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Back in 2003, my research on my family was pretty new, I had been to Washington D.C and Minnesota but I was still searching for family. I decided to travel to Iowa because I had been in contact with a Spracklin cousin who emailed me. Jerry is a descendant of Henry Spracklin, Amarilla's older brother from the first marriage of their father Daniel. He lives in Iowa.
Over the years, I have learned that my genealogical research trips are just as important as putting together the research and scrolling through sources. I learned this from Paul H. Goss who did research on the Goss family. He didn't journal his research visits to cousins to learn about the Goss family history back in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. If you read his manuscripts you will see that he hints at these visits but he doesn't elaborate on them. Paul's visits to cousins or Goss descendants was very important and needed to be reported and sourced. I have a lot of respect for my cousin Paul Goss. It would have been nice to know where he obtained some of his information.
In reviewing my journal from my trip to Iowa, it brought back the whole trip and reminded me of my time in Iowa.
Here is a summary of that trip that opened the door on my research of the Daniel D. Spracklin families which included Amarilla my great-grandmother and her origins.
My trip to Iowa started on Friday, April 25, 2003 and ended on Wednesday, May 7, 2003. I flew into the Cedar Rapids Airport (Eastern Iowa Airport). I flew first to Chicago and then walked that airport from one end to the other to get to my connection to Iowa. Always check out an airport's website they have great information to help plan your trip.
This airport was a small airport so it was not hard to find the car rental desk and my car for the trip. Once I had settled into the new car, I made my way south to the Amana Colonies Holiday Inn east of Williamsburg. It doesn't seem to be there anymore and is probably under another name.
My goal was to visit courthouses, societies, libraries and cemeteries in and near Marengo and Blairstown, Iowa in search of the Daniel D. Spracklin families and Amarilla's origins.
When I prepare for a trip like this, I make an itinerary that is extremely detailed for each day of the trip. I know exactly what I plan to do that day after studying the websites of different repositories I want to visit. I add the addresses of repositories, their phone numbers, times they are opened and write all that information on the itinerary so I don't have to search for it if I get lost or there is a problem that occurs, or I have to reschedule. My itinerary is there to guide me and can change. The journal is what really happened on the trip.
Later I started using Microsoft's Streets and Trips (now discontinued as of 2014 and support ending 2015) to prepare a road trip itinerary. I like this software because it will break the route down by each day. The map is not always detailed enough so I do use GPS either in the rental car or on my cellphone. Cellphone GPS when traveling Internationally would be too costly. So I still need maps to help guide me. Before the trip I go to Google Earth or Google Maps to see the road using the satellite version. Areas of the route I am unclear about I drill down so I know what might happened. Still there are always surprises. I then make copies of my S&T maps and make sure I have a good state and or county map.
Armed with my itinerary, research goals, research papers, maps, and routing information, I head out on my adventure.
Once settled into the my hotel after the airplane flight, I prepare for my day. My first stop was Marengo, Iowa. I spent time in the Marengo Public Library using its newspapers and going into the basement where the Iowa County Genealogical Society was housed at that time. They were very helpful. ICGS has moved to North English. Don't confuse them with the Iowa Genealogical Society which is the state society located in Des Moines. The ICGS volunteer was very kind and kept the society open longer than was posted. She helped me locate cemeteries to view, found books, microfilm and more. I was very impressed with this society.
The most significant items found where the Atlases for Iowa and Benton County showing Daniel's land. Most of what we did was eliminate history books and other sources. Daniel was proving to be difficult to find.
My biggest outing was to the courthouse for Iowa County in Marengo and it was there I obtained copies of the Probate/Estate packet for Daniel D. Spracklin. The county website has a much better picture of the courthouse. County websites are tough to get around in, so just be persist till you find what you are looking for, call and ask.
I waited patiently while the clerk copied the file and had my money ready to pay for the copies. She was not necessarily happy with me. I agreed not to make her copy all of the creditor receipts and instead I look at them and made my choices. It was well worth the wait to obtain this file and see Amarilla listed as an heir-at-law of Daniel D. Spracklin along with her brothers and sisters. Oh yes, the floors did creak…
After a couple of days, I moved from the hotel to Loy's Bed & Breakfast which was closer to Marengo. It was really a farm-house where they were renting out the lower floor to visitors like myself. I wanted to see what it would be like to stay on a farm in Iowa. The proprietors were very nice. The man who was the owner of the farm, worked for the farm cooperative and was kind to study the estate papers of Daniel's especially the inventory. He said that Daniel was a general farmer and had many items that indicated this. I was grateful, I am city girl. He was very knowledgeable and told me how the farming was done today.
While staying at the farm B&B there was a storm and the sky got really black and I mean black and hung low to the ground. There were reports of tornadoes to the south. It slowed me down a little and made me a little nervous. I am a city girl you know.
While in Marengo, I found a lovely cafe to the left of the park where the locals gathered. The seats were a little worn but the food was good comfort good. It looks like its probably gone now. Sigh!
Oh, I did experience a traffic jam in Marengo. The train that goes through the town to the south blocked my progress for about 20 minutes, giggle.
I also drove from Marengo up to Blairstown to get a feel for the land and see the area. It is a little more rugged along that road and flattens out when you get to Blairstown. The public library at the time was going through construction so they had a prefab building housing the collection.
The Benton County Genealogical Society holdings were not there at my visit, they were at another location for safety. Now that the new library has been built they are housed there. It is really a nice library from the pictures and they have a genealogy room.
I did not go to Vinton to see the Benton County Historical Society holdings which would be of interest for Spracklin research.
I did make it to Belle Plaine but my search for Peter Spracklin's grave, a brother of Daniel, failed because there was some confusion about where he was buried.
I had to reschedule to the next day to go and study that collection which was in a bank in Blairstown. The librarian was very helpful and kind. I did do a search of the newspapers in the time frame of 1858-1859. There were obituaries but I did not find anything about Elizabeth Keller Spracklin's death or any Spracklins. I found others with familiar names from the Titler cemetery. Apparently you had to have money to appear in the newspapers which were mostly about farming and politics at the time.
I visited the Titler Cemetery which is northwest of Marengo on the road to Blairstown. It is where Elizabeth Keller Spracklin, Olive and Mary are buried. It was not in good shape and I could not find the graves on that visit. (See below for the results of another visit.)
Once I was done with my visiting in the Marengo area, I did a little backtracking and headed east to Iowa City. My next goal was the State Archives of Iowa Branch which is located in Iowa City on the campus of the University. I stayed at the Haverkamp Bed and Breakfast up the street from the Archives. It was very convenient to the Archives and I could walk to it. It looks like they are closed now. It was a great area of the city where there were a lot of old houses. My room was up on the 3rd floor and very nice and cozy.
I spent a wonderful several days at the Archives getting all kids of information about the Spracklins of Iowa. I searched cemetery records, vital records, and more at this location.
Once all my research at this location was done, I took the car back to the airport and shuttled back to Iowa City to await the arrival of my cousin Jerry who was coming to pick me up. I would be staying with him and his family in Des Moines. My goal was to visit the Iowa Genealogical Society, and the main branch of the State Archives of Iowa and Historical Society in Des Moines.
Jerry came to Iowa City and we drove back to the Titler Cemetery north of Marengo. He found the stones for the Spracklins piled under a tree.
The cemetery as in bad shape and I didn't want to leave Elizabeth and the babies there. The stones were not on the graves put piled under trees.
See my BJM Cemeteries blog for a more thorough description of the Titler Cemetery and all my photos of tombstones (not necessarily complete.) Here is the starting post there are many more about this cemetery, so scroll to the cemeteries on the right side and find Titler.
We also stopped at the Community Cemetery was near Millersburg. I usually like to visit a cemetery several times before I leave. We found the graves of Daniel, Sarah and Alfred Spracklin.
We stopped at more cemeteries for his mother's side of the family and then headed west to Des Moines. I spent a lovely fives days with Jerry's family. He was extremely generous and shared his research of Henry Spracklin's family with me. Henry is Amarilla's older brother.
We visited the state genealogical society, Iowa Genealogical Society in Des Moines and just as they were closing I found some information about Peter and Solomon Goss Spracklin. There are two publications of the Titler Cemetery and you need both to get a total picture. I got copies of these publications.
We later went to the main State Archives in Des Moines and that is where I found the obituaries of Daniel and Sara Spracklin and did deed research on Daniel, his brothers Peter and Solomon Goss Spracklin. I really should have been there for two days not just one.
I am referring to the State Historical Archives housed as part of the State Historical Society of Iowa. https://iowaculture.gov/history/research
On May 7th a Wednesday, Jerry took me to the airport in Des Moines and said goodbye to me and it was sort of sad but we have kept in touch over the years and I have shared my findings with him. I helped him find Elizabeth Downey Spracklin, Henry's wife. We now what happened to her after his tragic death. I have written about his death on this blog.
As you can see my trip to Iowa focused on Iowa City, Marengo, Blairstown and Des Moines. There was not enough time to visit other areas of Iowa. So maybe another trip is in order. We will see.
I am very glad I did visit Iowa in 2003 because I learned that the reason I could not find the Spracklins was because they all left Iowa County by the time Daniel died in 1915 and had scattered to other parts of Iowa and other states mainly going north to Minnesota and west to the Dakotas. So by 2003 you had to dig for information. Once I knew where they all went, that opened the door to more research.
Dedication: I dedicate this post to the memory of Netha Meyer's whom I met on my trip there, she was very helpful an enthusiastic and even offered to look up more obituaries and go to the courthouse with me. See her memorial on the Iowa County IA Genweb page.
Note: BJM Cemeteries Blog will be removed from the web. See the page on this blog about that event.


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Soulja Boy Tell' Em - Turn My Swag On
Turn My Swag On - Official Music Video iSouljaBoyTellEm in stores December 16, 2008!
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Update: Microsoft has released Office 2016 final to the public and is available for everyone now. Users who have been using Office 2013 as part of Office 365 subscription can now upgrade to Office 2016 for free. Although Office 2016 trial copy is not available as a standalone installer for everyone, one can try out Office 2016 by signing up to one-month trial subscription of Office 365.
Office 2016 ships with plenty of new features and there is a full dark background theme, which was missing from Office 2013.
Before downloading and running Office 2016 on your PC, make sure that your PC meets the following minimum system requirements.
Office 2016 System Requirements
Processor – 1 GHz or faster processor with SSE2 instruction set
RAM – 2GB or more
Hard disk – 3 GB of free space
Graphics – DirectX 10 compatible graphics card
Operating system – Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
Visit this page of Microsoft to subscribe to one-month free trail of Office 365 which now includes Office 2016.
MSDN subscribers can now download standalone installers of Office 2016 Professional Plus by visiting MSDN page.
Office 2010 download
As expected, Microsoft has made available for download the RTM build of Microsoft Office 2010 to TechNet and MSDN subscribers just a few minutes back. Office 2010 was released to manufacturing on April 15, 2010. Microsoft TechNet and MSDN members can now grab their copies from the official links mentioned at the end of this article.
Please note that users who're running the beta version of Office 2010, which was released back in November 2009, need to uninstall it before installing Office 2010 RTM. Both x86 and x64 versions of Office Professional Plus are available for download.
You can download Office 2010 free Product Guide to know more about Office 2010 features. Make sure that your system meets the following minimum system requirements before heading to the download page:
- 500 MHz or higher processor
- 256 MB of RAM or higher
- 3 GB free disk space
- 1024 x 576 or higher screen resolution
Office 2010 is compatible with Windows XP SP3, Vista SP1, Windows 7, Windows 8, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2 and Server 2012 operating systems. However, you can install only the 32-bit version Office 2010 on Windows XP SP3.
And if you're upgrading from Office 2007, don't forget to check out our how to upgrade Office 2007 installation to Office 2010 guide to successfully upgrade your copy to Office 2010.
NOTE: Office 2010 RTM is available for free from the below link only to users who have Microsoft TechNet or MSDN subscription. Other users need to either purchase Office 2010 or download the trial copy from the below link.
Download Office 2010
Download Office 2010 Trial (available to everyone)


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It's Day 4 of the Patriots postmortem, an annual act of inspection and introspection submitted by the Foxborough Faithful after the season ends without the hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy, as it will for the eighth straight time.
The winter of discontent kicked off the moment the final second ticked off the Gillette Stadium clock last Sunday. Every aspect of the Patriots' 28-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game, from the play of quarterback Tom Brady to the conservatism of coach Bill Belichick, has been debated, dissected, and lamented on sports radio, in bars, and around water coolers.
It is what it is, as a certain hooded coach would say. It's time to stop looking back and to look ahead to 2013. To borrow a phrase from Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington, the Patriots don't need a brand new car; they just need to tweak what's under the hood. An estimated $18 million-plus in cap space is plenty for a tune-up for Tom Terrific & Co.
In the AFC title game, the New England offense was harder to find than Manti Te'o's girlfriend, but the biggest issue with the Patriots is still on the defensive side of the ball. The Patriots have repeatedly proven that the hypothesis of winning a Super Bowl by outscoring everybody is fatally flawed.
The old aphorism about the definition of insanity being doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result applies to the Patriots.
So, the offseason wish list has to be separated into wants and needs.
I want the Patriots to go out and get either a physical receiver like Dwayne Bowe or a Usain Bolt burner like Mike Wallace. That is a want, not a need, especially if Rob Gronkowski comes back healthy and Wes Welker returns.
Bringing back cornerback Aqib Talib is a need on Belichick's championship checklist.
Any debate about whether Talib was the catalyst for the marked improvement of the Patriots' pass defense was ended emphatically by the defense's performance without him after he tweaked his thigh on the Ravens' second drive of the game.
If the Patriots don't want to give long-term security to a player with a history of volatility and poor decision-making that would have made Irving Fryar blush, then slap the franchise tag on Talib. The number for cornerbacks next season is expected to be about $10.6 million.
Another must-have is an interior pass rusher.
There was a reason the team went hard after Seattle defensive tackle Red Bryant and eventually settled and signed Jonathan Fanene to a three-year, $9.85 million deal last offseason, with a $3.85 million signing bonus. Collapsing the pocket from inside makes quarterbacks skittish.
Fanene never played a down for the Patriots because of an arthritic left knee the team said he did not disclose. He was cut in August. I bet Mike Napoli wishes he had taken his physical in Foxborough.
New England should take a run at Miami defensive tackle Randy Starks, who replaced Vince Wilfork on the AFC Pro Bowl squad, or Raiders defensive tackle and Harvard man Desmond Bryant. A lower-cost option would be San Francisco lineman Ricky Jean-Francois.
Any discussion of the Patriots offseason would be remiss without a mention of Welker's contract purgatory.
If the Patriots thought Welker was a true No. 1 receiver, then they would have paid him like one by now, and they wouldn't have given some of his snaps to Julian Edelman in the first two games of the season. That happened. It's easy to look back 118 catches later and make snide remarks about Welker being phased out, but Welker was receiver non grata to start the season. Period.
This is the second straight year in which Welker had a cringe-worthy postseason drop that cast a pall on an otherwise remarkable season of production. Still, Welker is Brady's security blanket. It's time the Patriots gave Wes a little security. Otherwise, just let him go.
He's not worth franchising a second year in a row — it would cost $11.4 million this time — not when the tag could be used on Talib or right tackle Sebastian Vollmer.
As important as any personnel changes the Patriots make is the need to make a change in mentality and personality.
It was Belichick who said stats are for losers. His Patriots are proving his point.
The team has become too reliant on Brady, too content to pile up points, yards, first downs, and charred secondaries in the regular season only to be stopped cold on the big stage.
The most disconcerting part of the loss to the Ravens was that their commitment to be a more physical, more balanced team that spent more time under center waned.
After having the seventh-rated rushing attack in the NFL during the season, a 1,263-yard rusher in Stevan Ridley, and leading the NFL in rushing touchdowns, the Patriots forsook the run game in the AFC title game, throwing the ball 54 times and rushing it 28.
Their longest rush was just 9 yards.
Of the 11 third- or fourth-and-short situations they had (3 yards or less), the Patriots lined up in the shotgun nine times.
In the first 10 playoff games of Brady's career — all wins — he threw the ball 40 or more times three times.
In the last 14 games — in which he has gone 7-7 — Brady has thrown the ball 40 or more times seven times. The Patriots are 2-5 in those games. The wins were this year against the Houston Texans and in 2006 over the San Diego Chargers in the divisional round.
The personnel can change, but if the personality and philosophy don't, the Patriot Way will continue to be a championship dead end.
Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @cgasper.


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LONDON — New U.K. company Digital Theater has announced that productions from high-profile Brit legit troupes including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Almeida, Royal Court Theater, English Touring Theater and the Young Vic will now be available as Internet downloads.
The productions — filmed live in front of audiences over two or three performances, on between 5 and 11 remote-controlled, hi-definition cameras embedded in the staging — will be offered as downloads priced at £8.99 (a bit more than $14.50). Offerings are available from the company's website or on the websites of the individual theaters, using a specially developed Theater Player compatible with all major browsers and operating systems.
"Our aim is to make Digital Theater the focal point for theater-based entertainment online," said co-founders Robert Delamere and Tom Shaw.
The first productions include English Touring Theater's "Far From the Madding Crowd," described by Delamere as "a 52-scene epic," and at the other end of the spectrum, the Young Vic's "Kafka's Monkey," a one-woman adaptation of Kafka.
Further productions from the Almeida, Royal Court and Royal Shakespeare Company are scheduled to appear in 2010.
Unlike the NTLive program of screening theater productions in cinemas worldwide, this initiative is focused on direct access via Internet use. Delamere and Shaw intend to grow the site into an archive of key U.K. productions.
Dominic Cooke, a.d. of the Royal Court, said, "We're always looking for ways to bring our work to the largest possible number of people. And the potential of digital technology to connect with a worldwide audience is genuinely exciting."


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There has been a lot of movement in the Cubs minor league system today, and I'm sure it will stay busy until the end of the year. The latest news is Pierce Johnson being promoted to Boise! Solid move here as Johnson, who was drafted in the 2012 draft (supplemental pick) has been solid in Arizona and probably belongs in Boise. Congrats to Pierce, give him a follow on Twitter!
Thanks for reading,
– George


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Monday, April 14, 2014
USA exports democracy
And now democracy Iraq style has come to Ukraine courtesy of the USA.
Its amazing that people get so upset that the Government they voted for has been replaced and their current "prime minister" actually got less than 7% of the vote at the ballot box last elections.
But the current Prime minister does have the approval of the American State Department, who engineered a coup to install him so they should just accept it.
10 comment(s):
I don't dismiss out of hand the idea of the US government staging a coup in a foreign country - after all, they have form for that kind of thing. However, in the absence of even the slightest evidence that they 'engineered a coup' in Ukraine, not to mention no credible mechanism yet offered for how they might have achieved such a thing, this assertion of Russian propaganda remains exactly that.
- 4:59 PM, April 14, 2014
this assertion of Russian propaganda remains exactly that.
What do you make of this Milt? "Yats" of course is now the Prime Minister, Klitschko has withdrawn of course, just as these people decided he should.
Why did five, at least prominant American Politicians address the "peaceful protesters, including of course John McCain.
Why has the American Government invest billions of dollars in NGOs promoting "democracy"
Would Americans or Westerners tolerate this level of interference in their internal affairs?
Why couldn't the issues that bought out the protestors be discussed as part of the election campaign an election being scheduled for 11 months ahead anyway when these troubles started?
Why were peace deals creating coalition Governments sabotaged, the peace deals including bring the elections forward?
Sorry Milt these are indisputable facts not Russian propaganda.
- 5:59 PM, April 14, 2014
Here's what I make of it - it's foreign affairs types talking about talking and trying to influence events over which they actually have little or no influence, much like foreign affairs types everywhere a government is overthrown. There's no mechanism here - for instance, on what basis are we supposed to believe the US government controls 'Yatz,' 'Klitsch' et al? What does it have on them? How has it provided them with so many followers? By what means does it overthrow Janukovych? By what means does it impose 'Yatz' and his pals on the Ukrainian people? Is Janukovych also on the payroll, the way he simply gave up and fled?
In past instances in which the US government has engineered coups, it's done so by cutting deals with powerful military leaders who control forces sufficient to take power. What it hasn't ever done and indisputably can't do is arrange mass uprisings.
One thing I can definitely say about this conversation intercepted by Russian intelligence services and released for propaganda purposes is that the US hasn't released any conversations between Russian officials about their dealings with Janukovych. They'd certainly take the propaganda opportunity if it was available to them. So why haven't they? Well, it could be that Russian officials have been totally upright in their dealings with Ukraine and there's just nothing embarrassing for the US to release, although if you believe it I have a famous bridge you may like to purchase. Alternatively, it could be that US intelligence services haven't been much involved in this, which kind of undermines the whole "US-engineered coup" thing...
- 7:44 PM, April 14, 2014
Lol Milt you capacity to deny the obvious when it doesn't suit your prejudice is astonishing.
Anyway the Americans have been forced to admit the Director of the CIA just happened to be in Ukraine when the junta tried to take Slavyansk.
What a funny coincidence - it was initially denied that he was there incidentally and now it is reluctantly conceded buried deep within another story huffing and puffing about how bad Russia is and how it will be punished.
Though the real consequences of America;s action to punish Russia will fall on the Ukrainians themselves and the poorer countries of Western Europe.
But the American administration are not particularly intelligent as in becoming ever more apparent.
- 7:53 AM, April 15, 2014
- William Stout said...
Yes indeed, it is all America's fault. Never mind the fact that the Russians took the territory by force originally, never mind that Stalin starved millions in the Ukraine, never mind that there was more than 27,000 gulags across the former Soviet Union, never mind that there are monasteries where the men of the cloth pray constantly to remove the stain of sin from them due to the atrocities committed there, and never mind that ethnic Russians were imported into that nation because the native Tatars were moved out and are being forced out again.
It would seem that your propaganda wears a little thin in the light of day, does it not? Putin is KGB, his family has a long history with the KGB going back to the days of Lenin. Putin has had men assassinated, he has had business leaders jailed because of political opposition, and he has strong armed nations by turning off the gas during the winter so that their citizens would freeze. That is your hero. I know who and what he is, so please don't waste my time with your false portraits.
Point the finger of blame at the United States of America if you will, but the accusation is a lie. Nowhere do you mention the corruption inherent in the deposed government, nowhere do you mention the secret bank accounts containing government monies, nowhere do you mention Spetsnaz in the Ukraine or Crimea stirring up trouble. Do you honestly believe that the world does not know what is happening? We have seen this before.
You may prefer Zhirinovsky's politics, but at least he never lied to achieve his goals. The troubles in the Ukraine go back a long way before the former Prime Minister was unceremoniously removed from office by the Ukrainians. The troubles go back years and is rooted in the corruption of public officials, not the meddling of the U.S., as you would have people believe. Try to turn a failed state into a U.S. puppet if you will, but nobody who knows better is going to believe you.
- 12:53 AM, April 16, 2014
Kiev, was the original center of Russian culture - the towns where the troubles are occurring, as we speak, and which are a long way away from Kiev were Russian towns from their foundation, they got included in the Ukrainian SSR when the Bolsheviks created the Ukrainian SSR in the 1920s
Russia is not equal to USSR. Stalin was a Georgian with an Ossetian mother, Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev were both born in what is today called Ukraine and would be today be called Ukrainians though that identity didn't really exist .when they were born
In the 1930s there was a famine in the USSR, not only what was then called the Ukrainian SSR but across the USSR. It was a terrible thing that effected rural populations the length of the Eurasian Steppes
The people who make the most noise about this are people who live in the West of the modern nation of Ukraine which was at the time of this famine not even part of the Ukrainian SSR but part of Poland.
Its a sad history. We can't change it..
What I want is no blood to be spilled, no peoples lives and livelihoods destroyed.but it seems I'm in a minority here
- 10:26 AM, April 16, 2014
The problem is, this "US-engineered coup" isn't obvious. As I've said before, there's no mechanism for it to occur.
Consider Putin's takeover of Crimea and the takeover now under way in eastern Ukraine. The mechanism is clear enough: send in Russian military personnel with badges removed, have them lead and organise local ethnic Russians, and mass some serious force on the border so the Ukrainians have to think twice about trying to retake the area.
Now consider the proposition of a "US-engineered coup" in Ukraine - how does it happen? You can't send in military personnel and pretend they're locals, there aren't any ethnic American locals to lead and organise, you can't mass any kind of credible force anywhere near the territory in question. So how are you claiming they did it?
- 7:04 PM, April 16, 2014
You know how they did it - they stirred up ancient emnities that exist between the different parts of Ukraine.
Things you don't understand but lie at the heart of why Lucyna and myself see this on opposite sides - things the Devil uses to divide God's people. And ancient history bought back to life instead of left in the past where it belongs.
Anyway - God willing, it looks like the junta is falling, they can't control the streets of Kiev which are up in arms over huge price rises in everything along with drops in wages (thanks to the IMF and the loss of very large Russian subsidies).
The army seems unwilling to shoot their own people and are in many cases joining the "rebels" much to the puzzelment of the BBC
The orange and black ribbons are St George's Ribbon - very significant.
There's a conference in Geneva tomorrow, God willing a way forward will emerge and the hard job of restoring civility and prosperity to the lands of Ukraine will begin - though it probably wont be one Nation within ten years, two or three different ones would be my guess (and I could even predict what their new names might be.
The current "President" and "Prime Minister" will end their days in the USA or be assassinated by Neo Nazis is my prediction.
Whatever happens this debacle will go down as the most ill conceived foreign policy adventure the Americans have ever come up with
- 11:18 PM, April 16, 2014
Ah, the old fall-back - the people couldn't possibly have risen up against this corrupt kleptocracy on their own, they must have been incited by foreigners. Fact is, only one foreign country has put troops into Ukraine and only one foreign country has annexed Ukrainian territory. Funnily enough, most of the world is considering that country the aggressor here.
As to that BBC story, the Ukrainians didn't prove unwilling to shoot "their own people," they proved unwilling to open fire on Russian military personnel who have a 40,000-strong backup force close by. The BBC may be surprised, but I'm not, From the linked report:
"The armed men, meanwhile, made little secret of the fact they took orders from Moscow. Many of them appeared to be Russian troops from Crimea. Asked where he had come from, one told the Guardian: "Simferopol." How were things in Crimea? "Zamechatelna," he said in Russian – splendid. He added: "The old ladies are happy. Because of Russia their pensions have doubled." Had he served in the Ukrainian army and perhaps swapped sides? "No, I'm Russian," he replied."
- 7:39 AM, April 17, 2014
- Kathleen said...
What president was this CIA director under?
- 1:54 PM, April 17, 2014
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Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini was fired today after going 5-11 for the second straight year, though he swears this 5-11 was way more impressive than the last 5-11 season. It was the 5-11 you can really build on, you know? The kind that can lead you to a really mind-blowing 5-11 season the third time out.
If there's any consolation to Cleveland fans as they cycle through yet another failed coaching hire, it's that they can at least take comfort in the fact that they KNEW Mangini was going to be a failure. There were no delusions of actual winning, the way there were when Butch Davis and Romeo Crennel were hired. Oh, man. To think, people once had high expectations of Butch Davis and Romeo Crennel. It gives you shivers.
Mangini is now the fifth head coach to run the Browns since their resurrection in 1999, and his era represents yet another sad chapter of this franchise trying to get back to its glory days, which weren't that glorious to begin with. Isn't there someone in the universe who can help the Browns not be consistently putrid? They've tried practically everyone at this point, and now ESPN has a short list of prospective candidates that's about as appetizing as chipped beef tray at the Golden Corral after a power outage. Among the names:
Mike Holmgren: Well, duh. But after flaming out in Seattle, I don't think anyone in Cleveland is harboring high hopes that Holmgren will come down from the box and put on a headset. With the likes of Sean Payton and Mike Tomlin winning Super Bowls, Holmgren feels very much like the product of a bygone era at this point.
John Fox: Oh, you mean the guy who just mailed in an entire season in Carolina? That guy? AWESOME. If the Browns are good at anything, it's finding the most uninspiring, freshly fired coach to grab and hand over $5 million to.
Marty Mornhinweg: No, really. They weren't even being ironic when they tossed his name in there. Now Marty has done some good ever since his reign of terror in Detroit. He's responsible for Mike Vick's recent transformation, after all. Still. It's Marty Mornhinweg. If he brings his motorcycle with him, fans may burn down the stadium.
Jon Gruden: At this point, Jon Gruden has been mentioned for so many jobs that it feels like he's being passed around like a snack no one wants. Gruden is supposedly being selective about his job prospects, but I wonder if that's a lie. I wonder if anyone really wants him at this point.
Jerry Jones, of all people, made the salient point a week ago that no NFL head coach has ever won Super Bowls with two different teams. You're always better off trying to find the NEXT Mike Holmgren instead of the actual Mike Holmgren. So let's hope the Browns get a little bit more creative in their coaching search. Otherwise, it's another wasted three or so years for a franchise that seems doomed to keep repeating its mistakes.
Sizing Up the Next Failed Head Coach in Cleveland
Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini was fired today after going 5-11 for the second straight year, though he swears this 5-11 was way more impressive than the last 5-11 season. It was the 5-11 you can really build on, you know? The kind that can lead you to a really mind-blowing 5-11 season the third time out.


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One definition of the Killing field is as those vector fields along which the Lie Derivative of the metric vanishes. But for very many calculation purposes the useful way to think of them when dealing with the Riemann-Christoffel connection for a Riemannian metric is that they satisfy the differential equation, $\nabla_\nu X_\nu + \nabla_\nu X_\nu = 0$
I suppose solving the above complicated set of coupled partial differential equations is the only way to find Killing fields given a metric. (That's the only way I have ever done it!) Would be happy to know if there are more elegant ways.
But what would be the slickest way to say prove that the scalar curvature is constant along a Killing field, i.e it will satisfy the equation $X^\mu \nabla_\mu R = 0$ ?
Sometimes it is probably good to think of Killing fields as satisfying a Helmholtz-like equation sourced by the Ricci tensor.
Then again very often one first starts off knowing what symmetries one wants on the Riemannian manifold and hence knows the Lie algebra that the Killing fields on it should satisfy. Knowing this one wants to find a Riemannian metric which has that property. As I had asked in this earlier question
There is also the issue of being able to relate Killing fields to Laplacians on homogeneous spaces and H-connection like earlier raised in this question. Good literature on this has been very hard to find beyond the very terse and cryptic appendix of a paper by Camporesi and Higuchi.
I would like to know what are the different ways of thinking about Killing fields some of which will say help easily understand the connection to Laplacians, some of which make calculations of metric from Killing fields easier and which ones give good proofs of the constancy of scalar curvature along them. It would be enlightening to see cases where the "original" definition in terms of Lie derivative is directly useful without needing to put it in coordinates.


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From Westonaprice.org, this assertion is made:
...megadoses of isolated ascorbic acid may lead to imbalances and deficiencies in vitamin P.
Full article: http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrit ... rimer.html
It should be noted that this assertion is not supported with any references, but it seems unlikely that it would be made up out of thin air, due to the good reputation of this website. Can anyone find a reference for this? I'm sorry to ask someone else to do the work on this subject, but I'm pressed for time at the moment. I'll search later tonight if I have time.


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Arts & Events
Around & About Music: Esa-Pekka Salonen Residency at UC
Matias Tarnopolsky of Cal Performances has initiated a series of residencies here with major orchestras and conductors--and this month, there are two, the first with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the London Philharmonia this weekend ... and later this month with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.
Salonen, who stepped down from the podium of the LA Philharmonic (where one of his assistants was Joana Carneiro, now of Berkeley Symphony) to pursue his own composing, will be featured in a Composer's Profile at Hertz hall tonight at 8, works of his played by pianist Gloria Cheng (Dichotomie, composed for her), UC's eco Ensemble (Mania, a cello and ensemble piece) and the Calder Quartet (who just played brilliantly for the Nancarrow Centennial here last weekend: Salonen's sole string quartet, Homunculus). $42 & up.
With the Philharmonia, Salonen will conduct his own Helix, Beethoven's 7th Symphony and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (Friday at 8; Tarnopolsky in conversation with Salonen at 7); Berg's opera Wozzeck (with Johan Reuter in the title role and Angela Denoke as Marie), Saturday at 7; and on Sunday at 3, Mahler's 9th. All at Zellerbach Hall, tickets from $30-$150.
In addition, there will be a Department of Music-hosted conversation with Salonen, Saturday morning from 10:30-12 at 125 Morrison, as well as Salonen conducting an open rehearsal of the UC Berkeley Symphony, Sunday, 5:30-7:30, Hertz Hall ... both Free to the public. Other events and discussions, plus tickets & information: 642-9988; calperfs.berkeley.edu


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Belle Badgley Mischka
Mark Badgley and James Mischka have been hailed by Vogue as two of the "Top 10 American Designers" and as the darlings of the Hollywood scene. For the past two decades the duo has made their mark with glamorous, stylish and elegant eveningwear and accessories.
Before starting Badgley Mischka, Mark & James both designed for leading names; Mark for Donna Karan & James, the men's collection for Willi Smith.
The boys started out in 1988, joining forces to create Badgley Mischka. There was and is a unique synergy between the talented duo, who met while studying at Parsons School of Design in New York and share a similar aesthetic about clothes and the way people dress.
Just one year later in 1989 the pair received the Mouton Cadet Young Designer Award for their evening clothes, and in 1992 they won the Dallas International Apparel Mart Rising Star Award.
Since then the Badgley Mischka brand has captivated both the fashion press and prominent retailers around the world with a sophisticated style that caters to a young, modern couture customer, without forsaking women of any age. Within just a few years, they had elevated their burgeoning fashion brand to include a bridal collection in 1993 as well as elegantly detailed evening bags and footwear all of which were extremely well received.
"Our style harks back to the glamorous Hollywood of the Forties," says Mischka. "The Badgley Mischka signature style is simple, streamlined and thoroughly elegant."
Their designs are constructed of the finest fabrics and superior craftsmanship with an element of interest, either in the silhouette or with luxurious detail. They have remained true to this design philosophy and the consistent integrity of their collections have pushed them to the forefront of fashion.
Clients ranging from presidential daughters to Hollywood award-winners to society brides have chosen Badgley Mischka to ensure they look their best during some of the most memorable and stylish events of their lives.
In 1997 the model Georgina Grenville wore Badgley Mischka on the front cover of Vogue and both Will Smith and Jada Pinkett wore it at their wedding.
By 2000 they had their first store, situated on the prestigious on Rodeo Drive and a year later accepted Marymount University's Designer of the Year Award.
Their timeless designs appeal to a range of fashionable women, including celebrities such as Madonna, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jennifer Lopez, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Winona Ryder, Taylor Swift, Sarah Jessica Parker and Carrie Underwood. In recent times Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren & Queen Latifah defined glamour in Badgley Mischka Couture at the Oscars, while Glee's Jayma Mays dazzled in Badgley Mischka Couture at The Golden Globes.
Even the character Charlotte from Sex and the City wore a Badgley Mischka wedding dress in the famous TV series in 2003, by 2004 Badgely Mischka had its own range of collectable Barbie dolls and in 2007 Jordin Sparks was wearing the brand as she won American Idol.
Badgley Mischka continues to grace the covers of countless magazines including Vogue and Women's Wear Daily.
In 2009, the brand launched its contemporary collection 'Mark & James by Badgley Mischka'. Designed for a young yet sophisticated customer, it offers women a fresh, modern, sexy and more affordable way to wear the Badgley Mischka label.
Badgley Mischka is sold in the most prestigious stores in the world including Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. The range at Karstadt only acts to enforce this prestigious history.
The stunning diffusion range 'Belle Badgley Mischka' is reaching Europe stores later this year to provide another branch of this beautiful brand.


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In connection with the tragic Germanwings plane crash, the Czech national carrier Czech Airlines has said it has an internal regulation according to which there must be two crew members in the cockpit at all times during a flight. If one of the pilots needs a few minutes break they must wait to be replaced by one of the cabin assistants before leaving, a spokesman for Czech Airlines told the news site novinky.cz. The regulation has been in force for the last ten years. The airline Travel Service has confirmed a similar policy.
Defense Minister Martin Stropnický said all was in readiness for the 120
vehicle strong US military convoy, which is expected to pass through Czech
territory at the end of this week. Speaking at a press briefing in Prague
on Friday the minister said the smallest details had been taken care of to
ensure a smooth transfer, and all was in readiness both at the military
barracks where the soldiers will be staying the night as well as along the
given route. Traffic police are prepared for the event and we have all the
necessary licenses, the minister noted. The cost of the operation
–estimated at 175,000 crowns will be covered by the US army.
The convoy, returning from a NATO exercise called Operation Atlantic Resolve in the Baltic states, is travelling through six countries on its way to a military base in Germany. It will arrive in the Czech Republic on Sunday and spend four days on Czech territory.
The Labour Ministry is working on a proposed legislation which should enable up to 4,000 miners to go into early retirement – by up to five years earlier than the present pension law allows. The present criteria for early retirement allow miners who have worked below ground since 1993 and who undertook 3,300 work shifts by 2008 to ask for retirement 5 years earlier. Labour Minister Michaela Marksova said on Friday she wanted to all miners who have undertaken the said number of work shifts without specification by what date to have the same advantage. The measure is being undertaken to ease the social impact of the planned mine closures.
The owner of a lodging facility in Přerov, which illegally served as an old peoples home has received a half a million crown fine, the ctk news agency reports. The case came to light when Czech Senator Jitka Seitlová publicized the fact that there were several dozen helpless, old people living in the house in atrocious conditions. After the case made national headlines the people were quickly removed, with some ending up in emergency wards holding their documents with no idea of where they were or what had happened to them. By failing to register his lodging house as a social and health facility the owner by-passed strict health norms and avoided regular inspections to check up on the wellbeing of the home's inhabitants.
The police have confirmed finding internationally banned anti-personnel land mines in storage at the Vrbětice munitions depot, which was seriously damages in a series of blasts last year, Czech Television reported. The anti-personnel landmines have been banned since 1997 by the Ottawa Convention. Five people have been charged with violating the law on arms licensing and holding illegal weapons. They are employees of Excalibur Army and Real Trade, two weapons trading companies which stored ammunition at the munitions depot in Vrbětice.
Air bank which was established in 2011 has consolidated its position on the Czech banking scene, posting a 313 million crown profit in 2014, the ctk news agency reports. The preceding year the bank suffered 80 million crown losses. The main reason behind the turnaround is a 49 percent increase in clients in 2014 to 318,000. Originally the bank did not expect to show a profit until 2015.
Education Minister Marcel Chládek has presented 42 teachers with Best Teacher Award for a creative and inspiring approach in the classroom. The event, celebrating the country's best teachers is held annually on the eve of Teachers Day on March 28th. Students also elect the most popular teacher in the Czech Republic, with each school putting forward its own nominee for the Golden Amos Prize commemorating Jan Amos Comenius, known as the Teacher of Nations. This year the award went to Hana Pacíková, a teacher at the Police Academy in Holešov.
A month-long series of events in support of reading will culminate on Friday with the traditional Night with Andersen held in libraries across the Czech Republic. The annual fairy-tale night for children is to promote reading among the youngest generation with thousands of children spending the night at their local library where they read, chat and listen to a public reading of fairytales by the famous Danish children's writer Hans Christian Andersen. The event has a fifteen year tradition and this year 90,000 children have registered to take part in libraries around the country.
Prague councillors on Thursday passed a proposal for the division of 240 million crowns in culture funds, awarding 57.5 million to one-year projects and the rest for four-year projects beginning in 2016. The city's grant commission evaluated almost 650 different projects. Prague's Archa Theatre and the arts space Meet Factory received the most in funding; some venues including Divadlo Komedie or festivals such as Febiofest were turned down.
Czech hockey goalie Ondřej Pavelec has been in excellent form and won his sixth game in a row on Thursday for the Winnipeg Jets. The goaltender stopped 39 shots as his team, the Winnipeg Jets, defeated opponents the Montreal Canadiens handily 5:2. Players Frolík and Tlustý got assists. The Jets are 14th in the NHL at the moment while the Canadiens topped the table earlier this week but have currently slipped to fourth spot. The Habs are on 100 points; the New York Rangers are first, with 101.
Czech Republic opens up to more tourists from Europe and beyond as coronavirus travel restrictions eased
Brno scientists pair with Czech biotech firm to develop healing artificial tears
Facemask requirement eased but new restrictions for area hit by spike in Covid-19 cases
Traditional tourist sites open to visitors after long break
"There is no reason to panic" — says health minister about Karviná COVID-19 outbreak


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An evocative logo
"The astronaut looks to the sky and extends his hand towards the stars that he hopes to reach some day. He, like Cervantes' hero, Don Quixote, is anxious to explore the Universe to discover the mysteries of life. In the constellation, the biggest star is the one placed there by man: the International Space Station, which already shines above our heads and will be the oasis for the conquerors of space."


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Newswise — -A two-pronged approach to stabilizing climate, with cuts in greenhouse gas emissions as well as injections of climate-cooling sulfates, could prove more effective than either approach used separately. This is the finding of a new study by Tom Wigley of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), published in the September 14 issue of Science.
Wigley calculates the impact of injecting sulfate particles, or aerosols, every one to four years into the stratosphere in amounts equal to those lofted by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pintabuto in 1991. If found to be environmentally and technologically viable, such injections could provide a "grace period" of up to 20 years before major cutbacks in greenhouse gas emissions would be required, he concludes.
"A combined approach to climate stabilization has a number of advantages over either employed separately," says Wigley. His study was supported by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's primary sponsor.
The Science paper does not endorse any particular approach to reducing climate change, nor is it intended to address the many technical and political challenges involved in potential geoengineering efforts. Instead, it analyzes whether the much-discussed idea of injecting sulfates into the stratosphere could, in fact, slow down global warming and therefore provide more time for society to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide.
If climate change were addressed only through mitigation (emissions reduction), then massive cuts in emissions would be needed in order to keep temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2.0 degrees Celsius) over present levels. This amount of warming has often been cited as a benchmark of dangerous climate change.
Given the difficulties of making such massive cuts, scientists recently have begun to reexamine a variety of schemes proposed over the last few decades to reduce the impact of climate change through global-scale technological fixes. These approaches are often referred to as geoengineering. One strategy first proposed in the 1970s is to inject large amounts of sun-blocking sulfate particles into the stratosphere via aircraft or other means. The idea would be to cool the climate for a year or more with each injection, much as the largest volcanic eruptions do.
"Geoengineering could provide additional time to address the economic and technological challenges faced by a mitigation-only approach," says Wigley.
-----A model experiment with two scenarios-----
Using a computer model to track sunlight and other energy flowing into and out of the Earth system, Wigley examined two scenarios that project the impact of emissions on climate from now to the year 2400. In one scenario, total emissions would have to start dropping immediately, and would have to be cut by around 50 percent in the next 50 years, in order to keep global climate from warming by more than the 2 degrees C benchmark. An alternative scenario, the "overshoot" approach, allows a period of increasing total emissions, extending to the 2030s, before stringent cutbacks begin.
To see how geoengineering might change this picture, Wigley took the overshoot scenario and added three frequencies of Pinatubo-scale injections of sulfates into the stratosphere. The frequencies were equivalent to an eruption every year, every two years, and every four years. In all three cases, global temperature stayed approximately constant for the next 40 to 50 years. After 2050, the cumulative effect of greenhouse gases produced a slow temperature rise, though it was muted by the injections.
Injections on a scale equal to Pinatubo were examined because that volcanic eruption did not seriously disrupt the climate system beyond a short-term cooling, says Wigley.
-----No panacea-----
Geoengineering is not a panacea, Wigley notes. For example, carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning has led to an increased acidification of Earth's oceans. Even if geoengineering could help limit global warming, the oceans would continue to acidify as greenhouse-gas emissions climb, threatening certain marine ecosystems.
Mitigation alone can potentially solve both the warming and ocean acidification problems, but it has its own set of difficulties, says Wigley. The rapid emissions reductions required to keep below the 2 degree C warming threshold would be costly, perhaps unacceptably so, and would pose severe technological challenges.
"A relatively modest geoengineering investment could reduce the economic and technological burden on mitigation by deferring the need for immediate or near-future cuts in carbon dioxide emissions," Wigley says.
MEDIA CONTACTRegister for reporter access to contact details
Science (14-Sep-2006)


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Who had the best record-breaking performances in Michigan this season? We took your nominations over the past week and here are the finalists.
Vote below for each sport on the next few pages. Voting closes at Midnight EST on June 5th.
Boys Track and Field
Cody Moyer – Gaylord
Discus – 160'11 1/2 – Cody's throw in the discus shattered Gaylord's previous school record set by John Knack in 1989 (146-10). "Honestly, it's kind of funny now that I think about it," Moyer said. "The guys I've thrown with have always said they wanted to be a legend like John Knack some day. Read more in the Petoskey News.
Chris Davis – Fowlerville
3200m – 9:47 – Davis' record-setting run beat the school's 1987 record of 9:48, broken by 1 sec on 1st try. He also ran a 1:56 800m split to come from behind and win the 4X800 at the start of the same meet.
Trey Hall – Jackson Northwest
Long Jump – 21'3″ – Record was set in 2007.
Zach Wright – Potterville MS
800M- 2:14.5, 1600M – 4:59.1 – Zach broke both the 800m and 1600m school record this season, both previously set back in 2002. Zach now holds 3 school records, the third being the 3200m @ 10:58 set last year as a 7th grader.
Mason Philips – Salem
Long jump – 24′ 1″ – Mason Phillips has been breaking his own long jump record over and over this season – this jump of 24′ 1″ was the third time he set the school record last set in 1985 this season, tying the MHSAA (Michigan) state record in the process.
Girls Track and Field
Ryen Draper – Plymouth
400M Dash – 54.97s, 200M Dash, 24.55 – At the KLAA Conference Meet, senior sprinter Ryen Draper rebroke her own school and PCEP record in the 400M Dash, with a time of 54.97. It is the fastest time in the 400 run in the state this year, and makes her only the 17th girl in state history to run under 55 seconds. At the meet, Ryen also broke the school and PCEP record in the 200M Dash.
Anavia Battle – Wayne Memorial
Mallory Barrett – Milford
1600M, 4:54 – An expectional runner whose talents extend far beyond one event, Mallory Barrett is ranked in the top ten for 3 different events including the 1600, 800, and High Jump.
Mariyah Lewis – East Lansing
Discus, 124'9″
Meagan Lange – Forest Area Middle School
800M – 2:38.7, 1600M – 6:05, 400M Relay – 59.7, 1600M Relay – 4:51.5 – Meagan has broken four middle school records as a 6th grader, running against 7th & 8th graders, in her first season in track and field, and is only a handful of seconds from breaking varsity records in each event.
Baseball / Softball
Jakob Selich – Baseball – Millington High School
Career Runs Scored (93), Season Runs Scored (38) – Both records were held since 1979.
Lena Jackson – Softball – Stockbridge High School
Career Home Runs (8) – Lena has hit most home runs in the entire history of Stockbridge High School Varsity Softball Program and is only a sophomore. In addition, on one outing, she hit three over the fence.
Brianna Robeson – Softball – Hartland High School
Consecutive game hitting streak (29 games from 5.18.16 to 5.10.17) – A base hit in 29 consecutive games currently ties for 10th place overall with two other players in MHSAA records.
Rebecca Alway – Grosse Pointe North High School
Career Home Runs (6)
Presented by:


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1. Don't leave email sitting in your in box.
"The ability to quickly process and synthesize information and turn it into actions is one of the most emergent skills of the professional world today," says Mann. Organize email in file folders. If the message needs more thought, move it to your to-do list. If it's for reference, print it out. If it's a meeting, move it to your calendar.
2. Admit multitasking is bad.For people who didn't grow up watching TV, typing out instant messages and doing homework all at the same time, multitasking is deadly. But it decreases everyone's productivity, no matter who they are. "A 20-year-old is less likely to feel overwhelmed by demands to multitask, but young people still have a loss of productivity from multitasking," says Trapani.
3. Do the most important thing first.Trapani calls this "running a morning dash". When she sits down to work in the morning, before she checks any email, she spends an hour on the most important thing on her to-do list. This is a great idea because even if you can't get the whole thing done in an hour, you'll be much more likely to go back to it once you've gotten it started. She points out that this dash works best if you organize the night before so when you sit down to work you already know what your most important task of the day is.
4. Check your email on a schedule.


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Page One
First Person: Arnieville Update
I came home last night for another brief R&R before returning to ArnieVille in an hour or so...What a difference hot water & shampoo make!
Yesterday we threw a "media event" which still has me really jazzed. Well, we called it a media event, but since only one media representative (the Daily Cal newspaper) showed up, I'm re-dubbing it a community event, since the disability community turned out in droves. Here's the backstory: we've been building a sculpture at ArnieVille since Wednesday. It's the brainchild of my dear artist friend David Cook, who argued that since other towns & villages have a statue in their town square honoring their namesake, we should follow suit! So he constructed an armature of steel wire, and a team of enthusiastic sculptors-in-training, including four 10-year-olds as well as 83-year-old Bob, laid on papier mache as well as strips of cloth. Arnold is now ten feet tall; in one hand he grips a big fat stogie, and in the other--upraised & ready to slash--an axe. He's not done yet; we still need to put some finishing touches on him--like adding those vicious teeth, for instance--& paint him.
Anyway, at yesterday's event, after the speakers had concluded their statements, our MC said to the crowd, "And now we want to pay our respects to the man for whom our village is named..." Various people drum-rolled on upturned fruit bowls and empty water jugs (using salad tongs & wooden spoons as drumsticks), and then six of us wheeled up to Arnold in our chairs and pied him. Well, five of us. The sixth person was Bob, who climbed up on a ladder to pie Arnold in his face. Poor Arnold.
So I've finally washed the whipped cream out of my hair.
But let me tell you about the speakers! All are members of our core group. Adrienne Lauby has severe asthma but doesn't "look disabled," whatever that means. Sheela Gunn-Cushman is blind and an out Republican. Vanessa Castro rides a power wheelchair, has CP, and uses an electronic communicator to speak. And our MC, Ramona Galindez, is black & deaf. What a mix, wheee! Ramona did her introductions through the brilliant services of ASL interpreter Sherry Hicks; Vanessa prepared her speech in advance & programmed her device so that all she had to do was hit a button, & her fabulous words unfurled. Sheela, who compared our struggle for independence (tomorrow is the 4th of July) to the historic fight for independence from England, used her Braille device to prompt her memory. The marvelous Abril Tamayo interpreted the proceedings into Spanish. I was weeping with joy & huge pride...
In case you're wondering why so few media turned out for the event, I think that some of them probably felt they'd already covered us a week ago when they came to our previous press conference. I'm guessing that as our numbers grow--I think we're now up to about 17 campers in about 13 tents--the media will find us more & more newsworthy. We do seem to be very much on the media radar, despite yesterday's low press turnout. We're ALL OVER cyberspace; media stories about us sprout on the Internet like weeds! If you visit our website &/or Facebook page, you'll see what I mean. (BTW, you don't have to be a member of Facebook--I'm not--to view the page.) Our website is finally finished.
So far, the city and the cops still support us. Knock on wood. We're being extremely careful: a policy of zero tolerance for alcohol & drugs, clean site, etc.
We REALLY need you Californians to get involved in the city council letter campaign. Use our Berkeley city council letter (attached) as a boilerplate, take it to your own city councilmember or superviser, and persuade her/him to urge the council/board of supes to send it to the governor. It's a really effective way to spread the message throughout CA, so that it doesn't simply remain "a Berkeley thing." The letter strongly opposes the budget cuts & the unannounced visits to IHSS recipients' (that would be ME, folks) homes.
I can't spend much longer at the computer, but I want to thank those of you who responded to my previous email with your kind words and financial contributions--you're an amazing lot. To those of you who haven't yet managed to stop by ArnieVille, come on down & lend us your physical presence. Help us stop these dreadful budget cuts. We're on the grassy median strip on Adeline St. at Russell in Berkeley, opposite the original Berkeley Bowl. And to those of you who plan to send a donation but haven't yet got round to it, we really do need cold hard cash to cover our big-ticket items like the porta-potty & sink rental, and the cost of sign language interpreters. You can visit the DREDF (Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund) website and make a contribution using the Pay Pal button. We're a (informal) project of DREDF, so your contribution is tax-deductible. You might want to send a separate email indicating that your donation is for ArnieVille. Or you can send a check by trusty snail, payable to DREDF; write ArnieVille on the memo line and mail it to 2212 Sixth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710.
Our most pressing need, in terms of goods & services: donated ASL interpreter services (we now have 3 deaf folks in our group). Please, please, please consider volunteering an hour or 2. Call DREDF to schedule your time: 644-2555.
One last note. The reporter from the Daily Cal who came to our media event yesterday? She got so pumped, she's planning to join us & camp out at ArnieVille, as soon as she files her story. Ditto the reporter from the SF Public Press. Ditto the KPFA producer who interviewed us yesterday. ArnieVille is contagious, I tell you. Come on down & catch the spirit!


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I recently read a really great letter written by Tangled Up In Blue to her younger self here. I even commented on it saying, this is probably what I would have written to my younger self too!
But yesterday evening, as I was cooking in my kitchen (I am really not very good at it, but advantage Annie - I find cooking interesting so I am eager to perfect it!), it was my first proper dinner making and I burnt the bhindi :P and Nutties came in and propped himself next to me, crowding me in our little kitchen. I told him to get out of my kitchen in a very irritated voice and to that.. well lets just say, my bhindi burned even more. :)
So if I had to write a letter to my younger self I would be -
Dear 15-year old Annie,
I have nothing much to tell you, except that keep doing the things you are doing right now.
You are going to make a truck load of mistakes and seriously screw up sometimes. But you know what? You are doing it all right. You will manage to land yourself into spectacularly disastrous situations but, please, keep doing that. You have so much to learn, and there is no way in hell you will be as awesome as you are right now if you didn't make all those mistakes. So yes, keep screwing up. :) They are just important lessons. And when you have had all those lessons, you will meet Mr. Right and it will be the best thing that ever happened to you. Things will work out just fine, kid. :)
Oh and a little heads up, for the love of God, learn how to cook! :P
P.S: You already know which of the friends are going to stick it out with you, and you are right. They will share the bed with you and gossip all night long before your wedding day. It will be AWESOME! :)
So, if you had to write a letter to your younger self, what would it say?
~ Annie.
P.S: My house looks like a hostel right now, living with a guy is annoying sometimes! :/
Now Playing - In Loving Memory (cover) - Lena Woods


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If you're like millions of Americans, you've done some holiday shopping online.
The perfect gift for that special someone might come from an Internet megastore or a niche seller's site, and you'll think nothing of the difference between the two. But come next year, the online marketplace could look very different. A proposal percolating in Congress could effectively knock out smaller online retailers by putting them through a never-ending tax collection nightmare.
Currently, an online retailer must collect taxes on purchases made in only a state where they have physical operations. So an online store based in Chicago would collect taxes on purchases made by Illinoisans, but not on orders from other states.
This arrangement doesn't sit well with traditional "brick-and-mortar" retailers who believe the status quo gives online sellers a significant price advantage.
In the storefront retailers' corner is U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. His "Main Street Fairness Act" is supposed to level the playing field by requiring remote retailers to collect and remit taxes for thousands of jurisdictions across the country.
But Durbin's bill actually would hurt small businesses by tilting the playing field in favor of large retailers. Big-box stores would continue to benefit from complying with the one tax code of wherever the store is physically located. Major online sellers would gain a competitive advantage in absorbing the administrative costs of national tax compliance while smaller competitors couldn't keep up. This is why Walmart and Amazon support the legislation while eBay remains firmly opposed.
For small online retailers, life would be like Bill Murray's character in the movie "Groundhog Day," except they'd wake up to find that each day is April 15 – tax filing day. Imagine trying to make sense of ever-changing state and local sales tax rates, varying product definitions and accounting and auditing requirements. While "small seller" exemptions have been floated in different versions of the legislation, these exemptions are either undefined or set far too low.
Also concerning is that Durbin's bill hinges on a governing body made up of unelected state tax administrators, of which Illinois isn't a member. We should stay far away from any proposals to give power for future state sales tax rules to a distant board focused primarily on revenue maximization.
Illinois law currently requires online shoppers to voluntarily pay taxes in April on their purchases in which the retailer didn't collect the tax. Not everyone does this, so it's true that – from the government's point of view – money is being left on the table. Leaving aside the question of whether Springfield uses taxpayer funds responsibly, the amount of uncollected Illinois tax is usually pegged around $150 million. That's less than half of 1 percent of the budget.
This isn't money that will come from out-of-state retailers, but from Illinois families and businesses. Households are the biggest offender, accounting for more than three-fifths of the unpaid tax liability. Even so, the state's department of revenue hasn't put significant effort into taxpayer education or enforcement. Illinois had an online sales tax amnesty in place through October, but most folks never heard about it.
Even less effective has been Illinois' new affiliate nexus law, also known as the "Amazon Tax," which was sold as a state-centered solution to the problem of uncollected online sales taxes. But the real effect has been to push online entrepreneurs such as CouponCabin and FatWallet.com out of the state. The law should be dumped, but the question of how to set up a truly fair collection system still remains.
One idea that's gaining ground is the idea of "origin-based sourcing," which embodies the concept of selling globally, taxing locally. Under this approach, when a Chicago online retailer sells a product, Chicago sales taxes would be collected. Regardless of where the customer lives, the retailer just needs to know its rate.
"Origin-based sourcing would require every business – whether brick-and-mortar, online or catalog – to collect just one sales tax for the jurisdiction where they're physically located," said Andrew Moylan of the National Taxpayers Union, a nonpartisan fiscal advocacy organization. "This would level the playing field without flouting the Constitution, and it would encourage real competition for attracting businesses."
Illinois online retailers already use an origin-based system to calculate tax for sales shipped to in-state purchasers, which would ease any transition. But the real bonus is that states and localities will have strong incentives to keep tax rates reasonable in order to attract more retailers within their borders. And that's good news for beleaguered consumers, especially for those who will need to stretch their dollars this holiday season and beyond.
• Kristina Rasmussen is executive vice president of the Illinois Policy Institute.


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Let's begin at the beginning. In 2006, "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone did an episode that teased a cartoon depiction of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. If you know your Islam, you know depicting Muhammad is a sin that is punishable by death. So Comedy Central censored the bit, and that was that. Then, this week, Parker and Stone tried again to depict Muhammad in an episode while making jokes about how touchy of an issue all this was. This time, they threw a bear suit on Muhammad and had him speak in a low rumble from the inside of a truck (the character did NOT turn out to be Muhammad). For this, of course, the pair received death threats:
"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh (a Dutch filmmaker murdered by extremists) for airing this show," read the post. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."
Thus, Comedy Central censored the ensuing South Park episode, along with altering the previous week's episode that featured Muhammad in the bear suit. This was done without Parker and Stone's permission, and they posted a statement on their website to note that fact.
Now, you could argue that Comedy Central, which has given Parker and Stone a verrry long leash over the years, was just trying to protect the duo (along with company employees) from harm. It's not an unreasonable action. But what is completely insane to me is that, out of every possible statement and artistic act in the Western world, THIS is the one line people are afraid to cross. Every other image possible is available to you, Mr. American Citizen, without consequence. Porn. Sacrilegious images of Jesus. Bears making love to aardvarks. All of that freely floats around our culture. Yet the fear of depicting Muhammad can still make people abandon their sense of First Amendment boldness.
It's kowtowing to terrorists. It's essentially giving in to the people who murdered Theo van Gogh and quietly obeying their orders. Stone and Parker had the guts to step back and say, "Wait a second, this is ludicrous." And while Comedy Central may be acting to protect them, what they're really doing is allowing this giant taboo to gain power.
Jon Stewart gets this, which is why he spent a portion of last night's "Daily Show" broadcast telling Revolution Muslim, the extremists who threatened Parker and Stone, to go pound sand:
These numbnuts get to (live in America and praise Osama bin Laden without fear of arrest). All because of how much we, in this country, value and protect even their freedom of expression.
He then went on to tell the extremists to go commit an act I cannot describe here, but endorse strongly. I STRONGLY BELIEVE YOU KOOKS SHOULD DO TO YOURSELVES WHAT JON STEWART SAYS YOU SHOULD DO TO YOURSELVES.


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Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, and author. It has been said that she created a new form of theater. When granted the prestigious MacArthur Award, her work was described as "a blend of theatrical art, social commentary, journalism, and intimate reverie."
She has performed in film and television as well as on stage. She is probably most recognizable in popular culture as Nancy McNally, the National Security Advisor on NBC's former hit, The West Wing.
However, it is Ms. Smith's work in the theater that has been her intellectual focus. Looking at controversial events from multiple points of view, Ms. Smith's theater combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through her performance. The New York Times in reviewing her Broadway show Twilight: Los Angeles, about the 1992 Los Angeles riots, said of her performance, "[she is] the ultimate impressionist: she does people's souls." Jack Kroll of Newsweek proclaimed the work "an American Masterpiece." She does hundreds of interviews while creating a play. Using verbatim excerpts of the interviews, she has performed up to as many as 46 people in the course of an evening.
She is University Professor at New York University, where she is appointed in the Tisch School of the Arts, and affiliated with the New York University School of Law. She was Ann O'Day Maples Professor of the Arts at Stanford University where she taught from 1990 – 2000. She also taught at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Southern California.
She recently taught, at the invitation of Oprah Winfrey, at Oprah Winfrey's Leadership Academy For Girls in South Africa.
In 2007, Americans for the Arts presented her with the Kitty Carlisle Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts. She also received the Mayor's Award for Art and Culture by the Mayor of New York City in 2007. She was the recipient of the Alphonse Fletcher Fellowship in 2006. The fellowship recognizes work by scholars, writers, and artists who address and carry out the broad social goals of the Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision of 1954. She was twice nominated for the NAACP Image Award. She will receive the prestigious New York Women in Communication's Matrix Award for her remarkable achievements and outstanding leadership roles in her field in Spring 2008.
She has several honorary degrees and medals of recognition – among them those that represent Juilliard, Barnard, Northwestern, Smith, Bates, Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan, Holy Cross, Cooper Union, and Radcliffe College. She is also on the board of the Museum of Modern Art where she chairs the Committee on Film. She is also on the board of the Center for American Progress and of Studio in a School.


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VANCOUVER - Young female beluga whale Tiqa died early Friday at the Vancouver Aquarium after suffering an infection — and the death appears unconnected to an overnight break-in.
Vancouver police department Const. Janna McGuiness said there is no evidence linking the break-in at about 4:30 a.m. to the death of the three-year-old beluga just over an hour later.
"This appears to be an unrelated incident," McGuiness told reporters. "But we'll just make sure we take every precaution and do a thorough investigation."
Vancouver Aquarium president John Nightingale said that staff monitoring Tiqa's condition through the night saw a man climb over the wall of the beluga enclosure and challenged the intruder, who climbed back over the wall and ran away.
"So it was very quick," added Nightingale, saying that no contact was witnessed between the dying beluga and the trespasser.
Tiqa is the third young beluga whale to die at the aquarium in the past six years. In 2010 calf Nala died just two weeks after her first birthday after her airway became blocked, and in 2005 Tuvaq died at the age of three from heart arrhythmia.
Nightingale has instructed his medical staff to find out whether there any links between the three deaths, and to consult with international experts.
"We simply have to get to the bottom of what's gone on," he said.
Clint Wright, the aquarium's vice-president of operations and animal management, said Tiqa had a "mild sickness" over the previous 10 days and was not eating regularly.
Tiqa's blood test results had appeared normal through the illness but "[on Thursday] we saw a dramatic change in the blood. Certainly, it looked like she got an infection."
Tiqa was placed under a 24-hour watch and staff members monitoring her behaviour early Friday morning noticed the beluga wasn't "acting quite right," added Wright. The whale died at 5:45 a.m.
The carcass was taken to the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Health Care Centre to undergo a full necropsy by veterinarians Dr. Martin Haulena and Dr. Stephen Raverty.
Nightingale said that despite the tragedy, the aquarium plans to operate a beluga breeding program after the aquarium's current expansion project is completed, adding that the death of young belugas is not unusual, and about 50 per cent of beluga calves in the wild die young.
He said that belugas, unlike orca killer whales, adapt well to life in aquariums. "If the killer whale is the Ferrari of the whale world, the beluga whale is the Volkswagen bus," said Nightingale. "They are a putter-around whale and are pretty ideally suited to living in an aquarium."
Vancouver animal rights activist Peter Hamilton said belugas should not be kept in captivity at the aquarium because it lacks natural flora and fauna. "These animals born in captivity are still naturally wild."


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Eliminating barriers to consolidation will be the best way to pare down the state's almost 7,000 units of local government, a commission created by a local lawmaker has concluded.
The 90-page report by the Local Government Consolidation Commission advises that successful efforts to eliminate layers of government must be locally-driven and not mandated by the state. The report submitted to state lawmakers last week also advises that in many cases, consolidation may not guarantee tax relief as much as governments sharing resources.
But the best thing Springfield can do is to review its laws to make sure that, at the very least, every type of taxing body in the state has a legal mechanism to dissolve or consolidate that does not contain illogical barriers, the report concludes.
"While the Commission recognizes the potential to achieve greater economies of scale and to realize a reduction in costs if local governments work to cooperate and consolidate on a case-by-case basis, this report's recommendations mainly aim to eliminate barriers to consolidation and resolve certain discrepancies in the Illinois statutes governing local governments and special districts," the report states.
State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, filed the 2011 bill that created the 15-member commission and was its chairman. He said the committee's research and testimony dispelled what he called his preconceived notions about the ease of eliminating the number of governments.
"I think that consolidation is terrific, and it's something I encourage, but I also know it's something that can't be mandated by Springfield," Franks said Friday. "The consensus of the commission was that sometimes, it makes more sense to cooperate and work together instead of consolidation."
Illinois has the most units of government of any state at 6,968, according to a U.S. Census report – the first runner-up, Pennsylvania, has about 4,900. They include eclectic bodies that govern things like drainage, mosquito abatement, cemetery maintenance and county historical museums. McHenry County alone has 30 municipalities, 19 school districts, 17 townships, 17 fire protection districts, 13 library districts, four park districts, two sanitary districts, and two cemetery districts.
While supporters maintain that local government means local control, opponents argue that they are breeding grounds for waste and corruption because the sheer number makes it almost impossible for watchdog groups – or county governments charged in many cases with appointing board members – to keep an eye on them.
The commission concluded that, in many cases, state statutes that create taxing bodies do not contain mechanisms that allow them to consolidate or dissolve. Others, according to the report, contain unusual restrictions – under the law, two contiguous library districts cannot merge unless they have the exact same limits on their tax levies.
"Many of these government creations, even if they wanted to annex or consolidate, have no mechanism with which to do it. Nothing is as permanent as a government institution. It never goes away," Franks said.
The state should also take steps to make it easier for governments to share resources to increase efficiency, the report concludes. In DuPage County, for example, there are 45 different government entities that provide for mosquito abatement services – 36 of them have different contracts with the same provider.
The commission's report also recommends that the state be much more cautious about imposing mandates on local governments. Taxing bodies have complained for years that many of their cost increases stem from having to comply with unfunded edicts from state lawmakers.
Commission members advised in the report against imposing consolidation, concluding that it should be up to local taxpayers. But left unwritten was the fact that proposals attempting to take a heavy-handed approach have never become law.
Efforts in recent years that have failed to pass in the General Assembly include creating a state commission with binding authority to eliminate local governments, and to consolidate school districts into one district for each county. Smaller-scale bills, such as ones eliminating small township road districts, also have failed.
But other efforts have succeeded. State lawmakers are consolidating the number of regional offices of education from 44 to 35. A law passed last year has given the DuPage County Board the power to eliminate 13 of its 400 units of government if they meet specific criteria. Supporters want to give all 102 counties in Illinois that power should the pilot program be successful.
And a Franks bill aimed at slapping a four-year moratorium on the General Assembly's ability to pass laws creating new units of government passed the House last week on a 101-10 vote. That bill was enacted to ensure that any consolidated or eliminated government couldn't go to Springfield and get a new form of government created.
"I think it's going to be small steps to where we need to be, but for the first time we're on the right path. We're doing something about it and empowering the locals to do what they need to do to be more efficient," Franks said.
The commission's report did not focus on schools – a separate task force, chaired by Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, examined consolidating the state's 868 school districts in a 2012. That report reached similar conclusions in that consolidation should be encouraged, not mandated, and resources shared or streamlined wherever possible.
Commission recommendations
• Investigate whether several types of taxing bodies are duplicative by nature, such as museum districts and county historical museum districts.
• Examine which districts can create their own police forces and why some choose to do so.
• Change state law to make sure that all units of local government have a means to abolish themselves, and remove unnecessary barriers.
• Re-examine state mandates that add costs to local governments and taxpayers.
Source: Local Government Consolidation Commission final report


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Local Cleveland rockers The Missing (minus Chad) visited the on-air studios of The Rock on 88.7 FM WJCU last Friday night to discuss their great love of the early '00s rock band Trapt and about their upcoming shows. Many conversations with The Hobbit Man took place as well (off the air unfortunately, due to the foul Hobbit language of the Hobbity fellow..)
Check out the ridiculousness below – everyone in the band now has new nicknames. Chris is now "Chris from Trapt", Elliot aka "Howlin' Jack" will henceforth be known as "Habit Man", and Rick is…well Rick is just Rick.
Chad was The Missing one.


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It's worth watching the video, or just reading the transcript. (Also, is Matthew McConaughey's head really weird in this photo?) It's immediately worth it to me because they've included Michael B Jordan. YES. It's been a great year for Jordan so far as a result of his excellent work in Fruitvale. He could have a shot at a nomination. But more importantly they want to give him MORE. Even superhero work is a possibility at this point. Jordan has said that he eventually wants to get to a time where black actors don't just get roles that could ONLY go to black actors. Because as encouraging as it's been this year to see so many black narratives being told and so many black artists being recognised, the fact of the matter is that no one else could have played that part. So, in a way, it's casting by default. Imagine then that there's a project that might be right for Ryan Gosling and Leonardo DiCaprio. And that they end up choosing Michael B Jordan instead because he'd be better in that particular situation. Ultimately that's the goal.
Jordan doesn't participate too much in this discussion. He doesn't jump in, he doesn't make it about him. He only speaks when the question is directed at him. It almost feels like he's there to learn, and is humbled by the inclusion. He does however make an interesting remark when he's asked about career advice, and who he's learned from:
"Honestly, I haven't had too many people. You're surprised when you see the older generation be very precious with information. [But] as an upcoming actor, I was lucky enough to have Forest and Pete Berg and David Simon. But for the most part, it's been trial and error."
Later on, several of the "veteran" actors go on to talk about the selfishness of being an actor. It's almost an honest acknowledgement of the narcissistic nature of the profession but here, they're almost embracing it because somehow that attitude helps to elevate the performance. You get the sense that they're not even conscious of the hypocrisy. It's fascinating, non?
Some of them are there to campaign. Like Jared Leto. You can smell his hustle through the screen. Matthew McConaughey too. But while Jared takes the "acting is my great love – she breaks my heart and fills me up at the same time" approach, McConaughey, as you would expect, is all "I'm a free spirit manly man" about it. He speaks in the most hilarious "dude" platitudes. As for Josh Brolin, I'm not really sure what he's getting out of this at all.
And then there's Jake Gyllenhaal. Self-deprecating, funny Jake Gyllenhaal. Here's a guy who might have *some* self-awareness where actors are concerned. Jake's the one, aside from Jordan, the initiate, who can hear it get "actor-y" and self-indulgent, which is where actors live, and resists the temptation to go there. It's there, but he controls it and instead he deflects with humour. I like him so much for this.
Click here to read and watch the roundtable.


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Honolulu - As Hawaii Five-O prepares to wrap its third hit season, Vancouver's Grace Park is almost as famous a fixture in Honolulu as the landmarks that flash on the screen in the show's opening credits in sync with the best TV theme music of all time.
Park has chosen an isolated Honolulu hotel to meet with The Vancouver Sun, a place where no one will make a fuss over her. But the taxi drivers and hotel staff are still buzzing as she passes by dressed in a casual outfit: "Isn't that ... Yes, it is ... that's Kono."
Kono Kalakaua, Park's onscreen alter-ego, is the only female member of the elite Five O police squad that keeps the televised version of Hawaii safe from global organized crime lords with a tendency to arrive on the island and blow a lot of things up, because huge explosions look kinda awesome with a tropical backdrop and sunsets the colour of overripe papayas.
While Kono is the tech expert, splitting geek duties with her cousin Chin Ho Kelly (Lost's Daniel Dae Kim), she's also a surfer who's constantly kicking bad guy butt. And when someone kidnaps her — and everyone on the squad has been kidnapped at least once over the past three years — she generally gets to defend her own honour. While her friends always find her, "they always come a beat late and it's handled," says Park. "And I think that's sort of the signature of the show."
In the Season 3 finale, airing May 20 on Global TV at 10 p.m., Kono is on the run to avoid being arrested for a murder viewers are pretty sure she didn't commit. And chances are she'll be beating up at least a few bad guys while she's running.
It's clear that Park, sitting on the hotel's lanai (patio) overlooking a stunning ocean view and a private pool where dolphins frolic with tourists, finds it challenging being famous on an island where every other person is a tourist looking for the perfect Facebook profile shot — and what's more perfect that posing with the star of the island's signature TV series?
Park didn't set out to be famous, or to act. When she was a student at Vancouver's Magee secondary school she didn't even study drama. "I was really quiet and maybe silly or something, but I was not like, 'Look at me.' Park says. "If someone said, "you have to be in a drama, you have to say one line," I would have been mortified."
After graduating she went to UBC to study architecture, and ended up with a degree in psychology. Then her mother suggested modelling to pay the bills and Park landed some Woodward's catalogues. "I wasn't going to Milan anytime soon," she says with a laugh. But Park did land in Hong Kong, where she worked as a model and spent some time studying acting.
After returning home to Vancouver, Park auditioned for the teen soap opera Edgemont, a launching pad for several Canadian stars. And in 2003 she appeared as a pilot (Boomer), in the pilot for the 21st-century remake of Battlestar Galactica, a serious contender for best science fiction TV series of all time.
Since her character was a Cylon (synthetic human) she played multiple roles and had the chance to show off a phenomenal range. "I could barely keep my head above water to save my life on that show. But I grew a lot and I learned fast." Like most Battlestar alumni as soon as the series wrapped, she quickly found herself in demand for A-list gigs in Canada and the U.S.
After stints on two short-lived series with short names — The Cleaner and The Border — Park was drafted to join the cast of Five-O alongside Steve McGarrett (Australian Alex O'Loughlin); Danny "Danno" Williams (Scott Caan) and Chin Ho Kelly (Kim). And the same way the reboot of the clunky late '70s sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica took off, so did the 21st-century take on another '70s cop classic.
"It's really likable and easily watchable and very entertaining," Park says. It's also beloved. "Daniel Dae Kim did Lost here, which is a way bigger show in numbers, and when he went to this show, he got an even huger response (on the island) because it's their show, it's a local show,' says Park.
"I'm sure if you did want to be famous as an actor this would be a good show to be on. I think you would feel really accepted and cherished by the locals. There's a lot of local support for the show. Tons of pride."
The series is already set to return for a fourth season, and since Hawaii Five-O generally ends each season with a cliffhanger, Kono may well be the character hanging off the cliff.