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Top Items:
John Podhoretz / New York Post:
Congressional Budget Office sends death blow to ObamaCare — The Affordable Care Act, a k a ObamaCare, became law almost four years ago. It became operational last Oct. 1. Yesterday, Feb. 4, 2014, the ACA may well have been dealt its death blow.
Ryan Cooper / The Plum Line: On jobs, conservatives are completely full of it
James Joyner / Outside the Beltway: ObamaCare Will Push 2 Million Out of Work! And That's a Good Thing!
Scared Monkeys: Contrary to what Americans were Told ... The CBO Says Obamacare Is Slowing Growth & Will Kill …
Scott Johnson / Power Line: Theory of the new leisure class
Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times: Why the new CBO report on Obamacare is good news
Bryan Preston / The PJ Tatler: Nancy Pelosi Promised Obamacare Would Create 4 Million Jobs. Um, About That...
Erik Wasson / The Hill: CBO: O-Care slowing growth, contributing to job losses
Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Paul Ryan Fact-Checks Republicans On Obamacare Job 'Costs' — At least one Republican is setting the record straight on what the Congressional Budget Office actually said this week about Obamacare and its effect on jobs. — House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) explained in a Wednesday hearing …
Discussion: Liberaland, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and Gawker
Joan McCarter / Daily Kos: Paul Ryan has momentary lapse into truthfulness
Adam Weinstein / Gawker: Nope, Obamacare Won't Kill Two Million Full-Time Jobs
New York Times:
Freeing Workers From the Insurance Trap — The Congressional Budget Office estimated on Tuesday that the Affordable Care Act will reduce the number of full-time workers by 2.5 million over the next decade. That is mostly a good thing, a liberating result of the law.
Ed Rogers / PostPartisan: The Insiders: Obamacare discourages work
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute: Slacking Equals Success
Jonathan S. Tobin / Commentary Magazine: CBO Political Dynamite: OCare Job Losses
Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo: New York Times Editorial Board Tells It Like It Is On That CBO Obamacare Report
ZIP / Weasel Zippers: NY Times Calls CBO Report Showing Obamacare Will Reduce Workforce By 2.5 Million Jobs A "Good Thing," "Liberating"...
Noah Rothman / Mediaite: NY Times: CBO Report Shows Obamacare 'Liberating' People from Fulltime Work
Melissa McEwan / Shakesville: In the News — Here is some stuff in the news today!
Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post: A Lot Of Media Outlets Botched The CBO's Obamacare Report
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line: What the CBO report on Obamacare really found
Glenn Kessler / The Fact Checker: No, CBO did not say Obamacare will kill 2 million jobs
Wall Street Journal:
The Jobless Care Act
The Jobless Care Act
Discussion: Business Insider, NewsBusters, Betsy's Page, Washington Free Beacon and The White House
Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters: 'Mad Man' Sam Stein's Hilarious Response To Calamitous CBO/Obamacare Report
Betsy Newmark / Betsy's Page: Cruising the Web
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
CBO director: Obamacare will reduce unemployment
CBO director: Obamacare will reduce unemployment
Discussion: Economix, Mediaite, Daily Kos, New York Magazine and Hullabaloo
Jared Bernstein / Economix: A Report's Real Message: It Wasn't About Health Care
Joan McCarter / Daily Kos: CBO director: Obamacare won't kill jobs, it'll create them
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: 'Obamacare Bailout' Does Not Exist, Confirms Government; House Republicans Demand Its Repeal Anyway
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Obamacare's scorekeepers deliver a game-changer
Obamacare's scorekeepers deliver a game-changer
Discussion: TPNN, americanthinker.com and National Review
Thomas Lifson / americanthinker.com: Elitist lipstick on the CBO pig
Jim Geraghty / National Review: Obamacare, a.k.a, 'The War on Work'
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Government will pocket $8B profit from ObamaCare 'bailout' program, CBO says
Government will pocket $8B profit from ObamaCare 'bailout' program, CBO says
Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo and Mother Jones
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Obamacare Is Not a Job Killer
Obamacare Is Not a Job Killer
Discussion: Ross Douthat, Post Politics, The Baffler, Paul Krugman, PostPartisan, Talk Radio News Service, The Fix and Mediaite
James Downie / PostPartisan: Republicans' newest debt-ceiling farce
Victoria Jones / Talk Radio News Service: 2.5 Million Will Exit Work Force Because Of Obamacare
Chris Cillizza / The Fix: Why the CBO report is (still) terrible news for Democrats
Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
How the CBO Thinks Obamacare Will Kill Jobs
How the CBO Thinks Obamacare Will Kill Jobs
Discussion: Business Insider, The Week, CBO's Publications, The Dish, Crooks and Liars, American Prospect, The Fix and National Review
Andrew Sullivan / The Dish: Obamacare's Economic Check-Up
Chris Cillizza / The Fix: The worst headline for Democrats this year
Reihan Salam / National Review: Obamacare and the Gender Gap
Dylan Howard / RADAR:
Hurley's Ex-Lover Caught On Bombshell Audio Recording Revealing Ex-Prez's White House Sex Romps Behind Wife Hillary's Back — As Hillary Clinton prepares to run for President in 2016, RadarOnline.com has uncovered bombshell new information that could torpedo her White House dreams …
Discussion: NY Daily News, The Daily Caller, Liberaland, PerezHilton, National Review and BuzzFeed
Rachel Maresca / NY Daily News: Elizabeth Hurley denies reports she had affair with former President Bill Clinton
Betsy Rothstein / The Daily Caller: Bath Time — Liz Hurley denies year-long affair with President …
Perez Hilton: Bill Clinton Accused Of Having A Secret Sexcapade With Liz Hurley & You'll Be Shocked When You Hear Where Hillary Was!
Jim Geraghty / National Review: The Soft Underbelly of Hillary Clinton's 2016 Bid
Ben Smith / BuzzFeed: Obama Aides Doubt Clinton Strategy
Kathryn Davis / The Center for Media and Public Affairs:
Study: Leno's Top Joke Target Was Bill Clinton
Study: Leno's Top Joke Target Was Bill Clinton
Discussion: Mediaite, TheBlaze.com and CNN
Alicia Dennis / People.com:
Dylan Farrow's Brother Moses Defends Woody Allen — Dylan Farrow's Feb. 1 open letter to The New York Times detailing sexual molestation she says she suffered at the hands of her father Woody Allen reignited a controversy that has divided their family bitterly for more than 20 years.
Discussion: Guardian, The Daily Banter, The Huffington Post, Althouse, Mediaite, Sky Dancing and PerezHilton, more at Mediagazer »
Andrew Pulver / Guardian: Moses Farrow defends Woody Allen over child abuse accusations
Chez Pazienza / The Daily Banter: Quote of the Day: Moses Farrow Breaks His Silence, Defends Woody Allen and Slams Mia Farrow
Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post: Woody Allen May Respond To Dylan Farrow In New York Times Op-Ed
Ann Althouse / Althouse: "I think my sister is missing a great deal in life in not reconnecting with her father, who had always adored her."
Matt Wilstein / Mediaite: Moses Farrow: 'Woody Allen Did Not Molest My Sister'
Bostonboomer / Sky Dancing: Tuesday Reads: Military Scandals, Hollywood Problems and Perversions, and Other News
Steve Strunsky / New Jersey Online:
Port Authority eliminates 'director' job created for Wildstein — wildstein-port-authority-job- eliminated.jpg — David Wildstein, with striped tie, at the State house Annex in Trenton on Jan. 9 following his testimony before the Assembly's transportation committee.
Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Capital New York, Mediaite, Daily Kos and Firedoglake
Dana Rubinstein / Capital New York: Cuomo and Christie push reform, unequally
Jed Lewison / Daily Kos: Port Authority abolishes position created for traffic-snarling Christie aide
Paul Waldman / American Prospect:
Is Chris Christie Being Treated Unfairly?
Is Chris Christie Being Treated Unfairly?
Discussion: Washington Monthly and nbcnewyork.com
Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:
Christie's 'High School' Attack On Wildstein Has One Big Flaw
Christie's 'High School' Attack On Wildstein Has One Big Flaw
Discussion: Firedoglake and NorthJersey.com
James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
A reporter jumps to conclusions, and hilarity ensues.
A reporter jumps to conclusions, and hilarity ensues.
Discussion: americanthinker.com, Instapundit and ABC News
Rick Moran / americanthinker.com: Gov Christie will survive because his enemies are just plain 'loco'
Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit: JAMES TARANTO: 'Evidence Exists': A reporter jumps to conclusions, and hilarity ensues.
Shushannah Walshe / ABC News: Christie Administration Out With New Memo Attempting To Move Past Bridge Scandal
Jake Tapper / The Lead with Jake Tapper:
John Kerry a no on 2016: This is my last stop — For more of our exclusive interview with Secretary of State John Kerry, watch "The Lead with Jake Tapper" on CNN at 4 p.m. ET. — Washington (CNN) - While his predecessor Hillary Clinton and his colleague Vice President Joe Biden …
Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Mediaite and Weasel Zippers
Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo: Some People Actually Thought John Kerry Might Run For President Again
DefendWallSt / Weasel Zippers: John Kerry Will Not Run For President In 2016
Ashley Killough / CNN:
Biden's one reason NOT to run for President
Biden's one reason NOT to run for President
Discussion: The Daily Caller
Jamie Weinstein / The Daily Caller: Joe Biden reveals why he may not run for president in 2016
Poll: Majority of Americans want government to reduce income gap
Poll: Majority of Americans want government to reduce income gap
Discussion: Daily Kos, The Plum Line and Shakesville
Laura Clawson / Daily Kos: Americans want less income inequality and they want the government to make it happen
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line: Morning Plum: On inequality, Republicans are all alone
Biden to campaign for House candidate in tight Florida race
Biden to campaign for House candidate in tight Florida race
Discussion: Politico and Talking Points Memo
Jose DelReal / Politico: Joe Biden to raise money for Alex Sink in Florida
Chad Terhune / Los Angeles Times:
Obamacare enrollees hit snags at doctor's offices — Many consumers faced hurdles signing up for Covered California health plans. Now they're having trouble finding in-network doctors. — Maria Berumen uses a device to manage the pain from bone spurs on her spine.
Discussion: Right Turn, Hot Air, americanthinker.com, National Republican …, National Review and Shakesville
Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn: Questions no red state Democrat wants to answer
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: Video: ObamaCare disincentivizes work ... by doctors
Rick Moran / americanthinker.com: Can't keep you doctor under Obamacare? Try simply finding a doctor in CA
Andrew Clark / National Republican Congressional …: ObamaCare Fan Admits Now She "Can't Sleep At Night" Because Of The Law
Katherine Connell / National Review: Obamacare Fan: 'Now I Can't Sleep at Night. I Can't Imagine This Is How President Obama Wanted It to Happen'
Melissa McEwan / Shakesville: Single-Payer Healthcare Now
Seema Mehta / Los Angeles Times:
Sandra Fluke forgoes congressional bid to run for state Senate — President Obama and Sandra Fluke wave at a campaign event at the University of Colorado in Aurora. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press / August 8, 2012) — Democratic attorney and activist Sandra Fluke has decided …
Meteor Blades / Daily Kos: Midday open thread: No more cigs at CVS, Fluke won't run for Congress, Warner not a '#Belieber'
ZIP / Weasel Zippers: Sandra Fluke Changes Mind On Congressional Bid, Will Run For California State Senate Instead...
Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit: SANDRA FLUKE Foregoes Congressional Bid - Will Run for State Senate Seat Instead
Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo: Sandra Fluke Won't Run For Congress After All
Rebecca Ballhaus / Washington Wire: Sandra Fluke Won't Seek Waxman's Seat in Congress
Bryan Preston / The PJ Tatler: Woman Who Can't Afford Her Own Birth Control Switches to Run for California State Senate
Andrew Johnson / National Review: Fluke Not Running for Congress
Emily Cahn / Roll Call: Sandra Fluke Decides Against Congressional Bid
Sarah Kliff / Wonkblog:
CVS to stop selling cigarettes by Oct. 1 — Pharmacy chain CVS said Wednesday it will stop selling tobacco products at its 7,600 locations across the United States, a move that public-health advocates hope will become a watershed and pressure other large drug store franchises to follow suit.
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice: CVS Caremark will halt selling cigarettes by Oct. 1
Olga Khazan / The Atlantic Online: Why CVS Isn't Selling Cigarettes Anymore
Hayley Peterson / Business Insider: 6 Reasons Why CVS's Tobacco Ban Won't Put A Dent In The Cigarette Business
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: CVS to stop selling tobacco products
Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly: Smoker's Ghetto Gets a Little Smaller
Stephanie Strom / New York Times: CVS Plans to End Sales of Tobacco Products by Oct. 1
Taylor Berman / Gawker: CVS Will Stop Selling Tobacco Products by October
Matthew Yglesias / Slate: CVS Won't Sell Cigarettes Anymore
Seth Fiegerman / Mashable: CVS to Stop Selling Cigarettes, Other Pharmacies Not So Much
CVS Caremark to Stop Selling Tobacco at all CVS/pharmacy Locations
CVS Caremark to Stop Selling Tobacco at all CVS/pharmacy Locations
ThinkProgress: Why You Should Care That CVS Will Stop Selling Cigarettes, Even If You're Not A Smoker
American Pharmacists Association: CVS announces move to discontinue cigarette sales in its pharmacies
Jon Walker / Firedoglake: CVS to Stop Selling Tobacco Products
Few signs of movement on debt ceiling — House Republicans are in an increasingly tight political box on the debt limit and have no idea how they'll get out of it. — At a GOP leadership meeting Wednesday morning, top Republicans privately acknowledged that they cannot pass a debt limit bill …
Discussion: Washington Monthly
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Hoyer backs CBC on judicial nominees
Hoyer backs CBC on judicial nominees
Discussion: CNN and ThinkProgress
Democrat And Chronicle:
Russia won't let Chobani yogurt in Sochi for Olympics — A shipment of New York-made Greek yogurt waiting in a New Jersey airport might just go to waste. — U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has sent a letter to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and International Olympic Committee head Thomas Bach urging …
Discussion: Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, CBS New York and The World's Greatest …
Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo: Schumer Wants Russia To Let U.S. Olympians Have Their Chobani Yogurt
Adrian Carrasquillo / BuzzFeed: Russia Won't Let Team USA Receive Its Shipment Of Chobani Yogurt
Raf Sanchez / Telegraph:
Barack Obama's 'hard-working American' is actually a London Overground commuter — New advert by Organising for Action, an Obama campaign group, accidentally features footage from a British train — President Barack Obama's political action group, Organizing for Action …
Discussion: The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler
Caroline May / The Daily Caller: OFA minimum wage ad features British commuter as hard working American
ZIP / Weasel Zippers: Oopsie: "Hard-Working American" In New OFA Ad Is Actually a British Commuter...
Tal Kopan / Politico:
Jesse Ventura hiding from drones — Former wrestler and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura says he has gone "off the grid" in Mexico to avoid drones knowing where he is. — Ventura spoke with CNBC's "Closing Bell" from an "undisclosed location in Mexico" on Tuesday, prompting the hosts to ask him where he was and why he was there.
Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Verge and The Huffington Post
Adi Robertson / The Verge: Jesse Ventura: I move around in Mexico so drones can't find me
George Zimmerman — Boxing Match Set — HE WILL FIGHT DMX — Boxing Match Set!!! — HE WILL FIGHT DMX — 2/4/2014 8:48 PM PST BY TMZ STAFF — EXCLUSIVE — It's official ... X gonna give it to George Zimmerman — TMZ has learned, rapper DMX has just been named Zimmerman's opponent in his upcoming celebrity boxing match.
Noah Rothman / Mediaite: 'Blood Money': Nancy Grace Accuses George Zimmerman of 'Profiting Off of a Crime'
Victor Fiorillo / Philadelphia Magazine: Damon Feldman Apologizes for George Zimmerman Fight Announcement
Adrian Carrasquillo / BuzzFeed: George Zimmerman Reportedly Set To Fight Rapper DMX
Greg Pollowitz / National Review: George Zimmeran vs. DMX Boxing Match?
Jonathan Capehart / PostPartisan: George Zimmerman vs. DMX: Hot mess [Update]
Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller: Rapper DMX vows to beat 'the living f**k' out of George Zimmerman in celebrity boxing match
John Del Signore / Gothamist: DMX Will Box George Zimmerman For Charity
Matthew O'Brien / The Atlantic Online:
Everything You Need to Know About the Emerging-Market Currency Collapse — Money poured into developing economies after the financial crisis, and now it's starting to pour out. How much should we worry? — Here we go again. — First, money poured into emerging markets when it looked like they offered juicy returns.
Craig Jarvis / Raleigh News & Observer:
Clay Aiken makes it official: He will run for Congress — RALEIGH — Singer Clay Aiken will officially announce his campaign for Congress on Wednesday, injecting a nationally known personality into what has been a quiet Democratic primary to produce a challenger to U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers.
Discussion: QNotes, Advocate, ThinkProgress, TIME, Washington Blade and Politico
Matthew Breen / Advocate: WATCH: Clay Aiken Is Officially Running for Congress
Chris Johnson / Washington Blade: It's official: Aiken announces bid for Congress
Tal Kopan / Politico: Clay Aiken releases campaign video
Patrick Howley / The Daily Caller:
Email: IRS's Lerner, Treasury Department secretly drafted new rules to restrict nonprofits — The Obama administration's Treasury Department and former IRS official Lois Lerner conspired to draft new 501(c)(4) regulations to restrict the activity of conservative groups in a way that would …
Discussion: American Spectator
Mark Meckler / American Spectator: Maybe Just a "Smidgen of Corruption" at the IRS?


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Dog Lady offers advice on property-trampling pooches, and why some dogs are so smelly.
Dear Dog Lady,
Can you please advise us as to what can be done to discourage dog owners from using our small front lawn for their pets' toilets?
Our front lawn is a beautiful array of blooming spring flowers such as daffodils, tulips and crocuses. The lawn is elevated about 8 to 10 inches from the sidewalk, but people walking their dogs will even lift their smaller animals to do their dirty business. It is unbelievable.
Just this morning I looked out to see a dog about the size of a small Shetland pony squatting. A smaller dog raced in circles while the flowers and new grass were being ripped out of the ground. A woman stood by with two empty leashes in her hand.
Is there a law that offending dog owners can be reported to the police for trespassing or for the violation of private property?
-- Don't Tread On Me
Dear Tread,
The scene you describe raises the hackles of all responsible dog owners. When dogs trample on others' property and clueless owners stand by holding leashes, it's a hot mess.
For now, buy a tasteful "dogs keep off" sign and place it on your lawn. When you see trespassers, go out and politely ask the owner to move the animals. Don't yell, because the strain will hurt you more than the person you're yelling at.
If the same owner comes around again and again, call the police. Your front lawn is private. You have every right to report this. Take pictures and post them. Do you have Twitter or Facebook accounts? Shame by social network should have the desired chilling effect.
Dear Dog Lady,
After just taking our pit bull mix Max to the shop for a bath, he smells again about a week later. He has a well-balanced diet, gets his share of treats that are healthy, and has a walk each and every day for 30 to 45 minutes.
Why does he smell? I ask for the oatmeal baths and they help somewhat, but he still smells. The odor is not an earth shattering, "get-outta-the room" smell, but a smell nonetheless. Any ideas on what I can do to prevent this? I wash his bedding at least two times a month.
-- Shirley
Dear Shirley,
Dogs smell. They have a bouquet that's stinky to some and ambrosial to others. Liver breath makes Dog Lady happy because it's a reminder her dog is a dog.
You should take your pit bull mix to a veterinarian. Sometimes a foul-smelling dog is sick or allergic. The vet can run tests to determine if there's an organic cause for Max's malodorous condition. If your vet determines your dog is healthy and this is just him being him, make your peace with Max's aroma. The more you bond, the more you will accept him for smelling like a dog. Remember, bathing Max too much can dry out his skin.
And it's great you are walking your dog every day and giving him healthy treats. When you walk Max outside in the fresh air, your dog smells of springtime.
Monica Collins offers advice on dogs, life and love. Her website is www.askdoglady.com. Contact her at firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Site update
Since I have been really terrible at updating the blog (but pretty good at keeping up with the facebook blog posts) I've added the widget below so that facebook cross posts to the blog.
You shouldn't need to join facebook but can just click on the links in the widget to access the articles. If you have any problems or comments please mail me at arandjel 'AT' eva.mpg.de.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Happy Earth Day!!!
No comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Costa Rica paid 200 million USD to its farmers to protect ecosystems. In doing so, it saved 460,000 hectares of forests and contributed to the well-being of 8.000 people. Such payments for ecosystem services are one way to reward unrecognised benefits of good ecosystem management.
Costa Rica is one of the examples in the study "The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity", presented today to the delegates of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Study leader Pavan Sukhdev estimates that current rates of natural decline might reduce global GDP by about 7 percent by 2050.
Joshua Bishop is IUCN's Senior Economic Adviser, and has contributed to the study. In an interview, he explains how economic logic can help to save species. "Understanding the value of nature in an economic sense is a powerful communications tool, and can help us make the case for biodiversity conservation," he said. "We can also use economic insight to create better systems to protect species and ecosystems." Run audio
Speaking at the conference, Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN's Director General, called upon the business sector to engage in biodiversity conservation. "Companies increasingly see that this is good for their bottom line - there is no business to be done on a dead planet." More than fifty companies have already signed IUCN's Countdown 2010 declaration.


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The Moray Firth Golf Pass covers courses from Grantown set in the Cairngorm National park in the south to Nairn Dunbar in the west and Moray in the north.
Moray is known the world over as Whisky country but there is much more to the area than just whisky. It can offer something to everyone, whether you want sandy beaches, history, shopping, golf or just the great outdoors.
The Whisky Trail is the world's only trail devoted to single malt whisky and with over 50% of Scotland's malt whisky distilleries within 28 miles you won't be disappointed. Moray is the complete visitor attraction. The Moray Firth has quiet, sandy beaches where you can watch dolphins. It's ideal for watersports with good windsurfing and surfing spots. Activities in Moray for tourists include fly fishing, golf, walking and mountain biking. There are many tourist attractions in the area. Spend a few hours visiting a distillery in Speyside. Explore castles, museums and Pictish Stones. Shopping is a refreshing experience with antique, book and craft shops.
You can also choose from such activities as horse riding, mountain biking, walking, field sports, hiking, hill walking, climbing, camping and caravanning, sailing, diving, water skiing and winter skiing.
The famous population of Moray Firth bottlenose dolphins can be viewed from shore or by boat and the Scottish Dolphin Centre at Spey Bay is a must for anyone keen on viewing these marvellous creatures.
It is no coincidence companies such as Gordon & MacPhail, Johnstons of Elgin Cashmere, Baxters of Speyside and Walkers Shortbread are situated in the region, as well as Findhorn Bay and Eco Village and Culbin Forest.
Click here to check availability at Elgin, Moray (Old and New courses) and Nairn Dunbar golf clubs.
For booking enquiries, click here for Forres, here for Grantown-on-Spey or here for Hopeman golf clubs.


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As I have stated before, human-rights activists have long viewed the safety of Egypt's ancient Coptic churches as a highly symbolic issue -- the canary in the coal mine that is that complex land. This is especially important right now, as the fragile coalition that currently leads Egypt tries to find its way along the tricky road from what was to what is and on to what will be. Many people are overjoyed and elated. Others are being cautious and quiet -- with good cause.
However, I think anyone who knows anything about Egypt would have to say that journalists should be keeping their eyes on the actions of the military.
After all, the army is in charge right now.
With that fact in mind, the following Assyrian International News Agency report is troubling, to say the least:
For the second time in as many days, Egyptian armed force stormed the 5th century old St. Bishoy monastery in Wadi el-Natroun, 110 kilometers from Cairo. Live ammunition was fired, wounding two monks and six Coptic monastery workers. Several sources confirmed the army's use of RPG ammunition. Four people have been arrested including three monks and a Coptic lawyer who was at the monastery investigating yesterday's army attack.
Monk Aksios Ava Bishoy told activist Nader Shoukry of Freecopts the armed forces stormed the main entrance gate to the monastery in the morning using five tanks, armored vehicles and a bulldozer to demolish the fence built by the monastery last month to protect themselves and the monastery from the lawlessness which prevailed in Egypt during the January 25 Uprising.
"When we tried to address them, the army fired live bullets, wounding Father Feltaows in the leg and Father Barnabas in the abdomen," said Monk Ava Bishoy. "Six Coptic workers in the monastery were also injured, some with serious injuries to the chest." ...
Father Hemanot Ava Bishoy said the army fired live ammunition and RPGs continuously for 30 minutes, which hit part of the ancient fence inside the monastery. "The army was shocked to see the monks standing there praying 'Lord have mercy' without running away. This is what really upset them," he said. "As the soldiers were demolishing the gate and the fence they were chanting 'Allahu Akbar' and 'Victory, Victory'."
These are inflammatory and disturbing images, to say the least. The story includes similar reports from other monasteries, including more injuries from live ammunition and monks being beaten with batons by soldiers.
It is crucial, at this stage, to realize that there have been high-profile demonstrations in recent weeks in which many Muslims and Copts have stood together in calling for reform and for peace and cooperation between the vast majority of the nation that is Muslim and the 10 percent of the population that is Coptic, as well as members of Egypt's other minority religions.
As always, however, it's crucial to remember that there is no one Islam in this scene, including in the leadership of the nation's army. That is a fact that is worthy of news coverage. Period.
One would hope that mainstream journalists would realize the intense symbolism of Egyptian soldiers attacking ancient monasteries that contain some of the land's most treasured Christian icons, altars, relics and texts. Live ammunition used on monks who have attempted to guard the perimeter of their sanctuary? If there is another side to this report -- and their might well be -- journalists need to find it.
But here is the key: Let me know if you see a single mainstream news report that follows up on these attacks. Got news?
Alas, once again, these attacks seem to be material worthy of "Christian" or even "conservative" news, while mainstream journalists have not tuned in the reports. Here is a typical Google News search. Search around.
Well, there is this Associated Press report:
The deputy to Osama bin Laden issued al-Qaida's second message since the Egyptian uprising, accusing the nation's Christian leadership of inciting interfaith tensions and denying that the terror network was behind last month's bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria that killed 21 and sparked protests.
The message Friday from Ayman al-Zawahri, the No. 2 leader of the terror network, comes amid renewed Muslim-Christian tension over the slaying of a Coptic priest and a dispute involving a monastery.
As with his first message, delivered Feb. 18, al-Zawahri in his new, 35-minute videotape makes no mention of the protests or Hosni Mubarak's fall from power. Al-Qaida had advocated for the destruction of Mubarak's regime -- and al-Zawahri, an Egyptian doctor, was part of a failed militant uprising against the former president in the 1990s.
But the pro-democracy tone of the protests, led by secular liberals, contrasted greatly with the Islamic state al-Qaida envisions. In the latest video, al-Zawahri devoted much of the time to the Muslim-Christian divide. But he denied that his group was behind the Alexandria bombing, according to a transcript by the SITE Intel group, a U.S. group that monitors militant messages.
Ahead of the bombing, extremist Islamic websites affiliated with al-Qaida circulated lists of Coptic churches in Egypt and Europe -- including one that was hit on New Year's -- along with instructions on how to attack them.
Egypt is a complex and dangerous place at the moment, even as the celebrations continue. Journalists attempting to find their way deeper into this coal mind might want to keep an eye on the canaries.


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Geoglyphs - a Primer
More Geoglyphs Found
I just returned from a trip to northeastern Montana and took photos of...
Category: General
Posted by: Curt
I just returned from a trip to northeastern Montana and took photos of many of the geoglyphs between Great Falls and Williston. I'll be add these over the next few days.
The interesting part is that I found a few more geoglyphs that were not previously listed on this site. The new geoglyphs include:
- second O at Opheim
- SHS in Scobey
- F in Flaxville
- R in Redstone
- two Os for Outlook
- PHS, 75, and 88 in Plentywood
- G in Brockton
- P in Poplar
- B in Wolf Point
- F in Frazer
- HLP at Hays Lodge Pole
- HAYES at Hayes
- DFC for Deerfield Colony
I'll be posting these over the next few weeks.
Stay tuned.
- - - - Next page: Montana Geoglyphs


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Fargo, N.D. – Svetlana Kilina, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at North Dakota State University, Fargo, has received a $750,000 five-year award from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Research Program. Funding will be used to conduct research outlined in Dr. Kilina's proposal titled "Modeling of Photoexcited Process at Interfaces of Functionalized Quantum Dots."
Dr. Kilina's research occurs at the intersection of renewable energy, high-performance computing, nanotechnology and chemistry. Only 68 awardees were selected from a pool of about 850 university- and national laboratory-based applicants, based on peer review by outside scientific experts.
Quantum dots are nanocrystals discovered by scientists in the 1980s. Ranging in size from two to 10 nanometers, billions of them could fit on the head of a pin. Their tiny sizes belie the Herculean impact they could make in semiconductors and energy. Dr. Kilina's work centers on new generation solar cells and fuel cells using quantum-dot-based materials.
Materials at the nanoscale level behave differently than at larger scales. Energized quantum dots absorb and emit light. The color of the light depends on the size of the dot. In addition, one quant of light can generate more than two carriers of electric current (two electrons-hole pairs instead of one) in quantum dots. As a result, quantum dots could convert energy to light or vice versa more efficiently than conventional energy materials based on bulk semiconductors such as silicon. That makes quantum dots very promising materials for solar cells and other energy applications.
"One of the main obstacles in the synthesis of quantum dots is the controllable chemistry of the quantum dot surface," said Dr. Kilina. "Due to their nanosize, the dots are extremely chemically reactive, and different organic molecules from solvent/air environment interact with the surface of the quantum dot during and after synthesis. These molecules cover the surface of the quantum dot like a shell, influencing its optical and electronic properties."
Dr. Kilina uses supercomputers to conduct computer-simulated experiments, investigate and advance her research in this field. Her goal is to generate theoretical insights to the surface chemistry of quantum dots, which are critical to design efficient quantum-dot-based materials for solar energy conversion and lighting applications.
To apply her model and algorithmic methods, Dr. Kilina's research group uses supercomputers at the NDSU Center for Computationally Assisted Science and Technology, in addition to Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory leadership-class, high-performance computing facilities. The combination of NDSU supercomputing and government facilities substantially reduces the amount of time needed for the massive calculations used in this research.
"Dr. Kilina's research aims to gain fundamental understanding of nanomaterials at the molecular and electronic level," said Dr. Greg Cook, chair of NDSU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Insights gained from this research will enable the progression of solar energy technology to help solve the world's energy challenges. The Department of Energy award recognizes Dr. Kilina's unique expertise in the area of theoretical modeling of these materials critical for the future," said Cook.
Dr. Kilina's research addresses fundamental questions of modern materials science that affect the design and manufacture of new-generation energy conversion devices. To design and manufacture such devices requires developing new multi-functional materials with controllable properties. It is anticipated that the acquired theoretical knowledge gained from the research at NDSU will help better explain and interpret experimental data and could facilitate rational design of new nanostructures with desired optical, transport, and light harvesting properties that are fundamental to a myriad of clean energy technologies.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy website, the Office of Science Early Career Research Program awards are designed to bolster the nation's scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work. The research awards also aim at providing incentives for scientists to focus on mission research areas that are a high priority for the Department of Energy and the nation. Dr. Kilina's research is funded by the Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy, Award No. DE-SC0008446.
Dr. Svetlana Kilina joined the faculty at NDSU in 2010. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M., after receiving her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. She received a master's degree in physics from Belarus State University, Minsk, Belarus.
Dr. Kilina's research was selected for most recent funding by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the U.S. Department of Energy Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. She previously received research funding from the North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research from 2010 to 2012. For more info regarding Dr. Kilina's research, visit http://www.ndsu.edu/chemistry/people/faculty/kilina.html
NDSU, Fargo, North Dakota, USA, is notably listed among the top 108 U.S. public and private universities in the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education's category of "Research Universities/Very High Research Activity." As a student-focused, land grant, research institution, NDSU is listed in the Top 100 research universities in the U.S. for R&D in computer science, chemistry, and physical, social and agricultural sciences, based on research expenditures reported to the National Science Foundation. www.ndsu.edu/research


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Start Date:
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Events calendar
August 2019
This 25th anniversary tour will see Matthew Forsythe seamlessly shift through dozens of characters in the story. 'Is it possible to change?'
In his mid–thirties, Kenneth McAllister is a clerk in the local welfare office. Kenneth is a Belfast Protestant who has followed all the rules. He loved who he was supposed to love.
He lived where he was expected to live. He fought who he was taught to fight.
That is, until one night –– a night in November –– when he did the most exciting, outrageous, crazy thing he'd ever done.
This is the stunning multi–award winning play from Marie Jones, writer of hit shows 'Stones in his Pockets' & 'Christmas Eve Can Kill You.'
'Funny, passionate and heartbreaking.'
Colin Geddis: Safe Space
Sat 07 Dec at 20.00


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Quick Search: Choose Model and Year, then enter search topic.
Page: 59
Starting Procedures
Failure to Use Safety Belts
Safety belts cannot protect the body if they are not fastened. Improperly worn safety belts increase the risk of injury in the event of an accident.
Always make sure your and your passengers' safety belts are properly fastened when seated in the vehicle.
Before starting the engine
Temperature sensors on the engine automatically provide the correct fuel/air mixture required for starting.
Therefore, it is not necessary to depress the accelerator pedal while starting a cold or a warm engine.
Starting the engine
The first operation of the starter is ended automatically when the engine starts.
If the engine does not start, subsequent starter operations will not be ended automatically.
If the engine fails to start after 10 or 15 seconds of cranking:
Exhaust Gas
Exhaust gas contains colorless and odorless carbon monoxide (CO), which is toxic even in low concentrations. Carbon monoxide can cause unconsciousness and even death if inhaled.
An unattended vehicle with a running engine is potentially hazardous.
If warning lights should come on to indicate improper operation, they would go unnoticed.
Exhaust System Fire Hazard
Exhaust fumes and the exhaust system are very hot when the engine is running. The exhaust system remains hot for some time after the engine is turned off.
Hot Exhaust Pipes
The exhaust pipe is hot when the vehicle is running and remains hot for some time after the vehicle is turned off.


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The tech world has been inundated recently with all sorts of quixotic talk about how cell phones and US$100 laptops will bring the power of computers and the Internet to the furthest reaches of the globe, laying an inexpensive bridge across the digital divide and enabling citizens from every country on earth to flame each other in chat rooms. Given all the hype, it can be difficult to remember that there are large groups of people even in America who don't see the need for access to the 'Net. And among those who do, dial-up still remains a popular choice. Those are some of the conclusions from a recent study by Parks Associates about the use of technology in America, and their report suggests that the Internet access market has matured.
"Explosive growth," a phrase once ubiquitous in discussions of Internet access, is no longer a reality in the US. From 1997 to 2000, home access grew at 4 to 7 percent per month, but slowed to two or three percent a month by 2002. This year, it is expected to rise only one point, from 63 to 64 percent. Of the 36 percent that don't have access, 29 percent don't even own a computer, which suggests that they won't be subscribing to DSL anytime soon. Cheaper machines may eventually attract these users, but prices are already so low that a bargain-basement computer is already within the reach of most families that want one.
Remember modems? So do the 22 percent of Americans who still have dial-up. While this may come as a shock to the geekerati, millions of households manage to do their e-mail and Web browsing over 56Kbps modems—and most of them plan to keep it that way. A full 18 percent of US households (my grandparents included) have no plans to upgrade to broadband, no matter how many people complain about the constant busy signals when they attempt to call.
The numbers might suggest that the US has large segments of the population that are Internet-illiterate, but it's important to keep in mind what these numbers are measuring: home Internet use. Those who have a computer but no Internet connection (7 percent) and those who don't even own a computer (29 percent) may all access the 'Net at other places, including work or the public library. The survey bears this out; of the households with no Internet access at home, 14 million use the 'Net in other places, so it does appear that most people have at least a passing familiarity with e-mail and Web browsing.
With so little growth predicted in the industry, and with most dial-up users willing to stay with what they've got, ISPs in search of more money have limited options. AOL's strategy is simply to gouge the consumer by charging dial-up users the same price that DSL subscribers pay, while many broadband operators are engaged in laying fiber and other technologies designed to bring faster speeds to the home as a means of luring customers away from rivals. But raising speeds and raising prices isn't likely to attract anyone who doesn't already see the need for the Internet at home (just the opposite, in fact). One country that still does have new users hungry for the 'Net is China, which is predicted to surpass the US in the number of total broadband users by the end of this year, giving it the most broadband users of any country on the planet.


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LONDON (Reuters) - Sanofi won the backing of European regulators for two new drugs against diabetes and cancer on Friday, a shot in the arm for the French company's drive to bring new products to market.
New diabetes drug Lyxumia was recommended for treating type 2 diabetes and Zaltrap was endorsed for the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said.
Recommendations from the EMA are normally endorsed by the European Commission within two or three months and Sanofi said it expected to hear from the Commission in the first quarter of 2013.
Lyxumia, which Sanofi licensed from Denmark's Zealand Pharma, is part of a new class of diabetes treatments called GLP-1 analogues which prompt the body to release insulin when a diabetic's blood sugar level climbs too high.
It is one of several new medicines Sanofi is banking on to drive growth after patent losses on former top-selling drugs.
Pierre Chancel, Sanofi's global head of diabetes, said the positive opinion for Lyxumia was "an important milestone" and would help expand the company's already strong diabetes franchise, which is dominated by the long-acting insulin Lantus.
Sanofi plans to submit Lyxumia for approval with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of the year.
Rival GLP-1 treatments include Novo Nordisk's Victoza, and Byetta and Bydureon, from Amylin, the U.S. drugmaker acquired earlier this year by Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca.
Zaltrap, developed with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, is a so-called anti-angiogenic agent, designed to starve tumors of blood. It was approved in the United States in August.
Although the drug failed to live up to its promise as a treatment for prostate cancer in late-stage tests, it has shown significant improvement in overall survival in patients with colon cancer.
Shares in Sanofi were 0.6 percent by 1340 GMT. The stock is up close to a fifth this year, making it France's largest company by market capitalization, reflecting growing confidence that new drugs will help it offset patent losses on older ones.
Reporting by Ben Hirschler; additional reporting by Elena Berton in Paris; Editing by Chris Wickham


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Head coach Ben Cabell, on three matches: "We competed hard in all three matches so I am proud of the effort. We had some good individual performances, especially by Casey Knutson, who won twice and pushed a very good player in the third match."
Cabell, on Washington State match: "We competed well with a team that just beat one of the top 25 teams in the country. Casey and Erika again had a great doubles win and Casey pulled off a good singles win. She has really been stepping up this season."
Cabell, on Texas-Arlington match: "We had our chances to beat UTA, but we needed just a bit more. Myra suffered an injury in her match and she was playing very well against a good player. Overall, we did not have enough to get a win."
Cabell, Southern Methodist match: "SMU is very good team and they really took it to us from the start. The conditions were tough because it was in the 30s and very windy. They played at a very high level and we could not match them."


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Malloy touts completed rail work in Bridgeport
For the first time in four years, Metro-North trains will be able to run on all four tracks in a stretch between Bridgeport and the Southport section of Fairfield following installation of a new catenary system, giving the railroad better ability to operate normally during service outages.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced completion of the project Tuesday afternoon at a news conference with Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Jim Redeker at Union Station in New Haven.
"There is understandably a negative public perception of the reliability of our railroad infrastructure and state of good repair," Malloy said. "While I realize there is no silver bullet, I want to assure riders that they will have a safe and reliable commute as soon as possible."
Malloy also spoke about his commitment to press Metro-North officials to improve safety, as well as re-establish on-time performance and add new service, two goals he said should be bigger priorities as part of a Monday, May 11, schedule change.
Metro-North executives have said the schedule is tailored to reduce trip times that have grown systemwide -- most heavily on the New Haven Line -- after a federal crackdown. Federal officials focused on speeds on sharp curves and moveable bridges, and extensive track work initiated after a May 17 derailment of a train that collided with another in Bridgeport. The new restrictions affect five moveable bridges on the New Haven Line, and two sharp curves in Bridgeport and Port Chester, N.Y.
"It has been a strained relationship," Malloy said.
Metro-North officials since winter have been planning a timetable change for May to offset trip time added by new speed restrictions imposed by the Federal Railroad Administration. It issued the order in the wake of a December high-speed derailment in the Bronx that killed four people.
That order also mandated automated breaking on trains in the event an engineer failed to comply with speed restrictions.
In that accident, the engineer operating the train said he was in a daze prior to the accident in which the train jumped the tracks at 82 mph in an area posted for 30.
"It's a sad fact that the poor performance of the railroad has given us more leverage to deal with them," Malloy said.
In August, the state will begin replacement of the final two sections of catenary on the New Haven Line. The project began in 1998 to install the constant tension system that is expected to eliminate wire breakage due to contraction and expansion in hot and cold weather.
Malloy said the impacts of that work will be minimized by maintaining service on one of two tracks until the completion of the work in spring 2017. The work includes replacement of 10.5 miles of overhead wire in two sections from East Norwalk to Greens Farms in Westport and Bridgeport east to the Devon bridge in Milford.
After speaking critically of Metro-North, Malloy acknowledged that Connecticut's General Assembly bears responsibility for failing to prioritize spending over the years on the catenary and other projects to improve service.
"Connecticut caused a lot of its own problems by not investing," Malloy said.


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Oracle CEO Larry Ellison had a 15-minute break with nothing else to do, so he typed up a few sentences that would end up costing HP billions of dollars.
Never one to shy away from the courts, Ellison was on jury duty in March of last year, hearing a case about a woman who slipped on a patch of diesel fuel at a car dealership in Half Moon Bay, California. One afternoon, during a break in the trial, he drafted a press release announcing that Oracle would pull the plug on all software it offered for HP servers based on the Itanium chip, a big, beefy microprocessor that HP had nurtured alongside Intel for more than a decade.
The decision was a long time coming, and there were certainly good business reasons for pulling the plug. Though Itanium was once billed as a chip that would dominate the computer world, it never really took off, and by March 2011, HP was the only major server marker still selling Itanium machines. But judging from thousands of pages of court records detailing the situation, Ellison also drafted that press release out of spite, hitting back at a company that had fired one of his close friends before hiring a man he deeply despised.
The result of that spite is that HP and Oracle are now embroiled in a billion-dollar court case, and this week, the case comes to trial in the Santa Clara County courtroom of Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg. The case has it all: billions of dollars at stake, a sex scandal, powerful Silicon Valley friendships, criminal charges, dark animosity, and darker fears of retribution. In other words, it's business. But it's also very personal – as business always seems to be with Larry Ellison.
In a strange way, it all starts in another courtroom just a few miles north, with that slip-and-fall suit that saw Ellison show up in a jury box in San Mateo county. Ellison was already spending a lot of time with lawyers in the spring of last year. Oracle was engaged in a bitter lawsuit with software rival, SAP, and it was suing Google too. Just months earlier, Oracle had settled another acrimonious lawsuit, this one with HP over Ellison's decision to hire HP's tarnished CEO Mark Hurd.
Ellison often uses lawsuits as an extension of his company's public relations efforts. So it came as little surprise that when Oracle's CEO was eventually picked for the Miramontes jury, he served as foreman.
The trial kept him away from some of his Oracle duties. He missed the company's quarterly earnings call that month, for example, but he did manage to squeeze in some work while in court. During a break from the trial, which started March 22, Ellison drafted the press release that changes the future of HP and Intel and so many Itanium customers.
In a Feb. 28, 2012, deposition, Ellison explained it this way: "I ... had nothing to do for 15 minutes, so I drafted a press release," he said.
Microsoft and other software makers had already walked away from Itanium, but Oracle was different. It had partnered with HP to sell billions of dollars in Itanium server hardware and Oracle software to some of the biggest companies in the world. Oracle had stopped supporting HP's processors in the past, though never before HP itself had begun to wind them down.
But things had changed the year earlier, when Oracle had decided to buy one of HP's biggest rivals, Sun Microsystems. Now Oracle wasn't just a software company. It sold servers too.
Still, when Ellison sent his draft press release to Oracle co-president Safra Catz, almost nobody knew it was coming: not Intel, not many within Oracle itself, not Oracle's customers, and, least of all, not HP itself.
At 3 p.m. PDT on Mar. 22, Catz sent the approved press release from her iPhone – the word Itanium misspelled as "Itaniem" – to three of the company's top PR, marketing, and government affairs executives.
Catz added just two words of commentary for the benefit of her staffers: "Buckle up."
Five hours later, it hit the newswires, setting off firestorms at HP and Intel. The next day HP's new CEO Leo Apotheker went onstage at his first-ever stockholder meeting, but the trade press was abuzz, wondering how big of a blow Oracle had dealt to Itanium.
For a quarter century, Oracle and HP had been the best of partners. When Mark Hurd was CEO at HP, he and Ellison were tennis buddies, so friendly that they informally discussed buying Sun together at one point, and even batted about the idea of merging HP and Oracle. But then Oracle bought Sun on its own. Hurd was forced out of HP following accusations of sexual harassment. And in his place, HP hired Leo Apotheker, the former CEO of SAP, the company that Oracle had accused of stealing its trade secrets.
The result was Ellison's press release – a death knell for HP's 25-year-old Unix business, a line that still brings the company more than $2 billion in revenue each year.
The Unsinkable Itanic ———————
Starting in the mid 1980s, HP-UX had grown to be a critical back-end system for data centers in big businesses such as banks and telecommunications companies. And for many of them, Oracle's database and business software was a crucial element. A quarter-century ago, Unix companies designed their own processors and servers, and stitched together their own versions of Unix with names such as Solaris, HP-UX, Irix, and AIX. But by the late 1990s, Windows and Linux servers – and the low-cost x86 Intel chips that they shipped with – were putting pressure on this business model.
So Intel and HP came up with a plan: They would co-develop a new chip, called Itanium. It would be an alternative to the expensive Unix chips built by HP, IBM and the others, but it would be designed for the back-end enterprise systems where Unix was running strong. If all of the Unix companies – IBM, SGI, DEC, and HP – could get on board with Itanium then they would save the money they were spending on chip design, and still have a higher-priced alternative to x86. Eventually, Intel hoped that Itanium would replace x86 itself, and become a mainstream processor used on desktop PCs.
That was not to be. It turned out that x86 was good enough. And, under pressure from AMD, Intel steadily improved its Xeon processors, so that they trounced the expensive Unix chips, including Itanium. Today, burdened by shipment delays and lackluster sales, Itanium is mockingly called Itanic, one of Intel's biggest mistakes. But it's a mistake that HP married when it bet its Unix future on the troubled processor. It's also a mistake that Oracle has made a pastime of exploiting since it bought Sun two years ago.
HP executives were worried by the Sun purchase, but after Oracle's co-president Safra Catz invited heads of HP's business division, including services chief Ann Livermore and server boss David Donatelli to an Apr. 16, 2010 meeting at Oracle's Redwood Shores, California, offices, things seemed to be on track. The two companies identified a dozen or so business opportunities and agreed on ways to move forward against a common enemy: IBM.
But a few months later came the Mark Hurd scandal. That pushed everything in a downward direction. Hurd had been accused of sexual harassment by Jodie Fisher, a former B-movie actress and Playboy model who had worked as a facilitator during HP customer events. Hurd and Fisher eventually settled the matter, but he was ultimately forced out of HP by the board, which felt he'd mishandled it by hiding her name from expense reports covering meals the two had had together.
The Larry Risk ————–
Ellison pounced. After blasting HP's board for making the "worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago," he hired his tennis buddy Hurd to run Oracle's sales and operations.
Now HP wasn't just competing head on against Oracle. It was competing against its own former chief, a man who knew every important detail of HP's business strategy from the previous five years. "Mark is an incredibly bright man with a memory like a steel trap, and so we were concerned about how much confidential information Mark had," said Livermore, in a deposition given four months ago for the Itanium trial. "And we were also concerned about whether he had any ill will towards HP."
Hours after Hurd was hired at Oracle, HP filed suit against him, claiming that his new job at Oracle would violate confidentiality agreements he'd signed on his way out at HP.
As far as Ellison is concerned, it was the HP Board of Directors v. Lawrence J. Ellison. "The H.P. board is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and H.P. to continue to cooperate and work together in the I.T. marketplace," he said.
After the Hurd incident, Ellison had it in for HP's board. "I was furious," he said during his 2012 deposition. "I thought that my anger should be directed towards those people who had fired Mark Hurd and those people who were suing us, not at HP at large," he said.
HP's board was worried and Oracle knew it. "Frankly, they thought that Larry was a little crazy and was going to breach all of the agreements with HP," said Oracle General Counsel Dorian Daley in a Jan. 17, 2012 deposition.
Over at HP, they had a name for it. They called it "the Larry risk."
In truth, the lawsuit and the venomous public rhetoric was bad business for both Oracle and HP. And so, spurred by a phone call from Larry Ellison to HP board member Marc Andreessen, Ann Livermore and Safra Catz hammered out a deal. Hurd would give back millions of dollars in stock grants and would be strictly prohibited from calling on key HP customers such as AT&T, Boeing, and Citigroup.
The companies also agreed to do one other thing thing, listed out as item number one in the settlement agreement. They reaffirmed their partnership. "Oracle will continue to offer its product suite on HP platforms, and HP will continue to support Oracle products ... on its hardware in a manner consistent with that partnership as it existed prior to Oracle's hiring of Hurd," the agreement states.
That one item is now the fulcrum beneath this week's court case. To hear Oracle tell it, the reaffirmation was simply a press-release kind of thing, a way of reassuring customers that the two companies had patched things up. HP's position is that it was a promise by Oracle that it would not do exactly what Larry Ellison had done with his Mar. 22 email message.
Larry Ellison 'Speechless' ————————–
The September 2010 agreement may have patched things up momentarily, but HP's next move galled Ellison even more. A few weeks later, it chose former SAP chief Leo Apotheker as the man to replace Hurd. "I'm speechless," he told the Wall Street Journal. "HP had several good internal candidates ... but instead they pick a guy who was recently fired because he did such a bad job of running SAP."
Worse, HP simultaneously picked Ray Lane to be chairman of the board. Lane, once a trusted deputy at Oracle, had left after a falling out with Ellison.
For Ellison, the Apotheker and Lane selections showed that HP was about to get serious about software, as it did with the $10 billion acquisition of business search company Autonomy. But even though Apotheker was ousted within the year, Ellison still seems to save a special kind of invective for him. Just last week, he refused to pronounce Apotheker's name correctly and called him an "idiot" at the D: All Things Digital conference in Los Angeles.
Two weeks after HP hired Apotheker, Ellison ordered his database team to stop publishing performance benchmark numbers on HP's Itanium systems, a move that eliminated an important selling tool for HP's salesforce. According to Oracle's database licensing agreement, HP was prohibited from publishing benchmark numbers without Oracle's permission. Two months later, Oracle changed the licensing rate for its software on Itanium systems, eliminating a longstanding advantage that HP's Itanium systems had enjoyed over other rivals.
The announcement that Oracle was dumping Itanium shook HP, but it also made a lot of big corporate customers angry with Oracle for sticking them with millions of dollars' worth of soon-to-be-obsolete hardware. Take Camp Dresser & McKee (now CDM Smith), a Cambridge, Massachusetts, engineering company that had recently passed over Oracle's Exadata servers for a $1.5 million Itanium-based system running Oracle's database.
A few weeks after the news broke, the company's CIO, Peter Palmisano, wrote Oracle asking the company to change its mind. Oracle's decision was so abrupt that it was going to hurt his business, by preventing him from getting access to new releases. "Investments in enterprise class systems are made on a 5 to 10 year basis and cannot be changed on short notice," he wrote.
Over at HP, executives were weighing all options, including the possibility of paying Oracle to keep up Itanium development. In fact, HP had already paid Oracle hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure that other products – the Oracle Retail Suite and Demantra, a sales planning tool – ran on Itanium. But because the database brought in so much money for both Oracle and HP, there had never been a reason to pay Oracle before. On Mar. 28, the HP executive responsible for Itanium, Martin Fink, raised the idea of paying Oracle.
But his boss, David Donatelli shot him down. "Too early to go there," he wrote back. "Customer outrage first. Once we even suggest money, all our paths are over."
Donatelli and others at HP believed that if enough high-level customers made it clear that they blamed Oracle for the fact that they would have to scrap Itanium systems before their time, it might cause the database company to reconsider.
What followed was a high-tech game of chicken, with HP trying to portray Oracle as the villain to customers, while Oracle's Ellison has gleefully watched HP's Unix server sales drop, all the while coloring Itanium as a sham and a boondoggle. In June of last year, HP sued Oracle. Two months later, Oracle counter-sued, alleging that HP misled the world by not admitting that it was paying hundreds of millions of dollars to Intel to keep up development of its money losing chip.
140,000 Customers Caught in the Middle ————————————–
In the middle of it all are some 140,000 customers who run Oracle's software on HP systems. Many of them are looking to January of next year, the month when Oracle is expected to ship its next-generation database software. Unless the Santa Clara court orders otherwise, this software won't run on Itanium.
By October of 2011, things had become so bad that HP's Fink re-floated the "pay Oracle" plan, proposing that HP cough up a minimum of $20 million per year to keep Oracle's latest software to Itanium. That too seems to have been nixed. "By October [2011], our business was in very, very steep decline," Donatelli explained during a March 2012 deposition. "Martin was receiving budget cuts.... And he was, as you can imagine, an idea machine for different alternatives and ideas of how he could try and recover his business. This was one of many."
But now, HP is running out of options. The company's Itanium system sales are down 23 percent year-over-year and most customers are starting to plan for the demise of the product line, according to George Weiss, an analyst with the Gartner research firm
"Most users have gone from that denial period to: 'It's a fait accompli,'" says Weiss. "Oracle may have said that this was a business decision, and yet the reality is that they also want to crush HP as a competitor."
Or you might say that Larry Ellison wanted to crush a company that had fired his tennis buddy before hiring a guy he thought was an idiot.


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Start Slideshow
- Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Davis Brody Bond union square national mallEarlier this summer, three architectural firms were tasked with reinventing the US Capitol's public spaces in a sustainable and secure way as part of the  National Mall Design Contest. Now Gustafson Guthrie Nichol and Davis Brody Bond have released images of their winning plans to rehabilitate and refurbish the Union Square site of the National Mall, complete with a reflecting pool, a public performance space, and leveled terraces for more that 25 million annual visitors to enjoy.1
- Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Davis Brody Bond union square national mallThe international competition organized by the Trust for the National Mall, aimed to rethink, restore, and rebuild the overused and neglected outdoor areas of the Capitol that have endured decades of visitor wear and tear. A jury of eight esteemed architects and designers hand-picked the winning designs that will revitalize not only Union Square, but also the Sylvan Theater and the Constitution Gardens.2
- Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Davis Brody Bond union square national mallNichol and Bond's design for Union Square is a completely flexible space, open enough for large public gatherings, yet peaceful enough for congress workers and visitors to enjoy an outdoor break. The designers relocate the reflecting pond lying parallel to the Capitol to the first grassy panel on the Mall lawn.3
- Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Davis Brody Bond union square national mallThe simple move echoes the similar and iconic design at the other end of the lawn with the Lincoln Memorial and its own reflecting pool. The shallow pond features diagonal paved paths for visitors to emerge themselves in the monumental space. The pond can also be quickly and fully drained to make way for larger gathering or performance space.4
- Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Davis Brody Bond union square national mallVarious public spaces line the pool, including gardens, terraces, and leveled patios with seating areas. The designs work around the massive trees that already inhabit the space, creating both a modern and historic atmosphere.5
- Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Davis Brody Bond union square national mallTheir varying levels make Union Square a more comfortable space in which to gather for events, yet still an active, beautiful area when it is not accommodating a crowd.6
- Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Davis Brody Bond union square national mallThe green features of the National Mall's new design are at the forefront of what the competition jury hoped would define the capitol's growing ideas. "Symbolically, it's seen as the center of America," Donald Stasney, Design Competition Manager said. "It should be sustainable and around for a long time -- its our postcard to the rest of the world."7


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Is the New York Times protecting dissident Catholic priests?
By Phil Lawler (bio - articles - email) | May 16, 2012
The perceptive religion reporter Terry Mattingly noticed something that had escaped me, in a New York Times story about religious attitudes toward same-sex marriage. The Times reported:
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual behavior is a sin, but there are Catholic priests who secretly bless gay unions. [emphasis added]
Regarding the phrase in bold—which is treated almost as an afterthought, although the claim is a bombshell--Mattingly comments:
If, in fact, the Times has factual material about Catholic priests blessing same-sex relationships and unions then this is clearly the most important news angle in this piece. This is a major news story, buried deep in a related news report.
However, note that this claim (which I do not doubt, by the way) appears with absolutely no context, no attribution, no clue as to the source of this information. The Times does not even claim to be printing this information based on anonymous sources who requested protection from the Vatican. This is most strange.
Like Mattingly, I am quite willing to believe that the Times report is accurate. It is, regrettably, easy to believe that some Catholic priests are giving their blessing to homosexual unions. But if that is the case, these priests are clearly acting in defiance of the Church: the institution they claim to serve. That defiance would constitute a major news story, not merely an observation to be made in passing.
Mattingly argues that the Times should tell readers something about the information upon which the newspaper bases its report. He's right. But I would add a different observation about this remarkable story: The Times appears to be protecting dissenting priests from ecclesiastical discipline.
Any Times reporter who actually witnessed a Catholic priest blessing a homosexual union, or heard a credible first-hand report of such an event, should have written a news story about it, and that story should have appeared on the front page. That didn't happen. Why not? I can think of only 3 possible explanations:
- The Times reported something as fact when it had no solid evidence. Terry Mattingly and I agree that's unlikely.
- The Times had solid evidence of priests blessing gay unions, but withheld that evidence because the priests demanded anonymity. That's possible. But as Mattingly points out, the Times ordinarily informs readers when a report is based on information from someone who requests anonymity.
- The Times knows of priests who have blessed same-sex unions, and those priests have not requested anonymity, but the Times has decided not to identify them anyway. This seems to me the most likely explanation.
See my follow-up thoughts on this curious issue here.
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Posted by: hartwood01 -
May. 18, 2012 9:39 PM ET USA
Not surprising the NYT would keep these priests anonymous,it has no love for the Church and certainly would not assist her it getting these guys in line.
Posted by: thx1688 -
May. 17, 2012 2:22 AM ET USA
In the Archdiocese of Vienna, in Austria, not only does the rector of the Cathedral of St. Stephansdom bless homosexual unions, he does so with the full knowledge and consent of Cardinal Schönborn. And there is no way whatsoever Rome is not fully aware of this. So if Toni Farber is "blessing" homosexual couples with Schönborn's knowledge and consent, and Schönborn is allowing it with Rome's certain knowledge and consent through inaction, what can be done?
Posted by: wolfdavef3415 -
May. 16, 2012 9:38 PM ET USA
This tactic happens a lot. Some of the other clues to look for are 'some experts say' and then no names of those experts. Or 'research suggests'! You'd be amazed how often research suggests things that later turn out to be totally false. http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=157268&print=1 According to that link, nearly 3 out of 4 scientists have witnessed colleagues engaged in questionable practices! One can only wonder at the rate for journalists.


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text: As a gringo living in Brazil it's magic to meet new people and/or admire their handiwork. Bizarrely, the four masked gunmen who pointed a Mac 10 at my head before methodically stealing all our belongings aren't on that list. But Carlos Dias, a friend of the wife's, most certainly is.


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DeSean Jackson expects big things from new Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly. After watching Kelly lay waste to the Pac-12 for a while, the Eagles wide receiver expects more of the same at the pro level.
Jackson told the guys at NFL.com Kelly would be "going to make defensive coordinators crazy."
Jackson's goals are modest. He's hoping to touch the ball 15 to 20 times per game with roughly three to five touchdowns per contest.
San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman also spoke with Around the League about Kelly's transition to the NFL earlier this week.
"I'm sure it will be interesting," Roman said. "I think it will work to a certain extent. I've coached in the Pac-12. I've coached in the NFL. It's different. It's just different for a lot of reasons. You've got to be able to adapt week to week and from college to pro. I believe he'll be able to make the right decisions and adapt.
I tend to expect the same thing. In time, Kelly should make defensive coordinators crazy. He's just not going to do it in the same way that he did it at Oregon.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.


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Mexico's annual tourism convention, Tianguis Turistico, is always a good opportunity to take a reading of what's happening in the nation's tourism industry. Such was the case during the 39th annual edition of the event, which took place at Lakam Center, a convention center between Cancun and the Riviera Maya.
Some 15,000 business appointments took place during this year's Tianguis, with about 3,000 exhibitors and 59 countries represented. Actor Kevin Spacey made an appearance during the event to discuss his career as well as his love of Mexico. What follows are the news highlights from this year's event.
Ambitious AMResorts
AMResorts had some of the most ambitious expansion plans to announce during Tianguis, with a goal of operating 15,138 rooms in six countries by the time its current projects are complete. Among the new properties is the 441-room Dreams Sands Cancun Resort & Spa, scheduled to open in September following a major overhaul on the existing Grand Oasis Viva.
The company is also converting an existing hotel on Isla Mujeres to become the Zoetry Villa Rolandi Isla Mujeres Cancun by December of this year. The 424-room Secrets Playa Mujeres Golf & Spa Resort will debut in November. AMResorts' lineup of newbuild properties include Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya and Breathless Petempich Riviera Maya, both of which are expected to open in December 2015.
Real Inn Expands
About two years ago, Grupo Real Turismo introduced the Real Inn brand, targeted at business travelers. This year, the brand is expanding by three properties: the 145-room Real Inn Villahermosa, the 160-room Real Inn Cancun and the 160-room Real Inn Guadalajara. Additionally, in 2015, the brand will debut a 300-room property in Monterrey and 405-room property in Mexico City's Santa Fe district.
Much to Do in Quintana Roo
A press conference at Tianguis officially announced the creation of Maya Kaan, a region that developers are calling the newest destination in the Mexican Caribbean. Through this new marketing effort, travelers will be able to take 16 tours to nine tourist sites, operated by 17 community-based companies in local Maya communities. The communities are located in Tulum, Felipe Carrillo Puerto and Jose Maria Morelos. Another new attraction in the state is Xoximilco, a theme park from the creators of Xcaret. Designed to evoke the legendary canals of Xochimilco in Mexico City, the attraction, although spelled differently, offers cruises on traditionally colorful boats, with food, drinks and music.
Lure of Los Cabos
Some 1,300 new hotel rooms are under development in Los Cabos, including the 115-room Thompson Cabo San Lucas, 120-room Resort at Diamante, 196-room Park Hyatt, 124-room Ritz-Carlton Reserve Los Cabos and 300-room JW Marriott Los Cabos. In addition, two new 18-hole golf courses — the Quivira Los Cabos and El Cardonal at Diamante — will open this fall.
Mazatlan Express
A new highway that bypasses Mazatlan's city center is slated to be completed in November 2014, cutting travel time from the Mazatlan airport to the northern hotel zone to about 20 minutes, according to tourism secretary Frank Cordova. In 2015, the neighborhood surrounding the city's convention center is to be fully complete, he said, with a 250-room hotel by a to-be-announced Spanish chain. Also in the works are plans to develop a nearly 98,000-acre stretch of beachfront area north of the existing Emerald Bay property.
Tianguis Returns to Acapulco
Next year, Tianguis will return to its original home, Acapulco. Destination representatives from that city — which is now marketed as part of the Triangulo del Sol, or Sun Triangle — aim to showcase what has changed since the last time the city hosted the event, including a new urban transportation system called Acabus and the Macrotunnel project, which will connect the Diamante zone with the Traditional zone. Mundo Imperial, a meeting, convention and event facility located in the Diamante zone, will be a major hub for next year's Tianguis, and some 800 new guestrooms will debut there before the event.


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Michigan campaign finance laws require us to report each donor's information plus the donor's employer, employer's address and the donor's occupation. Please do not send cash or corporate donations!
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Have you seen these beautiful eggs before? I had seen these eggs before, gracing
photographs and was on a lookout for them. Then, late last year I spied them at a stand in the farmer's market. I chatted with the lady selling them to find out more about the eggs and their intriguing color, but, surprisingly, she didn't have much information to share. Apparently, some of her hens laid blue eggs and she sold them since everybody seemed to be crazy after them..
Anyway, I was going to be travelling shortly after that and so, sadly, couldn't satisfy my curiosity then. Imagine my joy when I found these lovely blue eggs on the shelves of Gristedes!! I grabbed them without a second thought (the $3.40, for 6 eggs, price tag notwithstanding).
I am not much of an egg eater. We go through a few cartons a month, yes, but that's mostly from my baking and not so much the Sunday omelette or egg preparation. But, in order to really compare the taste, I decided to go with a simple fried egg.
As soon as I cracked open the egg, I noticed that the yolks were HUGE! And, of a deep yellow hue. The yolk to white ratio was very skewed relative to the standard brown or white eggs. Then I tasted them! Oh! they are indeed different; lighter (I can't figure out how, given above point) and so much milder without any of the egg-y after-taste.
If the smell and after taste of eggs, typically put you off, I definitely recommend trying these blue beauties. Next I am going to bake with them and see if there is any perceivable difference...
My lunch today was a Masala fried egg with a simple salad and toast. It was perfect!
P.S. Information from the carton - These eggs are laid by Ameraucana hens of
Platine Bleue
, descendants of the hens domesticated by the indigenous people of Chilean Patagonia.
Masala Fried Egg
(I picked this idea up at the cafeteria of my grad school. This used to be the only way, I'd consume eggs for breakfast!)
For each egg:
1 T finely diced onion (I mean real fine)
1/2 green chilli, finely diced
1/2 tsp chopped mint
pinch of chilli powder
salt to taste
Mix all the ingredients together. Crack open the egg on the pan. When the white starts to become opaque, slit the yolk with a sharp knife and quickly pat all the above mixture into the yolk.
Flip the egg to cook for a minute on the other side and serve
Easy Lunch Salad
Handful of mixed greens
grape tomatoes, sliced in halves
For the vinaigrette:
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt and pepper to taste
Whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients and fold over the salad leaves and tomatoes. Optional: Add toasted walnuts.


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THE likes of Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Rowan Atkinson, Dudley Moore and Sally Phillips, can claim to have forged comedy careers in Oxford.
And in their wake a comedy group in the city has gone from strength to strength.
Oxford Imps is celebrating 10 years since it first set up this month.
Grandpont resident Hannah Madsen, 32, established the group 10 years ago in her last year at Oxford University.
Ms Madsen, who is now the producer and founder of Angel Sharp Media video production company, said: "You don't really think of Oxford as having a comedy tradition until you realise how much there is here.
"It is actually, surprisingly, a very comedy-rich city, and that is shown by how many comedians you see on TV who are from Oxford.
"There are universities which have degrees you can take in stand-up comedy which I think Oxford University would be horrified by."
The current 32 improv comedians – Oxford residents and students – are celebrating a decade of performances with a special show.
The performance at the New Theatre in George Street is on Thursday at 8pm.
Performing on the night will be some of the Imp's most famous alumni including Ivo Graham from BBC3 and winner of So You Think You're Funny, Rachel Parris from The IT Crowd and BBC Radio 4, and Joseph Morpurgo from BBC Radio 4, BBC3, and Grand Theft Impro.
Producer of the 10th anniversary show Dylan Townley said: "We are a training group. Most imps have never done improv or even comedy before they join the troupe – yet our alumni go on to do fantastically funny stuff on BBC3, Radio 4 comedy, the London stand-up circuit, and have a huge presence at the Edinburgh Fringe."
The Oxford Imps made their debut at the Wheatsheaf pub in High Street in January 2004 and make it their Monday night home during the university term.
They have gone on to perform more than 450 shows.
- Stalwart Tom Skelton
Comedian Tom Skelton, 26, has performed in more than 400 of them – the most of any Oxford Imp.
But it could have been very different – the former Oxford University student almost missed his audition in 2006.
And for him the group has been more than just a comedy club.
He said: "Four years ago I lost my sight because of a genetic condition in my family. I left Oxford, postponed university, dropped everything. I was back to visit some friends, and they persuaded me to come to a rehearsal, and then that Monday I was on stage with them again.
"It felt so good to know that when I had lost my ability to do everything else, I could still make people laugh just as well – if not better – than I could before.
"It helps sometimes, because improv is all imagination anyway, I'm not hindered by the fact that I know there's nothing there – for all I know, there could be."
- For tickets to the 10th Anniversary Show call 0844 8713020 or go to atgtickets.com/oxford
Oxford Imps founder Hannah Madsen recalls the group's beginnings:
Q How did it get started?
"I went up to the Edinburgh Fringe in my final year of university with a drama group, and was just blown away by an improv group I saw up there – I went to see them eight times. I thought, "Why does Oxford not have an improv group? It's perfect, being full of quick-thinking people."
"So when we came back I stayed in Oxford and set it up, thinking I would only do it for a year before I left the city for good, and it was an overnight success. Our first show was the Wheatsheaf in January 2004, but we had been rehearsing since October 2003. Every member has to do two months of rehearsals before they're allowed on stage.
Q What's the 10th anniversary show about?
"It's really celebrating the success of our alumni, what other Imps have gone on to do. People have set up other improv groups, which is great, but we're creating our own competition! It's gone from less than 10 improv groups at the Fringe to between 40 and 50. Others have gone on to do professional comedy writing, or stand up. It's really great."
Q Your group has led to so many rising stars, do you ever feel jealous that you're still here?
"The thing is, improv teaches you so many social skills, about being nice to each other, letting down barriers, opening up to each other etc. Imps has taught me so many life skills, and all of these people are my friends, so no I don't feel jealous. I work on my video production company in Oxford. I'm usually not very hands-on with the Imps any more. It's just because of this 10th anniversary show that I'm back in the mix. I did move away from Oxford, but then I came back.
- THE Oxford Imps were founded in October 2003, made up of both students and local residents.
- They made their debut performance at the Wheatsheaf pub, in January 2004.
- Since then the Wheatsheaf has been their Monday night home during university terms.
- To date, they have performed more than 450 shows.
- In 2004 the group ventured north to perform at the heart of UK comedy, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
- They have performed there every year since.
- They have sold more than 22,500 tickets and had six sell-out years.
- Oxford Imps have since toured the USA three times, selling out in New York.
- In Nashville the group were chosen as the Nashville Scene Critics' Pick in 2012.
- The troupe also tour to Holland yearly and toured to France in 2011.
- Jeremy Heimans – the CEO of Purpose.com, and the co-founder of Avaaz.org
- Keli Carender – the first Tea Party protest activist
- Rose Heiney – novelist and writer for Film and TV (Miranda, Fresh Meat)
- Heather McRobie – novelist, journalist (The Guardian, New Statesman)
- Chris Turner – Stand Up Comedian (BBC New Comedy award finalist)
- Ben Van Der Velde – Stand Up Comedian (Comedy Cafe New Act of the Year)
- John Gethin, pictured right, – winner of Channel 4's Beauty and the Geek (as the geek)
- Lee Rubenstein – Writer for Comedy Central
- Pete Bearder – Slam poet and activist
- Ralph McCubbin Howell – award-winning New Zealand playwright
- Performing at the Wheatsheaf
Oxford Imp Tom Wilkinson, 31, considers the group's impact:
"When the Imps first stepped on to an Oxford stage, during the Bush administration, Britain was something of an improv wasteland.
"Stalwarts did good and noble work at being funny impromptu, but if asked, most people might remember the show Who's Line Is It Anyway (which last recorded a UK show in the mid 1990s) and otherwise draw a blank as to what improv even was.
- Tom Wilkinson
"Since then, the situation has changed utterly. Not only has the number, variety and quality of improv acts exploded, but audiences now have a taste for it.
"The Imps can't take credit for all that. But maybe they can allow themselves a small pat on the back: through shows such as Austentatious and Racing Minds, former Oxford Imps have been at the forefront of popularising improv, and the Imps' distinctive approach – being serious about being funny – has helped make improv a credible form and driven the creation of new improv groups across the country, run by former members of the company. It's one of the Imps' core beliefs that improv is more than just an amazing night out: it's a way of learning how to be a better performer, and a little bit of a better human being."


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text:
Welcome to the College of Arts and Sciences at Gonzaga University!
I am proud to be the Dean of a college faculty that demonstrates, on a daily basis, its dedication to students, and to the broader Spokane community. Arts and Sciences professors are passionate teachers, superb mentors, successful grant writers, productive scholars, and well-respected artists. In addition, College staff are caring professionals who will always put students first.
21st century teaching and learning takes place both in- and outside of the classroom. While college classes teach the skills of critical thinking and reasoning, communication, and analysis, we distinguish ourselves by involving majors in research projects and service learning activities to help them apply those skills for the benefit of others. Our goal is to prepare our students for leading meaningful, productive lives, and to act with compassion and with a strong sense of social justice.
We are proud of our graduates as well. You can find Arts and Sciences alumni in all sorts of occupations; they are employed in the greater Spokane area, and all over the US and the world. Some pursue graduate and professional studies; others make careers in research. Some work in businesses, large and small, and others join the Peace Corps. Quite a few work for non-profit organizations.
I invite you to visit our web pages. Browse through our course offerings. Stop by our offices. Visit our exhibits of Art in the Northwest at the Jundt Museum. Attend a play at Magnuson Theatre. Have your book signed by a published author at our Visiting Author Series. Be inspired by scientists who explain the role of their work to the public. Listen to our student and faculty music recitals.
Please take the time to find out about these and other programs as you look through our websites. We welcome all of you!
Elisabeth Mermann-Jozwiak, Ph.D., Dean, College of Arts & Sciences