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With director Steven Soderbergh's latest film, the psychological thriller Side Effects, hitting theaters this coming Friday, the filmmaker has been sitting down for a few interviews as part of the film's marketing campaign. This is a curious case, though, because Side Effects also marks Soderbergh's possibly final theatrically-released film. As such, said interviews have been more varied than usual, with the filmmaker eager to discuss a multitude of subjects.
Steve recently sat down with Soderbergh for a 45-minute interview, and due to the conversation's length we're breaking it up into smaller portions before unveiling the whole thing (read Part 1 here). Today, in Part 2, Soderbergh talks about the surprising success of Magic Mike, his involvement in Magic Mike 2, the new box office climate of knowing whether your film has succeeded or failed by Friday afternoon, his second-unit work on The Hunger Games, how he championed Christopher Nolan to direct Insomnia when Warner Bros. wasn't so sure, and more. Hit the jump to read on.
If you missed Part 1 where Soderbergh talked about his preferred digital cameras, whether digital will match the quality of IMAX, his opinion on 48 frames per second, Kickstarter, and more, click here.
Read Part 2 below, and check back here tomorrow for Part 3.
Steve: Are you a little stunned at the huge success of Magic Mike?
SODERBERGH: Yeah, those numbers were significantly higher than anything we hoped for; they were significantly higher than the numbers that were going to make it work for Warners, for instance. Their buying North America for the amount of money that they paid was predicated on the movie doing like 60, if the movie does 60 we're gold, so to just fly past that, it was fun because it was so atypical. Even the way it performed was really weird day to day during the week. Danny Fellman, the head of distribution at Warner Bros. would just laugh because, this thing there are just no comps for the way this thing is performing. It's so weird, just the shifts from day to day during the week. We were trying to figure out is it because women during the week they can babysitters on these days and not those? Certain days would be huge then the next day would be nothing. It was just all over the place. But it's really fun when the surprise goes in that direction. What was weird was- my experience has been that tracking is very strange; it tends to be very accurate about when things are going to underperform, it tends not to be very accurate and sometimes wildly inaccurate when things over perform, and Magic Mike was the perfect example. According to the tracking we should have opened to 19, and we opened at 38, or whatever. So if I were at Warners and I show up Monday morning I would be talking to those people who do my tracking and saying, "How did we miss by 100%?" If I have a department that's supposed to be tracking, like, where were those people? Why can't you find out?
What I've been noticing lately, and I'm not the guy for tracking, but I've found that on Friday night, the reaction on Facebook and Twitter to your movie is huge, because at 9:00 if everyone getting back form the movie is raving about it, the next two days are going to be huge, and if people are like, "This movie's not good" then all the sudden it goes like this. So maybe that is playing into it.
SODERBERGH: I guess so.
People really liked the movie.
SODERBERGH: What's interesting to me is so, your methodology for figuring out who wants to see it and who doesn't has obviously got a gigantic hole in it because you're not reaching everybody that you have to reach to have relevant data. If you miss by 100%, that's a lot. But like I said, it tends to be very accurate when shit's going to not perform. For instance, the flipside of that is Haywire, we knew Tuesday we were going to have a terrible weekend, and we did.
I have to tell you I really dig that movie.
SODERBERGH: I was really happy with it and we felt like it was a fun ride, but couldn't pay people to go see it.
You did second unit on The Hunger Games, I don't know if you talked a lot about that, but how did you get involved in that?
SODERBERGH: Well, Gary's a friend of mine; I've known him a long time. At one point, actually, in the mid-90s I was crashing on his couch for three weeks. We just have a history of helping each other out on stuff, I show him everything, I was a producer on Pleasantville. So we just have a long history of kind of doing each other solids when one of us needs help. So he called me in April and said, "I'm looking at the board of Hunger Games and I've got these two days of second unit at the end of August, what are you doing? Can you come down? I've got to get somebody I trust to do this, would you be interested?" So I said, "Yeah, actually Contagion will be done and we won't have started Magic Mike, it's actually perfect. I can literally just fly in and do it."
What I found really nerve-wracking about it was shooting and really worrying, "Am I getting what he needs? Am I getting what he wants?" When I'm shooting my own stuff I look at it and I go, "OK, I've got it, I need this, I got that." Here he's off with the first unit, I'm here, I want to deliver for my friend what he needs. I found that aspect of it- I was very anxious that I was getting everything that he needed and wanted. The fun part of it was my job there was to recreate exactly the aesthetic that he and Tom Stern have set up in terms of framing, and lighting, and movement. I'm there to be a chameleon and duplicate that so that it's seamless. And I love that, I love kind of submitting to that and following their rules. So we went down, we shot a ton of shit, it was really fun and then I didn't hear from him and I'm like, "Oh, no." Finally two weeks later he emailed me and he goes, "I just realized I don't think I ever responded." He goes, "I'm so happy with the stuff. Thank you." And I went, "Oh god, dude, you had me completely flipped out, I thought I was going to read that you had to redo it." He's like, "No, no, no it all worked out great." So it was fun, it was a tough show. I was really happy that the movie took off because he worked really hard on it. It was a tough show. I totally understood him feeling like "I don't want to go back and do that again", because I would have felt the same.
You're probably the most qualified second unit director of the last decade.
SODERBERGH: It was fun.
I want to jump back real quick to Magic Mike, Channing has talked about doing a sequel and possibly directing it himself. Obviously you're going to go and do your own thing but if he were to call you and say, "Hey, I'm doing a sequel" would you produce? Is that something you would be willing to do?
SODERBERGH: Yeah, I'm happy to be conciliary, there's absolutely another movie to be made out of that. There were a lot of ideas that didn't make it to the first one that we've had discussions about, and here's an opportunity to do some of these things that we couldn't get into the first one. Like there's a lot of stuff still there, stories of shit that happened to him that we just didn't have time for. So I hope they do it. I'll help in whatever way I can, I just don't want to be involved day-to-day. But I'm happy to in a sense be an executive producer and kind of weigh in on stuff. We had a great time making that movie and I don't have a desire to try and go back and try and recreate it.
You produced Insomnia, you produced Pleasantville, you produced a lot of movies; what is your typical involvement as a producer? Are you very hands on day-to-day? Or are you involved in the pre-production?
SODERBERGH: It depends on the filmmaker, depends on the scale of the movie, I'm sort of keying off what I think people need from me. In the case of Insomnia, he doesn't need me around, I went to the set one day, literally, just to say hello to everyone and then flew back home. All Chris [Nolan] needed was to get in the fucking door, that was the problem was that the head of the studio at that point didn't understand why George [Clooney] and I were so lit up about him and I had to go in and go, "You need to give this guy this job. This is good for you." Once that happened, once he was on, it was literally, "I'll see you when you're done." He doesn't need help like that. Other people want you to watch everything, it just depends.
Does Chris ever send you a thank you card? [Laughs]
SODERBERGH: No, he and I will try to have lunch like once a year, catch up, you know what I mean? He's been very vocal about, "I'm so glad I got on that movie because it started the relationship with this studio that turned out to be great for everybody," and I'm happy because it proved that the sort of mandate that we had at Section 8 of taking interesting, young, independent filmmakers and getting them onto movies that typically would be kind of normal if they weren't involved, they elevate it, they make it something more distinctive by being involved. That was our whole idea. It's what I did. I was an independent person and I came in and started working with studios on certain movies. There was this whole wave of people like David O. Russell, that was our whole idea, blend these two things. Why can't independent filmmakers make shit that opens in 3000 theaters?
So I'm glad that that all played out because Chris is the perfect example of why that can work and also from the studio standpoint my belief is that you should bet on horses not races. You should be developing relationships with talent not based on specific projects but based on the fact that you think they're talented and that everybody hits and misses but in the long run, it's like the Clint thing, in the long run you win. If you look at my career, if one person had financed everything I've ever made, you'd be up. I've had peaks and valleys, but over the long term if you paid for all of them you would have won. That's why it's very satisfying to watch his career turn into the career that it's turned into, because he clearly- it wasn't a surprise to me, he clearly had that in him. They just, initially, couldn't see it.
Look for more with Soderbergh tomorrow.


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Like a billion other people, I took a trip through Los Angeles recently. Thanks to my food fanatacism, I'm going use the '60s "Summer of Love" convention to describe my time there, except in place of love, I use tacos and burritos. Here are a few of the more interesting places in LA where I ate Mexican food.
1) La Tehuana
Maybe it seems weird to drive to Koreatown to eat at a taco truck, but if you think about it, it's sort of weird to let strangers cook your food inside a truck.
Parked on the north side of 3rd street just west of Normandie, in a dense, residential strip, La Tehuana serves food Monday through Friday, 7pm to 1am, and Saturday and Sunday, 5 to 2. If you sling tacos in the middle of a city this big, it's wise to stay open late for drunks and weekend revelers.
When I arrived after 9pm, I slid in line behind a Korean couple and some fellow solitary eaters. It was Saturday night. People walked and biked by. Cars raced down 3rd and piled up at the stoplight. I parked a few feet away, in front of a Korean liquor store whose sign simply said "Liquor" in both English and Hangul.
A guy on a skateboard rode up, ordered an asada burrito and leaned his board against the newspaper wrack that stood in front of the cashier window. Because of the way the truck was situated, the dispenser functioned as a de facto table, which you could relax on while waiting or use to set your drink.
An elderly man on a bike yelled "Get outta my way!" to a pedestrian crossing the street. I leaned against the cool brick wall of Lucky's Laundry and waited for my food. Three women in aprons and ball caps hustled inside the truck. Two prepared food. One handmade tortillas. When the cashier called the Korean couple's order, they sprinkled their tacos with cilantro and hot sauce at the salsa bar and carried their food down the street.
If you want napkins here you have to ask for them. Same with utensils. If your order is to-go, the cashier will wrap your plate in aluminum foil. She'll call your number and slide your plate across the counter: "Cuarenta y ocho!"
I sat on an upturned milk crate and ate.
The coastal air was moist. People continually arrived to place orders. Two tacos cost me $2.50. Every taquería garnishes their tacos differently. La Tehuana doesn't dress theirs — just meat piled on one corn tortilla. You add onions and cilantro as you like, shredded cabbage, too. A row of condiments and salsas lines a metal counter.
There's the usual containers of limes and thinly sliced radishes. There are two mulcajetes of salsas – one a thin, smooth guacamole, the other a fiery roasted red, as much flavor as heat. And there's a Tupperware of plain but workable chunky salsa which seems to be made with only onion, tomato and cilantro; I couldn't taste lime or salt in there. Inert as it is, it does add a nice crunch and color that makes the food pretty.
La Tehuana makes their own corn tortillas by hand, and they're delicious. My sole hang up is that they only use one tortilla per taco. Doubling up lets you spread the contents out into a longer taco, which extends the pleasure of the taco experience and keeps your bites from being ridiculously overstuffed. Doubling up also helps keep any wet tortilla from disintegrating in your hands. Even though using one tortilla is an understandable way to cut costs, if you're known for handmade tortillas as La Tehuana is, I say slap another on there. It's a minor complaint.
Despite the abundance of local taco options, lots of Angelinos love this place. One woman on Yelp recalled the moment her La Tehuana addiction began: "Saw this random taco truck with a crowded line and I immediately made an illegal U-turn and almost ran through a red light." Another woman said, "$1.25 for a taco? Great price to pay to get through the gates to taco heaven." "I once heard you can judge a taco truck by their Pastor tacos," said a Yelper named Victor, "and let me tell you this trucks pastor is 5 stars."
Apparently, they used to serve a mysterious, decadent dish called Alambre, which the LA Weekly covered. It wasn't offered when I went, though I wouldn't have ordered it anyway. I was here for the tacos, even if they did only use one tortilla.
For dessert, here's a fun blog, subtitled "Celebrating the Taco Lifestyle in Los Angeles" http://www.lataco.com/
2) El Gran Burrito
Red words painted on the yellow wall say:
"Burritos any time" – I want that on my headstone.
Located just west of the busy corner of Vermont Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard, cattycorner from an ARCO gas station, El Gran Burrito Restaurant offers a setting that feel as close to a picnic as you can get in this part of East Hollywood.
The restaurant is a giant patio. The register stands outside, set beside toy dispensers and coin-powered electric rides. Cars race by on the other side of the fence, as breezes blow between tables.
When you park, you step into the covered patio, rather than inside the restaurant, and even if you eventually spot the register, it isn't entirely clear what you're supposed to do next.
This convoluted ordering system is guaranteed to confuse newcomers and separate them from the regulars. Like Machos Tacos further up Vermont, though, this place engenders the kind of repeat visits that turn occassionals into regulars.
When I approached the register, the clerk was wearing headphones, scrolling through songs on an iPod he kept in his pants pocket. "Here's your receipt," he said. "You hand that to the lady in the window and she'll take care of you."
I scanned the dining area behind him for the condiment station. "Do you still have pickled carrots?"
"Yes," he said, "just ask her for some." They'd rearranged things since my last visit. No more self-serve carrots. Now cooks doled them out. The restaurant had also moved their entire condiment station inside; it used to be behind the register, in between the tables. It was so exposed that anyone could have stepped off of Santa Monica Boulevard and fixed themselves a bowl of carrots or helped themselves to salsa. Budget eaters like me probably spiked costs.These weird arrangements and idiosyncrasies are half of El Gran Burrito's charm. The place is down-home, and in a world of chains, that's refreshing.
Unlike other restaurants further north in Los Feliz, this isn't the kind of place where you'll hear talk of food allergies or gluten-intolerance. It's the kind of place where you use paper towels, not napkins, and you have to fetch them yourself from an automated dispenser mounted on a metal column. It's the kind of place that spells midnight "midnite" in its "El Gran Burrito Restaurant Midnite Tacos" sign, the kind of place where a kid on a skateboard will roll by on Santa Monica spooning cereal from a paper bowl, and two kids will chase each other through the parking lot, throwing gravel at each other.
You want a plate? Just ask for it. Otherwise, the cook will place your food in a small plastic bag, with the tacos wrapped together in foil, pickled carrots wadded in foil, too. You'll be thankful for the paper towels' larger dimensions and heavy gauge. For their size, these tacos are messy.
While I ate, a Hispanic man in his late forties pulled up on a BMX, wearing a white striped shirt and black plaid, knee-length shorts. He asked the cashier for a cup of water. "It's hot, man."
"It was hotter yesterday," said the cashier. "But yeah."
As the clerk filled a cup, the bicyclist peddled through the dining area, weaving between tables with the agility of a teen. His shorts stretched down past his knees, bright white socks pulled up to meet them.
The first time I ate here, a young black man in a tight purple dress beckoned me over from the neighboring Vermont/Santa Monica subway station. "Pssst," he said, waving at me. "Hey. Come here, baby." He was sitting on a bench, his back straight, one leg crossed tightly over the other. "Baby, come here." People streamed past him, in and out of the subway stairwell. I waved back and said, "Thanks, but I'm hungry and need to eat. Have a good night." When he kept calling I turned back around and blew him a kiss.
At El Gran Burrito, "everything on them" means that cooks dress the tacos with onions, cilantro and hot sauce. In addition to green, they serve two types of salsa: a chunky wet red one like the kind you'd dipped chips into, and a salsa fresca made of onion, cilantro sprigs and large slices of tomato. There's too much oregano in the salsa for my taste, giving it a bit of a spaghetti sauce flavor. The salsa fresca is delicious, though. The tacos are stuffed full of meat both tender and flavorful. Not one but two tortillas hold each together. At $1.25 a pop, these are just what you need, especially after midnite when little else is open.
3) Tito's Tacos
I spotted take-out containers labeled "Tito's Tacos" in a friend's refrigerator in Santa Monica one morning. When I asked about the restaurant, she said it was a local landmark, one that I, as a self-described taco fanatic, had to visit. When I arrived in Culver City hours later, I realized that at some point someone else might have mentioned Tito's to me, too, but one reason I might not remember it was because of their speciality. They served tacos durados, aka hard shell tacos.
No matter how generous the contents, no matter how tender the meat, I don't care for hard shell tacos. I prefer Mexico City style, which are often called "street tacos": meat in warmed corn tortillas. Save the hard shell for tortilla chips, which I will also largely ignore to save room for the good stuff like tamales and beans and green chile. Maybe mine is a problem of association: any hard shell taco tastes reminiscent of my Taco Bell childhood, conjuring uneasy memories of cheap cheese atop soy-laced "meat" and the anxiety of going on high school dates with occasional acne. Can any high quality adult taco experience can undo that strong a Pavlovian response?
A crowd pressed against Tito's five outside windows when I arrived, spilling down the sidewalk in loosely formed lines.
Inside, the same scene, except in shade.
It was as if someone had chummed sharky waters with taco meat and caused a feeding frenzy. Yet the atmosphere was calm, the people in line patient and polite. Apparently, the line often stretches far down the street.
Two women in front of me ordered twenty tacos and two large sides of chili beans. They were headed to a corporate event. A nearby couple carried off two cardboard trays stacked with tacos and chips. I'm sure Tito's tacos are delicious, but when I stepped to the register, I didn't order any. I got my other favorite food: a burrito. I snapped two photos through the window and the clerk politely told me, "Sorry, no photos."
A young guy ordering at the neighboring window said, "Take one when they're not looking."
"Normally I would," I said, "but I want to make sure I get my burrito!"
He laughed. "Good point."
My cashier put on plastic gloves and stepped to the food station to wrap my burrito.
Like so many of LA's best restaurants, Tito's occupies a nondescript building whose architecture and location don't reflect its iconic status. Down Sepulveda Boulevard's seemingly unbroken row of old one-level store fronts, past Culver Ice Arena and Johnnie's French Dip — another iconic eatery — Tito's sits on busy Washington Place, just west of Sepulveda, beside the 405 freeway. Parking spots line the street, but chances are you'll have to park on one of the two side streets that run north and south off Sepulveda. The north one is quieter, lined with houses and trees. The shady spots under the 405 are nice, too.
I carried my food through the crowded interior and took a seat on the back patio at a table with a family of four: two teenage girls, their mother and what appeared to be their grandmother. The grandmother spoke quickly in Spanish between long sips of Pepsi from a straw. A heavy man at the table in front of me ate alone: first a taco, then an entire chili con carne burrito and chips. He spooned salsa on nearly every bite, just as I always do.
Tito's salsa tastes so fresh and alive, it seemed wrong to drizzled it on fried tortilla chips. It's pureed. Composed mostly of tomatoes, it contains a little chile, a few chile seeds, and tiny, infrequent green bits that speckle its nearly absolute redness. The tomato flavor is intense but not overwhelming, and the flavor is so light and bright in your mouth that it almost tastes like they've pureed watermelon in it. I've never experienced any salsa like it. It's exactly what you want on a hot summer day.
Even if you share my devotion to street tacos, Tito's menu is diverse enough to satisfy. They sell beef and chicken tamales, tostadas and enchiladas, as well as chili beans. By chili, they mean chili con carne: cubes of beef, stewed until tender. As much as I love chili con carne, Tito's version isn't the most flavorful. It's a bit bland. I got a meat and bean burrito, and it didn't have the strong red chile flavor or complexity that I like. The salsa and tortilla more than made up for it, though.
The tortilla was perfectly grilled, making it both pliable and firm and giving it the essential little dark grill spots that flake off like pastry. It was, without question, the perfect burrito tortilla and folding job. They wrap like only the experts do: tight, origami corners that you can trust to hold up under pressure.
The back patio overlooks a car lot. As I ate, a car salesman taxied a small SUV through the lot, his leg dangling out the door so that the soles of his feet almost skimmed the pavement. Despite the location, the patio is peaceful. Vines festoon the side of the 405. Sitting out there beside the trees, freeway traffic softens from a roar to a calming hum, like a river of cars lulling you into a trance rather than eliciting the sense of terror and traffic jam adrenalin that LA's freeways often do.
At a large table by the door, seven Tito's cooks and cashiers ate together. Two still wore their hairnets. All had on red aprons. They were laughing and talking in Spanish. At one point they started singing and clapping their hands. Behind them, in a space beside the alley, stood three towers of tomato boxes, each nine boxes high. A kid with baggy skater pants and a forearm tattoo sat down nearby and ate three tacos. Inside, gringos sat beside Asian, Hispanic and black customers, everyone enjoying a sunny summer day and offering proof that Los Angeles is as multicultural as New York, and that it is this very multiculturalism that is responsible for making it one the world's great cities.
Here's Tito's website. Don't judge the food based on the quality of their jingle, but do brace yourself for it: http://titostacos.com/

subset: commoncrawl


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So, in lieu of a post, I offer this:
1. For Memorial Day, please check out some of the posts on my history page.
2. One of the best posts you'll ever read is over on ER Stories today. It's a MUST read.
I will return to my regular posting tomorrow.
A Blog detailing the insanity of my medical practice and the stupidity of everyday life.
Bless that man, and all who were affected ~
What an amazing story of courage and professionalism under duress!
Wow...your kids are out already? We had so many snow days that we have to go until June 13! Come on SUMMER!!!
You all taking another BIG trip this summer?
What a heart-wrenching experience! I cannot begin to imagine the things that MD saw firsthand! Thanks for sharing the link, it was definitely a must read.
What an amazing piece of writing. wow. I have nothing else to say.
I almost started crying...so sad... :( ~francine
Little Calf Creamery. Delicious homemade ice cream and food in Thousand Oaks!


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Republicans on Thursday unveiled draft legislation that would wind down housing finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over a five-year period and sharply reduce the government's role in the mortgage market.
The sweeping proposal aims to establish a new framework for the housing finance system, a group of Republicans on the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee told reporters. The bill would also revamp the Federal Housing Administration, partly by increasing the down payments on FHA-backed loans and limiting the pool of eligible buyers.
"We have to take a holistic approach," the panel's chairman, Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling, told reporters. He said his goal is to limit taxpayer risk and replace the current system, where "the federal government has almost a virtual monopoly."
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own or guarantee about half of all new U.S. home loans, were seized by the government in 2008 as souring loans pushed them to the brink of collapse.
The companies buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them into securities for investors, which they issue with a guarantee. They were propped up with $187.5 billion in taxpayer funds, but have since returned to profitability and have paid taxpayers about $132 billion in dividends.
The new proposal would replace the companies with a non-profit, utility-like platform that investors would use to securitize mortgages without a government guarantee, essentially replacing the business model that has been a staple of the 30-year fixed rate mortgage.
The draft bill is an opening gambit in a fight with Democrats over the future of the nation's $10 trillion mortgage market that will likely be waged for years.
Republicans, who control the House, blame Fannie Mae and Freddie for helping to inflate the housing bubble, and they are eager to reduce the government's involvement and make sure taxpayers are never again on the hook for losses.
Democrats, who lead the Senate, agree Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be shuttered, but they want to maintain some sort of government backstop for the mortgage market.
Representative Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House committee, said the proposed bill was "little more than an attempt to reinvent America's housing finance system using the same kind of right-wing ideology that has eroded America's middle class for decades."
Jaret Seiberg, a senior policy analyst at Guggenheim Securities, said removing the government guarantee would drive mortgage costs higher and lock some potential buyers out of the market.
"The odds are very much against this bill becoming law. Not only is the housing lobby influential, but voters care about their ability to get mortgages and purchase homes," he said.
Last month, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate introduced a bill that would abolish Fannie and Freddie within five years and replace them with a new "public guarantor." The bill would still maintain a federal role in the market.
Waters said the approach of House Republicans "made it clear" that bipartisan housing reform was not their priority.
In addition to the new securitization platform, the Republican measure would create a legislative framework and regulatory structure for so-called covered bonds, which would be backed by mortgages but would remain on the issuer's balance sheet, unlike the mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The lawmakers also included language to repeal a requirement under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, known as the "qualified residential mortgage" rule, that will require loan originators to retain some of the risk of their lending.
The proposal would also delay the implementation of the so-called qualified mortgage rule, which requires lenders to verify borrowers' ability to repay their loans and offers legal shields for lenders who follow certain guidelines.
It would also take several steps to reform the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA, which insures about a third of all U.S. mortgages, has faced mounting losses from defaults on mortgages it guaranteed from 2007-09 as the housing bubble deflated. It may soon exhaust its cash reserves.
The bill, which the lawmakers plan to move through their committee before an August recess, would increase down payment requirements for FHA loans from the current 3.5 percent minimum up to 5 percent for certain borrowers.
The FHA does not make loans itself, but offers private lenders guarantees against homeowner default.
Only first-time buyers and moderate-income borrowers would be eligible for FHA-backed loans under the bill.
Hensarling is shepherding the bill, which is cosponsored by Representatives Scott Garrett of New Jersey, Randy Neugebauer of Texas and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.
(Reporting by Margaret Chadbourn; Editing by Vicki Allen, Kenneth Barry, Chizu Nomiyama and Dan Grebler)


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Chart-topping singer Carrie Underwood knows how to work a concert crowd, but being in the crowd is a different story.
"I'm a big personal space person," the American Idol told WebMD in a long interview.
The pop-country singer said she has preferred wide open spaces since she was a teenager, and crowded situations used to set off panic attacks.
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"Whenever I'd be in stores and there would be people touching me and kids running around, I couldn't take it and I'd have to leave," she said.
Christmas shopping, she said, "seemed to be my worst nightmare."
But people are part of a performer's lifestyle, and Underwood said that she has learned to feel comfortable in crowded situations. Still, she revealed, there were moments when energetic fans during the American Idol competition made her nervous.
"They feel like they know you and they love you and that's wonderful," Underwood said, "It just took me a minute to be able to figure that out and to be able to allow people into my space."
The recently married "When He Cheats" singer insisted that she was not a diva though, explaining that she is the youngest of 3 girls.
"So I get a little spoiled pass," she told WebMD.


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It is not uncommon for us all to shudder when Jennifer Garner puts on a dress – not on a red carpet, but when she's running errands, being mom to Violet and Seraphina. If you have no memory of this, please click here. Now you know.
The other day, Taupe stepped out in this printed blue and white summery dress and I mentioned to Duana how much I liked it, on standalone, but wondered why on her it looked so bad. Duana explained that it has something to do with the size of the print. Something about tall girls wearing big prints and short girls wearing small prints or vice versa, I can't remember. As you know, Duana has a PhD in dressing for height.
I'm not sure the print, or rather the size of it, is the issue here though. The problem(s) is/are the other decision(s) she's making with the dress. Like those goddamn shoes. What are those goddamn shoes?
Some of you are about to yell at me like, shut up Lainey, she's just a mom and she's doing mom things and is comfortable and shouldn't be judged on her clothing, it's not a runway.
Fair enough. I would accept this argument if she was wearing schlubs. If there really was no effort involved. I agree. When a mom steps out and she's in her yoga pants and a dirty t-shirt, you are right to tell me to lay off.
But I PROMISE you this dress is not a schlub. I promise you this dress isn't cheap. She bought it and she wanted to wear it, particularly on this occasion last week because she thought it was a good outfit. In other words, this is not an accidental outfit. She thought about it. She liked it. So can we go back sh-tting on those f-cking shoes now?
Speaking of shoes, and a dress comparison too – over in Paris, Meg Ryan and her boyfriend John Mellencamp went on a loved up stroll today. As you can see, unless I'm bug-eyed, which is very possible, Meg is wearing the same dress. And she, also, hasn't chosen the best footwear to go with it. Are those tevas????
The crazy thing is, even though the tevas aren't ideal either, I still prefer them to Taupe's. Which says a LOT about Taupe. Considering hers are properly leather and not, like, meant for sightseeing. WHY is her dressing problem???
Photos from Flynetonline.com and KCSPresse/Splashnewsonline.com
Taupe & Meg: one dress
It is not uncommon for us all to shudder when Jennifer Garner puts on a dress – not on a red carpet, but when she's running errands, being mom to Violet and Seraphina. If you have no memory of this, please click here. Now you know.


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Backfired: Aussie Man Fried Down Under After Failed Fireworks Butt Launch [FBHW]
In the annals of dumb Internet history, failed firecracker launches from the butt are a staple. Thanks to an unfortunate decision by a man in Australia, there is a new example that can be entered into that storied lore. The guys had a good laugh this morning at this Aussie man's expense. He ended up suffering severe burns in his nether regions after the ill-advised stunt went south.
While there are plenty of examples out there, there is no video online of this new one quite yet. This left the guys wondering what specific fireworks the guy tried to set off from his rear. "At least with the bottle rockets, there's a chance of success," said Free Beer.
At this point, the guys watched an old Internet video of a dude trying and failing to launch a bottle rocket. "Boy, did that thing stay right in his kiester," said Zane.
Here's the video of that old fireworks stunt:


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Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed right-to-work legislation, dealing a devastating and once-unthinkable defeat to organized labor in a state that has been a cradle of the movement for generations.
He put his signatures on the bills Tuesday, hours after the state House passed the measures as the chants of thousands of angry pro-union protesters filled the Capitol.
Snyder says a failed ballot proposal to enshrine collective bargaining rights in the constitution triggered the discussion that led to the passage and signing of right-to-work.
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During a news conference, he called the protests "an exercise in democracy."
For full politics coverage, visit NBCNews.com.
Once the laws are enacted, the state where the United Auto Workers was founded and labor has long been a political titan will join 23 others with right-to-work laws, which ban requirements that nonunion employees pay unions for negotiating contracts and other services.
Supporters say the laws give workers more choice and support economic growth, but critics insist the real intent is to weaken organized labor by encouraging workers to "freeload" by withholding money unions need to bargain effectively with management.
Protesters in the gallery chanted "Shame on you!" as the measures were approved. Union backers clogged the hallways and grounds shouting "No justice, no peace," and Democrats warned that hard feelings from the legislation and Republicans' refusal to hold committee hearings or allow a statewide referendum would be long lasting.
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U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and other Democrats in the state's congressional delegation met with Snyder on Monday and urged him to slow things down.
"For millions of Michigan workers, this is no ordinary debate," Levin said. "It's an assault on their right to have their elected bargaining agent negotiate their pay, benefits and working conditions, and to have all who benefit from such negotiations share in some way in the cost of obtaining them."
Although impassioned, the crowds were considerably smaller than those drawn by right-to-work legislation in Indiana earlier this year and in Wisconsin in 2011, during consideration of a law curtailing collective bargaining rights for most state employees. Those measures provoked weeks of intense debate, with Democrats boycotting sessions to delay action and tens of thousands of activists occupying statehouses.
In Michigan, Republicans acted so quickly that opponents had little time to plan massive resistance.
Snyder and GOP leaders announced their intentions last Thursday. Within hours, the bills were hurriedly pushed through the Senate as powerless Democrats objected in vain. After a legally required five-day waiting period, the House approved final passage.
Protesters began assembling before daylight outside the sandstone-and-brick Capitol, chanting and whistling in the chilly darkness and waving placards with slogans such as "Stop the War on Workers." Others joined a three-block march to the building, some wearing coveralls and hard hats.
Valerie Constance, a reading instructor for the Wayne County Community College District and member or the American Federation of Teachers, sat on the Capitol steps with a sign shaped like a tombstone. It read: "Here lies democracy."
"I do think this is a very sad day in Michigan history," Constance said.
The crowds filled the rotunda area, beating drums and chanting. The chorus rose to a deafening thunder as House members voted. Later, protesters surged toward a building across the street where Snyder has his office. Two people were arrested when they tried to get inside, state police said.
But by late afternoon, the demonstrators had mostly dispersed.
Snyder insisted the matter wasn't handled with undue haste and that right-to-work was a long-discussed issue in Michigan.
"There has been lots of time for citizens to contact legislators and share their feelings," he said in an interview with radio station WWJ-AM.
Michigan gives the right-to-work movement its strongest foothold yet in the Rust Belt, where the 2010 election and tea party movement produced assertive Republican majorities that have dealt unions repeated setbacks.
Opponents said they would press Snyder to use his line-item veto authority to remove a $1 million appropriation from the bills, making them eligible for a statewide referendum. But the House swiftly rejected a Democratic amendment to that effect.
Lawmakers who backed the bills "will be held accountable at the ballot box in 2014," said state Rep. Tim Greimel, the incoming House Democratic leader.
But Sen. John Proos, a Republican from St. Joseph who voted for both bills, predicted that objections would fade as the shift in policy brings more jobs to Michigan.
"As they say in sports," he said, "the atmosphere in the locker room gets a lot better when the team's winning."


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RBC to acquire Ally's Canadian auto finance business Français
Oct 23, 2012, 08:10 ET
Acquisition positions RBC as a leader in auto financing in Canada
TORONTO, Oct. 23, 2012 /CNW/ - Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire the Canadian auto finance and deposit business of Ally Financial Inc. ("Ally Canada") for a $1.4 billion investment net of excess capital. Subject to certain closing adjustments and including the excess capital, this results in total consideration of $3.1 to $3.8 billion, depending on the size of the dividend taken out by the seller prior to closing. The acquisition aligns with RBC's key strategic priority to be the leading provider of financial services in Canada.
"Ally Canada will add significant scale to our existing consumer and commercial auto financing business and will strengthen RBC's position as a leader in the Canadian auto finance industry," said Dave McKay, group head, Personal & Commercial Banking, RBC. "This is a strong business with favourable industry dynamics and the combination with RBC provides opportunities to leverage our existing strengths and cross-sell capabilities."
RBC is acquiring a leading Canadian auto finance business that offers inventory (or "floor plan") financing to more than 580 auto dealerships across the country. Its consumer business offers retail financing to Canadian consumers through approximately 1,600 dealerships and has approximately 450,000 consumer loans. The legal entities being acquired include Ally Credit Canada Ltd. and ResMor Trust Company. The book value of the acquired business as of September 30, 2012 was $3.4 billion, unadjusted for the pre-closing dividend. The net investment of $1.4 billion includes a premium to book value of $0.6 billion.
The combination of Ally Canada with RBC's existing business will create a leading player in Canadian auto financing with approximately $24 billion in receivables, offering floor plan financing to more than 890 dealerships. RBC's consumer business will offer consumers financing through approximately 4,000 dealerships. The combined portfolio will have more than one million consumer loans.
RBC expects the Ally Canada business to generate approximately $120 million in net income on a standalone basis in the first 12 months after closing (before integration costs, amortization of intangibles and transaction costs), based on estimated average receivables of approximately $9 billion.
Today RBC also announced it has entered into an agreement with General Motors of Canada to become a provider for its subvented business upon close of the transaction. Subvented loans are low rate consumer auto loans subsidized by the manufacturer.
The acquisition is expected to be modestly accretive to earnings per share in the first year after closing. At closing it is expected to reduce RBC's July 31, 2012 Tier 1 capital ratio of 13.0 per cent on a pro forma basis by approximately 60 bps. On an estimated Basel III basis, we expect our Common Equity Tier 1 ratio to remain above eight per cent following the close, given our strong capital position and internal capital generation.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory and other approvals, and is expected to close in the first quarter of calendar 2013.
RBC Capital Markets served as financial advisor to Royal Bank of Canada in this transaction.
Conference Call
A conference call is scheduled to take place on October 23, 2012, from 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. (ET) and will feature speeches by RBC senior executives followed by a brief question and answer period with analysts.
Interested parties can access this call live on a listen-only basis via telephone using the following access numbers:
Local calls: 416-340-2217
North American toll-free: 866-696-5910
International toll-free: 800-8989-6336
The passcode for access on all numbers is 4139509#. Please call between 8:20 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. (ET).
The presentation material referenced during the call will be available on the website at rbc.com/investorrelations.
A recording of the conference call will be available after 9:30 a.m. (ET) on October 23, 2012 until January 22, 2013 via telephone at: 905-694-9451 (locally) or 800-408-3053 (North American toll-free), passcode 7862644#.
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) and its subsidiaries operate under the master brand name RBC. We are Canada's largest bank as measured by assets and market capitalization, and are among the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking and investor services on a global basis. We employ approximately 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 15 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 51 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com.
Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements under certain securities laws, including the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and any applicable Canadian securities legislation. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the expected effects of the acquisition of Ally Financial Inc.'s Canadian auto finance operations, the expected timing and scope of the acquisition and other statements other than in relation to historical facts. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "foresee", "forecast", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "goal", "plan" and "project" and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as "will", "may", "should", "could", or "would".
By their very nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, which give rise to the possibility that our predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions and other forward-looking information, including statements about the acquisition of Ally Financial Inc.'s Canadian auto finance operations by Royal Bank of Canada will not be achieved. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of important factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to the possibility that the proposed transaction does not close when expected or at all because required regulatory or other approvals are not received or other conditions to the closing are not satisfied on a timely basis or at all, that Royal Bank of Canada and Ally Financial Inc. may be required to modify the terms and conditions of the proposed transaction to achieve regulatory approval, or that the anticipated benefits of the transaction are not realized as a result of such things as the strength of the economy and competitive factors in the areas where Royal Bank of Canada and Ally Financial Inc. do business; the impact of changes in the laws and regulations regulating financial services and enforcement thereof; the effects of competition in the markets in which Royal Bank of Canada and Ally Financial Inc. operate; judicial or regulatory judgments and legal proceedings; Royal Bank of Canada's ability to complete the acquisition and integration of Ally Financial Inc.'s Canadian auto finance operations successfully; and other factors that may affect future results of Royal Bank of Canada and Ally Financial Inc.'s Canadian auto finance operations including timely development and introduction of new products and services, Royal Bank of Canada's ability to cross-sell more products to customers and technological changes.
We caution that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Additional information about these and other factors can be found in our Q3 2012 Report to Shareholders and 2011 Annual Report to Shareholders. Our material general economic assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this press release are set out in our 2011 Annual Report under the heading "Overview and Outlook" and for each business segment under the heading "Outlook and priorities" as updated under the heading "Economic, market and regulatory review and outlook" in our Q3 2012 Report to Shareholders. Except as required by law, Royal Bank of Canada assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
For further information:
Media Contacts:
Kerry Gaetano, Head, Corporate Communications, Personal & Commercial Banking and Insurance, [email protected], 905-816-5583 or 647-281-2931
Matt Gierasimczuk, [email protected], Senior Communications Manager, 416-974-2124
Analyst Contacts:
Amy Cairncross, VP & Head, Investor Relations, [email protected], 416-955-7803
Robert Colangelo, Associate Director, Investor Relations, [email protected], 416-955-2049


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These are trying times for everyone in Spain. Workers are unsure of their next paycheck, business owners are laying-off their best and brightest, and retirees are getting fined for a dog walk. We are all on survival mode as we do battle with COVID-19. Inevitably, the coronavirus pandemic has hit the Olive Press economically, as both print and digital revenues sink by up to 80%. Please help contribute to our website and for more info see here
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Coreinfo v3: Coreinfo is a command-line utility that reports detailed information about processor cores and topology, including cache sizes, core-to-socket mappings and NUMA memory latencies. It now shows the processor features supported by the system's processors. For example, Coreinfo will show if the processor supports hardware-assisted virtualization and advanced virtualization features like Second Level Address Translation.
DebugView v4.77: This update to DebugView, a graphic debug output monitor useful for application and device driver development, adds a command-line switch to enable or disable kernel-mode capture, a switch to enable millisecond clock display, and a number of bug fixes.
SDelete v1.6: SDelete, a command-line utility for securely deleting files and zeroing volume free space, fixes a bug that prevented it from accessing some files on 64-bit Windows and swaps the zero-free-space and clean-free-space arguments to make them more intuitive.
Process Explorer v15.04: This release fixes several minor bugs, including a tooltip display bug and one that could result in a miscalculation of CPU usage on Windows 7 in the refresh immediately following the termination of a CPU-intensive process.
Source: http://blogs.technet.com


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|Расходуйте свои силы осторожнее, чтобы впоследствии сделать больше, но остерегайтесь когда-нибудь делать меньше. - Ж.-Ж. Руссо
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 116 Part I, 18 June 1998
___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 116 Part I, 18 June 1998 A daily report of developments in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia prepared by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. This is Part I, a compilation of news concerning Russia, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. Part II covers Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe and is distributed simultaneously as a second document. Back issues of RFE/RL Newsline and the OMRI Daily Digest are online at RFE/RL's Web site: http://www.rferl.org/newsline xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Headlines, Part I * YELTSIN SAYS CHUBAIS'S APPOINTMENT IS 'TEMPORARY' * MARKETS RISE ON FOREIGN BUYING * ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CRITICIZES BAKU'S 'INTRANSIGENCE' xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx RUSSIA YELTSIN SAYS CHUBAIS'S APPOINTMENT IS 'TEMPORARY.' President Boris Yeltsin on 18 June said his appointment the previous day of Unified Energy System chief executive Anatolii Chubais as presidential envoy to international financial institutions is a "temporary" measure, Russian news agencies reported. Yeltsin cautioned journalists against drawing "unnatural conclusions" from the appointment, Interfax reported. Chubais will keep his job at the electricity monopoly. In a speech to the second annual St. Petersburg Economic Forum on 17 June, Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko warned that the government's "anti-crisis program" will be "tough" and "unpopular," RFE/RL's correspondent in St. Petersburg reported. He did not disclose details about the program but said its implementation will require "courage and political will." Some observers believe that in his new position, Chubais will become a scapegoat for unpopular government policies, an RFE/RL correspondent in Moscow reported on 18 June. LB 'THIRD COMING' OF CHUBAIS DRAWS MIXED REACTION. The Russian media has viewed Chubais's appointment (his "third coming" in the words of "Kommersant-Daily") as an attempt to reassure foreign investors who have fled Russian markets during the last six weeks. Speaking to journalists in St. Petersburg on 17 June, State Duma Speaker Gennadii Seleznev charged that international financial institutions themselves initiated the appointment, Interfax reported. Seleznev expressed regret that "Western financiers continue to regard Chubais as a panacea." Duma First Deputy Speaker Vladimir Ryzhkov of Our Home Is Russia argued that Chubais's appointment will worsen the already difficult relations between the government and the Duma. He noted that the government needs the parliament's cooperation in order to adopt key economic legislation. Duma deputy Sergei Ivanenko of Yabloko viewed the latest appointment as evidence that "the government is not going to change its old habits" of cultivating crony capitalism. LB BEREZOVSKII ON CHUBAIS, OLIGARCHS' CONTACTS WITH GOVERNMENT. CIS Executive Secretary Boris Berezovskii, who fought for months to have Chubais removed from the government, told journalists on 17 June that he supported naming Chubais as liaison with international financial groups, adding that the appointment was partly his idea, RFE/RL's correspondent in St. Petersburg reported. Commenting on the 16 June meeting between Prime Minister Kirienko and top Russian "oligarchs," Berezovskii told Interfax that the meetings are a positive "sign of consolidation of reformist forces...for overcoming the [economic] crisis." He argued that the authorities have no other base of "realistic support." ITAR-TASS on 18 June quoted Berezovskii as saying that "the Russian business elite is united" and understands that business groups "cannot afford not to coordinate their activities" during the crisis. Although Berezovskii claims no longer to be directly involved in business, he reportedly attended Kirienko's meeting with the "oligarchs." LB MARKETS RISE ON FOREIGN BUYING. Share values on the Russian stock market rose 5-10 percent in early trading on 18 June amid buying by foreign traders, ITAR-TASS reported. The bond market also posted gains, as yields on government treasury bills fell by some 10 percentage points to 55-57 percent. On 17 June, the Finance Ministry canceled two auctions for six- month and 11-month treasury bills, which were to have raised a combined total of 14 billion rubles ($2.3 billion), Interfax reported. According to Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Sergei Aleksashenko, the Finance Ministry did not want to raise money through treasury bills at yields of 65 percent to 68 percent. The 'Moscow Times" reported on 18 June that the cancellation of the auctions "fueled speculation in the market that the government has found other sources of funds" to redeem more than $1 billion in maturing treasury bills. LB FINANCE MINISTER SAYS NO GROWTH THIS YEAR. Addressing a cabinet session on 18 June, Mikhail Zadornov predicted that Russian will not achieve economic growth this year, ITAR- TASS reported. The Economics Ministry is forecasting 1998 GDP at 0.5 percent below to 0.5 percent above the previous year's figure. Zadornov also said Russia will post a budget deficit of some 14 billion rubles ($2.3 billion) in 1998, with revenues falling 5-7 billion rubles short of budget targets. Wage arrears to state employees total 6 billion to 7 billion rubles, of which the Finance Ministry owes 3 billion rubles, Zadornov noted. In a speech to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on 17 June, Central Bank Chairman Sergei Dubinin said one-third of budget expenditures go toward debt servicing. LB DUMA WANTS SUPREME COURT TO HAVE SAY ON PRESIDENT'S HEALTH. The Duma on 17 June passed in the first reading an amendment to the civil procedural code that would empower the Supreme Court to rule on "the ability or persistent inability of the president for health reasons to carry out his functions," ITAR-TASS reported. Article 92 of the constitution stipulates that the president's term ends early in the event of "persistent inability for health reasons" to carry out his duties, but the constitution does not establish a mechanism for evaluating the president's health. Aleksandr Kotenkov, Yeltsin's representative in the Duma, argued that the proposed amendment is unconstitutional. LB COMMUNIST DEPUTY SUSPECTS YELTSIN HAS A DOUBLE. Duma deputy Aleksandr Salii of the Communist faction has asked the Prosecutor-General's Office to investigate the possibility that a double has been standing in for Yeltsin since the president's heart surgery in November 1996, "Moskovskii komsomolets" reported on 18 June. Rumors that a surgically- altered double has taken Yeltsin's place have occasionally surfaced in the opposition press during the last two years. Salii told "Moskovskii komsomolets" that analysis of some 1,500 photographs shows that the president's appearance changed after the 1996 presidential election. He also charged that the "new Yeltsin" frequently shows his hand with two missing fingers, whereas the president used to try to conceal that hand from public view. LB DUMA PRAISES RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY ON KOSOVA. The Duma on 17 June passed by 332 to three votes a statement calling for a peaceful settlement of the situation in Kosova "on the basis of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Yugoslav Federal Republic and observing the rights of the [ethnic] Albanian population," Russian news agencies reported. The statement praised the recent meeting between President Yeltsin and his Yugoslav counterpart, Slobodan Milosevic, and expressed "full support" for Russian diplomatic efforts. At the same time, the Duma criticized the "obviously biased policy of several Western countries" on the Kosova issue, adding that "the language of sanctions and threats of using force against Belgrade in effect encourage separatism" (see also Part II). LB KIRIENKO SAYS GOVERNMENT WON'T REACT TO MINERS' PICKET. Prime Minister Kirienko told journalists on 17 June that the government will not take any steps in response to the ongoing picket of government headquarters by coal miners, ITAR-TASS reported. The miners, who came to Moscow from various regions of Russia, have been demonstrating outside the White House since 11 June. Kirienko noted that the government is prepared to discuss economic problems with the miners, but not political demands. A participant in the picket told RFE/RL's Moscow bureau on 16 June that the miners will not drop their demand for the resignations of Yeltsin and the government. Another miner who has joined the demonstration addressed the Duma on 17 June, after which deputies passed an appeal urging Yeltsin to "put the coal industry in order." LB GAZPROM, TAX SERVICE CLASH OVER PROPERTY SEIZURES... Regional officials of the State Tax Service have begun seizing assets and bank accounts belonging to subsidiaries of the gas monopoly Gazprom, "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 18 June. On the order of its director, Boris Fedorov, the State Tax Service recently warned more than 100,000 enterprises that their assets may be seized if they do not pay their tax debts by 1 July. The Gazprom subsidiaries Orenburggazprom and Uraltransgaz are among the first enterprises affected. According to "Kommersant-Daily," Fedorov is seeking to annul the agreement on tax payments signed by his predecessor, Aleksandr Pochinok, with Gazprom. The company's press service on 17 June slammed the "forcible extraction of debts" by the tax authorities. The same day, the Duma passed a resolution warning that the tax service's methods will harm the domestic economy and are "aimed at destroying" the country's gas supply system. LB ...AS MONOPOLY SEEKS REDUCTIONS IN VAT AND EXCISE DUTIES. Gazprom head Rem Vyakhirev on 13 June warned that the current value-added tax of 22 percent and excise duties of 30 percent threaten to "bury" Russia's gas exports to Europe, Russian news agencies reported. Vyakhirev said Gazprom will stop signing new export contracts unless the government reduces VAT and excise rates. Gazprom lost some of its political clout when its former head Viktor Chernomyrdin lost his job as prime minister in March. Last month, the government submitted to the parliament a draft law that would levy excise duties on gas at the time of delivery rather than when Gazprom collects payment. Such a law would be a disaster for the gas monopoly, which "only collects between 10 and 15 percent of its revenues from gas sales in cash," according to the "Financial Times" on 15 June. LB THIRD SUSPECT ARRESTED IN JOURNALIST'S MURDER. Aleksandr Zvyagintsev, an aide to Prosecutor-General Yurii Skuratov, announced on 17 June that police have arrested a third man in connection with the 7 June murder of "Sovetskaya Kalmykia Segodnya" editor Larisa Yudina, Russian news agencies reported. He identified the suspect as V. Shanukov but did not provide other details. The two men previously arrested for Yudina's murder both have ties to Kalmykian President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Meanwhile, the Union of Journalists on 18 June announced that it will fight to ensure that "Sovetskaya Kalmykia Segodnya" can be published and distributed freely in the republic, ITAR-TASS reported. A statement issued by the union called on the State Press Committee to become one of the newspaper's "co-founders" in order to help provide for its regular publication. LB SUSPECT IN CORRUPTION CASE ARRIVES IN RUSSIA. Andrei Kozlenok, the main suspect in a high-level corruption case, was flown from Athens to Moscow on 17 June, Russian news agencies reported. Kozlenok is to be questioned on 18 June and charged with embezzlement in connection with a scheme to sell $180 million in gemstones. He fought his extradition from Greece for five months, saying his life would be in danger in Russia. Kozlenok's former "right-hand man," another key suspect in the case, was found hanging in his Moscow jail cell in February. LB ANOTHER AIDE TO AN LDPR DEPUTY GUNNED DOWN. Igor Klyachko, an aide to a Duma deputy from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, was found shot dead in St. Petersburg on 17 June, ITAR-TASS reported. A revolver, a gun permit, and several thousand U.S. dollars were found on Klyachko. According to ITAR-TASS, he was the sixth aide to a Duma deputy from Vladimir Zhirinovsky's party to be killed since November 1996. LB AMMUNITION BLAZE WREAKS HAVOC IN SVERDLOVSK OBLAST. Fourteen soldiers have died, 17 have been injured, and more are reported missing after an explosion at a ammunition storage compound near Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk Oblast), Interfax reported on 18 June. The previous day, lightning set fire to the compound, setting off massive explosions and spreading across 200 hectares into surrounding forests. The head of administration of Berezovksii, the city closest to the compound, told ITAR-TASS on 18 June that 1,070 local residents were evacuated, while Interfax put the figure at1,500-2,500. BT GREENPEACE DEMANDS INVESTIGATION INTO WATER-POLLUTION CASE. Greenpeace of Russia has sent a letter to the Prosecutor- General's Office demanding an investigation into an environmental catastrophe in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Interfax reported on 17 June. Dumping of mercury waste into the Bratskoe water reservoir (on the Angara River) by the local enterprise Usolyekhimprom has affected 500,000 local residents, Greenpeace of Russia said in a 17 June press release. The press release cites increased cancer rates as well as cases of respiratory, vascular, and urinary system diseases in nearby settlements. Mercury content in hair samples from local children allegedly exceed the regional average by 800 percent. Owing to faulty processing, the enterprise dumps 2.5 tons of mercury waste into the reservoir each month, Greenpeace claimed. BT TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CRITICIZES BAKU'S 'INTRANSIGENCE.' Speaking at a press conference in Yerevan on 17 June, Vartan Oskanian said the Karabakh peace process is in effect deadlocked because Azerbaijan opposes changes in the Karabakh peace plan proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Oskanian said that Armenia has made a major concession by agreeing to less than total independence for the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and that Baku should reciprocate by abandoning its insistence on granting Karabakh only an autonomous status within Azerbaijan. Oskanian said that if the present deadlock persists for another two years, Baku will have the opportunity to strengthen its military capacity and Yerevan will be forced to strengthen its political and military commitment to the security of the Karabakh Armenian population. He added that Yerevan will consider alternative approaches to resolving the deadlock, including reunification with Karabakh. LF GEORGIAN, RUSSIAN OFFICIALS DISCUSS ABKHAZIA. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze held talks in Tbilisi on 17 June with Russian special envoy for Abkhazia Gennadii Ilichev and General Sergei Korobko, the commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in Abkhazia's Gali Raion under the aegis of the CIS, Caucasus Press reported. Shevardnadze accused the Russian peacekeepers of failing to prevent the Abkhaz Interior Ministry forces from bringing heavy artillery into the conflict zone, RFE/RL's Tbilisi bureau reported. But Korobko pointed out that the peacekeepers' mandate does not empower them to intervene in hostilities. Ilichev and Shevardnadze agreed on the need to expedite the return to their homes of ethnic Georgians constrained to flee during last month's fighting. Also on 17 June, the U.S., French, British, German, and Russian ambassadors in Tbilisi were in Novy Afon for talks with Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba. LF GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SAYS HE HAS FAITH IN RUSSIAN MEDIATION. Shevardnadze told a press conference in Tbilisi the same day that "Russia can and must" speed up the process of resolving conflicts in the Transcaucasus, ITAR-TASS reported. Arguing that "it is difficult to imagine tranquillity in the North Caucasus without a stable South [Caucasus]," Shevardnadze said that he does not believe the Caucasus will become a center of confrontation between Russia and the West, despite their conflicting interests in the region. LF AZERBAIJAN CONTINUES TO PRESSURE OPPOSITION. Police searched the editorial offices of the opposition newspaper "Chag" in the evening of 16 June and confiscated computer equipment and documents, Turan reported. The following day, police also searched the apartment of Elchin Pashaev, secretary of the United Azerbaijan Union, which is campaigning for the unification of the Azerbaijan Republic and Iranian Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijan Popular Front Party has issued a statement threatening protest actions if the authorities continue arbitrary repression of the opposition. Of the two aides to APFP chairman Abulfaz Elchibey who were arrested on 14 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 June 1998), one has been charged with illegal possession of weapons and the other with refusing to obey police orders. LF AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION LEADERS ANNOUNCE ELECTION BOYCOTT. Five prospective opposition presidential candidates--Abulfaz Elchibey (APFP), Lala-Shovket Gadjieva (Liberal Party of Azerbaijan), Isa Gambar (Musavat Party), Ilyas Ismailov (Democratic Party of Azerbaijan), and Rasul Guliev (non- affiliated)--issued a statement on 17 June arguing that their participation in a poll held under "reactionary laws" would be tantamount to legitimizing a dictatorial regime and tacitly condoning repression, Turan reported. They affirmed their intention to boycott the presidential election scheduled for October. They also warned that "sooner or later, all dictatorial regimes end with social upheaval." LF AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL CONDEMNS TURKMEN CASPIAN TENDER. Azerbaijani presidential adviser Vafa Gulu-zade told journalists on 17 June that no foreign companies should start exploiting the Kyapaz/Serdar Caspian oil field until the dispute between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan over ownership of the oil field has been resolved, Interfax reported. Turkmenistan the previous day announced the results of a tender in which Mobil acquired the rights to that deposit, but Gulu-zade said Mobil's representation in Baku reassured the Azerbaijani leadership that it will not begin work on Kyapaz until the ownership dispute is resolved. Also on 17 June, a spokesperson for the Azerbaijan International Operating Company engaged in exploiting three offshore Caspian oil fields said the company is confident that Russia's Transneft pipeline company can ensure uninterrupted shipments of Azerbaijani oil through the Baku- Grozny-Novorossiisk export pipeline. The Chechen leadership threatened to halt the oil flow if Moscow failed to meet its outstanding financial commitments to Chechnya. LF ANOTHER COMMITTEE FOUNDED TO INVESTIGATE KYRGYZ CYANIDE SPILL. Representatives of several Kyrgyz ecological and human rights organizations have founded a Committee to Protect the Environment, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 17 June. The committee intends to conduct an independent investigation into the 20 May accident in which a lorry carrying 20 tons of sodium cyanide plunged into the Barskoon River. Kyrgyz parliamentary deputies and intellectuals founded a Committee to Protect Lake Issyk-Kul (into which the Barskoon River flows) on 22 May, and the parliament on 13 June voted to create an international commission to investigate the causes of the accident (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 June 1998). A State Customs Committee spokesman on 17 June said that the committee will sue the Kyrgyz-Canadian gold-mining joint venture whose lorry was involved in the accident for $1.44 million in unpaid customs duties. LF TOP TAJIK SECURITY OFFICIAL SLAIN. Usmon Khodjiev, the deputy commander of the Defense Ministry's recently established special unit for protecting the UN observer force in Tajikistan, was found murdered in Dushanbe on 17 June, Interfax reported. Khadjiev was a former opposition field commander. Other former opposition fighters have issued a statement condemning the killing. LF xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright (c) 1998 RFE/RL, Inc. 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Red River Recollections
Texas' northern boundary river weaves through history, culture and geography.
By Russell A. Graves
Red-ribboned rock walls dominate each side of the river bottom. Underfoot, the sand feels powdery, not damp as it should. The driest 10-month span in recorded Texas history has crushed any hope of needed water bringing life to the upper end of the Red River.
In this part of the Texas Panhandle, plains cleave to a shallow draw, the draw becomes a creek, and creeks combine to become a river. The river proper isn't much more than a ribbon of sand at its origin here in the bottom of the cavernous Palo Duro Canyon. From these meager headwaters, however, the Red River flows easterly for 640 miles through Texas, cutting through an impressive swath of land, culture and history. Along the way, it serves as a boundary — between nations, between states and between cultures.
This country is wild and wide open. As the sun rises, it is so quiet down in the canyon that all I can hear is the sound of the wind sifting through the junipers. Facing east, the journey before me is a daunting one that will help me see the river in a new light.
In southern Armstrong County, Palo Duro Canyon opens wide and eventually succumbs to the red rolling plains of Northwest Texas. As the Red River heads east, its bed widens and the water picks up the color of the surrounding landscape, giving the stream its name.
Aging farmhouses stand as silent sentinels, keeping watch over a patchwork of farm and ranch land. Unlike most of Texas, the western Red River valley has seen a steady depopulation over the last half-century. Those who remain continue to challenge the land to reap the bounty of the Big Country.
"We moved out here in the spring of '55," remembers Minnie Lou Bradley, iconic rancher and National Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductee. "When I moved out here, it was the height of the 1950s drought, and the Red River was white with the salt that came from the water. Just like it is right now."
For the past 60 years, Bradley and the Bradley 3 Ranch have been leaders in the American beef industry by adapting to their surroundings and providing thoughtful stewardship to the ranch.
"We went into the pasture to take a look and didn't see any grass because of the drought," she recalls. "My soon-to-be father-in-law got down on his knees and dug up some grass. He said, 'The roots are still alive. I believe this will be a good outfit.' So we took care of the ranch and it really came back. That's how good this cattle country is."
West of the 100th meridian, the river meanders across the Panhandle. As the water crosses the imaginary longitudinal line and heads east, the river separates two states as the southern bank of the river becomes the northern border of Texas. (The river was briefly a national boundary when Texas was a sovereign nation.)
After the Civil War, when the cattle industry helped revive Texas, the boundary waters proved to be a formidable obstacle for cowboys and cattle alike.
"This boundary river on the northern border of Texas was a terror to trail drovers, but on our reaching it, it had shallowed down, the flow of water following several small channels," writes Andy Adams in his 1903 book The Log of a Cowboy. "But the majestic grandeur of the river was apparent on every hand — with its red, bluff banks, the sediment of its red waters marking the timber along its course, while the driftwood, lodged in trees and high on the banks, indicated what might be expected when she became sportive or angry. That she was merciless was evident, for although this crossing had been in use only a year or two when we forded, yet five graves, one of which was less than ten days made, attested her disregard for human life."
On a warm June day, I meet historian Jeff Bearden near the banks of the Red River at the old Doan's Store — precisely the location that Adams writes about. Less than a mile across the prairie, graves lie on private ground where Adams once rode.
"When the war between the states was over, the Texas economy was in ruins and the only thing we had was cattle," Bearden explains while standing in the shade of the old adobe building. "To recover, Texas sent its cattle north to the markets up the Chisholm Trail and the Great Western Trail. In 19 years, some 6 million head of cattle crossed the river here."
As we talk, I realize that much of our identity as Texans and the way that others look at us was formed right here on the banks of the river. Bearden agrees.
"The money from those cattle came back to the state and helped Texas recover, and the lore of the cowboy was born," he says. "While he was once considered a lowly agricultural worker, the great cattle drives that crossed here elevated the cowboy to legendary status."
Later, I find myself farther downstream on a hill overlooking where the Chisholm Trail crossed the river in Montague County. Unmarked stones jut awkwardly from the earth and stand memorial to more unknown cowboys who died on the trail and were buried along the banks. At the site of the old Red River Station, I stare over the river valley. All is quiet, and I contemplate the fact that unlike most major Texas rivers, no towns are built on the banks. The Brazos has Waco, and the Colorado cuts through Austin. The Guadalupe, Trinity and Rio Grande all have towns on their banks. The Red River, curiously, has none. For reasons I cannot explain, the river, save for Lake Texoma, cuts unabated through open country across northern Texas.
At this point, I am roughly halfway down the river, and as I travel from west to east, the countryside becomes greener, the trees taller and more dense. I've lived along the river my entire life — the first half in Fannin County, the second half in Childress County. For nearly two decades I've driven up and down the river and have seen the natural changes. I've seen cultural changes as well.
Out west, where cattle country and big ranches dominate, Western culture abides. As you head east, that feeling changes. Somewhere around Grayson County, the culture shifts toward a Southern flavor that endures all the way to where the river leaves Texas.
North of Bonham, I take to the river with Ty Fulmer in his airboat. As we skim the water, trees dominate the banks, and although it's wide, the river feels like Southern backwater. Fulmer knows the river well. He's built his house out of local materials on a high bluff that overlooks the river.
"I grew up along the river, and we hunted and fished a lot," he says as we drift powerlessly down the main river channel. "I always liked being here. No matter where I'd go, it seems like the river would always draw me back to it. I don't ever see me leaving this place."
Back at the cedar house, his wife, Rita, corroborates.
"You cannot look at the water and trees and not see the beauty," says the professional gospel singer. "One morning I had to sing at a funeral, and I went down to the river to practice How Great Thou Art. As I started singing the words to the song, it hit me that the river isn't something that happened. This is a work of God. It's amazing, and it inspires me."
From Bonham, I head farther east and fly parts of the river via helicopter. I've experienced the river in many ways so far, but from the air is a first.
It's hard to explain, but from 500 feet in the air, the river doesn't feel so much like a border as it does when you drive across it by bridge. From the air, I can see why people were drawn to the area. It is simply beautiful.
Just a few miles downriver, I spot the location and later drive to where people once crossed the river before there was even a Texas. At the Jonesboro Crossing lies perhaps the oldest Anglo grave in the state. This is the place where scores of settlers crossed into the new, untamed territory — including Sam Houston.
Just past Jonesboro, Jim Clark V reminisces about tales of pre-independence Texas when his great-great-great-grandfather hosted Houston in his home as he passed through the area. From the front porch of his old farmhouse that's spitting distance from the river, Clark (in his early 70s) talks about life along the river and how, except for just a few years when he lived only a short distance away, he's lived in the same house since he was born. His family is entrenched in the area — James Clark I established the town of Clarksville in 1833.
Red River County eastward, by all accounts, is as much Old South as the Mississippi River Valley is. Stately Southern Victorian homes line streets in all the little towns, and there's an antebellum feel to the area.
From the 1830s to the Civil War, steamboat freighters brought goods up from New Orleans and took back with them cotton and timber (still a staple of the area's economy). The small communities that dot the backwoods of the Northeast Texas Red River country hearken to a time when the population was less centralized and more agrarian. Enclaves of citizens whose family histories run deep in the region still reside here, and numerous tiny villages are tucked neatly away in the woods. Their makeup is much the same — a smattering of houses, a cemetery and a tidy little church.
Passing by one of the churches, I see a car parked outside late on a Wednesday afternoon, so I walk in. Turning on the window unit air conditioners was Leonard Simington, a deacon for the Slate Rock Baptist Church. As a boy, I used to attend a church like this when I would visit my grandfather. Simington's affability makes me feel right at home.
"I grew up around here," he says genially as he shuffles from the fellowship hall to the sanctuary, preparing for the Wednesday evening prayer meetings. The sanctuary can't be more than about 1,200 square feet, but Leonard is proud of his church home. "I left for West Texas for a while, but I always knew I wanted to come back. The people here are special, and this place is special. I guess I just couldn't stay away."
His sentiments have been echoed throughout my journey. Red River people have a strong sense of place and identify themselves closely with the region and its citizens.
I finish my journey where Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma meet at the Red. The river snakes back and forth so extremely, it seems as if the river is one storm away from straightening its channel and leaving oxbow lakes in its aftermath. I look north toward Oklahoma and think of my new friend Wildwood Dean Price.
Price is an artist, author and folklorist who floated the Red River across most of North Texas and wrote a book about his journey, River of Dreams. His father was a commercial fisherman on the river back in the 1940s, so Price learned to love the watercourse from a young age.
At one time, he even made folk art furniture for Neiman-Marcus and gathered his materials from the banks of the river. He went on his canoe trip through these switchbacks a decade ago, bringing a lifelong dream of his full circle.
"Dad used to tell me that we would make a float trip from the head to the tail of the Red River," he says, sitting in front of a wall of drying onions freshly pulled from his garden. "I think that was just a way to motivate me to graduate high school. Once I was out of school, I really didn't want to make a trip; I wanted to go to the city."
Price says that he moved to Dallas in 1959 but was never happy living in the city and wanted to move back. "When I moved back to the river in 1979 I took odd jobs and was looking for ways to make a living off the water," he says.
After a trip to a folklife festival in Dallas, he connected with some retail buyers and began to make furniture and decorations from willows and dogwoods that he harvested from the riverbank.
"The Red River enabled me to make a living and feed my family," he says. "I owe a lot to the Red River."
For more Red River stories, check out these interview excerpts from some of the subjects in the article:
Related stories
3 Days in the Field: Lake Texoma


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Grilled aubergines with spicy chickpeas & walnut sauce
Nutrition and extra info
- Vegetarian
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal640
- fat45g
- saturates10g
- carbs39g
- sugars16g
- fibre13g
- protein22g
- salt0.9g
- 4 tbsp olive oil
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 1 onion, finely chopped
Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 2cm piece ginger, finely chopped
Mainly grown in Jamaica, Africa, India, China and Australia, ginger is the root of the plant. It…
- ½ tsp each ground cumin, coriander and cinnamon
An aromatic spice native to eastern Mediteranean countries and Upper Egypt. This warm,…
- 400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 200g tomatoes, chopped
A member of the nightshade family (along with aubergines, peppers and chillies), tomatoes are in…
- juice ½ lemon
Oval in shape with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile…
- 2 aubergines, sliced lengthways
Although it's technically a fruit (a berry, to be exact), the aubergine is used as a…
For the walnut sauce
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan, add the onion and fry until soft and lightly browned, about 10 mins. Add the chilli, ginger and spices and mix well. Stir in the chickpeas, tomatoes and 5 tbsp water, bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 mins. Add a little salt and pepper and the lemon juice.
Arrange the aubergines over a grill pan. Brush lightly with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then grill until golden. Flip them over, brush again with oil, season and grill again until tender and golden.
Mix the yogurt with the garlic, most of the walnuts and coriander and a little salt and pepper. Arrange the aubergine slices over a warm platter and spoon over the chickpea mix. Drizzle with the walnut sauce and scatter with the remaining walnuts and coriander.


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Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (PC) review
"So we get a corridor shooter with a bunch of set pieces. These will do in a bind. The early bits are the best, on the crowded streets of Shanghai, chasing a pantless couple, or pinned down by the cops in a video rental store, or gunfire shredding the flimsy wooden panels of a gaudy restaurant, or threading through a stretch of jammed chaotic freeway. Expect a lot of filler between these cool bits, usually in a warehouse or parking garage or something."
Freelance review by Tom Chick (August 23, 2010)
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This was no Detroit.
Sheen knew his audience in Cleveland and catered to the boisterous bunch. The actor appeared onstage nearly 20 minutes late for the latest leg of his "Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat Is Not an Option" tour clad in a Cleveland Indians jersey, embellished with "Vaughn" across the back.
Sheen portrayed the wild pitcher in the baseball movie "Major League."
U.S. & World
The Cleveland Plain Dealer lauded Sheen's ability to cater to "a city that loves losers" is what landed the gonzo entertainer a post-Chicago standing O. "People, that was better than coming out of the bullpen in 'Major League,'" Sheen said.
Admittedly, Sheen's performance seemed much tamer than his last two performances. For a majority of the show, Sheen chatted with a friend of his. The audience enjoyed featured drinks like the now-trademarked "Winning" (Canadian Club and Coca-Cola).
But things were brought to speed when a curvy gal in the audience removed her tank top. Sheen followed suit by taking off his jersey.
"I've had a ball in Cleveland. I should move here!" Sheen said before putting on an Indians cap and leaving the stage.
"Is anyone hiring?"
Selected Reading: Cleveland Plain Dealer, EW, MSNBC, IMDb


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The Penitential Act follows the greeting. At the very beginning of the Mass, the faithful recall their sins and place their trust in God's abiding mercy. The Penitential Act includes the Kyrie Eleison, a Greek phrase meaning, "Lord, have mercy." This litany recalls God's merciful actions throughout history. On Sundays, especially in Easter Time, in place of the customary Penitential Act, from time to time the blessing and sprinkling of water to recall Baptism may take place.
On Sundays, solemnities, and feasts, the Gloria follows the Penitential Act. The Gloria begins by echoing the proclamation of the angels at the birth of Christ: "Glory to God in the highest!" In this ancient hymn, the gathered assembly joins the heavenly choirs in offering praise and adoration to the Father and Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
The Introductory Rites conclude with an opening prayer, called the Collect. The celebrant invites the gathered assembly to pray and, after a brief silence, proclaims the prayer of the day. The Collect gathers the prayers of all into one and disposes all to hear the Word of God in the context of the celebration.
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We have received a few inquiries from applicants who have submitted their applications and one or more of their listed references have not completed the online recommendation form. We generally get a question like this: "I listed a professor/former supervisor as a reference in my application and it appears his/her reference is the only one missing. I am unable to get in touch with him/her, as s/he no longer works at my company (or is at the university) and I am afraid s/he may have forgotten about my reference for my application. Can I select another person in his/her place in order to complete my application?"
You have two options.
Option 1 - replacing reference with an electronic reference
If you wish to replace the missing reference with an electronic reference, send an email to email@example.com. Include your full name and email address - specifically, the name and email address you used when you submitted your application. Also include your applicant ID number if available. In your email, include the follwing information:
- First Name of your recommender
- Last Name of your recommender
- Email address for your recommender
- Relationship to your recommender (e.g. supervisor, professor, etc.)
- Your recommender's job title
- Your recommender's place of employment (e.g. company, university name, etc.)
- The number of years and months your recommender has known you
Option 2 - replacing reference with a paper reference
If you wish to replace the missing reference with an paper reference, you do not need to change anything on your submitted application. Simply download and print the paper reference form, complete/sign/date page 1 of the form and provide both page 1 and 2 to your reference with a stamped, addressed envelope. (For the mailing address, it is critical you use the following address: MACC ADMISSIONS; 100 Gerlach Hall; 2108 Neil Ave; Columbus OH 43210-1144.)
If this situation applies to you, I hope this information helps! Let us know if you have any questions. We're here to help!