text:
Maloofs agree to sell Kings to Seattle group
Sacramento Mayor: Still time to save team
The Sacramento Kings moved one step closer Monday to relocating to Seattle and becoming the SuperSonics.
All that appears to stand in the way now is approval by NBA owners.
The Maloof family has agreed to sell the Kings to a Seattle group led by investor Chris Hansen, the league confirmed in a statement Monday morning.
The deal is still pending a vote by the NBA Board of Governors.
A person familiar with the decision said Hansen's group will buy 65 percent of the franchise, which is valued at a total price of $525 million, and move the team to Seattle and restore the SuperSonics name.
The deal will cost the Hansen group a little more than $340 million.
The Maloofs will have no stake in the team.
The Associated Press source spoke on a condition of anonymity because the deal was waiting approval.
The sale figure works off a total valuation of the franchise, which includes relocation fees. Hansen's group also is hoping to buy out other minority investors.
The Maloofs will get a $30 million non-refundable down payment by Feb. 1, according to the deal, the person said.
They will still be allowed to receive other offers until the league approves the sale.
The Kings' sale price of $525 would surpass the NBA record $450 million the Golden State Warriors sold for in 2010.
The plan by Hansen's group is to have the team play at least the next two seasons in KeyArena before moving into a new facility in downtown Seattle.
The deadline for teams to apply for a move for next season is March 1.
Andy Dolich, a former NBA executive who helped orchestrate the Vancouver Grizzlies' move to Memphis in 2001, said the process to move the Kings was accelerating.
"If Sacramento loses the Kings, they won't see another NBA team -- in at least my lifetime or many other people's," Dolich said.
The office of Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn confirmed Monday it is already working with Hansen on an agreement for using KeyArena, including scheduling and short-term upgrades to the arena.
"While we are not at liberty to discuss the terms of the transaction or our plans for the franchise given the confidential nature of the agreement and NBA regulations regarding public comments during a pending transaction, we would just like to extend our sincerest compliments and gratitude toward the Maloof family," Hansen said in a statement. "Our negotiations with the family were handled with the utmost honor and professionalism and we hope to continue their legacy and be great stewards of this NBA franchise in the coming years and decades."
Hansen was not available for further comment.
Momentum was building toward a sale agreement after word of talks between Hansen and the Maloofs leaked nearly two weeks ago.
Sacramento will get its chance to counter with Mayor Kevin Johnson already receiving permission from NBA Commissioner David Stern to present a counteroffer to league owners from buyers who would keep the Kings in Sacramento.
Johnson, himself a former All-Star point guard in the NBA, said in a statement that the city remained undeterred.
"Sacramento has proven that it is a strong NBA market with a fan base that year in and year out has demonstrated a commitment to the Kings by selling out 19 of 27 seasons in a top 20 market and owning two of the longest sellout streaks in NBA history," Johnson said.
Yet Johnson will be fighting an uphill challenge trying to pull together an ownership group in a small window of time while Seattle begins preparing for the return of the green and gold.
"I think we should all be concerned," Sacramento City Council Member Allen Warren told KCRA 3.
However, Warren said he believes Johnson's counter offer will be "substantial" and ready soon.
"I think quite possibly there'll be some information that'll come out in the next week or so, maybe a little bit sooner," said Warren.
The SuperSonics became a historic footnote when owner Clay Bennett moved the franchise to Oklahoma City in 2008.
It was the conclusion of a contentious two years of lawsuits, broken leases, negotiations and ultimately, a settlement that allowed 41 years of pro basketball history in Seattle to be moved away.
While Seattle was excited about Monday's news, there was an air of caution as well, with many fans still stung about the Sonics' previous departure -- and not wanting to believe in their return until everything is signed and delivered.
Others in Seattle have wanted an expansion franchise rather than taking a team from another city.
"It tore the hearts out of the city when the (team) left the first time and it's just wonderful news to get a team back," said Jerry Brown, who was at KeyArena Monday buying college basketball tickets. "I feel sorry for the people of Sacramento, they have good fans there, but we want our team back."
Ironically enough, it will be Bennett who has a say in whether Seattle returns to the NBA portfolio as the head of the league's relocation committee.
Caught in an awkward spot is the Kings' basketball team itself, some of whom have Seattle ties.
Guard Isaiah Thomas grew up in Tacoma, Wash., and before the Kings played in New Orleans on Monday, was already feeling the discomfort of being wedged between two cities.
"It's just a little weird, (but) at the same time, I love Sacramento. I love everything about it. Love the fans -- the organization just brought me in with open arms. That's all I really know in this league is Sacramento," Thomas said. "But then I am from that area back home, it's just kind of a different situation. Whatever I say about Seattle, Sacramento fans might be mad at me and whatever I say about Sacramento, Seattle fans might be mad at me. I just love both cities.
"It's out of my control."
The saga of the Kings' future in California's capital city has dragged on for nearly three years and now faces its most daunting challenge.
Hansen, a Seattle native and San Francisco-based investor, reached an agreement with local governments in Seattle last October on plans to build a $490 million NBA/NHL arena near the city's other stadiums, CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field.
No construction will begin until all environmental reviews are completed and a team has been secured.
The arena also faces a pair of lawsuits, including one from a longshore workers union because the arena is being built close to port and industrial operations.
Hansen's group is expected to pitch in $290 million in private investment toward the arena, along with helping to pay for transportation improvements in the area around the stadiums.
The remaining $200 million in public financing would be paid back with rent money and admissions taxes from the arena, and if that money falls short, Hansen would be responsible for making up the rest.
Other investors in the proposed arena include Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and two members of the Nordstrom department store family.
"While there is more work ahead, this is a major step toward bringing the Sonics home," McGinn said.
Sacramento fans hope this is not the final chapter in their quest to save the Kings.
Johnson has once already saved the Kings from relocation when he made a pitch to the Board of Governors and bought the city time to broker a deal that appeared to solve the team's arena woes. But the Maloofs backed out of that tentative $391 million deal for a new downtown venue with Sacramento last year.
Johnson said recently he's heard from various parties interested in trying to put together an ownership group that would keep the team in Sacramento, but only with a new arena.
"We have always appreciated and treasured our ownership of the Kings and have had a great admiration for the fans and our team members. We would also like to thank Chris Hansen for his professionalism during our negotiation. Chris will be a great steward for the franchise," Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof said in a statement on behalf of the family.
"I think it's sad. The Kings being here in Sacramento was a great opportunity for us to come together in this community. Them leaving is going to leave a hole here," Kings fan Robin Jackson told KCRA 3.
"Honestly, I heard so many times that Sacramento (Kings) are moving somewhere," said Sacramento fan Alek Boorman. "I don't think it will go through. It's just hype."


text:
I have a userID/userName, and I want to know if that user is currently loggedon to the SharePoint site.
The SPUser object does not seem to have any of these properties. I looked at Membership.GetUser("username").IsOnline, but that threw an "Access Denied" error.
Is there any way to achieve this?
Many Thanks!
UPDATE: I even tried to run with ElevatedPrivelges. The error is that current user does not has access to /APP_DATA folder.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Microsoft Fires Off Rebuttal To Latest Leak; Angry Letter To Eric Holder
from the at-this-point,-I'm-pretty-sure-no-one's-telling-the-complete-truth dept
The recent leak detailing Microsoft's extremely close work with US intelligence agencies seemed to contradict pre-leak statements made by the company concerning responses to data requests. Microsoft claimed it only did the minimum required by law, but the leaked documents portrayed the software giant as working in concert with the NSA and FBI to provide them with pre-encryption access to several services, including Outlook, SkyDrive and Skype.
Microsoft has responded to this leak via a blog post and a letter to Eric Holder. The blog post is a long refutation of every claim made in the leaked documents. Rather than give the agencies direct, pre-encryption access, as was stated in the leak, Microsoft claims it only provides metadata and content as requested -- and then only if Microsoft deems the request valid.
Microsoft does not provide any government with direct and unfettered access to our customer's data. Microsoft only pulls and then provides the specific data mandated by the relevant legal demand.With this across the board denial of the leaked documents' contents, we're left with only a few possibilities. Either the document isn't accurate and Microsoft's statement is truthful or the statement is false and the document is the truth. Or, somewhere in between, there's a way both can be accurate (or "least untruthful"), which boils down to subjective definitions of certain words, most notably "access." Microsoft could have provided near real-time access while still only complying with court orders. Everything stored and turned over to the NSA and FBI was technically "pre-encryption," in the fact that Microsoft had unencrypted access to the data. As we haven't actually seen a court order or national security letter directed at Microsoft, it's tough to say how direct and how close to real time this access is.
If a government wants customer data – including for national security purposes – it needs to follow applicable legal process, meaning it must serve us with a court order for content or subpoena for account information.
We only respond to requests for specific accounts and identifiers. There is no blanket or indiscriminate access to Microsoft's customer data. The aggregate data we have been able to publish shows clearly that only a tiny fraction – fractions of a percent – of our customers have ever been subject to a government demand related to criminal law or national security.
All of these requests are explicitly reviewed by Microsoft's compliance team, who ensure the request are valid, reject those that are not, and make sure we only provide the data specified in the order. While we are obligated to comply, we continue to manage the compliance process by keeping track of the orders received, ensuring they are valid, and disclosing only the data covered by the order.
Microsoft's rebuttal doesn't entirely refute the documents, however. There's no doubt it worked closely with these agencies to provide the access, content and data they were seeking, even if it was all strictly "by request." In terms of Skype, Microsoft doesn't even bother refuting the government had access to audio and video via its Prism connection. All it addresses is the statement that claimed video production had tripled "since a new capability was added" in July of 2012.
The reporting last week made allegations about a specific change in 2012. We continue to enhance and evolve the Skype offerings and have made a number of improvements to the technical back-end for Skype, such as the 2012 move to in-house hosting of "supernodes" and the migration of much Skype IM traffic to servers in our data centers. These changes were not made to facilitate greater government access to audio, video, messaging or other customer data.These changes may not have been made to "facilitate greater government access," but that's not what the document claims. All it says is that this new capability tripled video production. Moving to in-house hosting and migrating traffic to Microsoft data centers could certainly aid in the "production" (read: harvesting) of Skype video calls. Whatever the intent, the end result was the same -- easier, faster access to Skpe data and content for intelligence agencies.
This back-and-forth is unlikely to result in establishing definitive guilt or innocence on the part of Microsoft. Either way, it's of negligible importance. The fact is that intelligence agencies are, by way of court orders and security letters, inserting themselves deeper and deeper into the underlying fabric of online communications, something that stretches much further than Microsoft.
Microsoft itself is hoping to address the larger, more problematic issue of our growing surveillance state. In addition to its blog post, the company sent a rather irate letter to Attorney General Eric Holder [pdf]. It dispenses with most of the usual diplomatic niceties and confronts the government with the damage it's doing to American citizens and American companies with its surveillance activities.
Since the initial leak of NSA documents, Microsoft has engaged constructively with the Department of Justice, the FBI, and other members of the Intelligence Community on the ground rules governing our ability to address these issues and the leaked documents publicly. We have appreciated the good faith in which the Government has dealt with us during this challenging period. But we're not making adequate progress. When the Department and FBI denied our requests to share more information, we went to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) on June 19 to seek relief. Almost a month later, the Government is still considering its response to our motion.This is no surprise to anyone who's attempted to obtain information or official responses from our intelligence agencies. The standard m.o. is to wait it out while chanting "grave damage to national security." But what Microsoft adds next serves as a slap in the face to those parties attempting to wait it out.
Last week we requested official permission to publicly explain practices that are the subject of newly-leaked documents that refer to Microsoft and have now been misinterpreted in news stories around the world. This request was rejected. While we understand that various government agencies are trying to reach a decision on these issues, this has been the response for weeks.
As I know you appreciate, the Constitution guarantees the fundamental freedom to engage in free expression unless silence is required by a narrowly tailored, compelling Government interest. It's time to face some obvious facts. Numerous documents are now in the public domain. As a result, there is no longer a compelling Government interest in stopping those of us with knowledge from sharing more information, especially when this information is likely to help allay public concerns.In other words, "Your secrets aren't secret anymore. Get over yourselves."
At this point, only government employees who dutifully ignore what their employer tells them to ignore aren't aware of these leaked documents and their contents. If our "national security" was suffering "exceptionally grave damage" from these leaks, you'd think at least some of that damage would be noticeable. Instead, what we have is the large scale embarrassment of government officials who are now forced to explain actions that contradict the very principles they claim this country stands for -- that they say they stand for. Refusing to allow companies to discuss activities already outed by leaks is simply the most self-serving form of damage control. The threat to officials' reputations easily exceeds the threat to the security of the American public, and continuing to deny these companies an opportunity to explain their involvement does them, and the public, a disservice.
Filed Under: eric holder, fisa rulings, free speech, nsa, nsa surveillance, skype, surveillance, warrants, wiretapping
Companies: microsoft


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- 7z.ahk updated to v1.0.9
- Fixed scenario when fadein/out were disabled and 7z was enabled that extraction sounds would play.
- MiscUtils.ahk (Class) updated to v1.1.1
- Added SetErrorMode method
- RocketLauncher updated to v22.214.171.124
- Updated base ahk version to 220.127.116.11
- Bezel.ahk updated to v1.2.5
- Fixed layer bug with extra fixed width bezel used for VMU display
- RIniFile.ahk (Class) updated to v1.1.1
- Fixed Read method condition causing the function not to work properly when default value was 0
- Fixed Read method bug that was causing ini values not to be read when they contained some specific strings
- KeyUtils.ahk (Class) updated to v1.0.1
- Forcing WaitCommandOffset to 0 when set to an empty string in SendCommand
- Fade Animations.ahk updated to v1.2.3
- Fixed regression causing Fade-In to freeze when using Fade_7z_Progress_Mode=custom
- Shared.ahk updated to v1.4.7
- Forcing WaitCommandOffset to 0 when set to an empty string in SendCommand
- RIni Extension Library updated
- Updated library to support trailing spaces on ini keys (Read function)
- LaunchBox plugin updated
- Update to take into account additional media folders add by the LaunchBox developer.
- Warning: if you get slowdowns while launching games through LaunchBox disable some of the artwork labels on the plugin options. The LaunchBox plugin checks for a huge amount of possible media file locations because the way that the frontend was designed, what could cause delay when launching games.
- Warning 2: the current plugin does not support user defined media paths.
- File.ahk (Class) updated to v1.6
- Changed order of parameters for Copy function
- Bezel.ahk updated to v1.2.4
- Added the key modifier ~ to all bezel and IC keys automatically
- RocketLauncher updated to v188.8.131.52a
- Removed Shader_Change_Key as it's not ready yet.
- ExitScriptKey can now be disabled by setting it to "none"
- Fixed settings made in Game Options.ini not taking effect
- Fixed LaunchLock working opposite when DirectOnly mode was set on a specific game
- Pause.ahk updated to v1.2.4
- Fixed bug with clone game use of parent media.
- Added restriction to avoid exiting pause while disabling keys to avoid problems with the pause keys disabled when returning to the game.
- LaunchBox.plugin added
- Added first version of the LaunchBox FrontEnd RocketLauncher plugin.


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Transgender Student Speaks Out Against Attack
Melissa McCarty
Apr 30 2010
LONG BEACH, Calif. (CBS) ― Colle Carpenter (larger size)
An attacker shoved him into a campus bathroom stall and slashed his chest.
A transgender student spoke out about the brutal assault during a rally at California State University, Long Beach on Thursday.
More details about the hate crime that happened two week ago on the CSULB campus were revealed by the victim himself.
It was a disgraceful act of ignorance that inspired a story of courage.
Hundreds marched for tolerance –- chanting for a world free of hatred and violence.
The Long Beach rally centered around Colle Carpenter, a transgender student.
He gripped a cane as he walked to the podium.
"I've been terrified to come back to campus," Carpenter said.
Carpenter addressed a crowd of supporters and revealed the unthinkable.
"The person who attacked me knew my name, pushed me back in a stall and carved 'it' into my chest," Carpenter said.
He was attacked on campus, in the men's restroom.
Carpenter said the attacker tried to cut away his self-respect.
"For those of you who don't know why 'it' is such a derogatory term, it takes away a person's humanity. It takes away their personhood. It makes them less than human," he said.
For critics angry at the way the university handled Carpenter's attack, he said people should focus on catching his attacker.
"Know that what happened to me, didn't just happen to me. It happened to the entire community. Those of use who are visibly Queer, those of us who are out and about being Queer are scared," he said.
The anti-hate rally revealed another campus attack two days ago at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
In that attack, a gay student was verbally and physically assaulted. But the perpetuator was arrested and the victim is recovering.
CSULB police are still looking for Carpenter's attacker.
For now, Carpenter said he is ready to move forward and finish his master's degree.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)


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Our New York State Legislature, unable to do their basic duty to pass a budget, has turned instead to real mischief — they are going to dishonor marriage by passing a so-called "no-fault divorce" bill. The Senate passed it today (by one vote), and the Assembly is expected to follow suit soon.
New York is the only state in the nation that does not yet have a "no-fault divorce" law. Divorce is always a tragedy, but sometimes it is necessary to protect the well-being of a spouse or children. But it shouldn't be easier to end a marriage than it is to get out of a cell phone contract.
Essentially, this "no-fault" bill will establish a new ground for divorce — all you need is for one spouse to swear under oath that the marriage has been "broken down irretrievably" for a period of six months. In essence, you could just run down to the corner drug store and swear before the notary that your marriage isn't working, and that's the end of it.
This utterly fails to respect the importance of marriage to individuals, families, and society. Unilateral divorce by ambush would be permitted and even encouraged by this law. There is no standard for determining what's "broken down irretrievably" – it is an entirely subjective standard that is based entirely on the attitude of the spouse who wants to end the marriage. There is no requirement of mediation or counseling to stave off an unnecessary divorce. And there's no waiting period before the divorce is granted, which doesn't allow for a "cooling off period" for reconciliation. That's important, because many people have regrets about their divorce, and many couples reconcile during the process. Even worse, there is no consideration for the best interests of the children in dissolving the marriage, or any requirement that they receive counseling.
The "no-fault" approach completely turns the law on its head. Marriage will be the only civil contract that can be breached for any reason at all, with no demonstration of fault, and no damages to the injured party. This makes the marriage contract less worthy of protection (and easier to get out of) than mere economic contracts (e.g., a cell phone contract or a real estate lease). This also gives an unfair advantage to a wrong-doer (e.g., the spouse who abandons the other, or an adulterer). This is contrary to the traditional legal "clean hands" doctrine, under which you can't ask for relief from the court when you have committed misconduct.
Contrary to what its advocates claim, "no-fault" divorce will not eliminate conflict from the domestic relations courts. Because the legislation permits divorce by ambush, an innocent party can be blindsided by a wrong-doer — not only will that fail to eliminate conflict, it will make it worse. And the bill does nothing to reduce disputes over any of the other key issues at play in a divorce — maintenance, child custody and support. These will still have to be resolved by the courts, and because the innocent party is treated so cavalierly, the level of conflict over these issues will likely increase.
Of course, there are parties to the divorce whose interests will be well-protected by our Legislature — the lawyers. Alongside the "no-fault" bill, they will also pass a bill that ensures that legal fees are paid by the more wealthy party to the divorce. So, the psychological and social well-being of kids — not so important to our solons. But the economic health of lawyers? That will be fully protected.
Once again, our New York State government has lived down to expectations. This time, instead of just passing bad economic legislation, they're dishonoring the foundation of society itself — marriage and the family. Shame on them.
UPDATE — In an extraordinary example of incompetent journalism, the Times led its story on the bill today by stating that the Senate "approved legislation that would permit couples to separate by mutual consent…" Sorry, that's not even close. New York already has a method by which couples could end their marriage by consent — it involves a formal separation agreement, or just not contesting the grounds for divorce (e.g., abandonment). This bill has nothing to do with mutual consent, and everything to do with empowering one spouse to try to get out of the marriage unilaterally. Don't they have editors at the Times, or reporters who can read legislation?
Tags: No-fault Divorce


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Run3 is a powerful real-time game engine that species on first-person shooter games. It has Ogre 3d game library as base 3d engine. Run3 Game Engine is produced and coded by Sgw32, a leader of SGL team. With Run3 you can create your own FPS-shooter game, with modern GFX, sound support, physycs, maps, visual-map editor. You doesn't need to be a cool programmer to start creating games on it, just open map-editor, save map, write sequence-file, and place it into a folder - enjoy!
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.
Test room built up with objects from HL2 and Metro 2033(I'm not a modeller and I can't make a high quality models.I'm a coder.). Also uses my Run3 SS-Glow and SS-Glass. My technique of glass uses a cubemap and combines it with a glass refraction.


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'Tis that time of year again. No, not the time when most of the well-intended New Years Resolutions begin the long limp to failure, but rather a new crop of b-school hopefuls gearing up to make a run at their choice programs. To help prospective b-school candidates get a jump on their preparation and make the most of their efforts, we thought we'd share some guidance on how best to plan for the upcoming application year.
Between the GMAT, the essays, the recommendations, and everything else, it is easy to feel overwhelmed when trying to apply to b-school. Your best asset when starting this process is a timeline. Include events and deliverables including GMAT practice tests and courses, application essays, scholarship applications, recommendations, and school visits. Once you figure out what needs to be done first, your priorities begin to align themselves!
Below we've included a standard timeline that outlines the bigger picture events you should plan for:
The road to the promised land of GMAT and application glory is long and arduous. To help you retain your sanity, and make this the rare resolution that comes to fruition, keep in mind a few key tips:
- Start Early – As the timeline indicates, prudent planning should provide six months to prep for the GMAT. If you knock the GMAT out early, great! If not, this allows you time to deal with unexpected interruptions to your prep (they almost always happen) or setbacks, or simply the need for more time to get the score you want. The plan also provides time to focus squarely on applications instead of having to split time two ways (and usually more if you consider most people have full-time employment to deal with, not to mention family and other obligations that come with having some semblance of a life). The bottom line: budget room to have more time, not less, to make your prep a less stressful endeavor.
- Have a Plan…but be Flexible – As we mentioned above, unanticipated events always arise. Having a plan does wonders for streamlining prep and staying on task, but don't become too beholden to any one path. Don't limit yourself to a single approach, a single mode to prepare for the GMAT, or an arbitrary deadline for achieving scores you need on the GMAT. Have a plan and modify as needed. Just think about the "plans" you had for yourself in high school. Have those plan manifested themselves? For most people the plans change. This realm is no exception.
- Be Tenacious – Your goals are imminently achievable. The path is winding, it is difficult, but it has an end, and it's the end you want. But to reach that end, you have to stick to your goals. Don't be dissuaded by setbacks or delays. Don't let your expectations undermine your commitment or motivation. If you want it, it's there for the taking. All that's needed is dedication and prudent preparation.
Happy New Year and best of luck with your GMAT preparation and b-school applications!
For more on how Bell Curves could help you improve your preparation, visit us at gmat.bellcurves.com. Sign up for a free Bell Curves demo account to practice with computer-based materials. Join us for a GMAT Sample Class to experience our fantastic teachers, materials, and approaches to the GMAT, and see firsthand how Bell Curves could help you Get Ahead of the Curve today!


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Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research
On-line version ISSN 2219-0635
Print version ISSN 0030-2465
Onderstepoort j. vet. res. vol.79 n.2 Pretoria Jan. 2012
Unexpectedly low seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in South Africa
K. KistiahI, II; John FreanI, II; J. Winiecka-KrusnellIII; A. BarraganIII
IParasitology Reference Unit, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, South Africa
IIUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
IIIDepartment of Parasitology, Mycology and Environmental Microbiology, Swedish Institute for Infectious Diseases, Sweden
Toxoplasmosis is an infection of warm-blooded vertebrates caused by the obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. It is one of the most common parasitic diseases of humans, infecting approximately one-third of the world's population. In persons with advanced HIV, toxoplasmosis represents a major opportunistic infection of the central nervous system. Approximately two-thirds of all people living with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. In areas such as this, toxoplasmosis could theoretically pose a huge threat. There is little known about T. gondii prevalence in humans in Africa. Geographically, prevalences vary widely on this continent, as observed in other parts of the world. There is limited historical information about the disease in South Africa. More knowledge is needed at a regional level about the risk of toxoplasmosis, diagnostic issues, and measures to reduce the risk to susceptible persons. The seroprevalence of T. gondii in selected populations, namely HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals, and a more general sample biased towards pregnant women, was therefore investigated and found to be 9.8% (37/376), 12.8% (48/376) and 6.4% (32/497) respectively. Compared with historical data from South Africa, the prevalence has decreased substantially; however, the incidence of clinical disease is unknown, despite the very high burden of HIV and AIDS cases (5.9 million and 0.7 million, respectively in 2009). This study provided information relating to the diagnosis and current seroprevalence of T. gondii in South Africa. Many questions still remain to be answered however, to fully understand the impact of this parasite on the country's population.
Correspondence to:
John Frean
Private Bag X4, Sandringham 2131, South Africa
Email: email@example.com
Note: Proceedings of the Conference of the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance 'One Health' held at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, July 2011.


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Budget 2012: New stamp duty plans are outlined
Properties sold for more than £2m will be subject to a new 7% stamp duty charge, Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed.
Mr Osborne also said that stamp duty on residential properties over £2m which were bought via a company would increase to 15%.
The chancellor said that those who bought the most expensive homes should contribute more.
He also wanted to tackle tax avoidance when people bought homes.
Millions raised
"It is fair when money is tight, and so many families could do with help, that those buying the most expensive homes contribute more," Mr Osborne said.
There are various rates of stamp duty land tax - paid by the buyer of a property - already in place, depending on the cost of the home.
The changes, which take effect at the end of the day, only affect a relatively small proportion of home buyers.
The latest statistics from the Land Registry showed that, in November 2011, there were 121 homes sold for more than £2m in England and Wales. That accounted for just 0.2% of the 57,967 homes sold that month.
Of these 121 homes, 98 were in London.
However, the move is predicted by the Treasury to raise £150m in the next financial year, rising to £300m by 2016-17.
The government wants to put a stop to the way some people have avoided paying stamp duty.
There are two popular methods. One was by paying for chattels - fixtures and fittings - separately and, as a result, bringing the cost of the actual property below the £125,000 threshold.
The second was by setting up a limited liability company to buy the property, which then immediately sold it back to the individual, or which pushed up the price when selling on to the next buyer. This is done by the owner selling shares in the company rather than the property itself.
The second method is the one that the chancellor is keen to clampdown on.
He has announced that the level of stamp duty on residential properties over £2m which were bought via a company would increase to 15% with immediate effect.
In addition, overseas companies that already own UK residential property worth more than £2m will be subject to capital gains tax from April 2013.
"This can only make the UK less attractive to overseas investors," said Toby Ryland, a senior tax partner at accountants Blick Rothenberg.


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San Jose State senior wide receiver Noel Grigsby revealed Thursday that he has a torn meniscus in his left knee.
The recovery time from that injury is three to four months, which leaves open the possibility of a late December return if the Spartans make a bowl game.
"I'm trying to do everything I can to possibly come back before the season is over," Grigsby said in his first time speaking publicly since the injury.
San Jose State (3-3, 2-1 Mountain West) had previously only disclosed that Grigsby was "out indefinitely" with a knee injury. He had surgery Sept. 24.
Grigsby knew of the injury prior to the Sept. 7 game at Stanford but tried to play through it. He had six catches for 55 yards and a touchdown in that loss.
"I gave everything I had until they told me the only option was to get surgery," said Grigsby, who's not eligible for a medical redshirt.
He is San Jose State's all-time leader with 237 career catches and 3,121 yards.
Tickets for the Earthquakes' first home playoff game — if they make the postseason — will go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. with a Visa special offering at www.sjearthquakes.com. Season ticket-holders already have Game 1 included in their package. General public sales will start Monday at 10 a.m. at www.sjearthquakes.com or by calling 1-800-225-2277.
Staff writer Elliott Almond contributed to this report.


text:
Busy funnyman: Why Mark Warner loves orange cones
When Mark Warner was running for senator in 1996 against incumbent John "No Relation" Warner, the challenger jogged down the street at a small-town Virginia parade in a dress shirt and tie, stopping to shake hands with spectators along the way. When a TV reporter asked why he literally was running on a hot summer day, he answered, "I have to run harder. I'm the underdog."
It was both a demonstration of his doggedness and of his sense of humor.
Seven years later, Warner has retained both qualities, as well as a flair for improvisation. He's had to, after being elected governor and facing a $6 billion deficit a grim reality even for a successful venture capitalist.
Recently in Charlottesville, he asks the audience at the privately funded Senior Center, "Is it true you get no federal, state, or local funds? All right!" and he claps enthusiastically.
And after learning that there are more senior centers in the country than McDonald's, the Governor ad libs, "and they're healthier for you, too."
He also tells the audience that his parents don't live in the state of which he's governor. "They haven't made that choice yet," he says. And on a more serious note that underlines his interest in elderly issues, he mentions that his mother has Alzheimer's.
On May 1, the Washington Post ran an article about Warner's rising national profile. He's recruitment chairman of the Democratic Governors' Association and getting ready to head the Southern Governors' Association.
Ask him his plans for January 2006, when his one term as the 69th governor of Virginia ends, and he responds, "Who knows?" After all, he's only been in office for 16 months, not even halfway through.
Warner had never held public office before being sworn in as governor. So why leap into politics after riding the technology boom with his firm, Columbia Capital?
He traces his interest to the '60s: "I was touched by the idealism and not jaded by it."
The worst part of the governor's job, says Warner, is being overscheduled. In Charlottesville on May 13, he has four events scheduled, although two end up being canceled for a family emergency. In a two-minute interview with the The Hook that he squeezes in on the way to his car, he pulls out what looks like a thick, leather-bound prospectus. It's his schedule. For two days.
And the best perk of being guv? "Orange cones," says Warner, the kind that are used to reserve a parking space wherever he goes. No matter how broke the Commonwealth of Virginia is, its governor will never have to circle around looking for parking.
Age: 48
What do you like best about Charlottesville? Cool restaurants for a mid-size town.
What do you like least about Charlottesville? Its belief that it's the center of the universe.
Favorite hangout? Looking for a new one in Charlottesville.
Most overrated virtue? Net worth
What would people be surprised to know about you? I don't know what half the buttons on a cell phone do.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Better jump shot
What accomplishment are you proudest of? Helping start the Virginia Health Care Foundation, which has helped more than 472,000 medically underserved Virginians get health insurance
What do people find most annoying about you? Since I became governor, mysteriously, they don't say anymore. But I am aware that I move at a pretty fast pace and expect that of others.
Whom do you admire? Am I clichéd if I say Churchill?
Favorite book? Sounds a bit overwrought, but truthfully, War and Peace
What subject causes you to rant? Overt hypocrisy
What thrills you about life in the 21st century? The fact that the world will change more in the next decade than it did in the last century.
What creeps you out about life in the 21st century? The fact that we might screw up how we deal with those changes and further widen the divide between those who are benefiting from new technologies and economies and those who aren't.
What do you drive? I don't. But I ride around in a Suburban that state troopers drive.
What's in your car CD player right now? Stuff my daughters listen to
What's your next journey? I get around Virginia almost every day, and I just got back from Europe for a trade mission. Or maybe you meant spiritual journey?
What do you regret? The $6 billion shortfall, for one
Favorite comfort food? Fried chicken
What's always in your refrigerator? Diet Coke, to make up for the fried chicken
Must-see TV? None
Favorite cartoon? Sponge Bob
Describe a perfect day. No unexpected crises. Time with kids.
Walter Mitty fantasy? Playing in the NBA
Who'd play you in the movie? Probably James Woods. Or Sponge Bob.
What's the most trouble you've ever gotten in? I'd rather not say.
Most embarrassing moment? See above.
Best advice you ever got? Learn from your failures.
Favorite bumper sticker? MarknotJohn!Read more on: mark warner


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Not too many moons ago I embarked on porting some servers over from SQL 2000 to SQL 2008. On some of these SQL 2000 servers, we had numerous DTS packages performing various ETL functions. One of these jobs interacted with an Informix database. On the old server, an ODBC driver had been installed permitting a connection be created between the two servers.
Something that we did not flesh out prior to the migration was this particular setup. One would think that would not be that big of a deal considering the ODBC connection information was still present on the old server. Sure we could find most of the pertinent information to recreate this connection. One vital piece of information was missing – the password for the user account in the Informix system. FANTASTIC! This raises a dilemma. We could easily change the password so we could recreate this connection. If we change the password, then we run the chance of breaking something else. We could also create a new account for this one process and ensure we document the userid, process, and password. However, that does not resolve the problem of not knowing the password for this other account used by some processes.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. We chose to potentially break some unknown process. We reset the password. Woohoo!! We were finally able to successfully recreate the ODBC connection on the new server. We were also able to confirm that it worked on both the new and old server. Prior to changing the password, we could not confirm that the connection was properly created on the old server since the password must be re-entered in the System DSN in order to test. By changing the password (and putting it safely into the vault) we were able to improve our documentation as well as confirm that the process could work.
Along the lines of my entry for TSQL Tuesday this month where I talked about the necessity to Observe and Report, I had to go back and learn how the old DTS package worked to ensure I could make it work in the new environment. I quickly ran into a new series of problems in my efforts to study this package.
64 v. 32
The server was 64 bit, the ODBC client was 64 bit, and dts packages were 32 bit. I knew this from previous experience but had become engrossed with trying to do too much that I overlooked it. Not too big of a problem, I will convert it to SSIS. I plan on converting all of the packages to SSIS over time, the schedule just got moved up for this package. That was really a no-brainer.
Opening BIDS
Creating an ODBC connection to Informix that can be consumed by the SSIS package is a little different. Again, this was not too difficult of a problem to overcome. You can create an ODBC connection in BIDS by creating a New Connection from the Connection Managers region. From the Add SSIS Connection Manager window, there is an option for "ODBC." Select this option.
Another option to create this connection is to Create a new Ado.Net connection. From the new Ado.Net connection Manager, you need to select Odbc Data Provider from the "Provider" drop down menu at the top.
Once you have decided which method to use to create an ODBC connection you would need to specify the appropriate settings such as the user name, password, and dsn. This worked well for a bit. This method quickly ran me into an Informix problem.
Doesn't play well with others
I was able to test my connection successfully initially. On the first attempt to pull data from the connection though, I started getting an error message in SSIS.
I started wondering if this was an SSIS problem. I wanted to confirm what the overall impact of this error was so I tried to test it from the DTS package as well. Guess what – same thing. What about testing from the ODBC DSN? I got the same thing there too. From there I proceeded to the Internet to see what else I could learn about this problem. Well, as it turns out – this seems to be a common occurrence where Informix is involved. The resolution for this is to modify the SQLHOSTS file on the Informix database server. One needs to change the nettype from Shared Memory to a Network connection (TCP/IP). This was a solution that would have required involving our vendor. Thus while waiting for a time when they could assist, I decided to try other things.
Missing Link
Since I didn't like the need to pass a password to a connection manager in SSIS or for multiple people to need to know this account and password being used to connect to the Informix DB, and since I also needed to find a way around this shared memory problem, I decided to try an alternative method. I would create a linked server that would use the ODBC settings I had created for the DSN just created.
For this linked server, I provided the setting for the user and password of the remote server. The user has read only on the remote Informix server. By employing this, I can ensure that the password will not need to be known by anybody outside of the DBA group. The password will also not need to be stored in any files for connecting to this Informix server – I see it as being more secure and protected than the previous setup.
With connecting to Informix via a linked server, I am using the OPENQUERY method. I saw this as a method used / recommended by several people who have come across a similar need. To use the OPENQUERY, one needs to use a query similar to the following:
[codesyntax lang="tsql"]
select * from OPENQUERY
'SELECT * FROM sometable')
I recommend changing the 'Select *' on the interior select statement to be specific columns. As a sidebar, I ran into problems with this query initially due to using a top in the interior select statement. OPENQUERY does not like the top, and thus I removed it and it works flawlessly.
One more for the road…
Once I got the OPENQUERY statement working to satisfaction in SSMS, I tried to use the OPENQUERY directly from an execute SQL task. This attempt failed miserably. The task was unable to connect through the linked server and thus bombed. With that, I tried a different avenue once again.
I decided that the query needed to be put into a stored procedure. I would test from there since I knew that the query worked from within SSMS. I had three tables and three tasks in the DTS package that required the same process. So for all three, I combined them into a single stored procedure. The basic functionality was to simply extract the data through OPENQUERY and then dump the data into a staging table. In the new world, that means I will be replacing six steps from the DTS package with one step in the SSIS package.
With all of the code in the proc necessary for these tasks, I proceeded with testing. Testing was very encouraging and worked rather well. That was testing from within SSMS. How would it fare from BIDS? That was the next step. I created an Execute SQL task with an ado.net connection to my database and set the IsQueryStoredProcedure property to True. I then ran this step individually and it worked just as expected. Now I can finally finish translating the rest of this DTS package into SSIS and get this ETL process back up and running.
In the End
When all was said and done, I took a DTS package and converted it to SSIS 2008. The package works better now than it did in the old world. I simplified the package from 18 steps down to 6. This package in the end probably does not need to be run from SSIS. All of the steps are Execute SQL tasks and no use of the SSIS transformations are employed. That is something that can be looked into changing at a later date. For now, I will leave it as is since it also serves as an example for some of the team on how to upgrade a DTS package to SSIS. They needed something to help familiarize themselves to the product – and this serves that purpose.


text:
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- The Tech Museum of Innovation: located in Silicon Valley, this hands-on museum is fun for the whole family.
- Santana Row: a popular row lined with fancy shops and restaurants.
- The Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph: a Roman Catholic church featuring intricate artwork and a beautiful ceiling.
What's the best way to get around San Jose, CA?
San Jose has a comprehensive public transit system that connects all parts of the city. You can easily travel around by bus, taxi and rail. For more environmentally friendly options, consider touring the city by pedicab.
What's the weather in San Jose?
It can get really hot during the summer months, with temperatures commonly reaching 40°C (104°F), so make sure you remember to bring sun cream. June, July and August are the driest months and average around 20°C (69°F), while the winter months average around 10°C (50°F). If you hate the rain, avoid going in February, which is the wettest month.
Weather in San Jose
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25 °CWednesday12/08/2020
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*All amounts are in USD. Taxes and surcharges are included. No booking fee is applicable, but a payment surcharge may apply. Prices shown may vary depending on fare availability. You will see the final amount when selecting your payment method.


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Wednesday night | Orpheum Theatre
VANCOUVER -- At 35, there is not much Joe Bonamassa hasn't already accomplished.
A fourth generation musician born and raised in New Hartford, NY, Bonamassa has released over 15 studio albums (including four with reportedly defunct supergroup Black Country Communion, which included drummer Jason Bonham) and six live albums/DVDs including his latest, An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House, which came out just a couple of weeks ago.
A guitar hero whose skills have been praised by the greats, Bonamassa was playing Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan note-for-note by age seven.
He opened for B.B. King at the age of 12, earning the nickname of "Smokin' Joe."
At 14, he was playing with Bloodline, a band that also featured Berry Oakley Jr. (son of Allman Brothers founding member Berry Oakley), Doors guitarist Robby Krieger's son Waylon, and Miles Davis' son Erin.
Twenty years later he has crossed paths with more top music men and women than one can mention, from Eric Clapton to Deep Purple's Jon Lord and Don Airey.
Old time blues, prog rock, country pickin' folk -- Bonamassa can nail them all like few can, and his last two studio albums, 2011's Dust Bowl and last year's Driving Towards The Daylight, have earned him praise from music publications of all stripes, his name fast becoming a familiar one even outside tight-knit guitar circles.
At his North American tour kickoff Wednesday night at the Orpheum, Bonamassa gave his sold-out crowd a fire-hot display.
It was a two-hour-plus celebration of the six-string, an instrument that Bonamassa can shred on like Jimmy Page or make sing and cry like David Gilmour.
Dressed in his slick suit and sporting his trademark beach-ready sunglasses (which some have likened to David Caruso's on CSI: Miami), Bonamassa started by handing out a mini five-song set of acoustic material.
Sitting at centre stage under stark white lighting, Bonamassa made a cover of Bad Company's Seagull, a snappy campfire version of Charles Mingus' Jelly Roll (complete with hand drums), and an accordion-laden version of Tom Waits' Jockey Full of Bourbon sound all too easy.
Unfortunately, Bonamassa siphoned much of Waits' original darkness out of the song and made it sound uncharacteristically upbeat, something he tends to do with some of the more brooding material he chooses to re-adapt his own way.
Still you have to hand it to him: No one walks out of a Joe Bonamassa concert feeling depressed or let down, and you could only grin seeing his fingers fly as he hopscotched from blues to bluegrass on his own heart-thumping Woke Up Dreaming, which set the stage for the main portion of the show.
When he finally unleashed his full electric power backed by his ace three-piece band -- Arlan Schierbaum on keys, Carmine Rojas on bass, and Tal Bergman on drums -- he leaned into Slow Train with devastating precision, the Orpheum turned into a massive echo chamber ringing out with the sonic flames flowing out of Bonamassa's Gibson Firebird.
The concert often felt like an excuse for Bonamassa to show off all the insanely cool guitars he owns, making his Les Paul wail on Dust Bowl and busting out the double-necker for the groove-heavy Dislocated Boy, a song that also featured a killer organ solo.
Bonamassa is a clean, efficient singer. He doesn't have the biggest or boldest vocal personality, something his fingers make up for easily, but he can sing a song like the poppy Driving Towards The Daylight with just enough emotional depth to make it work.
If the vocals sometimes sounded buried in what was otherwise a solid sound mix, Bonamassa may have simply been taking things a little easier than usual, admitting he had been battling the flu.
"There's one town on the globe that you don't cancel postpone or mess with, and that's Vancouver," he told the crowd. "You might be our peaceful neighbours to the North, but I know one of you would have shanked me."
It's when he nailed the classics and monster cuts -- Howlin' Wolf's Who's Been Talking, Tim Curry's epic Sloe Gin, Mose Allison's Young Man Blues, and a wild, Deep Purple-esque Ballad of John Henry -- that Bonamassa really amped things to 11 on guitar, garnering a few well-deserved standing O's.
Wrapping his encore with a blazing version of ZZ Top's Just Got Paid, Bonamassa showed he had fully earned his pay cheque Wednesday night.


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Market Scene: Fall's Hollywood Cameo
In most states, you know it's fall because the leaves change colors, turning golden, crimson and persimmon, until the tops of trees look aflame. Here in Southern California you know it's fall when everything is actually on fire and the Santa Ana winds are blowing hard enough to knock down small children. While our crisp hills smolder and turn brown like burnt cakes from Ventura County to Fontana to the Sepulveda Pass, there's the upside in knowing that fall weather also means ton of marvelous fall produce at the Hollywood Farmers' Market (map).
Aw, Nuts
The new crop of pistachios has finally arrived! The Santa Barbara Pistachio Company, located in Sierra Madre Mountains in Santa Barbara County, is owned by the Zannon family. Their naturally tree-ripened pistachios are hot air-dried to help them maintain their amazing flavor and lock in the nutrients. You can buy a wide variety of fresh, flavored organic pistachios at their market stall including Crushed Garlic, Lemon Zing and Red Hot Habeñero pistachios to snack on, along with raw kernels that are incredibly versatile: try pistachio pesto, pistachio truffles or pistachio-curried turkey. They also have pistachio oil, which is great for dressing salads and pistachio flour, which they recommend for everything from pancakes to veggie burgers.
Wonderfully tangy, the slightest bit sweet and chock full of antioxidants, it's no wonder we all love the pomegranate's ruby-colored jewels. Though the Pomegranate season started back in August, the wan arils, as the seeds are called, in most market specimens haven't been too enticing. But this week pomegranates from Mud Creek Ranch, Burkart Farms and Peacock Family Farms (among others) had long cracks in their leathery skins; they were literally bursting with shirt-staining juice. These are the pomegranates you want, not the pretty, shiny, un-bruised ones. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds on salads, toss them with farro or couscous, reduce them into glazes or muddle them into cocktails.
Winter Squashes
If the weather would cool off just a tad bit more then Angelenos could thoroughly enjoy all of the beautiful winter squashes that have taken over the market. Frankly, it's worth cranking up the oven, even on 90 degree days, because roasting is probably the best way to enjoy butternut squashes the color of caramel, acorn squashes that look like they dropped from some mythical gigantic oak and pumpkins the color of Mario Batali's Crocs. The folks at Underwood Family Farms also had lovely sugar baby pumpkins perfect for roasting whole and gorgeous multi-colored turban squashes that would also make a festive tureen for squash soup. The South Central Farmers' Cooperative had a number of different organic pumpkins including the snowy white chilacayote (also called Malabar squash), which is frequently used to make the Day of the Dead treat Calabaza en Tacha, candied pumpkin.
There are, basically, two kinds of persimmons available at the Hollywood Farmers' Market right now. The Fuyus like those I found at Burkart Farms are flat and tomato-y looking and can be eaten firm or soft. The second kind, the pointy Hachiya over at Peacock Family Farms should only be eaten when soft unless you're trying to teach a wine drinker about tannins. Hachiyas are extremely tannic when unripe and that astringent nature will make your mouth dry up like the L.A. River. Pick darker orange, softer persimmons of either typethese are riperand you can hasten the ripening process by putting the fruit in a paper bag as you would a peach or an avocado. Store ripe persimmons in the fridge to keep. Try using the firmer Fuyus in a salsa to complement halibut or pork. Soft Hachiyas make great ice cream and quick breads.
Buddha's Hand
By far the coolest, creepiest looking edible at the farmers' market this week were the Buddha's Hand citrons from Bernard Ranches in Riverside. Notable for its long, skeleton-like fingers, lemony fragrance, and pith-free pulp, the rind of a Buddha's Hand can be used in any recipe that calls for lemon zest. Hangar One made it famous infused in vodka infusion, though I think it makes for an even better home-infused gin. Grate it over fish like Chris Cosentino of San Francisco's Incanto, or into cookies like the Lemon Thyme Madeleines I plan on making this week. If you're feeling really crafty, you can use it to make your own citronella candles, or you can simply spice up your Thanksgiving dinner conversation with a giant Buddha's hand instead of a bouquet as your table's centerpiece.
In Season
Apples Pears Grapes Persimmons Pomegranates Buddha's hand Winter squash Broccoli Cauliflower Pistachios Walnuts
Coming Soon
Sweet potatoes Potatoes Beets Cabbage Carrots Guavas Kiwis Passion fruits Citrus Brussels sprouts
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Back before "It" was the mystery invention that let the world down by turning out to be a scooter for rent-a-cops, it was also the title of a Stephen King novel legendary for its girth. "It" belongs in that pantheon of astoundingly long novels (like "War and Peace" and "Infinite Jest") that both attract and repel you with their daunting thickness. I've always wanted to read a novel as long as "It," largely so I can tell people I read a novel as long as "It." It's not so much a book as it is a trophy, a blue ribbon for being a crazy good reader.
Novels like "It" are rarely adapted into feature films, due to their obvious difficulty. "It" was turned into a miniseries a long time ago. It featured Tim Curry as a bloodthirsty clown and that alone is enough to make you lose sleep. But now comes word that Warner Bros., for whatever reason, is venturing to try and make King's opus into a feature film. In fact, they hired screenwriter David Kajganich to write an adaptation of the book. From Cinematical comes Kajganich's own feelings about trying to pull off the feat:
I knew the studio was committed to adapting It as a single film, so I went back and reread the novel to see if I thought this was even possible, and to try to find a structure that would accommodate such a large number of characters in two different time periods, around 120 pages, which was another of the studio's stipulations.
He reread the novel? Well, now he's just bragging. Anyway, condensing a 1,100-page novel into a 120 screenplay can't be an easy task. Kajganich will likely be forced to trim everything but the killer clown part, because that killer clown is so important, you see.
I'll be interested to see if anything comes of this adaptation. Obviously, Warners wouldn't commission a script if they didn't plan on making a move out of "It." But part of me is tempted to think of this as a cheap experiment on their part, and that a final product may never see the light of day. After all, scripts are commissioned all the time. Most of them never reach the screen.
But, like the book itself, there's something alluring about a project as massive and ambitious as "It" coming to the silver screen. It's a scary idea to read an 1,100-page novel, and its a scary idea to see the movie it would produce. Not as scary as a killer clown, but there you go.


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Hey, I actually have a little time to do a proper preview for International Pop Overthrow - Chicago on Wednesday. This doesn't mean I like these bands better than the ones in my recent minimalist posts, it's just that my schedule has been really hectic lately.
In addition to his solo career, singer-guitarist Graham Czach performs as a member of Chicago Afrobeat Project and has worked on recordings with Paul Wertico and Lupe Fiasco. His solo debut, Lucid, came out in 2010. His new single, "To Be Free," is available for free download on his website.
The Injured Parties is an indie rock/power pop trio led by Larry O. Dean, a veteran of the clever outfit, Post Office. Dean continues to view the world through satiric eyes on songs like "American Comfort."
The Pralines are fronted by vocalist-guitarist Pamela Richardson. The quintet gives her melodic tunes a bit of Country & Western twang. The Pralines' latest CD, Song Of The Day, was released on local indie label, Spade Kittie Records.
The Red Plastic Buddha's love for 1960s style psychedelic rock is evident on their cover of The Electric Prunes' hit, "Too Much To Dream (Last Night)" and there are several original mind-altering gems, like "King Of The Underground," on their latest CD, All Out Revolution. The dreamy "Daisy Love" will make you want to paint flowers on the person next to you.
The garage pop quintet Little Boy Jr. draws upon artists ranging from Del Shannon to Elvis Costello, with a lot of British Invasion music in between. They have two catchy songs available for free download on their bandcamp page.
You have to like a band that lists its current location as, "The bushes outside your window" on its Facebook page. If that doesn't make The Joy Riders sound like wiseguys, then check out their influences, which includes New Kids On The Block and The Osmonds. They play a mix of cover tunes and guitar-based originals like "Your Saints Are Watching You."


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Presidential powers don't extend to pop culture.
We're asking a lot of Barack Obama, just to right the sinking ship of American politics. Can we expect him to save American culture as well? Can a president spin that much gossamer from his oratory? Can the American people make better books, movies and music, inspired to new heights by better speeches and our better angels?
If history is any guide, the answer is simple: No, we can't!
Presidents influence a lot of things -- interstate commerce, NASA weather balloons, which species make it onto the endangered list. But none of that has anything to do with culture. Indeed, a plausible case could be made that a president with a high approval rating has a positively baneful effect on the work of the imagination.
An industrious researcher might argue that a handful of presidents have introduced so much electricity into the atmosphere that a form of spontaneous cultural combustion followed. To a degree, that happened with John F. Kennedy, who audaciously declared that a new generation had taken over. Throughout the 1960s he was proved correct, often in ways of which he would have disapproved. It's amusing to note that the Kennedys were often described as having long hair; it does not take too much imagination to link them to the Beatles and all that followed.
JFK probably had an even more direct impact on the New Journalism that revolutionized writing in the 1960s. Not only in his own way of speaking -- his sentences, punctuated by pugilistic jabs, were 10 times more dynamic than Eisenhower's speeches -- but also in the way he carried himself as a postmodern celebrity, amused by all the attention.
This comes out in Theodore H. White's book "The Making of the President: 1960" and in the flood of deconstructions that followed. In fact, the piece that may have kicked off New Journalism was about JFK -- Norman Mailer's "Superman Comes to the Supermarket," which appeared in Esquire in November 1960. It offers one of those fascinating glimpses of an old world ending and a new one beginning -- appropriately enough, in Los Angeles, where the phrase "New Frontier" was coined at the Democratic Convention.
Mailer, of course, is breathtakingly condescending about L. A. ("It is not that Los Angeles is altogether hideous, it is even by degrees pleasant, but for an Easterner there is never any salt in the wind; it is like Mexican cooking without chile, or Chinese egg rolls missing their mustard.") But the piece has a nervous energy that percolated into so much of American culture in the 1960s -- a future glimpsed by Mailer in this weird sentence about JFK: "Yes, this candidate for all his record; his good, sound, conventional liberal record has a patina of that other life, the second American life, the long electric night with the fires of neon leading down the highway to the murmur of jazz."
Kennedy's cultural footprint was large in other ways. He had better state dinners than most; the one in May 1962 for French writer and diplomat André Malraux more or less achieved the Euro-sophistication that 200 years of American social climbing had grasped toward. (Henry James would not have believed it possible.) But even under JFK, "culture" was never easily defined, veering from Malraux and cellist Pablo Casals to Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. Or Ian Fleming, whose books Kennedy loved, and whose career he helped enormously by saying so.
Presidents do have a certain power to command culture into existence. To some extent, that's what happened with the New Deal, when FDR ordered out-of-work writers, artists and actors to perform for the state, creating an enormous body of documentary work about the American people, still valuable seven decades later.
In addition, FDR's conversational way of speaking may have opened up Americans: FDR "came through to people," according to Arthur Schlesinger Jr., "because they felt -- correctly -- that he liked them and cared about them."
And yet, when one considers the key cultural moments of the last century, it's fairly clear that presidents were largely irrelevant. The Roaring '20s, for instance, were not made more so by Calvin Coolidge, who served as a hilariously deadpan maestro to the crazy orchestra playing all around him in the Jazz Age. Nor did Harry Truman, for all of his good qualities, inspire new forms of creativity in the late 1940s; no one would confuse his corny barrel-rolls with the bebop runs of a Thelonious Monk.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more it seems that real culture doesn't need the support of the state. Rather, a fighting culture needs a worthy adversary. That's why I'm convinced, after much careful consideration, that the greatest cultural president in U.S. history was California's own Richard Milhous Nixon.
Yes, Nixon was, and is, the one. Trying to relate to a new generation, he invited the Carpenters ("young America at its best") to play the White House in May 1973. Everything about him placed him in direct opposition to the culture boiling over at exactly that moment in our history. In other words, he was perfect.
Was there ever a funkier time than the Nixon era? Urban America never sounded so good. Hard rock was never harder; glam never glammer. American literature was scabrous and provocative. Hollywood reached a peak that it has never returned to.
So, while it's fantastic that Obama is about to become our 44th president, let's keep expectations realistic. For good old-fashioned American culture, with its endless capacity to surprise and subvert, we just might need a divider, not a uniter.
Widmer is the author, most recently, of "Ark of the Liberties: America and the World." He was a speechwriter for President Clinton.
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"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
We've been reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (affiliate link). This book is actually new to me, but I love the message for the boys (and myself!). Its about how a business comes into a 'forest' of Truffala Trees and uses them to make his new product. He ends up cutting down every last Truffala Tree, and finds out how it affects not only the trees, but the animals and creatures that live among them. I needed this reminder to be earth friendly. I think I need to add a fourth R to the classic phrase:
R emember to R educe, R euse, R ecycle.
We're not super crunchy around here, but we do a few things here and there that help us, and teach the boys, to be more friendly towards the Earth.
Nine ways we're hands on and like The Lorax (Earth-Friendly):
- Shut off the lights. Play in the dark (extremely fun for the kids by the way!), or just get outside and play! Just remember to 'shut down' before you head out.
- A lot of baby and kid items can be reusedin their original state. Baby food jars, baby wipe containers, even Puff containers!
- Upcycle items whenever you can. Turn what you have into something else. We love to do this. Instead of buying something new, we create something from what's in our recycling bin.
- By using water and soap, or vinegar, the kids can join you in cleaning up after activities and crafts! Let them have fun doing it, they're very likely to really want to help out! Check out 11 ways preschoolers can help with clean up. Make it fun.
- Also, use a cloth, cut up rag when cleaning, instead of paper towels that end up in the garbage.
- Sometimes you need something 'stronger' than water and soap. If you gotta,use an Earth-friendly product like Seventh Generation. Their wipes are fun for the kids to use to clean up messes
- Use non-toxic products whenever you can, or even better, make your own, so you know exactly what's going in it. Crayons, markers, paints, etc. All come in non-toxic versions. Be sure to get them, especially when you got kids putting stuff in their mouths, but even if they're not. Use Seventh Generation Wee Gen diapers and wipes, they're chlorine processing free, fragrance free, and seriously, I'm picky about my diapers, and these stand up to others I've sworn by in the past!
- Do clean up day for Earth Day. Pick a street, road, or highway to clean up the ditches. Make it fun. I always did this as a child with my mom and brothers. It was a blast. We took the four-wheeler and trailer down the gravel road to see how many 5 centers we could find, along with whatever other treasures were left behind after the snow melted. I can't wait to do this with the boys. Henry might get to go on an adventure this year!
- Share how you are like the Lorax below in the conversation. How do you do your part to be Earth-friendly?
"You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds. And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs."
Seventh Generation has partnered with Universal's The Lorax to help introduce the Lorax and his message of environmental truth and ecological hope to a whole new generation of kids and parents, too. Seventh Generation is giving away one of the hands on : as we grow readers a "Green Your Home" pack! All you have to do to enter is comment below, answering:
"How do you live like the Lorax?"
(Winner will be picked on April 30th.)
Using eco-friendly products is an important step toward teaching my children about conservation, and Seventh Generation and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax have joined forces to inspire families to save the earth's resources with conscious consumption. Created with our little ones and the environment in mind, Seventh Generation is the natural choice for high-quality and effective products free of fragrances, latex, chlorine and other harmful chemicals. Make a difference by choosing Seventh Generation. As the Lorax says, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
How do you live like the Lorax? Tell Seventh Generation below and be entered to win a Green Your Home prize pack!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Seventh Generation. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.