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BlogPulse has no pulse
So I was playing around with dashboards and the like yesterday – as one does – and noticed that BlogPulse has disappeared. BlogPulse was not the greatest blog search engine around, but it was the only one offering anything like useable charts. So, given that Technorati charts disappeared years ago (although they still have a page claiming they'll be back soon), and other solutions such as IceRocket don't enable you to pass keywords to create live charts, it would appear there is no longer any blog charting widget out there.
Is this the final nail in the coffin of blogging? Are we really so uninterested in blogging activity that charts are no longer considered viable? It would seem that way, and the 'blogging is dead' meme is very much alive right now.
Charting generally seems to be suffering
Recently, tweetcloud.com disappeared, without even a whimper. It just vanished. I seemed to be the only person who noticed, but tweetcloud.com was, like BlogPulse, the only solution that did something incredibly useful: it would create a tweetcloud for a search term on the fly. In other words, you typed in what you were looking for, and it created a tweetcloud for that search (not a tweetcloud of your own timeline, which really isn't that much use but I suspect a lot less processor-intensive). Plus it did it quickly, and there was a widget for it, which enabled you to build dashboards giving an instant overview of the latest terms associated with any topic. It was great. And then it wasn't. There are sort-of alternatives still such as Visible Tweets, Cloud.li and Twendz, but, while they're very pretty, you can't build them into dashboards.
And today, Trendistic, the only (again) solution for live charting of Twitter trends, is down. It was down yesterday too. Look for it on Twitter search and there are just a load of weird Polish references to it (who knows, maybe Trendistic is a Polish pop group). Surely – sssssurely – Trendistic can't have disappeared too? And surely, again, it can't just be me who thought it was an absolutely brilliant idea?
RSS is dying
If you're detecting a pattern here, you're not alone. It does seem that really great ideas are failing as the web grows bigger and faster. They just cannot keep up, it seems – or, at least, not until/unless they're snapped up by one of the walled gardens such as Facebook. Free information – as in, really free, readily available, easily manipulated and shared across the entire web – is disappearing.
RSS was supposed to be the great hope of free information. Peel the content away from the format, and hey presto, you can share pretty much anything across any platform. But therein lies the problem: something free is not something you can fence off and charge for. It is free in every sense of the word.
So it seems RSS is suffering too. Google Reader used to be a really nice way to bring feeds together and create a static web page of the results as well as a newly aggregated feed. Not since its recent revamp however. All the sharing features have been ported across to Google+, presumably because Google+ is a neat, walled garden whereas RSS was messy and free. Yahoo Pipes was the ultimate RSS aggregator/mash-up tool but suffered from underinvestment by Yahoo. Even after a supposed major overhaul, it's flaky and too slow to power a dashboard (unless you're prepared to wait for a minute or so while the results load up). Another RSS mashup tool, XFruits, died a couple of years back. Do a search for RSS aggregator tools and it's like a graveyard. The only viable tool that I can see is called FeedRinse which, while it offers aggregation and filtering (the two most useful features of Pipes), also feels a bit overloaded and slow. And, as with TweetCloud and BlogPulse, it's the only game in town, which leads me to believe it won't be for much longer.
RSS from search has been abandoned by major players too. Such as the bookmarking platform Delicious. You used to be able to search across the Delicious database and pull an RSS feed from that. Stunningly useful, as it showed you what other people considered important for any topic. Not any longer. Twitter has also demoted RSS from search: you can still do it, but you have to look around to find out how. It's another candidate for the cull, I believe.
Mash-ups are harder
So where does this leave us if we want to create our own mash-ups or dashboards? Well we can dive into the APIs if we fancy it, and learn a smattering of HTML and javascript. But we still need reliable platforms to base our dashboards on. The familiar theme of 'only game in town' is revisited here, in that the only solution offering public dashboards – that is, pages that you can show to anyone without them needing to log in – is Netvibes. And every time I create a dashboard in Netvibes, I find I have to spend quite some time figuring out what works still and what doesn't. Quite apart from discovering over the past few months that third-party sites have disappeared, I'm finding that third-party widgets in Netvibes are broken, or even that Netvibes itself is cranky. So for example, my attempts to create a dashboard yesterday were frustrated by HTML widgets only displaying the top portions of any image or javascript output, widgets generally not staying in the same place when I refreshed the page, RSS feeds not being imported correctly, and on recourse to their support forum, finding it full of spam.
It seems the free tools that were once so useful are now decaying or falling apart. I don't know what 'Web 2.0' really meant, but I have a sense of something dying, something that was slower and smaller than the web today, that shared more freely but was doing so with less immediacy and monetary return. Whatever we're moving towards, if it's Web 3.0, then it's becoming more consolidated, monetised, bigger, faster, noisier.
So the 'roll your own' approach is going to get harder. The smaller, innovative sites that did one thing, and one thing well, just cannot survive the double onslaught of vastly increased traffic and expectations of real-time delivery unless they can make money from it. The old, fluid, free web that comprised many islands of activity is solidifying into separate continents of influence. The game is so much harder now, that it's only the really big players that can make sense – and money – out of it.
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be
Me? I preferred the more innovative, dynamic environment. I liked the way that RSS could be readily shared, and smaller enterprises could create neat tools that let you do things with it, without really needing to be a developer. I guess those days are gone. Nostalgia certainly ain't what it used to be.
Postscript: … and no sooner do I file this post then I read this Observer piece by John Naughton, entitled "Has the Internet run out of ideas already?", on the progression of information technologies: "from somebody's hobby to somebody's industry; from jury-rigged contraption to slick production marvel; from a freely accessible channel to one strictly controlled by a single corporation or cartel – from open to closed system."
I couldn't have put it better myself. In fact, I didn't.


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No harm done after L.A. quake rattles locals
LOS ANGELES — A moderate earthquake rattled dishes and bolted Southern Californians out of bed Monday morning.
No damage was reported from the quake that struck at 6:25 a.m. PT. The magnitude-4.4 earthquake had initially been rated at 4.7, but was downgraded about 20 minutes after the jolt, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Still, even some locals were alarmed.
"I live in Westwood. It was really scary w/a few big jolts. It felt like it wouldn't end and the sound was horrible," tweeted ImSusanT.
@iRachelBrill had this take: "the initial jolt felt like the 94 Northridge quake only without the after roll. Now im@waiting for the aftershocks..." The Northridge earthquake in 1994 left 57 people dead and thousands injured.
Monday's quake was centered in the San Fernando Valley, about 6 miles north-northwest from Westwood, an enclave in west Los Angeles, the agency said. Westwood is the home to the University of California, Los Angeles — UCLA. The location would put it close to the community of Encino. The depth was 5 miles below the surface and it occurred on the north edge of the Santa Monica mountains, the USGS said.
It was the largest earthquake to strike near Los Angeles in years. The quake lasted several seconds, shaking furniture and causing ripples in swimming pools just as many Southern Californians were awaking.
Los Angeles police sent out a tweet asking residents not to call 911 to report the earthquake. "We are well aware of it. Lines need to be kept open for emergencies," the message said. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the region's massive bus and rail system, said that operations were returning to normal after some quick checks to look for damage just as the morning commute was starting.
"We have no reports of damage," said USGS seismologist Robert Graves at a press conference. Damage, given the intensity of the quake, "would be slight if it occurred at all." He said one aftershock of magnitude 2.7 had occurred and there was a 5% chance that the shaker was a foreshock to a larger quake.
Co-anchors of a local KTLA broadcast were sufficiently concerned when it hit -- host Chris Schauble pointed at the ceilingand said "Earthquake! We're having an earthquake!" right before he and his co-host Megan Henderson dove under the newsdesk.
Being Los Angeles, the quake, of course, brought quick reaction from celebrities.
"Is everyone OK? Because I'm still shaking," tweeted Kendall Jenner, younger sister of pop culture phenom Kim Kardashian.
Contributing: Desair Brown

subset: commoncrawl


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WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Because of a trip to Walmart three years ago, Heather Ellis is now fighting for her life. The 24-year-old former college student is facing felony charges that could get her up to 15 years in prison after being arrested for an incident that stemmed from her cutting a line at a Walmart in Kennet, Mo.
The case, which goes to trial Nov. 18, is garnering national attention because of the racial underpinnings and perceived multiple injustices involved.
On Nov. 16, the Your Black World Coalition, NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union, National Action Network, and Southern Christian Leadership Conference plan to converge on the small town of Kennett to protest and heighten the publicity.
Here's what happened: On Jan. 6, 2007, Ellis and her cousin were sent on a midnight run to Walmart by her parents to pick up some items. With her cousin already standing in line near the register, Ellis tried to join him at the front of the line. That's when the clerk accused Ellis of cutting in front of other customers.
Customers behind objected and verbally accosted the then 21-year-old, according to Ellis' father Rev. Nathanial Ellis in an interview with the NNPA News Service. One White customer physically pushed the former college student. Ellis tried to explain that she was joining her cousin who was already in line and told the lady not to push her again. She was subsequently pushed again. The cashier would later refuse to ring Ellis up even after everybody else in line went through.
"The cashier stalled my daughter long enough for the night manager to come up," Rev. Ellis explained. "My daughter paid with cash but she asked my daughter for an I.D. [Heather] said that she didn't need an ID because she paid with cash."
Upon legal advice, his daughter has declined press interviews.
As Ellis and the cashier was going back and forth about the ID issue a Walmart night manager approached. She yelled frantically for Ellis to leave the store immediately before she called the police and had her removed for trespassing, Rev. Ellis recounted the story as told by his daughter.
Ellis did not leave right away because she was waiting for the change from her purchase. In the midst of the argument and the manager yelling, Rev. Ellis holds that the night manager then charged at Ellis over a remark his daughter made and a scuffle ensued. The police were called, which was according to store policy, according to Walmart.
"When there is a disturbance of this nature at one of our stores, our associates are encouraged to contact law enforcement and let the authorities determine how to proceed," said Walmart spokesperson Lorenzo Lopez.
The four police officers who responded escorted Ellis out of the store. Rev. Ellis alleges that the officers hurled racial insults at his daughter as she was exiting the premises and then once outside, arrested her for trespassing.
Officer A. W. Fisher allegedly grabbed Ellis violently once she spoke up about her treatment from the police.
After getting a call from Ellis' 15-year-old cousin that accompanied her, Ellis' aunt showed up to the scene to a brutal scene of multiple police officers wrestling her young niece to the ground.
"She said to my wife, 'Mama, they dragged me by my hair and slammed me into the metal door,'" Rev. Ellis recounts.
Rev. Ellis says that his daughter's wrists were bloody from being cuffed too tight and that she had injuries that required medical attention from being choked, dragged and wrestled.
Ellis was initially charged in 2007 with four misdemeanors, including assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, trespassing and destroying police property. The charges were subsequently dropped – or so the family thought.
"When we went they said the charges were no longer in the system. They threw it out. The secretary showed my wife that they threw out the charges and that they were no longer in the system," Rev. Ellis said. However, Ellis had refused to sign the plea bargain that had been offered.
Thinking that she was in the clear Ellis went back to school in New Orleans, where she was a student at Xavier University. A month later the Ellis family found out by a records check by a friend that a felony arrest warrant for Ellis had turned up.
The family says the prosecutor upgraded the misdemeanors to three Class C felonies because Ellis refused to accept a guilty plea deal.
The pending felony charges have cost Ellis job offers and a shot at going to medical school.
The community has expressed its outrage with rallies and protests, which led to threats from the Ku Klux Klan.
A police officer delivered a card to the family from the Klan and Heather's father believes that the officer's delivery of the card was part of a broader plot to intimidate the family.
"After the first march we had, a policeman in uniform in his car, who holds the rank of major, drove up to my sister-in-law's house and called her outside. He told her that he had something to give her. He gave it to her. She said, "'We're not intimidated. We will still march on.'" He just drove away laughing." He said that the officer also gave his other sister-in-law a card as well.
He said the brown cards with red writing read, "You've just been paid a social visit by the Ku Klux Klan. The next visit will not be social."
There haven't been any further threats since that day, he says.
The prosecutor on the case doubts Rev. Ellis' story.
"There were no threats by the Ku Klux Klan to the family," contends Stephen Sokoloff, Dunklin County prosecuting attorney in charge of prosecuting Heather's case. "Somebody threw some cards on the street where they were going to have a march. The police picked them up. The police major handed the card to one of the family members who he has known for 35 to 40 years and just told her that they found these cards on the street. It was just a matter to alert them because, quite frankly, if he hadn't I think there would've been a problem as well."
Kennett is a sleepy southeast Missouri town that rests in the state's conservative "Boothill" region. It has a White population of over 90 percent, and has a long history of racial injustice, according to civil rights advocates.
"I have spoken with the family and other residents of the Kennett community, and the truth is that there does not appear to be justice for African Americans in this town," said prominent Syracuse University professor Dr. Boyce Watkins in a press statement. "This requires that the prosecutor be made to realize that his power is not omnipotent and that he cannot destroy lives at his own discretion."
Dunklin, a rural county just four miles from the Arkansas border and where Kennett is located, was where then presidential candidate Barack Obama had one of his worst showings in the primaries.
"This young lady was going to go to medical school to be a doctor. She has never been in any trouble, said Rev. Jesse Bonner, president of the neighboring Sikeston, Mo. chapter of the NAACP. "I thought it was evident that [the NAACP] get involved in this because a lot of things of this sort have been going on in the 'Boothill' area of the state. It is real racial."
According to Rev. Ellis, the attorney that they first hired for Heather's case tried to talk their daughter into taking a plea deal offered by Sokoloff. But she refused. They say their former lawyer had close ties to the prosecutor and he didn't show that they had their daughter's best interests in mind.
"We found out later that he was friends with the prosecutor," Rev. Ellis said. "They used to play golf together. My wife asked him if there was a conflict of interest and he said no."
They fired him. They are on their third lawyer after their second one withdrew himself from the case over differences with the family on how Ellis should be represented.
Her current attorney is Scott Rosenblum, whose office did not respond to a request for an interview. Meanwhile, Rev. Ellis contends that Walmart or the prosecutor's release of the store's video of the incident would exonerate his daughter.
Sokoloff argued his opposite perspective in a letter to Buffalo State College journalism professor Michael Niman, who had written on the case for the Progressive Populist.
"Ms. Ellis can be very clearly seen in the video shoving the merchandise of the next customer in line back from the register and trying to place her own in front of it," Sokoloff wrote in his letter. "The video also clearly shows her cursing at the officers as they followed her out of the store, it also clearly shows that there was no excessive force used in the arrest and that Ms. Ellis was not lifted off the ground. Further despite your report that there were no injured victims, one officer sustained a split lip from a punch thrown by the 'innocent' Ms. Ellis and another bruised shin where she kicked him. Further, the E.R. records of Ms. Ellis' visit show no visible injuries. "
However, Sokoloff would not go into details about the case when reached by the NNPA News Service.
"I don't release evidence to the media," the prosecutor said by telephone about the contents of the video. "It's totally inappropriate and improper to be doing that. In fact, there are rules against that. I don't try my cases in the media. I don't think it's appropriate. I prefer to let the evidence speak for itself. Yes, the video will be played for the jury, of course."
John Chasnoff, program director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, has seen the footage that Sokoloff filed as evidence. He, along with the Ellis family, said that the video shows nothing to support the prosecutor's charge.
"We see things that are emblematic in that part of the state," Chassnoff said. "We see a long history of racial tension. We're always interested in cases of police misconduct and this case fits that pattern of misconduct that we've seen around the country."
Sokoloff contends that the original misdemeanor charges were never dropped, contrary to what the Ellis family believed. He said that different facts about the case spread within the media and by Ellis advocates were products of "absolute lies and misinformation."
Sokoloff said that the charges were initially filed as misdemeanors and the plea offer Ellis refused involved a deferred prosecution on those charges. It would have resulted in a dismissal with informal supervision for a period of two years, after which, the charges would've been completely dismissed permanently.
"She fired her [first] lawyer, the second lawyer withdrew, she missed court appearances," he explained. "It became apparent to me that she was not taking the matter seriously. That's when we amended it to include the two felony assault on law enforcement charges."
Each felony charge carries a sentence of up to seven years of county jail time or a fine.
He said that the felony charges were there all along as far as the evidence was concerned but they were trying to get the case resolved without having to file those charges.
The prosecution says that police report states that one officer received a split lip and the other officer received a bruised shin.
"We're not talking about serious injuries here," he says about Heather's felony charge. "She is not charged with any serious assault. But they are felonies because they are police officers and they were performing their duty. Under Missouri law, that makes it an automatic felony," he explains.
Elliott Millner, a legal consultant with a Black news website, Your Black World, and co-organizer of an upcoming rally for Ellis, does not buy Sokoloff's explanation.
"That's not true because if assaulting an officer, no matter what happens, becomes an automatic felony then why is there misdemeanor assault of an officer? Why is there class A, B, C up to a felony assault of an officer? He has discretion as a prosecutor to look at the situation, look at the background, look at the person. It's excessive," Millner asserts.
Millner continues, "Even if you look at it color neutrally, a case where someone who has no prior record does that warrant her potentially getting sent to prison for however many years for a busted lip that they can't prove happened because there are no pictures of any busted lip? There is no evidence of any of that."
Sokoloff says he will try the case in court while Ellis' family is trying it in the media.
"I cannot begin to explain why this case has gotten so much media attention," Sokoloff said. "I am absolutely mystified other than the defendant seems to want to make it a big deal."
Ellis admits that they are using the media as a tool to get their story out but only because Americans everywhere need to hear what is happening in Kennett, he said.
"What we're disputing and alleging is that the assault against the police officers did not happen. If anyone was assaulted it was Heather Ellis," Millner said. "There were witnesses that observed the abuse that she received. These officers that claimed to sustain injuries did not have to get any medical [attention], Heather Ellis did. We're disputing the entire police version of events."
Miller said that Heather's case is just a catalyst for a longstanding pattern of racially-biased legal injustice that has been going on in that region for some time.
Sokoloff doesn't budge.
"Just because the defendant makes a big deal of the case isn't going to cause me dismiss the charges when there isn't a basis for it," Sokoloff said. "Quite frankly, the most time and effort that's been involved in this is the injury caused from the media."


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Lesson Plan
Playing with Prepositions through Poetry
|3 – 5
|Lesson Plan Type
|Standard Lesson
|Estimated Time
|Three 30-minute sessions
|Lesson Author
Urbana, Illinois
Students play with words as they explore how prepositions work in Ruth Heller's picture book Behind the Mask. They first explore the use of language in the text and identify how prepositions are used. They then read and identify prepositions used in a poem. Finally, students compose their own original prepositional poems, which they publish in a multimodal format modeled on Heller's text.
- Multigenre Mapper: Students use this online tool to map and publish a written piece that includes a drawing and up to three text genres.
- Word Mover: Using this online tool, students can create original poetry by manipulating words on the screen. Completed work can be printed.
"Grammar worksheets and grammar textbooks have their place and their purposes, but their limitations are serious," cautions Brock Haussamen in his chapter "Discovering Grammar" from Grammar Alive! A Guide for Teachers (16). As an alternative, he suggests that "we should teach grammar from authentic texts as much as possible. You can use the literature students are reading. . . to demonstrate any grammar lesson. You can also use the students' own writing to illustrate points of grammar-to illustrate not just errors but effective grammar as well" (17).
This lesson takes Haussamen's advice to heart and provides a series of activities that explores the dynamic connections that occur in a reading and writing workshop, experiences that flow seamlessly between students playing with language in an authentic shared text to building meaning in their own writing.
Further Reading
Haussamen, Brock, et al. 2003. Grammar Alive! A Guide for Teachers. Urbana, IL: NCTE.


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|I'm second row in pink/black skirt with ponytail. Hard to find!
With the recent floods in Duluth nobody really thought that the Voyageur Trail Marathon would take place this summer. Much of the course no longer exists as raging water took it away. It's horrifying and amazing at the same time.
Last week we learned that the 1/2 Voyageur (Marathon) and Voyageur 50 Mile Ultramarathon would in fact take place. Our RD's, the City and many volunteers created a reroute. We are still unsure of the whole course route for the 50 Miler taking place in two weeks but we know that it will be taking place. This is nothing short of amazing! Andy and Kris could have slated trail work days instead of races on these dates and we would have been understood and been ready to lend a hand. Instead they saved the race for the runners. Amazing.
I didn't decide to run the Trail Marathon until after I ran 25K at Afton the week before. I really wasn't sure how my herniated discs would hold up. They were fine after 3.5 hours of trail running so I wanted to see how they would do in the 6 hour range. I mailed in my entry and was set to go.
2 AM came quite quickly on race day. I wanted to be at Troy's Friday night baseball game so decided to leave dark and early from home by 3 AM. I prepped a chicken breast to eat on the drive to Duluth the night before along with a post race fruit salad with another chicken breast. I've found that grains really send the inflammation sky high and have been able to run without the usual oats, breads and pasta carbo load of the past. Fruits and veggies, good clean proteins are working just fine. Today I complete cycle 2 of TheWhole 30. It works for me.
I arrived to the Duluth Zoo, start and finish, by 515 so had plenty of time to check in and visit. I wasn't too apprehensive about this distance, I was more apprehensive as to making a decision about the 50 miler two weeks later on relatively the same course. Today I'd have my answer.
We began running at 6, 100 some of us, I believe. I saw many old friends who I hadn't seen in quite some time. I hadn't run this race since 2003! I was looking forward to it.
About a mile into the race we climbed Spirit Mountain-the ski area in Duluth. Straight up that sucker! It reminded me of all the days I've spent climbing the ski hills in preparation for Superior Sawtooth 100 miler. I will be having more of those days in the future. Up Up Up. I was looking forward to the way back, we'd be running right on down, into the finish!
After the ski hill we crossed an area that reminded me of the Superior Hiking Trail-which we actually followed once or twice. I did spy the telltale blue blazes here and there. Lots of roots, rocks - beautiful trail through pines. I stopped and hugged a huge white pine. It smelled SO wonderful and I was just SO happy to be out there.
We ran through Jarrows Beach which is a jumble of boulders. Well, more like walked and hopped through, rather than run! I kept thinking I was so glad we weren't doing this in the rain or in the dark. It would have been so much more difficult. I didn't know if we were doing this section on the way back or not.
Here is a photo from Lisa Messerer of the section. You can see the pink flagging depicting the trail. Yeah, that's pretty rocky!
I was glad to get out of this section on onto a more level piece of trail!
The course took us along Skyline, I was able to recognize much of that area, past the Beck's Road aid station of the 50 Miler, into the grassy, rolling ski trails of Magney. When I hit the bike path, which is was washed away near Carlton, I knew I was approaching the Power Lines-the trademark of the Voyageur Races. They were in great shape this race! A little tacky for good grip, not muddy or dusty. Really seemed strange that they weren't the toughest section of the race. We didn't do all of them, maybe 3 or 4 is all. We didn't even go through them on the way back - we made a left turn and came back through Mission-bypassing all of them. Wow. Shocker.
The way back was much easier. I seemed to be running downhill most of the time. I wasn't tired, I felt in good shape. The aid stations were sparse on food. I needed to remember this was a marathon, not an ultra, so ultra food (lots of fruit, potato, etc) wouldn't be around. I was able to find grapes and they were serving Ultima. I remembered that Ultima was not an energy supplement, it is an electrolyte. I used only one SCAP and ate bananas and grapes for fuel.
I just enjoyed the day. I looked at my watch at approximately 13 miles and was at 315 or so. I figured 630 would get me to the finish. With the earlier start time of the 50 miler, 6 vrs 7 am, I would have 7 hours to get to Mile 25. This was doable in my current state.
As I returned back toward the start, now the finish, I took time to ask how I was feeling. I felt good, had energy, feet were in good shape. I asked myself if I wanted to try 50 miles in two weeks. Am I ready? What if my discs hurt? Am I willing to DNF if they cause pain? Can my fragile egg shell brain take a DNF? I won't know if I can run 50 miles unless I try it. Am I willing NOT to try it because I'm afraid of a DNF? Round and round my brain went, asking these questions.
As I neared the last few miles I began to have emotional outbursts. I KNEW I wanted to run 50 miles again. I KNEW I wanted to press down the fear and try it anyway. I KNEW I could do it. I began to sob. Yes, I'll try the 50 miler. It's been a long time. It will be uncomfortable, it will be difficult, but being able to complete it..will be worth it. I may not have any disc pain at all. If I do, I'll have to stop. I won't know unless I try.
At the next aid station I asked about Jarrow's Beach. I was told I wasn't going to be running through it again. Yay! Happy day! I was ready to run onto the finish.
Down the ski hill this time, letting the gravity take me down. I was enjoying the view of the lake and the feel of the finish coming before me.
I ran into the finish and heard a lot of clapping and one voice above all the rest. ICE BERG! Yup, John Storkamp, cheering me on. I finished in 607, felt strong and happy.
I couldn't pull myself away. I visited for a few hours with so many friends that I haven't seen in too long. It really was a great day. Thank you to the RDs for saving the race, all of the volunteers and my friends. To Lisa, who took these photos. What a fun time I had. I'm looking forward to the 50 in two weeks. Scared as hell, but looking forward to it.


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Kinston resident Mike Parker will be speaking on the 1862 Peninsula Campaign that occurred in Virginia during the Civil War.
Kinston resident Mike Parker will be speaking on the 1862 Peninsula Campaign that occurred in Virginia during the Civil War.
The Kinston-Lenoir County Civil War Round Table meeting will begin with a meal at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Queen Street Deli, 117 S. Queen St.
The Peninsula (or Peninsular) Campaign was a major Union offensive against the Confederate capital of Richmond led by Major General George B. McClellan in the spring and summer of 1862, during the American Civil War.
After moving his Army of the Potomac by boat to Fort Monroe on the Atlantic coast in late April, McClellan planned an advance toward Richmond via the peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers.
�That campaign was a critical time for the fledging Confederate government,� Parker said. �In fact, the months comprising the campaign created a perfect storm that could have brought the Confederacy to its knees.�
A native of Roanoke, Va., Parker has been a teacher and journalist for more than 40 years. He has lived in Kinston since 1971. In June 2011, Mike retired from teaching English at Farmville Central High School.
He still teaches literature and writing in the Department of English at East Carolina University. He has taught a variety of classes from freshman composition to classical mythology, non-fiction writing and literature surveys.
He completed his undergraduate degree in English at The Ohio State University in 1971, and earned his M.A. and certificate of advanced study at East Carolina. His research interests include American literature, theory of writing, Civil War history and Native American literature.
He has written a weekly column for the Kinston Free Press for more than 19 years. He collected 80 of his columns and published them in a book titled �My Wife Has All the Answers.�
Mike received two North Carolina Press Association Awards for his work as a writer and is listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. He was honored with the ECU English Department�s 2000-2001 Bertie Fearing Excellence in Teaching Award. He was also named Farmville Central�s Teacher of the Year for 2006.
Mike is a member of the Rams Neuse Camp #1427 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Three of his great-great grandfathers served honorably in the War Between the States. He also enjoys serving as a tour guide on the CSS Neuse II.
Civil War Roundtable is a group of people with an interest in the American Civil War and its mission is to study the history of that war, to stimulate interest and promote education in a broad range of topics related to that war, and to aid in the preservation and enhancement of its battlefields.
The public is invited to attend this meeting. Dues are $25 a year. For information, contact Jane Phillips at 252-469-1424.


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New downloadable content available starting today
Prior to being picked up by Jagex and released to a wider audience on Steam, Ace of Spades had an alpha build that was available as a free download. While both versions carry the same name, it was the earlier Ace of Spades with its trench warfare that players seemed to prefer. Now, the new game -- the commercial one on Steam -- is getting a free Classic Mode as DLC:
This content is supposed to drop today, so if you happen to own AoS already, perhaps it'll be worth it to check back in. I'm somewhat worried that fans of the alpha will feel this isn't enough, since that's how these situations have gone down in the past despite best efforts, but I do love that a) they're trying and b) it's free.
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There certainly are a few perks to this knee surgery/recovery thing. Lots of rest and elevating my knee has meant lots of time hanging out in my room, catching up on all the TV I've missed, watching Downton Abbey over and over, and tons of doggie snuggles.
Seriously. I think the doggies are so excited to have me home so much. They've even been posing for pictures I think.
Another perk definitely has to do with the extra help I've been getting. I've been staying at my dad's while I've been recovering and he has been awesome about bringing me ice, food, etc. It was nice today to have the energy to be able to walk a bit and so I made him homemade chocolate chip cookies. Well, technically he hinted how nice it would be if "someone" could make them :) And although I dread going to the grocery store on crutches by myself, when I have gone, everyone has always been so helpful :)
Last week I did a photo shoot for a few upcoming patterns and my friends were absolutely amazing with helping me! I couldn't quite get to everywhere we were taking the pictures, so Cupcakefaerie was able to do the styling and primping. Of course, they did tease me when I hobbled over to fix one or two things. Thayer was fabulous as usual, but the weather turned during our shoot and it was quite cold. Check out the gorgeous model trying to keep warm in between wardrobe changes :)
She looks fabulous even in this Shabby Chic look!
The other perk is more knitting time. I've been able to decrease the pain meds that make me so sleepy, so I'm actually getting some time to knit!! Remember that design I showed you the other day? Somehow it flew off the needles and I finished it yesterday. I'm so excited with how this turned out.
Recognize that lace edging? Yes, it is the one featured in the Blathnat socks. I've been thinking about this since I first cast on the socks and I'm so glad it turned out the way it did. I didn't expect it to knit up so quickly either. All I need to do is finish writing up the pattern and get it to test knitters now! Oh, and if you haven't downloaded the Blathnat socks, please do so before the end of the month. Come March it will no longer be offered for free as the KAL wraps up.
I was excited to use my new blocking wires that I bought from Inspinknity for my birthday. They were fabulous, by the way! Michelle, of Fickle Knitter Designs, recently did a great tutorial on blocking lace shawls if you need a quick reference.
I also took some time to finish adding my patterns to Craftsy, a new website that is a bit like ravelry but for all crafts (e.g., sewing, quilting, jewelry-making). The site offers classes too. I recently signed up for Laura Nelkin's Lace Shawls class. Now I just need some time to watch it!
Despite these perks, I can't wait to get rid of these crutches!! Slowly but surely is my plan. This week I was able to go to the pool to start some rehab. Walking in the pool for just 20 minutes exhausted me. I can't wait to be able to swim again and I certainly won't take for granted the journey to get back to that once I can.
Sunday is my sister's birthday, so can you all help me wish IrishDaisy a happy happy birthday?! The rest of the weekend will involve pattern writing and last minute prepping for Stitches West!!! More about that next week.
Happy Weekend!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits
Saturday, February 18, 2012
The Perks
Posted by IrishGirlieKnits
4 comments:
- ~rachel said...
Absolutely beautiful shawl! I can't wait for the pattern!
- February 19, 2012 at 7:01:00 AM PST
- Rani said...
Happy birthday to your sis!! And gosh, I hope you get well soon and kick those crutches!
The shawl is divine. I don't know how you do it. I have no eye for design (or brain for that matter).
I am watching the episode where the youngest . . . well, maybe I shouldn't say because I don't know where you are in Downton, but I'm loving it, too. I'm watching it on Masterpiece Theater's website.
- February 19, 2012 at 7:14:00 AM PST
- Elizabeth D said...
That pink thing is beautiful!
Question: I've just finished knitting Summer Wind (I give that pattern an A+). How do you block a loop? Just fold in half and treat like a scarf?
- February 19, 2012 at 1:52:00 PM PST
- Discoknits said...
The edging looks so delicate Carrie, nice job :0)
Keep those legs up!
- February 20, 2012 at 5:06:00 AM PST
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€352,500 Ski Apartment Meribel
- Your Agent
- Theo Camfferman - View Portfolio
- Contact Tel
- 08700 11 51 51 (UK only) 00 33 553 608 488 (Other)
- Contact Email
- Ask us any question about this property
- Save
- Ski Area
- Three Valleys
- Ski Resort
- Meribel
- Price / Ref
€352,500 /
agency fees to be paid by the seller
- Beds / Bath
- 1 / 1
- Hab M2
- 39
Property Features
- In ski resort
- Walking distance to ski shop.
- Spa / wellness area - full details in the property description.
- Mountain views.
- Garage or covered parking.
- Small lockable storage area where you can stash your skis and boards.
- Open parking belonging to the property.
- Within 5 minutes walk to free ski bus.
- Walking distance to restaurant.
- Walking distance to bar.
- Private swimming pool.
Property Description
This brand-new 1-bedroom apartment is in Meribel Centre, 450m walk from the Chaudanne ski lift hub and 100m from the high street. Sleeping 4 thanks to a sofa bed, the apartment is part of a new-build 5-star holiday residence and is sold subject to a leaseback agreement. These apartments are all 39.08m2 on floors 1-3 of chalet C, with prices from € 352 500 - € 374 750. The apartments face north and west, with stunning views of the mountainside and valley, and balconies from 9.3-16.1m2.
• Entrance area
• Open-plan kitchen/living/dining room to seat 4
• Bathroom with bathtub and WC
• Bedroom with twin beds
• Balcony with access from living area and bedroom
• Parking space
• Ski locker
With wooden fixtures and flooring to lend the contemporary décor a touch of traditional charm, this apartment is sold fully furnished, including kitchen appliances and outdoor furniture for the balcony. The property also includes a parking space in a private car park, a ski locker with boot drier, and, for the first 59 buyers, a cave. The building itself is a 5-star tourist residence and includes shops, a restaurant, bar, swimming pool, spa, and fitness centre as well as communal gardens. As part of a coproprietary agreement, the owner of this apartment will enjoy free access to the pool and fitness centre. There is also an in-house laundry service and a bus stop just in front of the residence with a dedicated service during the summer and winter seasons. The apartment is sold subject to a leaseback agreement, so there is a guaranteed rental income for 20 years. The owner may choose between three different options to use their apartment during the seasons, and may have up to 28 days of usage inter-season, subject to only a cleaning charge.
The residence is located on the edge of Meribel Centre, combining a more peaceful location with easy access by foot to all the amenities of the village, including bars, restaurants and shops. It is also less than 500m easy walk to the Chaudanne ski lift hub and the free resort bus stop. Meribel is well known for its unsurpassed skiing opportunities: it is ideally placed on the doorstep of the Three Valleys, with fast links into the Courchevel and Val Thorens ski areas either side. It is a lively and multicultural resort all year around, even in the quieter summer months when people visit for the walking and cycling trails. Getting to Meribel is easy – there are frequent flights to several nearby airports including Chambery, Lyons, Geneva and Grenoble, plus Moutiers Eurostar and TGV terminal is just 20 minutes away.
Three Valleys Ski Area
A beautiful place all year with highly defined seasons and quiet and tranquil out of the ski season when the crowds have gone home, and then suddenly once again each winter the mountains of the Three Valleys come alive with people enjoying this vast ski area..... the largest linked skiing in the world.
The Three Valleys ski domain provides more than 600km of runs and probably the same again off-piste. In fact it should now be called the Four Valleys with the link into Orelle (Maurienne Valley) which can be accessed by ski from Val Thorens. This has also opened up some extraordinary off-piste runs. The Three Valleys provides direct links between the ski resorts of St Martin de Belleville, Les Menuires, Val Thorens, Méribel, Mottaret, La Tania, Brides les Bains and the four Courchevel resorts, la Praz, 1550, 1650 and the world famous 1850 – and now Orelle, in the fourth valley - all under one ski pass offering on-piste skiing from 1300m all the way up to 3200m. As these figures show the Three Valleys ski area offers huge altitude differences favouring long run skiing.
It has an ultra efficient, state of the art ski lift system, quality piste preparation and a dense artificial snow making system (1920 snow cannons) complementing the excellent natural snow cover. However, if you are not a fan of downhill skiing or like some variety during your stay then you can also roam the domain at your leisure on foot, hiking along the marked trails, or using the pedestrian ski lift passes. Many trails have been created especially to enjoy the increasingly popular snowshoeing sport and to discover the valleys from a new perspective: flora, wildlife, monuments, and spectacular scenery.There are also many cross-country skiing tracks that are prepared and maintained each day. These allow you to take in the breathtaking scenery and provide the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the mountains away from the pistes.
An interesting and wonderful area all year round, there is much more here than the snow sports.
Meribel Ski Resort
Meribel is one of most popular resorts in Europe for English-speaking skiers along with Courchevel and Val d'Isere.
Meribel is the central valley of the largest ski domain in the world, Les 3 Vallees.
With 600 km of groomed pistes, 85% of which are above 1800 metres, 25 accessible summits, 174 modern lifts and over 2090 snow cannons covering 43% of the ski area the statistics are impressive as is the skiing. However Méribel is much more than the 5 month winter ski season and an extended stay in summer or during the colours of autumn are needed to appreciate this.
The initial development of the ski resort in the late 1930's was a British and French partnership and this acceptance of English speakers continues to this day. Meribel is now a much more diverse international community with a large percentage of residents or visitors speaking English as their main or second language.
The main village of Meribel is built on the eastern side of the valley between 1450 and 1700 metres and because of this it is surrounded by forests or grass & timbered slopes. The strict architectural codes of alpine sloping rooflines, timber and stone cladding compliments this setting and makes it one of, if not the most, attractive of all the large high altitude French ski resorts.
The other major "resort villages" are Meribel Mottaret (1750 m), Meribel Village (1400 m), Les Allues (1100m) and the spa town of Brides-Les-Bains (600 m) at the very bottom of the valley. There are many smaller villages or hamlets so the range of property covers all tastes from barn conversions & village houses through to ski apartments and super luxury ski in ski out chalets with private swimming pools. As well as the normal range of hotels, bars, restaurants & shops Meribel boasts a range of facilities and activities.
The Meribel Olympic Centre is home to a full size ice rink, indoor climbing wall, 25 metres indoor heated pool and water slide, conference centre, gymnasium and wellness centre of spa, steamrooms, etc.
There is a spectacular 18 hole Golf Course at 1700 metres and a huge range of other outdoor activities such as tennis, hiking, mountain biking, road cycling, paragliding, fishing, etc which are enjoyed in the warmer months. Meribel property is generally more expensive than other French resorts but not yet at the dizzy heights of Courchevel 1850 with perhaps the exception of a few of the most prestigious pockets.
As Meribel continues to become ever more popular with the big spenders of the world the strong capital growth experienced over many many years is likely to continue.
DPE : We are in the process of updating all DPE test.


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UW-Milwaukee students excited for basketball team, but some couldn't watch game
Pep rally at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at UWM Union
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's basketball team is heading to the NCAA tournament after beating Wright State by six points to win the Horizon League championship.
WISN 12 News found Wednesday that many students are excited, but some were too busy studying to watch the game.
VIDEO: Excitement grows over UW-Milwaukee's trip to NCAA tournament
UW-Milwaukee bookstore manager Richard Karlinsky said as soon as the team won the game against Wright State on Tuesday night, he got calls, emails, tweets and posts from people looking for championship merchandise.
Karlinsky said Jansport is working around the clock to design and print T-shirts.
"As soon as they're done, I'm going to Appleton myself to pick them up, and then they'll be in the store this afternoon, hopefully," Karlinsky said .
The manager said they've been getting calls from as far away as North Carolina, so for right now he's going to start by stocking T-shirts and then see what the demand is like.
Freshman Christian Enwright watched the game while doing homework.
"We all kind of like jumped off the couches and we were like shouting and screaming and stuff so we were really excited to see that they're finally in the tournament," Enwright said.
Many students said they couldn't watch because they were studying but could keep up on their phones.
"About three papers I had to do last night, so that's what I did," student Shawna Hays said.
"OK, and after you got the update, what'd you say after you saw it on your phone?" WISN 12 News reporter Thema Ponton asked.
"Woo Hoo, yeah," Hays said.
"We won, like I didn't know we were actually going to go to the championship, but it's really cool like, it feels like it's not a big deal, but it's actually a big deal," said Arcadia Katzenberger who monitored the game on his phone.
Students said they plan to sport their Panther pride every chance they get.
This is UWM's first appearance in the NCAA tourney since 2006.
The campus will host a pep rally for the Panthers at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the lower concourse of the UWM Union.
Head coach Rob Jeter and the team will be there along with the Panther Band, cheerleaders and Dance Team.


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Hey everybody! So I've decided to throw my very first blog contest. I'm giving away a signed copy of Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt.
Here are the rules. Just fill in the blank for this statement in the comments section below: "One problem only kids from my generation would understand is…"
Any response will do. It doesn't have to be funny or witty, just something that reminds you of your childhood. I don't even care if it's your original thought. Go ahead and Google "Problems only 80's kids would understand." Doesn't matter to me! And if you really, truly just can't think of anything, just leave any comment. Even a, "Hi Nicole!" will work.
I'll start. One problem only kids from my generation would understand is…having to buy the tape and read the insert before you can figure out the lyrics to your favorite song. You can just Google it now!
So leave a comment (must be on this blog page, not on Facebook or Twitter) and you're entered! And if you share this post on Facebook or Twitter, I will be ever so grateful that I'll throw your name in the hat twice. (Actually, I'm going to count up all the entries and use a random number generator. That's another thing today's kids will never have to do. Throw names in a hat!) Make sure to tag me (FB) or mention me (Twitter) when you share so I know it was you.
You are welcome to comment as many times as you like, but each person can only have two entries in the contest (1 comment, 1 share).
If you live outside the US, you are welcome to enter the contest, but your prize will be an Amazon gift card instead of the book.
The contest is open for one week, until 11:59 PM EDT on Monday, Sept. 23.
Good luck!


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Argument recap: Court grapples with statutory meaning of "award"
On January 11, the Court heard oral arguments in Roberts v. Sea-Land Services, a workers' compensation case arising under the provisions of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. At issue in the case is how to calculate the maximum weekly rate that applies to compensation for disability under the Act: Is it the maximum rate in effect when the worker becomes entitled to benefits based on permanent total disability, or is it instead the higher rate that is in effect later, when the Administrative Law Judge enters a compensation order in the worker's favor.
This is a close case of statutory construction. In the argument preview, I reached the conclusion that this case could go either way because there is support in the statute for both positions. Nothing conclusive occurred at oral argument to change my opinion, but without a doubt Joshua Gillelan, who argued the case on behalf of petitioner Dana Roberts, was challenged more vigorously by the Justices.
The answer to the question presented in this case depends on how the phrase "newly awarded compensation" as it appears in Section 906(c) of the Longshore Act is to be interpreted within the context of Section 906(c) and also within the statute as a whole.
The parties are in complete disagreement. Mr. Roberts argues that the term "award" as used in Section 906(c) means "awarded by compensation order." By contrast, the federal government, which administers the Longshore Act through the Department of Labor, as well as Sea-Land Services, the employer, insists that the term "awarded" means "entitled to compensation" under the self-executing terms of the statute.
First up with his argument was Mr. Gillelan. The Justices wasted no time in posing a number of sometimes sharply worded questions.
Justices Ginsburg and Scalia began by exploring the possibility that there could be some middle or common ground between the parties' positions. However, Mr. Gillelan, a former senior litigator at the U.S. Department of Labor's Solicitor's Office, held firm: Section 906(c) of the Act provides explicitly that the applicable maximum rate is that in effect at the time that the claimant is "newly awarded compensation," and that "award" occurs at the time that a compensation order is filed. Congress used the term "award" in Section 906(c), and "award" means compensation order. Considerable back and forth with Justice Scalia did not move Mr. Gillelan from this position.
There seemed to be considerable skepticism regarding that position, however, as the questioning clearly reflected discomfort on the part of the Justices with regard to several implications of the petitioner's position. The Justices expressed concern that the Act provides for voluntary payment to disabled employees by the employer. In fact, the self-executing provisions for prompt, voluntary payment provide the primary purpose of the Act. Even lacking detailed knowledge concerning the nuts and bolts of claims-handling procedures under the Longshore Act, the Justices were obviously bothered throughout Mr. Gillelan's argument with the negative implications of his position for employers who comply with the provisions of the Act and make voluntary compensation payments at the time that the payments are due and payable without the necessity for a compensation order.
For example, the petitioner's interpretation of the statute will result in two otherwise similarly situated employees being treated differently — such as by being paid at a different benefit rate simply because compensation orders are issued in different cases at different times. Justice Scalia, Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, and Justice Breyer took turns making the point that Mr. Roberts's position simply did not "make sense." Furthermore, an employer that makes payments voluntarily, as directed by the statute, will find that it has paid at the incorrect rate, underpaying the disabled worker based on the maximum in effect at the time, if and when a compensation order eventually "awards" benefits in the case.
But Mr. Gillelan did not retreat. He held his line that "newly awarded compensation" is the critical phrase, and in Section 906(c) it means "awarded by a compensation order." In his opinion, this is plain and unambiguous language. He resourcefully worked at parrying the Justices' concerns about the problems that could arise from his position, including disparate treatment, random dates, and the possibility of placing an employer into a bad faith position of threatening termination of benefits in an effort to force the issuance of a compensation order. It was a possible but decidedly ambiguous measure of limited success on the attorney's part when Justice Breyer announced, "Oh. I feel slightly like an Abbott and Costello movie" – which, incidentally, was not the only reference to Abbott and Costello during this oral argument.
Justice Sotomayor did elicit just the barest hint of a concession from Mr. Gillelan with regard to the hypothetical situation in which the employer is in the position of trying to force the issuance of a compensation order to lock in an earlier maximum rate. Mr. Gillelan did seem to concede that doing this by means of threatening to stop voluntary payments would be contrary to a primary purpose of the statute – namely, to encourage the prompt voluntary payment of compensation. Justice Sotomayor concluded that it would be an odd statute that would require an employer to take this step.
Justice Kagan finally joined in with several sensible observations. "I think that the way the argument has gone so far is that we've all been saying this can't make sense, and you have been saying, as you have every right to say, yes, but this is what the statute says based on the 'newly awarded' language." Justice Kagan then for the first time raised a key question regarding the way that "award" is used in various provisions of the statute other than Section 906(c). There are sections of the Act in which the term can mean "entitlement," rather than compensation order, and consequently where the petitioner's argument runs into problems. This argument would resurface in the presentations of the respondents' attorneys.
Arguing on behalf of the federal government, Assistant to the Solicitor General Joseph Palmore did not face questions that were as sharply worded as they were during Mr. Gillelan's time at the podium, and there were no occasional indications of apparent exasperation. The questioning largely centered on consideration of the different provisions of the statute where the word "award" appears, as well as the key point of the government's argument that "award" does not necessarily mean compensation order, but in fact can mean "entitlement." The Justices also spent some time evaluating the parties' differing interpretations in light of the overall intent of the statutory scheme.
It seemed clear to me from the conduct of the arguments and the tenor of the questioning that Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Scalia favor the government's position, and that Justices Ginsburg and Kagan are at best skeptical regarding Mr. Roberts's position.
Peter Keisler of Sidley Austin argued on behalf of respondent Sea-Land Services; that argument too was conducted in a seemingly quieter vein. The positions of the government and Sea-Land in this case are the same: "Award" means entitlement and "newly awarded" means first entitled. This interpretation, they argue, provides the most coherent and consistent reading within the statute. Among other things, it prevents an employer from finding itself in the position of not knowing what compensation rate to use to pay an injured worker until the occurrence of an event – the issuance of a compensation order – which may or may not occur at an uncertain date in the future.
We'll await the decision. Although Mr. Gillelan faced tougher questioning from the Justices, which often translates into skepticism about the merits of an argument, the decision in this case is by no means a sure thing either way. The fact remains that the plaintiff's position does have support in the statute and in the plain meaning of its text. It may be a stretch to read the word "award" as equivalent to "entitled" under the government's interpretation, but the worker's position is burdened with the potential for several anomalies and inconsistencies, which clearly troubled the Justices.
Recommended Citation: Jack Marton, Argument recap: Court grapples with statutory meaning of "award", SCOTUSblog (Jan. 14, 2012, 2:00 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2012/01/argument-recap-a-difficult-day-at-the-court-for-mr-roberts/


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Editor's note: This post was excerpted with permission of the publisher, John Wiley & Sons Inc. from "The Forbes CFA Institute Investment Course: Timeless Principles for Building Wealth." Copyright © 2011 by Forbes, LLC. More information about the book and a multimedia supplement are available at www.cfainstitute.org/forbes.
Humorist Will Rogers was once asked for investment advice. He responded, "Buy a stock. When it goes up, sell it. If it doesn't go up, don't buy it." Wall Street has many golden rules. While many of them may seem about as useful as Rogers' advice, they all have an element of truth and carry the wisdom of years of experience.
You will notice, however, that some of these 22 tidbits of wisdom contradict one another. Furthermore, some are more useful than others, and some are of very questionable value. Our advice: Take them all with a grain of salt.
1. Diversify, diversify, diversify
They say the three most important things to know about real estate are "location, location and location." Well, diversification is to investing in stocks and bonds as location is to investing in real estate.
This is one rule worth paying attention to. What works well on the farm also works well in the investment world: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Look at the portfolios of major estates, trusts and endowments and you are likely to find a large number of securities and very broad diversification. Even their real estate holdings are diversified. The collapse of the tech sector in 2000 is an excellent example of what can happen and how it can decimate a portfolio that lacks adequate diversification.
Traders, rather than investors, usually prefer to concentrate their holdings in just one or a few securities. They do not want to spread themselves too thin. That is fine as long as they understand and can tolerate the risks. Even some long-term buy-and-hold investors like Warren Buffett prefer to take a concentrated approach.
While diversification is important, keep in mind that it does not completely safeguard your portfolio. Researchers have noticed that in times of crisis, assets that were once thought to be uncorrelated with one another suddenly start behaving in a similar manner. As a result, the ability of diversification to protect you may actually end up being weakest when you need that protection the most.
2. Buy low, sell high
Duh! That's the whole point of investing. The problem is that it is not always clear when a price is low or high. If it were clear, we would all be rich.
3. Eternal vigilance is the price of safety
Successful market observers of years gone by were devotees of eternal vigilance. They watched the market constantly, almost religiously, and more often than not they emphasized the importance of timing.
Jay Gould, a famous 19th century speculator, said it best. "The perfect speculator must know when to come in; more important, he must know when to stay out; and most important, he must know when to get out once he's in."
However, those who favor a long-term buy-and-hold strategy would say that you should not try to time the market at all. Settle on a proper asset allocation, diversify your investments and go to the beach.
4. You won't go broke taking profits
A very successful investor was once asked how he became so wealthy. Rumor has it that he replied, "I always sold too soon." The point is that you cannot go wrong taking profits. There is no point in regretting a decision to sell, even if the price later moves higher. Paper profits can quickly turn into losses. So, even if you make only a few dollars on an investment, be happy.
5. If the way is not clear, do nothing
Daniel Drew, a colorful speculator of the 1880s, believed fervently in this principle. He used to say that unless the way looked clear, buying stocks "was like buying cows by candlelight."
6. The market will be here tomorrow
Be patient with your investments. Don't jump in just because you are afraid that you might miss the boat. Patience often pays. Bide your time until the proper moment. Wait until a cheap stock is even cheaper. Even if you miss a good opportunity today, chances are another will present itself tomorrow.
7. Cash is king
This is often the defining difference between successful and unsuccessful traders. Bargains often find their way into the marketplace. But to capitalize on them, you must have cash available. If you are fully invested, you may miss some excellent opportunities.
Baron Rothschild, the famous 18th century British nobleman and banker, made it a habit to keep a good part of his capital free for such bargains. In this way, he was able to "buy when others were selling" so he could later "sell when others were buying."
8. Cash is trash
This is just the opposite of No. 7. It is often heard during a bull market, when you are sacrificing returns if you are holding too much cash.
9. Sell to your sleeping point
When you put your head on the pillow at night, you do not want to have to worry about your portfolio. If you are constantly worried about losing money, it is time to make some changes.
10. No grist can be ground with water that has run past the mill
Forget your investment mistakes and lost opportunities. They are gone forever. We all err at one time or another. Press ahead and begin planning today your investment program for the future.
11. Speculation begins where certainty ends
No investment is risk-free. There is always some element of risk involved, but the degree of risk varies from one investment to another. Make sure you take only calculated risks, but realize they are risks all the same.
12. Caution is the father of security
Be safe or be sorry. The more careful you are, the better your chances of achieving investment success. The people who lose much of the money on Wall Street tend to be careless amateurs, operating blindly and without an intelligent plan.
13. Be right more often than you are wrong
No one is right all the time. Even the most astute traders make mistakes. But you can bet that they achieved success because they were right more often than they were wrong. Even if you are right just 51% of the time, that is enough to make money.
14. Do not sell just as a stock begins to rise
Sometimes a stock seems to just sit there and do nothing. Suddenly it begins to rise. Often, frustrated investors who had been holding the stock for a long time take this opportunity to sell and get out. This could be a big mistake. The sudden rise in price could be a harbinger of better gains to come.
15. Cut your losses; let your profits run
When you realize you have made a bad investment, do not hold on forever hoping it will someday recover. Unload it and move your funds into something more promising.
Conversely, do not be too quick to take profits. A stock that has been going up is likely to continue going up for some time.
16. Don't let success go to your head
Many novice investors get lucky: The first few stocks they pick do extremely well. Unfortunately, they start believing in themselves. They think they have a magic touch; or worse, they think they are smarter than everyone else.
This often leads to disaster as they put more money at risk only to watch it blow away.
17. Bulls win; bears win; hogs get slaughtered
Avarice has ruined even the best of traders. Trying to squeeze a few more pennies out of a trade can sometimes backfire when prices suddenly move against you. Don't be too greedy.
18. Don't stay wrong long
Once it is obvious that you have planned poorly, don't let pride or stubbornness blind you. Admit your mistakes and rectify them quickly.
19. Make price a secondary consideration
Don't buy a stock simply because it is cheap. Buy it because the fundamentals indicate it will go up. Likewise, don't sell based on price alone. Let the fundamentals be your guide.
20. The market will do what it should, but not always when it should
By late 1998, it was abundantly clear to many experts that the stock market had become seriously overvalued. Based on this observation, many investors got out of the market. The more aggressive ones shorted the market. Although they were eventually proved correct, many incurred large losses as stocks continued to rally for more than a year.
Stock prices and investors behave rationally over the long term, but they may behave very irrationally in the short term. You can lose a lot of money if you are on the wrong side of a trade. See No. 22.
21. Be bullish in a bull market; be bearish in a bear market
Investors must be flexible. Never be permanently bullish or bearish. You need to adjust your strategies to the times.
Recognize that there is a bias toward the bullish camp on Wall Street. Investment professionals do not like being labeled bearish on America. However, you should know when it is time to change your views. There are times when even the strongest bull must jump out of the way or risk getting trampled.
22. The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent
This is a quote from John Maynard Keynes, the famous mid-20th century economist who was also a successful investor.
Like many economists, he fully acknowledged that the market can be irrational. This is the basis of behavioral finance. However, profiting from irrationality is harder than recognizing it.
Final Comments
The world of investing is a wonderful place, and the stock market is the most fascinating part of the investment world. The stock market is where capital is raised to fund entrepreneurs, where investors and speculators match wits and where fortunes are made and lost.
The stock market does not care who you are or where you come from. It is where those with just a high school education and a good dose of common sense can compete against the best and smartest professionals Wall Street has to offer—and often beat them.
Investment Insight
"Too many investors fail to follow some simple, time-tested tenets that improve the odds of achieving success and, at the same time, reduce the anxiety naturally associated with an uncertain undertaking," says Arthur Zeikel, former president of Merrill Lynch Asset Management, in "Managing Your Own Portfolio: One Father's Advice." You can read his open memo to his daughter for more down-to-earth insights and thoughts about investing for the long haul at https://www.cfainstitute.org/learning/investor/Documents/managing_your_portfolio.pdf.
This post was taken from an article that originally appeared in the December 2012 issue of the AAII Journal.


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March 25, 2019, 7:00 PM @ Senator Florence Shapiro Council Chambers
December 1, 2018, 8:00 AM - April 30, 2019, 5:00 PM
Registration for Winter-Spring 2019 classes begins at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1 for Plano residents and at 5 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 3 for everyone else. Swim, hike, dance, do tai chi and yoga, brush up on computer skills, paint, sew, camp under the stars, kayak or learn to draw. You can also get an early start on spring break and summer camps.
View all calendars is the default. Choose Select a Calendar to view a specific calendar.


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Maryam Abacha rides again: yes, Virginia, there IS a Sani‑ty Clause!*
419 (Advance Fee Fraud) scams aren't amusing to the victim, but the chutzpah of a dictator's wife claiming her $700m Swiss bankroll back is worth a chortle.
419 (Advance Fee Fraud) scams aren't amusing to the victim, but the chutzpah of a dictator's wife claiming her $700m Swiss bankroll back is worth a chortle.
Information about the August Global Threat Report and where to find other ESET resources
The death of Osama bin Laden has gone viral, with blogs, social media and search engines pumping terabytes of rumor, innuendo and conspiracy theories at the speed of light, along with the occasional kilobyte of truth. As the number of people searching for pictures and videos of bin Laden's execution has skyrocketed, the criminal syndicates
...I know that Facebook has various countermeasures for dealing with the even more various types of fraud that Facebook users are subjected to. Does it really believe that those measures are so effective, no fraudulent message can ever get through?
I've just blogged at a site that specializes in chainletter-related spam and scams about a 419-type spam that masquerades as an email from the non-existent Frank Adam at the Civil Aviation Authority.,It's aimed at people whose air travel was disrupted by the Icelandic volcano, specifically those who found themselves stranded somewhere on mainland Europe. However, I thought
When we think Advance Fee Fraud (AFF) we usually think in terms of the 419-type scams often associated with Nigeria, though similar frauds actually come from all over. You know the sort of thing: the banker, or the wife or son or daughter of a defunct dictator or benevolently inclined millionaire plane-crash victim wants to share their


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The Camden Crawl is this week, on Thursday April 19 and Friday April 20 to be exact. Lots of bands, both large of profile and large of hype, will descend upon north London's dirtiest streets to play rock music for you, the people with tickets. Tickets ripe for exchanging for wristbands. Wristbands you'll use to get into lots of different clubs and pubs and bars. Clubs and pubs and bars which are playing host to bands. Et cetera.
It doesn't matter if you have to queue a bit: it'll be sunny outside, promise*.
Here, we bend an ear the way of ten bands playing the Camden Crawl. You could call this piece a 'preview', if you like. Perhaps you'll like to follow the links to listen to the bands before you see them later this week – that, that's technology in effect. For super-fresh information on the Camden Crawl, do click to its official website, HERE. Day tickets still available!
All words by Mike Diver and Gareth Dobson.
** iLiKETRAiNS** (pictured, right; MySpace)
The evils of describing bands like iLiKETRAiNS mean that you end up swamped in vagaries and clichés like 'ethereal', 'spectral' and 'widescreen'. But we saw these formerly post rock (but very much still) favourites at SXSW and they basically tore Austin a grandiose new arsehole. Expect glorious new tunes from their forthcoming debut LP proper at their Crawl show.
Foals (MySpace)
Not seen the magnificent picture of the puzzle-rock quintet in sporting whites recently? Clearly you haven't picked up any form of printed media in the past six weeks. Close to becoming ubiquitous, the Camden Crawl is actually one of Foals' first major outings. The buzz is expectant; triumph is predicted.
Loney, dear (MySpace)
Most of the world still probably thinks that these Swedish exponents of lilting quirk balladry are actually called Lonely, dear. To be fair, that would be a reasonable name: their music is uplifting but sad, in the way much Scandinavian pop manages to be. And they're all more attractive than you. True story.
These New Puritans (MySpace)
The most pleasing thing about TNP is that you stare at the keyboard for 20 minutes and still can't sum them up in 30-or-so brief words. Annoyingly, half their MySpace tracks are clips only. However, these are more than enough to get a flavour of their avant-minimal-futuristic-punk-beat-filth. Score. Alluring and exciting.
** The Kissaway Trail** (MySpace)
Another fine group creating beautifully wistful widescreen pop, Denmark's Kissaway Trail remind us of the Polyphonic Spree, but with only five members; and, somehow, they're hugely less annoying. At the SXSW Bella Union showcase – their debut album is due through said label this month – they had the balls to headline above local deities Midlake. And they pulled it off.
Malcolm Middleton (pictured, right; MySpace)
With his third LP out now on Full Time Hobby, former Arab Strapper Middleton's profile has never been higher. His tales of love gone awry are still wonderfully engrossing, and thoroughly unique in their execution, but his latest collection A Brighter Beat does reflect its title so far as chinks of light go. You've got to have them for shadows to form, after all.
Frank Turner (MySpace)
With his debut album Sleep Is For The Weak proving that the former Million Dead screamer is a solo artist to be reckoned with, hard-touring Frank Turner is sure to be a head-turner at this year's Crawl. A livewire performer, even with just an acoustic guitar to hand, he's able to electrify the air of any venue. 'Ladies Of London Town', head his way. Lads, you too.
Cajun Dance Party (MySpace)
It's not just DiS that has time for these Londoners (see this review) – _NME _made their debut single their track of the week, and they recently sold out King's College. Respectable work, to say the least, at such an early juncture in their bound-to-be-sweet careers. Still young of person and profession, expect the Crawl to be the platform CDP need to rise those extra rungs.
Late Of The Pier (MySpace)
They played Fopp for us last week. Thanks, guys. We summed them up before that show like this: Midlands-spawned synthesizer rockers with pop hooks pulsing in their veins and bright-like-neon keyboard licks aplenty. Yep, still sounds about right. Bring your best dancing shoes.
I Was A Cub Scout (MySpace)
While most guys their age are busy doing A-Levels and the like, the awesome duo of electro-emo-pop sorts I Was A Cub Scout are selling out venues up and down the land. Their touring schedule is hectic to say the least – by comparison, this year's Camden Crawl will be something of a breather! With a scintillating live show honed, expect IWACS to fulfil their potential before long.
_DiS is hosting a stage at this year's Camden Crawl, at NW1 on Parkway. Do come see us, won't you? For more information click here.


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An eight-speed transmission, a 5.0-liter V8 and 429 hp--if you guessed Audi, Mercedes-Benz or BMW, you'd be wrong. Does a sticker price of $47,350 with shipping costs give it away?
That's the cost of the 2012 Hyundai Genesis R-Spec, which is on sale now. The 4.6-liter V8 Genesis sedan comes in at $2,000 less, while the upgraded direct-injection V6 model sits at $35,050.
The range-topping 5.0-liter model is mean and green, Hyundai says. The R-Spec engine has the highest specific output of any Hyundai engine ever produced. The 429 hp breaks down to 85.8 hp per liter. For comparison, the LS7 V8 in the Chevrolet Corvette makes 72 hp per liter.
The Genesis R-Spec is rated at 16 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway, nearly as much as the 4.6-liter V8 version.
The eight-speed transmission was developed in-house and is now standard in all Genesis sedans. All cars will include Hyundai's Shifttronic manual shift capability.
Both the 3.8-liter V6 and the 4.6-liter V8 versions of the sedan get refinements. Adjustments to the suspension damping minimize the compromises between handling precision and ride comfort, according to Hyundai. Body roll is reduced in the V6 model by increasing the diameter of the stabilizer bar.
The exterior of the sedan was enhanced for the 2012 model year. The fascia is more aggressive with larger openings, the headlights are changed by adding LED lights, the 17-inch rims are freshened and the mirrors now incorporate puddle lights. The taillights were also redesigned, along with a better integration of the dual exhaust.
Read the full press release below:
New 5.0-liter V8 R-Spec Model, Enhanced Direct Injection V6 Engine and New Eight-Speed Transmission Improve Driving Dynamics and Refinement
Hyundai Motor America has announced prices for its refreshed 2012 Genesis sports sedan, starting at $34,200 for a well-equipped 333-horsepower V6 and $46,500 for the new 429-horsepower 5.0 R-Spec model. The 2012 Genesis is on sale now.
The 2012 Genesis is highlighted by exterior design improvements, new direct injection technology for its Lambda V6 engine, new eight-speed automatic transmission, and enhanced chassis tuning. In addition, a new 5.0-liter direct injection V8 engine is now available exclusively with the 5.0 R-Spec model, which includes unique 19-inch machined-finish alloy wheels, optional Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position summer performance tires, and sport-tuned transmission, suspension and steering calibrations for exhilarating vehicle dynamics.
While these powertrain upgrades are meaner, the Genesis is also greener in an era of uncertain gas prices. For example, the heart of the Genesis 5.0 R-Spec model is a new Tau V8 engine, producing 429 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 376 lb. ft. of torque at 5,000 rpm. This new Tau V8 represents the most powerful Hyundai engine ever, with a higher specific output (85.8 hp/liter) than its normally-aspirated premium luxury competitors. Even with this impressive power increase, fuel economy is estimated at 16 mpg city and 25 mpg highway, nearly matching the 4.6-liter V8 (17 mpg city/26 mpg highway). In keeping with its 5.0-liter V8 sibling, the Genesis 3.8-liter Lambda engine will receive direct injection (GDI) technology, boosting its output 15 percent from 290 to 333 horsepower, an impressive gain of 43 horsepower with no increase in displacement. In addition, peak torque rises from 264 lb.-ft. to 291 lb.-ft., a generous increase of 27 lb.-ft. from the same 3.8 liters. This new direct-injected Lambda V6 produces a higher specific output (87.6 hp/liter) than its normally-aspirated mid-luxury competitors, while 3.8-liter GDI fuel economy increases more than seven percent from 27 mpg to 29 mpg on the highway.
All Genesis models are now coupled with a new in-house eight-speed transmission. This new Hyundai-developed transmission adds two additional ratios to enhance acceleration, shifting smoothness and transmission efficiency by six percent over the former six-speed. All eight-speed transmissions will include SHIFTRONIC® manual shift capability. This new eight-speed transmission is the first offered by a non-luxury branded manufacturer.
Always seeking to enhance the Genesis driving experience, Hyundai engineers have made further refinements to the 3.8 and 4.6 model suspension damping calibrations. These precise adjustments serve to minimize the traditional compromises between handling precision and ride comfort. In addition, body roll control for the 3.8 model is enhanced, with the rear stabilizer bar diameter increasing from 17 mm to 18 mm.
Not content to rest on its laurels, Hyundai's design team has sought to make a great Genesis exterior design even better for 2012. For the front view, the grille has been enhanced, a more aggressive front fascia with larger intake openings was developed, and the headlights have been redesigned, adding LED accents and daytime running lights (DRLs). From the side view, the standard 17-inch alloy wheel design has been freshened and the rocker panels have been refined. In addition, the mirrors now incorporate optional puddle lamps, while the side window surround now receives a decidedly sporty brushed aluminum finish. From the rear view, the taillights have been redesigned and new dual asymmetrical exhaust tips are more cleanly integrated with a new bumper fascia.
For 2012, Genesis adds daytime running lamps to all models. Further, Genesis offers a newly developed Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), available on the 3.8 Technology package, 4.6 and 5.0 R-Spec models. Braking is also improved on both the 3.8 and 4.6 models. The 3.8 model front rotor size increases from 12.6 inches to 13.0 inches, while adding higher performance 4-piston brake calipers, and the 4.6 model front brake rotors increase from 13.0 inches to 13.6 inches for greater fade resistance.
Genesis 3.8 Standard Equipment
The 2012 Genesis will also increase its impressive list of standard equipment, adding headlight LED accents and daytime running lights (DRLs) and outside mirror puddle lamps.
Genesis 3.8 Premium Package
The 3.8 Premium Package will now offer newly developed power-folding outside mirrors. For 2012, the 3.8 Premium package will also include rearview camera, DVD navigation system with seven-inch touchscreen, XM NavTraffic, and 18-inch Hyper Silver split-spoke alloy wheels.
Genesis 3.8 Technology Package
The 3.8 Technology package will continue to satisfy tech-savvy buyers, adding a Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), thin-film-transistor LCD gauge cluster readout and heated rear seats.
Genesis 3.8 Standard Features
3.8-liter GDI DOHC V6 with Dual CVVT with 333HP
Eight-speed automatic with SHIFTRONIC®
Front & rear independent five-link suspension
SACHS® Amplitude Selective Damping (ASD) shock absorbers
17-inch alloy wheels with P225/55R17 tires
Four-wheel disc brakes with Brake Assist
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) with Traction Control System (TCS) and Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)
Advanced dual front airbags with Occupant Classification System (OCS), front and rear seat-mounted side-impact airbags, and roof-mounted side-curtain airbags
Electronic active front head restraints
Automatic headlights with Daytime Running Lights (DRL)
Headlight LED accents / Fog lights
Acoustic laminated windshield and front windows
Heated dual power outside mirrors with turn signal indicators and puddle lamps
Leather seating surfaces with Power and heated front seats
Power windows with front auto-down/up with pinch protection
Electroluminescent gauge cluster
Proximity key with push-button start
Leather-wrapped steering wheel with tilt
Steering-wheel-mounted cruise control and Audio controls
Dual automatic temperature control
Electrochromic auto-dimming inside rearview mirror with compass
HomeLink® integrated transceiver
AM/FM/XM®/CD/MP3 audio system with 7 speakers
iPod®/USB and MP3 auxiliary input jacks
Bluetooth® hands-free phone system
Carpeted floor mats
3.8 Premium Package (02)
Power tilt-and-slide glass sunroof
Tailored leather-wrapped dash and door trim inserts
Integrated memory system (IMS)
Power tilt-and-telescopic steering wheel
Power rear sunshade
Rain-sensing wipers with auto defogger windshield
Lexicon® 14-speaker surround sound audio
DVD Navigation system with7-inch touchscreen display
XM NavTraffic® with 90-day trial
18-inch Hyper Silver split-spoke alloy wheels with 235/50R18 V-Let Michelin tires
Rearview camera
Power-folding outside mirrors
3.8 Technology Package
REQUIRES Premium Package
Lexicon® 17-speaker 7.1 Discrete audio system w/HD Radio®
Ultimate Navigation system with8-inch display
Six-disc DVD changer
Driver Information System (DIS) with multimedia controller
Bluetooth® hands-free phone system with integrated display
Smart cruise control
Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS)
TFT LCD Cluster Display
Electronic parking brake with automatic vehicle hold
HID Xenon, adaptive (auto-cornering) headlights
Ultra-premium leather seating surfaces
Front and rear parking assistance system
Cooled driver seat
Heated Rear Seats
Genesis 4.6
(In addition to or in place of Genesis 3.8 TECHNOLOGY PACKAGE equipment):
4.6-liter DOHC V8 with 385HP (premium fuel) / 378HP (regular)
Electro-Hydraulic Power Steering (EHPS)
Chrome lower bodyside moldings
Electrochromic auto-dimming outside mirrors
Illuminated door sill plates
Woodgrain-trimmed leather steering wheel
Genesis 5.0 R-Spec
(In addition to or in place of Genesis 4.6 equipment):
5.0-liter GDI DOHC V8 with 429HP
19-inch Premium Machined Finish alloy wheels with P235/45R19 tires
Unique headlamps w/dark chrome inserts
Sport-tuned suspension calibration
Unique R-Spec embroidered floor mats
R-Spec rear deck lid badging
Delete: Woodgrain from leather steering wheel
Port Installed Options Suggested Retail
iPod® cable $35
Emergency roadside kit $40
Wheel locks $50
Sunroof wind deflector $95
Composite cargo tray $100
Bridgestone® performance tires $1,400


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Celebrating illustration, design, cartoon and comic art of the mid-20th century.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
William A. Smith: "Never heard of him"
Well here's just a little about William A. Smith:
He was President of the American Watercolor Society and President of the American delegation to the International Association of Art. His work won a variety of awards including the Winslow Homer Memorial Prize, the Postal Commemorative Society Prize and the American Watercolor Society's Grand Prize, Gold (twice), Silver, Bronze and Stuart prizes. Below is the piece for which Smith won the Society of Illustrator's Gold Medal for Advertising Illustration in 1959.
Smith taught at the Grand Central Art School and at the Pratt Institute. He lectured at the Academy of Fine Arts in Athens in 1954; Manila, 1955; Warsaw, 1958. He was one of the first artists sent to Russia under the Cultural Exchange Agreement in 1958.
At the age of 13, he began to exhibit his work in serious competitions. The following year he was employed as a sketch artist by the Scripps-Howard Newspapers to cover the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics - can you image? a 14-year-old boy! - and later he worked for the San Francisco Examiner sketching murder trials. The same year, Smith was accepted as the youngest member of the National Academy of Design.
All this week, both here and and on Flickr, I've seen the same comments again and again: "This guy's work is amazing!" and "I'd never heard of him before..."
What is wrong with this profession that illustrators of Smith's calibre and accomplishments could have fallen into such obscurity after such a relatively short time? Go to any library and you'll find entire sections devoted to art and art history... but the books that document the history of illustration wouldn't fill one shelf.
I never learned about the great illustrators when I was in art college... perhaps things have changed... I hope so.
Yesterday, thanks to TI list member Benton Jew, I was contacted by William A. Smith's daughter, Kim. She wrote, "The bar scene (Leon and Eddies in NY) at the top of the April 1 blog is on the wall above me as we speak. I have three painting of my Dad's here on the wall, and they are so greatly appreciated. I have forwarded the blog to my Mother and encouraged her to write to you about all of this. We can provide you with quite a bit of info. Thanks so very much. The whole family is excited."
I know I can speak for a great many people when I say we're excited too, Kim, that we'll now be able to learn a little more about your father - and help to celebrate his accomplishments and to keep his memory alive.
My William A. Smith Flickr set.
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You mention Carl Sandburg, who was a very close friend of the family (I took my first steps to him as a baby). In reference to my father's name, the epitaph on my Dad's gravestone is a quote from Carl Sandburg: "The uncommon artist with the common name". Some people (not Carl) thought he should change his name to be more memorable!ReplyDelete
The National Portrait Gallery in DC has a portrait of Carl by my father. A photograph is available on their online archives.
Dad's achievements were truly astounding and included an insatiable interest in world events and and the diplomacy of art. His first trip abroad was for the OSS in China during WWII. He came away from that experience with a lifelong love of China, the Chinese, and Chinese food, as well as an outstanding array of drawings of people and places. There are tender drawings of Chinese children, gouaches of holy places, drawings and paintings of Chinese actors applying makeup, and even Japanese prisoners of war. His group in the OSS helped liberate a POW camp, and the resulting drawings from that occasion show the hard-scrabble existence and perpetual sense of pragmatism and humor which helped the Allied prisoners through the day. These drawings were published in the military rag, of which I have a copy. GREAT stuff.
As a result of the friends he made in the OSS, many of whom went on to work in the State Dept., Dad was asked to do many diplomatic tours after the war, particularly to Japan, where he gave lectures on art and artists. Eventually he became national president of AIAP, the artists organization funded through UNESCO, then international president of all 60-some member countries. As president of this organization, he travelled all over the world, including the then Soviet Union, during some of the darkest periods in our relationship with the USSR. He and my mother were always greeted with the utmost friendliness and love everywhere they went, and came back with big containers of wonderful caviar!
Once, during a trip to Indo-China, he met a very talented artist, who only made tiny watercolors, because he had one small set of colors and did not expect to be able to get more. Dad gave him some of his own watercolors so he could make larger beautiful paintings.
This is just another side of a many-faceted life. It's possibly true that, though he was prolific and successful, his fascination with the rest of life, and maybe his refusal to change his name :), contributed to a relative (and recent) obscurity.
Again, thank you.
Thanks for providing those fascinating details, Kim! Just so my point is clear, the fact that your father is relatively unknown in no way diminishes his accomplishments - nor singles him out, except by example here. "Never heard of him" is something I hear all the time when I showcase an artist on Today's Inspiration, and that speaks to a much larger shortcoming of the illustration business in general. As a profession, we have not done enough to emphasize our role in the shaping art and popular culture during the last hundred or so years. If I say the names "Al Parker, Robert Fawcett, Albert Dorne, Bernie Fuchs, Bob Peak" in a room full of people I get a blank stare - and that's in a room full of graphic arts students I might be lecturing to.ReplyDelete
Aside from Norman Rockwell you'd think that not a single illustrator made a lasting impression on the general public - but we have only to go back to the first half of the 20th century to know that's not true. People used to cut out and collect every new illustration they found in print by Charles Dana Gibson... and J.C. Lyendecker would arrive at his studio in the morning to a row of autograph seekers.
Cosmopolitan magazine did a multi-page feature article on Al Parker in 1953 - intended for a general audience mostly of female readers! Can you imaging finding such an article in Cosmo - or any other magazine - today?
This blog and some of the ones in my sidebar are some of the only ones in the world (that I'm aware of) making an effort to put this information and the work of these artist back into an easily accessed public forum.
I have high hopes that our efforts are like a small snowball just beginning to roll down a mountaintop - and I applaud every person who visits here and provides encouragement and assistance in what I hope will one day be an avalache of knowledge and awareness! :-)
Thanks for all your work here. What a fantastic resource!ReplyDelete
Thanks nathan - I followed the link back to your blog and was really wowed by your own fabulous work - beautiful stuff. :-)ReplyDelete
Leif, thanks once again for your important work connecting the world with great illustrators of the past. I never cease to be surprised by the wealth of information that is out there to be harvested if someone with vision and patience is willing to take the time to do it. Thanks for your public service.ReplyDelete
To Kim Smith and the rest of the Smith family, I am a huge fan of Mr. Smith's work. I have a big file of clippings of his illustrations from various magazines. I take them out from time to time and learn from his brilliance. I would be very interested in seeing more of his work and reading more about his life. He was an extraordinary talent.
It is amazing what Leif is doing running this blog. On TI I've discovered so many masters illustrators whose works I adimre and study each day, including W. Smith, who is among my favorite.ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing!
I'll say it again; we are so thrilled by the response to this blog... love ya, Leif.ReplyDelete
I have been very actively communicating with many of the people who have participated in this entry, and encourage the sharing of anything else people might have to say. We've come up with incredible resources, and then connections to yet other subjects!
Thanks again
Kim Smith


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Before posting, please take a second to review the rules:
This forum has been brought up to speed over time with this rules and moving forward all threads are going to need to comply. Please familiarize yourself with them. They have been in effect for some time now, and as they are fairly simple there is no excuse for not being able to comply.
Thanks, and good luck with your classified transaction.