was a warm-up and a diversion until I found my real calling.
BE: You had quite an ensemble to work with. Obviously, you worked predominantly with Luke Wilson, but who else in the cast were you particularly excited to be working with?
DK: Well, Gretchen Mol is amazing. She really is. I mean, there's something about her that is beyond charming. There's an intelligence at work there, and she's just a real palpable talent that you're instantly aware of once you start working with her. Luke and I were both kind of blown away by her.
BE: Was there anyone on the cast that you'd worked with prior to this? Luke, obviously, but anyone else?
DK: Yeah, I'd worked with Luke a couple of times before that. But Andy Daly…he and I didn't have scenes together, but we had worked together before. Was there anyone else? No, a lot of people were locals or were from the east coast. But…no, wait, actually, Michael Cudlitz and I had just been in the same movie, even though we didn't have any scenes together. He and I were both in "Sex Drive," and he played the officer in this picture. Now he stars in "Southland." (Laughs)
BE: Since you've brought up "Sex Drive," I should mention that it's one of our music editor's all-time favorite films.
DK: (Laughs) How old is he?
BE: Old enough that you wouldn't think it would be.
DK: That's men for you! What are you gonna do? It's a movie for boys of all ages.
BE: What was it like working on that film?
DK: On "Sex Drive"? Oh, it was fun. (John) Morris and (Sean) Anders, they're a lot of fun, and there's a great energy to the way they approached doing the film. Obviously there was a lot of passion, because they'd written it, and it was their first directing vehicle. A lot of the young kids on that picture I had not worked with before, but they were just so much fun and so enthusiastic. It was a real kick.
BE: Do you think that film's lack of box office success was, like everyone else seems to think, due to the marketing?
DK: You know, there's too many things to point to, and anyone can try to take apart one thing or another why one film has success and one doesn't. Certainly that could've contributed to it. I haven't sat down and thought about it, honestly. Who knows? I don't know what else it was going up against at that time of the year. Those decisions aren't made cavalierly, right? Nobody wants anything but the best success or the best chance for a movie. It's like anybody else going out and playing any sport: you have your game plan, you put it out, and either it works or it doesn't. It doesn't take but a couple of different things to conspire against a picture's success.
BE: I brought up "Hank" a few minutes ago. Were you surprised that series got shot down as quickly as it did?
DK: I thought they might've given it a little bit more time, but I think the ratings just weren't there, so…the writing was kind of on the wall. Once they picked up the rest of the shows on Wednesday night…after two weeks, they'd picked up "The Middle," "Modern Family," and "Cougar Town" for a full season, and they didn't pick us up, so I thought, "Ohhhhhhh, boy." And then we kept getting pre-empted, so I thought, "Oh, those are not good signs." It was certainly a contrast to everything else that we were paired with for the evening: we were a four-camera family show, and everything else was single-camera and a little bit edgier. Obviously, they were successful, and God bless, but I can understand. Maybe it just wasn't the right fit.
BE: Was it coming together behind the scenes? Because I know it had taken a little while to come out of the gate.
DK: Um…
BE: Did it feel to you like it was finding its feet?
DK: (Long pause) No.
BE: (Laughs) Really?
DK: Do you want the honest truth?
BE: Sure.
DK: No. No, it wasn't. It wasn't working. And no one could argue that, really. It wasn't coming together. I don't know…again, I'm not in on all of those decisions, as far as why one thing happens. You get an incredible amount of notes, and you've got a lot of people who have their feet in this stew, so those are tough.
BE: I suspect it was the angry Virginians, upset about how they were being portrayed in the show.
DK: (Laughs) Oh, I'm not talking about the viewers. I'm talking about the people involved. Yeah, plenty of people give you notes, and that's always…that's a difficult water to wade through. I can't even imagine it. I'm not very good at that kind of thing, suffering the opinions of people who've never done it. That's tough. It's like somebody telling you how you should write your articles or conduct your interviews, having never done either one. It's hard to take, isn't it?
BE: Absolutely.
DK: Someone starts telling you how to do your job, and you're, like, "Have you ever put pen to paper? Have you ever sat in front of a typewriter or computer keyboard and actually had to pull all of this stuff together? Have you done it? Then I'm not sure you're the best person to tell me how. Did you ever take a journalism class? Did you ever take a creative writing class?" And they're, like, "Uh…"
BE: (Laughs) Well, I was glad to see you pop back up as Todd Packer on "The Office." I was stunned. It'd been forever.
DK: Oh, God, that's fun. That's always fun. It's one of those things where I've not been able to enjoy something like ten different opportunities to appear on that show because of other work, "Tenure" being one of them. I was out of town, and they said they had a two-episode arc for Packer, but I had to be somewhere else. It's hard when I can't do those, because I love that show and it's so much fun. But, thankfully, they've been able to keep me in mind, and every once in awhile I get invited back, which is always a lot of fun.
BE: What's your favorite project that you've worked on that didn't get the love you thought it deserved?
DK: (Considers the question) It's hard to think off the top of my head, but…"Run Ronnie Run." That was way back, but I thought that was more fun than…well, it certainly didn't get much of an opportunity. "Extract," I really enjoyed that one. I thought "The Goods" was better than what it got, in terms of love from the audience, but it's a tough time, and you never know about late summer. Either things catch fire or they don't, depending on how busy people's weekends are. It's so hard to know why one project works and another doesn't, like we were talking about earlier. "My One and Only" was a delightful picture that no one saw, but I really enjoyed it. Those pictures are harder to market, though, too.
BE: You were also in one of my favorite obscurities: "Dill Scallion."
DK: (Bursts into loud, raucous laughter) "DILL"! That thing was shot on a budget of nearly nothing, but, I mean, that was fun! We took off in what I think was a real tour bus, and apparently they only had $43,000 to make the film, and they just went. None of us knew that, though, right? We're just happy to be in a movie! (Laughs) But, my God, that was a fun experience. Man, that was some kind of fun picture. And that's another one where the budget constraints meant that Jordan (Brady) couldn't quite make the movie I think he wanted to make, but goddamned if that script wasn't hilarious. I remember laughing out loud…hard…when I read that script. But just because of the finances, he couldn't make the movie I think he really, really wanted to. But son of a bitch, that thing made me laugh. And it's so nearly there, that movie. It's so close.
BE: Last question: I read online that Steve Carell claimed that "Anchorman 2" is finished, that everyone was drunk the whole time, but it's done. This is probably a lie…
DK: (Bursts into laughter) If Steve said it, it's true!
BE: Well, if we were to presume that perhaps it isn't, what do you hear on that front? Probably about as much as everyone else, I'm guessing, which isn't much.
DK: Everybody involved wants it to happen. Everybody who was originally involved wants it to happen, and they're trying to make it happen. There's just a lot that has to happen for that to go down.
BE: Is there a script floating around at all?
DK: A script…? I don't know. But I know they've got ideas. They've thought about it. In fact, I'm sure they thought about it immediately. Will (Ferrell) usually doesn't want to do sequels, just on principle, but this is the only one where he's thought, "Well, I think we could enjoy it." I think everybody wants to do it, but now everyone has more children and less time, so all those things contribute to it. Will's schedule's busy, Steve's very busy, Paul (Rudd's) very busy, I try to stay busy… (Laughs) I've got the most going on, so I'll probably be the hardest to nail down. (Long pause) Do you believe that?
BE: (Laughs) Well, I'll just keep my fingers crossed that everyone has an opening eventually.
DK: Well, I just want to say that it's going to happen. Because it should happen.
BE: Excellent. Good talking to you again, Dave. Hope we get to do so again.DK: Oh, we will. Don't you worry!
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The Garden of Beatin': Bail Hearing for Alleged Pizza-Related Assault by L&B Spumoni's Mob Family
Reported in the New York Daily News, mob man and L&B Spumoni Gardens' in-law Francis Guerra had his bail hearing for allegedly attacking Eugene Lombardo, owner of The Square, because his Staten Island pizza was too similar to the Sicilian slices at the highly-regarded Spumoni Gardens. (So I guess when they say family-owned in Bensonhurst, they mean "Family" owned?) Guerra had some other mob related murder charges, but according to the Daily News, the pizza beating dominated the hearing. Here's the beef:
Lombardo's two sons had previously worked at L&B in Bensonhurst, and the eatery is a perennial contender for the city's best pizza.
"That was considered disrespectful to Frank Guerra's wife's family," FBI agent Scott Curtis testified in Brooklyn Federal Court.
And while a recording was played in court of Lombardo acknowledging the hard feelings harbored by the Spumoni group, in a surprising twist, he denied that the assault ever happened!
"Nobody laid a hand on me," he said. "If they did, they better have a gun."
Lombardo, 59, continued, "This is no secret recipe. There's no patents on pizza. Why are we even having a conversation about pizza? We had an earthquake today. Why don't you ask me about that?"
(AK: Would this be a good time for a "It's JUST PIZZA!!!"?)
For more mob-related pizza tales, check this out.
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LEXINGTON, Ky. - LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — John Wall scored 19 points and No. 3 Kentucky pulled away in the second half for an 86-73 victory over weary Long Beach State on Wednesday.
DeMarcus Cousins shook off early foul trouble to finish with 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Wildcats (13-0) continued their best start in more than 30 years.
For the first 30 minutes it looked like Kentucky had partied a little too hard after celebrating the program's 2,000th win on Monday night. The Wildcats led just 58-55 before using their size to outmuscle the 49ers down the stretch.
Stephan Gilling and Larry Anderson led the 49ers with 15 points each, but Long Beach State (6-6) looked tired in the final minutes barely 36 hours after dropping an overtime decision to Loyola Marymount and then flying crosscountry for a game that started at 10 a.m. PST.
The 49ers, however, didn't make it easy for the Wildcats to begin the march to 3,000.
Kentucky struggled with foul trouble in the first half, as Wall, Cousins and Patrick Patterson missed significant stretches after picking up two apiece. Even when the trio returned in the second, it took time for Kentucky to assume control. Long Beach even took the lead 46-44 on a putback by T.J. Robinson before the Wildcats started to wake up.
Eric Bledsoe, playing on a sore ankle, hit a 3-pointer to put Kentucky ahead, and Wall followed with a couple of free throws.
The 49ers rallied to tie it at 51 before Kentucky's defense started to wear on them.
Cousins, who received a technical foul less than 3 minutes into the game and was forced to sit out the rest of the first half, sparked a 12-4 surge with the kind of energetic play that has gotten him into trouble at times.
He scored five points during the burst and provided a defensive presence around the basket, forcing Long Beach to miss a handful of easy shots and go nearly 3 minutes without a field goal.
Long Beach went to a zone in hopes of saving its legs, but Wall exploited it for a 3-pointer that put Kentucky up 73-62, and Cousins followed with a layup. Darius Miller knocked down an open 3 to make it 78-64 and the Wildcats were finally in the clear.
Kentucky's start is the best since winning the first 14 games during the 1977-78 season. The Wildcats won the national title that year.
Patrick Patterson added 15 points and 11 rebounds while Bledsoe finished with 11 points and five assists. Robinson had 13 points and 15 rebounds for Long Beach State.
Kentucky coach John Calipari said Tuesday he was relieved the run to 2,000 wins was over, and he was happy to finally have a full complement of players after guard DeAndre Liggins finally worked his way out of trouble.
The Wildcats needed that depth in the first half with all the foul trouble, but it still wasn't pretty. Kentucky managed just 12 points over the final 8 minutes with their top three scorers watching from the sideline.
The game was Long Beach State's fourth against a ranked opponent. The previous three losses — to West Virginia, Clemson and Texas — were all by at least eight points.
Yet the 49ers hardly seemed intimidated playing their second game in barely 36 hours.
Long Beach State caught a redeye following an 85-80 overtime loss at Loyola Marymount on Monday night, arriving in Lexington around 9 a.m. EST Tuesday.
The 49ers didn't exactly look jet-lagged early. Gilling, who entered the game seventh in the nation in 3-pointers per game, knocked down three in the first half alone. The toughest may have been a contested shot from the top of the key that banked into the basket just before the shot clock expired as the teams headed to the half tied at 37.
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Home > News & Events > Wayland Press Release Archives > 2007 News Releases > August 2007 > English moving to fundraising role as Director of Development
English moving to fundraising role as Director of Development
PLAINVIEW – Hope English, who has served as Director of Student Leadership and Involvement at Wayland Baptist University for the past three years, has been named the Director of Development for WBU, effective Aug. 13.
English replaces Martha Cross, who was promoted to Executive Director of Institutional Advancement in June and in that role oversees all fundraising efforts at Wayland.
"Wayland Baptist University is indeed blessed to have a person with Hope English's skill and expertise. She is genuine and caring, and has a winsome and engaging personality," said Dr. Paul Armes, WBU President. "Hope has done a wonderful job leading and coordinating our leadership program, and we are indeed fortunate to have her join our Advancement Team under the leadership of Martha Cross."
A longtime Plainview resident, English came to Wayland after retiring from Plainview Independent School District, where she taught for 15 years and then served as coordinator of advanced academic for 15 years. In the student leadership position, English helped implement a special leadership class for freshmen, working with the concurrent enrollment program, started the High Plains Leadership Summit held in the fall, which will be held for the third year on Sept. 28, 2007. She also helped develop the Degree of Difference Day, an annual event aimed at involving students and employees in community service, in partnership with the Office of Communications. That event will be held for the second year on Sept. 29 and more than 14 agencies are involved.
In her new role, English will be responsible for making visits with potential and current donors to the university, of specific significance as the university prepares for its centennial celebration and campaign in August 2008. English will continue to serve as chair of the Centennial Celebration through the next two years.
"Having worked here for several years and being familiar with the Wayland story, Hope will be an asset to our department," said Cross. "She is also a longtime resident of West Texas and knows people here, and she loves Wayland, which is also a plus."
A graduate of the University of North Texas and Plainview High School, English has two sons, Chad and Brent. She is a member of First Baptist Church and teaches in the SinglePoint ministry there. She is also an active community volunteer, working with the Hale County Literacy Council and Habitat for Humanity.


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ROCAME had its annual Brunswick County jamboree on March 29 at South Brunswick High School, the second consecutive year South Brunswick served as host.
Four middle schools and three high schools (more than 150 students, teachers and parents) participated in the math and science events.
The winners of middle school events were:
Write It Do It: first place, Hailey Winstead and Maranda Hansley (SB Middle School); second place, Cynthia Bolanos and Ebony Daniels (Waccamaw Elementary School); third place, Kdijah Hewett and Angelica Baltazar (Shallotte Middle School)
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YouTube's ContentID Trolls: Claim Copyright On Lots Of Gameplay Videos, Hope No One Complains, Collect Free Money [Updated]
from the a-system-that-protects-rights-holders,-even-if-they-don't-hold-the-rights dept
UPDATE: Direct from Abbi Tatton at Google:
From his post: "An entity going the vague but all-encompassing name of "Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society" has made a number of claims on various uploads."Odd things have been happening over at Youtube this month, affecting gamers uploading "Let's Play" videos. Well, not so much "odd" as "annoying" and "clearly abusive of Youtube's copyright notification system."
That's not an entity. If YouTube generated that message it's because Content ID identified compositions in the upload to which a portion of the rights may be administered by any one of a number of collecting societies. Our message in these cases now reads "one or more music publishing rights collecting societies" to make this clearer -- that Facebook parody page doesn't help though. Help Center Page is here with the details.
Early in February, the name "Agora Aggregator" began popping at various internet locations, like Reddit's r/LetsPlay and Google's product forums. This entity is apparently casting a porous copyright dragnet over a wide selection of gameplay videos, ranging from Super Meat Boy to F.E.A.R. 3, with several stops in between (Max Payne 3, Far Cry 3, I Am Alive, The Walking Dead).
Now, trying to track down Agora Aggregator is an exercise in futility. It very likely doesn't exist outside of Youtube. It's a name that sounds vague enough to be credible but not specific enough to step on any existing company's toes. Here's the general M.O.:
Agora files a claim on a gameplay video, but not the entire video or even a large portion of it. Instead, it files for certain "visual content" located at random points in the upload. The uploader is then notified of Agora's claim. If the uploader challenges the claim, Agora immediately drops it. If it goes ignored, Agora is then given this credit in the About section:
Now that Agora has a "hook" in the video, all it has to do is choose the "monetize" option that Youtube provides, sit back and wait for the video to get views, with a big chunk of the money going to Agora. The reality of the situation is one of annoyance, rather than actual harm, in most cases. The other unfortunate reality is that this sort of low-level trolling on gameplay videos is nothing new. "Companies" using the names IMG Media UK, INgroove, and Netcom have also filed bogus claims in the past.
The bad news is this sort of thing will probably always exist, especially in the case of gameplay videos. Gameplay videos exist in a legal gray area. For the most part, game companies are more than happy to let these serve as free advertising, knowing that watching a video can hardly replace the experience of actually playing the game. (One exception that proves the rule: Sega's massive takedown of anything "Shining Force"-related in "preparation" for the release of a new game in the series.) Some companies even allow uploaders to monetize gameplay videos, provided a portion of the earnings flows back to the developer.
Because of this gray area, many gamers will feel they can't challenge Agora's claim since they themselves do not "own" what they've uploaded. Even if it seems dubious and faintly scammy, the slim possibility that Agora actually exists and has a legitimate claim is enough to deter them from disputing it.
This isn't limited solely to video game footage. An entity going the vague but all-encompassing name of "Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society" has made a number of claims on various uploads. Here's its bio (in full) from its "official" website, which is a Facebook page. (The URL listed on its Facebook page sends you to... MPRCS's Facebook page.)
"Our mission is to file copyright claims so that ads will be placed onto certain videos, and we will be able to make money off of them. We do not seek to have anyone's videos blocked in certain countries or disabled altogether, all we are trying to do is make a bit of money. That's not so bad, is it?"Sure, it's better than getting videos blocked or disabled, but take a close look at the wording it uses. It pretty much states exactly what it's going to do (make money off the uploads of others), all without feeling the need to demonstrate that it actually has a right to file these claims. There is no other URL for this "company," no list of artists/labels it represents and it has in the past claimed content it clearly has no right to.
They identified my (completely original) song as infringing the copyright of a completely different song that I had never heard of, that I had to search google for, which turned out to be some kind of trance remix of a completely unrelated song…Wtf?Much like Agora Aggregator, MPRCS immediately backs down if challenged. Despite the fact that there's clearly something shady going on, MPRCS sounds ambiguously "official" enough that even Youtube itself makes statements in its defense.
I immediately disputed the claim and received an email from Youtube saying:
"Dear tibetanpunk,
Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society has reviewed your dispute and released its copyright claim on your video, "Sonic Sunset No.2"." (shameless plug)
So how do collecting societies affect you as a YouTube user? If you've ever received a notice indicating that one of your videos may include copyrighted content administered by "Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society," or "one or more music publishing rights collecting societies," it means that YouTube's Content ID system identified one or more musical compositions within your video to which a portion of the rights may be administered by a collecting society.While this information may be true (as Youtube states it), it is highly unlikely that the "Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society" is truly representing anyone but the person who lucked into this low-level abuse of Youtube's copyright claim system. One more strike against this so-called "Collecting Society?" Its profile photo is a watermarked Shutterstock picture.
Even if Agora Aggregator goes down, and Digital Minds Entertainment follows, more will pop up to take their place. The system (such as it is) seems to have the success rate of an untargeted mass mailing -- low enough to be almost negligible, but still high enough to make it a worthwhile venture.
Youtube can't do much to prevent this abuse. It has to err on the side of the rights holders, even if the rights holders don't actually hold the rights. This is a necessity. It allows it to show it takes proactive steps against infringement, a requirement in order to benefit from the Safe Harbor protections. The other issue is the massive volume it deals with -- 72 hours uploaded every minute -- which makes it impossible to police uploads with any level of detail. The system is exploitable, and the people behind these "companies" know it.
Since it can't be stopped, the only method left to battle these trolling "companies" is to expose them as quickly (and loudly) as possible. This is only a stopgap, rather than a solution. What's happening now is mostly an annoyance. The real problems will develop later when uploaders being challenging legitimate claims, assuming them to be invalid, and have their accounts closed down. In essence, Agora (and others) are the boy who cried wolf. Only this time, when the real wolf arrives, it will be the townspeople that suffer.
Filed Under: contentid, copyright, gameplay videos
Companies: agora aggregator, digital minds entertainment, google, music publishing rights collecting society, youtube


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