text:
Traveling alone can be just as rewarding – if not more – than traveling with a friend or loved one.
"The biggest appeal is the freedom of it," said Sarah Schlichter, editor of IndependentTraveler.com."You make your own itinerary, see what you want to see and don't have to make allowances for anyone else."
In fact, that's the No. 1 reason travelers cited for why they like to go solo in a poll on IndependentTraveler.com: Fifty-six percent said freedom, followed by 45 percent who said it's developing a sense of independence and confidence and 30 percent who said it was meeting new people along the way.
"Traveling with a partner or friend, you're in your own little unit," Schlichter said. When you're on your own, "You're more likely to strike up a conversation with a stranger instead of spending most of your time talking to each other."
And guess what else? When you're by yourself, there's no one to fight with!
And the confidence boost people get from traveling alone can't be underestimated, especially for people going through a life change like those who are recently divorced or widowed, said Tammy Weiler, the president of fun and adventure for Singles Travel International.
"It's a super booster of self-esteem when you decide to take a trip," Weiler said. "You aren't going to wait for someone else to take a trip."
And, thanks to the Internet, which can allow you to stay connected to your life back home even when you're halfway around the world, traveling solo is becoming a lot more common.
When choosing a destination to travel alone, you should consider how much there is to do there, how easy it is to get around and how safe it is to travel alone there. Here are 10 of the best places to travel alone from the editors at Independent Traveler.
By Cindy PermanPosted 8 Feb 2011


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*** This is handmade and one-of-a-kind ***Blade length: 5.75 in.Total length: 10.25 in.Blade height (at heel): 1.30 in.Blade thickness (near bolster): 0.09 in.Item weight: 4.30 oz.Blade: 154CM stainless steel, triple tempered to Rc 58-59Handle: Contoured, cocobolo Dymondwood
Description: Handmade by Journeyman Smith Jim Arbuckle, this fine point slicer is a perfect choice for slicing in the kitchen. Fine cuts of fruits, vegetables, and meats are a breeze. The slender shape also makes this a great choice when removing silver skin from meat.
The 5-3/4 inch blade is formed from high performing 154CM stainless steel. It is hardened and triple tempered to 58-59 Hrc. A hand rubbed satin finish lends an heirloom quality. The blade is convex ground to minimize food sticking to the blade. Though this technique is much more difficult to create, it is much more effective than a granton edge, and is clearly worth the effort!
The contoured grips are formed from cocobolo Dymondwood and secured by nickel silver pins. By using Dymondwood, Jim ensures that it will hold up well to the demanding environment of either a home or commercial kitchen. A deep choil provides a comfortable, secure place to rest the first finger. The handle allows for several different grips and makes the knife easy to maneuver even with slippery hands.
A very attractive and functional tool for the kitchen, collector, or to be used out in the field.
Availability: Not currently available

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This week, Food editor Russ Parsons lets us in on a beginner's cooking class he held for a couple of friends engaged to be married:
"So Sunday night, Meghan and Carter came to the house for a cooking class. But instead of doing the usual thing and walking them through a couple of recipes, I wanted to try something different. I love recipes as much as the next guy, but it does seem to me that they are an imperfect way to learn to cook. Sure, a well-written recipe can teach you how to re-create a specific dish, but that's a different thing from actually knowing how to cook, isn't it?
"What I wanted to try out was more along the lines of teaching the structure of a dish, how it is put together. Rather than the details of a recipe (1/2 teaspoon of this, 1/4 cup of that), I wanted to see if I could teach them to prepare a dish by explaining its general outline, allowing for (even encouraging) the kind of freedom to experiment and personalize we all want to enjoy when we cook."
Russ walks Meghan and Carter through a few classic dishes -- roast chicken, pasta and salad -- exploring the structure of each dish to show how it can be varied and adapted to create a variety of additional potential dishes and meals.


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Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Clampett Studies
I have one criticism: The lines are too hard and clean and I don't totally feel the construction underneath. I would soften the lines and leave the construction lines to be sure I understood how the drawings are built, not just what the proportions are.
I like the finish on this older study of hers.
Remember that the goal of copying other artists' work is to eventually be able to make your own poses applying the same principles that underlie theirs. It's not to just be able to make a 2 dimensional imitation of a specific drawing.
6 comments:
- Geneva said...
Thanks, John!!
I still have construction lines, but they don't scan so well because I switched to a new, harder type of blue pencil. From now on I'll be sure to darken them so that they are visible in the scanner. I'll also try not to fuss so much over darkening the finish.
Thanks again, John! You are the best!
- Larry Levine said...
Geneva, Beautiful work!!
- Pilsner Panther said...
Geneva, even if I could draw well (I can't) I'm not sure that I would have wanted Mr. K. as my teacher... he's really demanding!
I would have been a decent scriptwriter in the classic cartoon era; maybe a Tedd Pierce type raconteur, but Pierce never drew a thing (except maybe some storyboards?)
You keep going, young lady. Someday I expect to see your name on a great feature cartoon. Pencil animated, and no CGI!
- Alex said...
'Remember that the goal of copying other artists' work is to eventually be able to make your own poses applying the same principles that underlie theirs.'
YESS! That is the idea. I feel this truth because it is helping me out in my own drawings of late.
This summer, I am at an internship where I am designing adverts for an art program. It's a gig where I get to draw all day.
Having practiced with constructing pre-existing animation drawings gave me a foundation with which to create ads and concepts that have appeal, construction, and clarity.
Just take a strong look at some recent posts of mine for evidence of this.
- bloatedsackofprotoplasm said...
Wow. Those are great. I haven't ever done studies like the ones that John suggests before recently; but since I have been doing them, mine are always so off that I don't even know how to critique them. I think that I have a really bad habit of tweaking each feature according to how I think it should look in relation to the rest of the drawing as I go along.
- HemlockMan said...
Gosh, I Barks! Even when someone else is using him to do studies. Nice work!


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By JESSE J. HOLLAND and JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court will struggle this week with the validity of an Arizona law that tries to keep illegal immigrants from voting by demanding all state residents show documents proving their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote in national elections.
The high court will hear arguments Monday over the legality of Arizona's voter-approved requirement that prospective voters document their citizenship in order to use a registration form produced under the federal "Motor Voter" voter registration law that doesn't require such documentation.
This case focuses on voter registration in Arizona, which has tangled frequently with the federal government over immigration issues involving the Mexican border. But it has broader implications because four other states -- Alabama, Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee -- have similar requirements, and 12 other states are contemplating similar legislation, officials say.
The Obama administration is supporting challengers to the law.
If Arizona can add citizenship requirements, then "each state could impose all manner of its own supplemental requirements beyond the federal form," Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. said in court papers.
A federal appeals court threw out the part of Arizona's Proposition 200 that added extra citizenship requirements for voter registration, but only after lower federal judges had approved it.
Arizona wants the justices to reinstate its requirement.
Kathy McKee, who led the push to get the proposition on the ballot, said voter fraud, including by illegal immigrants, continues to be a problem in Arizona.
Opponents of Arizona's law see it as an attack on vulnerable voter groups such as minorities, immigrants and the elderly.
The case is 12-71, Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.
Billeaud reported from Phoenix.


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Graduate turns experience into success in FFA
From the time Maverick Liles was young boy, he knew somehow he was going to be involved in the agricultural industry.
"Before we moved here, we lived close to my grandparents," the 2011 Wapakoneta High School graduate said. "They had a 1,200-acre crop farm and a swine farm. I spent a lot of time there. I still work there two or three days a week."
Now older, Liles has turned that experience into success in FFA at his high school. He was honored as a Star Chapter Farmer, an award meriting outstanding FFA students, was awarded a state degree through the Ohio FFA, and placed second in the district in swine proficiency for the second straight year.
Liles, who received honors as the center on the Wapakoneta Redskins football team, credited a lot of his success from encouragement he has received from his family.
His parents, Brandi and Jay Liles, as well as his maternal grandparents that own the farm, Marlene and Steve Bates of West Mansfield, have always stood behind him in his endeavors.
"I knew since I was young that some aspect of farming is what I was going to do," Liles said. "I spent so much time on the farm that I was with my grandparents as much as I was with my parents. They would have encouraged me no matter what I decided to do, but I know it makes them happy that I decided to go this way."
The graduate is now planning to begin his college education at the Ohio State University-Lima branch. He currently plans on seeking a degree in agricultural education. After one year at the branch, he plans to transfer to the main campus in Columbus.
"I am excited about getting started," Liles said.
Liles said that while he plans to start out in agricultural education, he may make a switch down the line depending on the economy.
"It's not set in stone right now," Liles said. "With the way the economy is right now, they are making a lot of cuts and it could affect getting a job in that area, but I am studying in an area that I will be able to switch to something else easily. No matter what, it will be in the agricultural field."


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Residents have issues with home for unwed mothers
Give it a chance and then decide if there are problems.
That, essentially, was the offer Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP) made Tuesday when neighbors turned out to protest a plan to use the former Rep. Paul Sherlock home at 6 Northampton St. as a home for four unwed teen mothers and their children. CCAP was seeking board approval to house six mothers at the location.
With the prospect of a heated hearing before the Zoning Board of Review, CCAP attorney K. Joseph Shekarchi asked the residents to gather in the hallway outside City Council Chambers. He said CCAP was prepared to postpone its petition to increase the number of tenants in the house for four months because, under current zoning, no variance is required to house four tenants; the house would start operations in about two months. After four months, CCAP would return to the zoning board with its request, but neighbors would have had the opportunity to evaluate operations and base their reactions on reality. As the petition was postponed, CCAP would be required to notify neighbors of the next hearing.
For some, the gesture was not enough and too late.
Next-door neighbor Amy Miller told the gathering if CCAP was sincere in its efforts to be good neighbors, it would have outlined plans long before scheduling the hearing that was followed up with a letter on March 6.
"I feel that this was sung under the rug," she said.
Miller's concern, and that of a couple of other immediate neighbors, is that they would be subjected to the crying of six babies and undesirable comings and goings of strangers attracted by the house.
Ward 2 Councilman Thomas Chadronet said a number of residents voiced concerns that the young mothers would be a bad influence on the neighborhood, with boyfriends coming and going at different times and with the young women walking the streets to reach area markets and smoking.
CCAP Executive Director Joanne McGunagle appealed to neighbors to be accepting of the young mothers, to visit their Cranston home where they have four mothers and to call Cranston police and ask if there have been any complaints.
"The last thing we want to do is to be bad neighbors … for you to feel unsafe in your home. Give us four moths to show these girls are not criminals," she said. She urged the neighbors "to get to know and embrace these girls."
It wasn't an idea many neighbors were going to take to heart yet.
According to the March 6 letter to neighbors, the home will be fully staffed 24 hours a day, year-round, with a staff member awake during the overnight shift.
"The girls don't have cars; we provide transportation for their access to health and dental care, job readiness training, food shopping and child care. We help them with social and life skills that foster independence," reads the letter.
The CCAP program is licensed by the Department of Children, Youth and Family and has operated in Cranston since 1998 and for two years on Lake Street in Warwick. The program is highly structured. Mothers are required to leave the program when they reach 18½ years old. Some have been as young as 13. The youngest currently registered is 16.
Participants must be enrolled in an educational program or be working and children must be enrolled in off-premises daycare while they are away from the house. They have a 10 p.m. curfew and there are rules regarding visitors and how long they can visit. They cannot consume alcohol or use illegal drugs at any time.
Shekarchi termed CCAP's willingness to continue the petition "a gift," although some neighbors questioned whether they could get an accurate picture in the two months the facility would be operational before the agency appealed to the board again. Shekarchi turned down the suggestion that CCAP give the neighbors six months.
"It hurts the program too much," he said.
"Hopefully, the fears will go away," Shekarchi said.
He went on to say he recognizes there will be some people who won't change their minds, but he asked everyone to act in good faith.
The appeal resonated with William Roberge, who had been following the discussion.
"I think it's a good idea," he said of the delay. And to make it clear a program for unwed mothers was going to operate from the house regardless, saying, "They are there no matter what."
The strangest part of this article is the referenced complaint that the young women might be "walking the streets to reach area markets." In a world where many of us drive too much, eat too much, and exercise too little, it is odd to critize someone for walking the [public] streets to reach a market.
Where are the parents of these underage unwed mothers? Why can't they be responsible for their own irresponsible teenagers? Why must the burden always fall on the taxpayers? I see nothing but trouble coming from this. It was a sneaky move by CCAP.
If you can't feed the baby, don't have a baby
Smoking when is it going to end. What are people going to say when pot comes in the picture.
Glad to know ignorance is still very much alive and well in this city! Not every single mother is trying to rob the system. You have no idea what somebody else's situation is to just judge them in such a pathetic way. I'm sure many of you are very comfortable in the life that you are living but these girls and their kids are not. Yes people take advantage of the system, and those people infuriate me...but there has to be some sort of safety net for people in society. Somebody above asked "where are her parents?"...who knows? Maybe they don't speak, maybe they have passed on, maybe they are in jail...but to label all of these girls as freeloaders is way off-base.
First, to GShuster: I totally agree and would like to add that "walking the street" seems to suggest another thought about the possible new neighbors that's extremely unfair.
Working as A GED instructor in Providence for four years with teen mothers I found them to be good people, as good as they knew how to be to their children, but needing some support and new views outside their windows as they learn to live with a child, just like any young mother. True, they may be young women with experiences and backgrounds very different from ours, and I'm hearing some of you say that you'll be uncomfortable and unsure of what that will be like.
You people in that neighborhood have something really good to offer to others by the examples you display in your own lives, something that might be of value to others without you doing anything except what you already do every day - live. Do you believe your values are important? Can they be threatened if you feel secure inside yourselves? Can 4 or even 6 new neighbors be that much to fear, especially with the levels of staffing and supervision and expectations of following certain rules that they will have?
I hear you when you worry about what else "they" might bring in. But I have worked in many types of group homes, too, and even the most difficult ones (which house court-placed children) had very little impact on their neighbors. I really think that if you put forward the best in yourselves, you will be able to minimize and also work out whatever you might think could come your way.
Last comment: Angry about irresponsible parents, and money spent on "someone else's problems?" These girls' parents are water under the bridge now, but why blame or deny the children for their parents' ways? Please give yourselves and these girls an opportunity.
NIMBY, that's all folks!
Vouchers for education, as in religious education, military protocol in providing these type services and conservative leadership is the solution. When you consider the enormous Cadillac of benefits these repeated irresponsible individuals receive is it any wonder, these situations grow every year. Community base housing including maintaining every aspect of the facility, cafeteria eating, day care, education, job training in addition to drug testing, and whatever else is the solution. The stupidity and ignorance that underline this article is truly a reflection of most Rhode Islanders who continue to vote in the same tax and spend liberal politicians etc., Peter A. Filippi III


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Lisa Tyson, the Long Island Progressive Coalition's director, has suggested a number of reforms to limit campaign contributions to elected leaders from companies that do business with the government.
"Elected officials are listening to corporations more than their own constituents, and that needs to change," Tyson said. "But is that going to happen anytime soon? We don't know. We would like it to. And that's why we need statewide publicly financed elections."
Jeffrey Friedman of Rockville Centre, a Long Island Progressive Coalition board member, spoke at the June 4 rally outside the County Legislature in Mineola about the importance of campaign finance reform to fix what he called "broken" government.
"This is a no-brainer … Seventy-four percent of New Yorkers support campaign finance reform," Friedman said. "The governor supports campaign finance reform. The Assembly not only supports campaign finance reform, it's already passed campaign finance reform. The majority of the New York State Senate even supports campaign finance reform, and yet it's still not being brought onto the floor. It's typical politics as usual."
Friedman and Tyson called on the State Senate to pass the 2013 Fair Elections Act, a bill the Assembly passed on May 7 that would establish optional public financing for statewide elections, create a new state enforcement board for campaign finance laws and regulations, and strengthen financial disclosure requirements for third parties that electioneer in New York.
Assemblyman David McDonough, a Republican whose district includes most of Merrick, voted against the bill, according to the Assembly's website. Assembly Deputy Speaker Earlene Hooper, a Democrat whose district includes a small part of south Merrick, voted for the bill.
State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican from Merrick, said he opposes the Fair Elections Act. "Calling this legislation the Fair Elections Act is misleading," he said. "The only thing this legislation would ensure is that public tax dollars are used to pay for candidates' political campaigns. Under this legislation, taxpayers could be forced to spend nearly $300 million in 2014 alone to pay for advertising, commercials, mailings, handouts, posters and other campaign expenditures."


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Jazz musician Mike Stern teams up with Eric Johnson for Cambridge shows.
Mike Stern is not a singer. He's a guitarist. Sure, lots of guitarists are singers, but not Stern.
When he gets up onstage, he plugs in his guitar and wails away on the strings, mostly playing jazz, but unafraid to throw in a taste of rock. He'll be doing that when he performs on two nights with fellow guitarist Eric Johnson at the Regattabar on Aug. 9 and 10, and when he plays with his own trio at the Berklee Performance Center on Aug. 19.
But there was a time when he did sing.
"I used to sing a lot," said Stern by phone from his home in New York. "I was always running around the house yelling and singing when I was growing up. Then I sang in a church choir, which was a great experience. And when I was 9 years old, I got a very small part singing part in an opera, in 'Tosca.' "
There were also piano lessons, because his pianist mom wanted him to do that. But while all of this was going on, Stern, now 60, was doing a bit of self-educating by listening to radio and buying records.
"I was listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and James Brown and lots of soul," he said. "And when I was around 12, I started playing guitar. I really got hooked on it and was playing by ear for a long time, trying to pick up stuff from records and radio."
He also started borrowing his mom's jazz records, bringing them into his room, and playing along with them.
"Then I went to Berklee," he said of Boston's jazz-centric music institution. "When I first got there I was more of a blues-rocker. I had been playing in rock bands and blues bands at home in Washington, D.C. But I had been getting into jazz and wanted to study it. And the more I got into it, the more I loved it."
Stern fell under the spell and tutelage of then-19-year-old Berklee guitar instructor Pat Metheny, who knew right away that Stern had some promise. Metheny managed to get Stern an audition with Blood, Sweat & Tears, and he won the spot. After his run with the band, he returned to Boston, and really began to build his chops.
"When I came back I played a lot with [trumpeter] Tiger Akoshi and [saxophonist] Jerry Bergonzi," he said. "With Tiger I was playing a lot of electric stuff, but there was a lot of bebop language in there. With Jerry it was more straight-ahead jazz. We used to play great clubs like the 1369 Club and the Willow.
"We need more places like those," he added. "Great places to learn all kinds of stuff that you get from playing little loose gigs."
The stuff Stern learned from playing those little loose gigs led to him joining Miles Davis' band for a spell, and to playing on an impressive list of albums, some as a sideman, some as a leader. Though he did record the album "Play" with two other guitarists – longtime pals John Scofield and Bill Frisell – Stern generally was the only guitar player on his own records. But he had long been a fan of rock guitarist Eric Johnson, best known for his smokin' and melodic instrumental "Cliffs of Dover."
"I had spoken to Eric for years about doing something together," said Stern. "Then, when my record 'Big Neighborhood' was about to happen, I called him up and asked if he would be interested in playing on it, and he said, 'Great!' " Of the pieces they played on together, the initially quiet, eventually rocking "Long Time Gone" is the standout.
A set list hasn't yet been put in place for their Regattabar gigs, which will feature Chris Maresh on bass, and Anton Fig on drums, but Stern said, "Eric thought we could try to do some acoustic stuff together, or maybe he'll play acoustic guitar, and I'll play my electric and run the gamut from playing soft to playing louder. But we'll be playing some of my tunes and some of his tunes."
Stern admitted that the Berklee trio shows were too far down the road to know what he'll be playing yet, but did say it would be more of a jazz show, and would have Teymur Phell on bass, and Richie Morales on drums."
He also said that he enjoys playing in all sorts of different settings.
"If you want to work a lot in jazz, you've gotta have a lot of different people doing different things," he said." It's not like the Beatles, where you put one band together and stay there. I've always been using different people, and I really get off on it."
Though Stern has collected scads of critical accolades over the years for his prowess on the guitar, and just last year was given a Certified Legend Award by Guitar Player magazine, he's always been critical of his own playing. Asked about that, he said, "I've been playing my whole life, but the more you do anything, the more you kick your own ass. You say, 'Can I do something this way instead of that way?' I'm trying to work on that, and not be too self critical. But on the other side, it's a great thing to just keep improving. You get energy from it. If you get too complacent you can lose your edge. So there's kind of a balance there. The only thing that I can 100 percent guarantee is that I love to do whatever the hell it is that I'm doing."
Mike Stern and Eric Johnson
WHEN: Aug. 9-10, 7:30 and 10 p.m.
WHERE: Regattabar, Charles Hotel, One Bennett St., Cambridge
Mike Stern Trio
WHEN: Aug. 19, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass. Ave., Boston


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Failure to dock Zen X-fi
Hello. I'm having a weird problem (or at least it seems weird to me) with my Zen X-fi and was wondering if anybody could clue me in on what to do...
The problem is that my computer doesn't recognize my Zen X-fi anymore. It worked fine a week ago, now suddenly, it doesn't. It charges, no problem there, I just can't access the files on it. There's nothing wrong with my MP3-player, i tried hooking it up to other computers and it works like a charm, so it's no huge problem, it's just that I'd rather not go through the hassle of first moving my music to another computer every time I want to add it to my player. Besides, this really bugs the sh*t out of me.
Anyway, I did some research, and as I understand it, somethings wrong with the driver. So I checked the device manager. And sure enough, net to my Zen X-fi there was a little yellow exclamation mark. So I tried to update and reinstall it (even popped the little CD that came with the player in), and here is where I stop understanding what the hell is going on: It works, my computer recognizes the player, I can access it through "My Computer", get the pop-ups etc. But it only lasts for about 5-10 seconds, then it all disappears and it's back to just charging it.
I'd really appreciate some help with this because it's really going on my nerves :-/
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- AltCar Auto Show
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Auto Show: 2013 Chicago Auto Show
2013 Chicago Auto Show: Top Green Cars - Video
Fuel efficient cars are boring. There are exceptions like the Honda CR-Z, but those exceptions are few and far between. If it were solely up to to VW, every car would be green and a blast to drive, the company's track record speaks for itself. The diesel powered Jetta TDI, Beetle TDI and Passat TDI are all great cars but also top 40 mpg on the highway. There's now one more VW that's both fun and fuel efficient, the VW Jetta Hybrid. The mpg estimate is 42 mpg in the city, 48 highway and 45 mpg in combined city and highway driving.
Chevy's Cruze Turbo Diesel directly competes with the VW Jetta TDI. The Cruze diesel comes with an automatic transmission and includes features like Chevy MyLink and leather seats, all for about $500 less than the Jetta TDI. Expected fuel economy for the Cruze Diesel is 42 mpg highway.
Finally, there's another Chevy on our list of green cars. Surprised? You shouldn't be, Chevrolet has 10 cars that get 30 mpg or better. The Spark EV uses no gas at all and runs only on electricity stored in it's battery pack. The Spark EV is supposed be quicker from 0-60 than a Nissan Leaf and, with a quick-charger, you can get an 80 percent charge in just 20 minutes.


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HUDSON — Computer chip maker Intel Corp. will shutter its Hudson manufacturing operations at the end of 2014, a move that will result in the loss of about 700 jobs.
The company will close the production facility because its technology has become outdated, said Ann S. Hurd, Intel corporate affairs manager in Hudson.
"The process that we use here in Hudson is at least 10 years old," Ms. Hurd said. "Semiconductor manufacturing has advanced over the last 10 years. This is an older technology, and Intel has moved to newer technology."
The company unveiled the decision to employees Wednesday, Ms. Hurd said. Fewer than 100 workers in the manufacturing operation will lose their jobs by the end of 2013, and the remaining manufacturing workers will have jobs through the end of 2014.
Another 800 to 850 Intel employees who work in other Intel units in Hudson are not impacted by the decision, Ms. Hurd said.
The company will still be the town's largest employer, according to Donald M. Garcia, chairman of Hudson's Economic Development Commission.
The fact that those jobs will remain "is a positive sign and... a nod to the town and to the commonwealth," Mr. Garcia said.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has had a presence in Hudson since 1998 when it acquired the manufacturing facility of the former Digital Equipment Corp.
The 149-acre property includes 1.2 million square feet of space for production, engineering, offices and other functions.
Intel has reportedly invested $2 billion in Hudson since taking over the site.
The fabrication center produces computer chip sets that measure 200 millimeters across and are used in a range of industries.
Yet other Intel plants are using newer manufacturing technologies to produce even bigger computer chip sets measuring 300 millimeters, or about 12 inches, across.
Intel will offer separation packages to workers. Some employees may find jobs at other Intel sites, Ms. Hurd said.
"There is lots of interest in some of our other sites recruiting them," she said.
Christopher M. Sandini Sr., the town of Hudson's interim executive assistant, said, "I don't think it's time to panic yet.
"There's a lot that's unknown now," Mr. Sandini said. "First of all, you shouldn't assume that there won't be a business going in there to replace it."
He does not expect the facility to be vacant, with Intel marketing it, and the town of Hudson ready to assist.
"They've been a great partner to us, and we're going to support each other," he said.
Mr. Garcia said that the plant has changed hands before, "so it's not that far-fetched that it could be done again."
Mr. Sandini did not know what percentage of the affected workers are from Hudson, but said state programs should help the laid off workers find other jobs.
He said he hopes the downsizing won't affect the way Intel has been involved in schools and the community, but he added that "too much is unknown" at this point.
Contact Lisa Eckelbecker at email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @LisaEckelbecker.


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Car Review
Mazda MX-5 Super20: First Drive
- Created as a one-off for the Miata's 20th anniversary
- Super20 is a strategically modified SEMA MX-5
- Mazda amped up the macho on the Miata
The best way to appreciate Mazda's Super20 is to think back to 1990, when the Japanese automaker introduced the first MX5-Miata and stunned the enthusiast community with its reworking of the classic two-seat roadster. The automotive landscape was showing some light at the end of a very long tunnel. Automakers appeared to be clearing safety and emissions hurdles, and while the U.S. economy had many consumers preparing for an era of reduced expectations, we weren't yet fully resigned to those reductions. Mazda, still working to establish itself fully in the U.S., helped soften the post-1980s economic landing with its 1990 introduction of the MX-5 Miata.
The Japanese had already tiptoed into this segment sporadically, although it had long been the turf of British and European carmakers. Honda jump-started its automotive vision with a small-displacement two-seater, and Datsun/Nissan enjoyed some stateside success with the 1600 and 2000 roadsters, but these were softball lobs in a major-league park. Mazda's RX-7 was a minor hit, but its rotary power held it back from success among mainstream enthusiasts. The new Miata, a clever amalgam of Lotus Elan proportions and an MGB footprint, set the marketplace on its ear and introduced the waiting list and the over-sticker transaction to the Mazda showroom.
Twenty years later, Mazda elected to commemorate the Miata's launch with a special edition, the Super20, that honored the original intent. Introduced in 2010 to a SEMA audience of early rodders and tech-savvy twentysomethings, it was then repainted for an encore performance in 2011. And for our own commemoration of the Miata's 21st anniversary, we were given roughly 20 hours to figure out just how super this Mazda might be.
Our start, just north of Disneyland in Fullerton, California, was ironically appropriate: after a generation, the MX-5's spec is still as much of an amusement park ride as ever. Although a straight shot south on Interstate 5 may not be on Car and Driver's short list of great automotive routes, our destination was Symbolic Motorcars in La Jolla, one of the great automotive showrooms.
At the SEMA show in 2010, the Super20 was swathed in a medium gray. That, in combination with black fender flares and accents, gave it a Dark Knight feel; this might be the car left in the bat cave for Robin. For its 2011 SEMA encore, it was repainted in what we'll call Boddingtons Ale yellow. In fact, with the black flares, accent striping and roof, the MX-5 looks more than a little like a Boddingtons can set on its side, with 200-plus horsepower beneath its flip-top lid.
Reinforcing the Batman and Robin imagery is the Super20's 2.0 liter DOHC 4, which is fitted with a Cosworth supercharger; it goes like a bat out of hell. If the standard Miata is the mild-mannered reporter, this one, with the addition of a Cosworth supercharger, reflashed ECU and Racing Beat header and exhaust, is Supermazda. Rarely have such simple mods done so much good. The engine pulls from idle-second-gear starts are a no-brainer-and accelerates forcefully in any gear. When traffic on Interstate 5 permitted squirts from 80 to 100 mph, the acceleration was effortless, while sixth gear allowed relatively relaxed efficiency at closer to legal speeds.
Chassis upgrades include Mazdaspeed coil-overs, Racing Beat front and rear anti-roll bars and 16x9 Enkei wheels wrapped with 245/45R-16 rubber. The addition of the tallish rubber is the most retro affectation of an admittedly retro exercise, and we loved it. The taller tire eliminates the need to drive around or tiptoe over the typical pothole, while the Toyo compound adds prodigious grip. The taller sidewall is something we've also seen Mazda do on its B-spec Mazda2.
Our drive took us to Symbolic Motorcars, franchise dealer for Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Bugatti and Lamborghini, and its La Jolla showroom is wall to wall with desirable exotics. The showroom next door, belonging to Grand Prix Classics, is home to every childhood fantasy, assuming that your childhood took place in the 1950s and 1960s. From Alfa Spider to Elva to Kellison Special, owner Mark Leonard's emporium was everything a vintage racer or vintage wanna-be might hope for.
With Symbolic Motors dishing the dream and Grand Prix Classics tickling the imagination, we were able to fully get our arms around the attainable fantasy provided by Mazda's SEMA MX-5. Higher horsepower and a big bump in torque were matched by improved suspension and strategic upgrades to the two-seater's appearance. We're hooked, thinking this modified Miata would make for a decade of great driving. And when it's time to move on, you could consign it for sale in La Jolla - or list it on AutoTrader.com.


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Difference between revisions of "Homosexuality"
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Revision as of 04:00, July 20, 2006
The Teaching of the Orthodox Church
This article or section is a stub (i.e., in need of additional material). You can help OrthodoxWiki by expanding it.
Official Orthodox Statements
- SCOBA's Statement on Homosexual Unions
- Statement from the Coptic Orthodox Church
- On Same-Sex Unions - Epistle of the Clergy of the Western Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (2004)
- The Canadian Conference of Orthodox Bishops Speaks Out on the Issue of Same-Sex Marriage
Articles from an Orthodox Perspective
- The Homosexual Christian - by Fr. Thomas Hopko
- Gays and the Orthodox Church: Can I still join the Church if I'm a homosexual? - Fr. Ted Stylianopoulos
- Homosexuality and the Church - by V. Rev. William Caldaroni
- Orthodoxy, Homosexuality, the NCCC and the UFMCC - From Holy-Trinity.org
- Homosexuality and the Church - by H.H. Pope Shenouda III, also available in PDF format (495k)
- Christianity and Homosexuality: Russians Speak Out by Srdja Trifkovic, August 17, 2000
- Gay ... But Not Funny by Fr. Joseph Huneycutt
Personal Testimonies
- "I was in Hell" - A light-bearing post from Huw Raphael
Non-Orthodox Sources
- Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition To Unions Between Homosexual Persons - from the Roman Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Recommended Books
- Straight & Narrow: Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate by Thomas E. Schmidt. InterVarsity Press: 1995. (ISBN 0830818588)
- Homosexuality: A New Christian Ethic by Elizabeth R. Moberly. James Clarke Company: 1997. (ISBN 0227678508) (Orthodox author)


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INGLEWOOD, Calif. (July 6, 2012)—Nofty, the 7-10 favorite, won for the second time in six starts over the Betfair Hollywood Park turf course, capturing the $52,350 feature (video) for California breds Friday night.
On or near the lead throughout, the 5-year-old Stormy Atlantic gelding – who is winless in eight starts elsewhere – prevailed by 1 ¼ lengths over 5-1 shot Mr. Ornery in 1:09.35 for the six furlongs.
Owned by HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing LLC and trained by Gary Mandella, Nofty was ridden by Garrett Gomez. The victory increased the dark bay's earnings to $125,200.
Second in two of his defeats over the local grass, Nofty, who is out of the Seattle Song mare Bless Shoe, paid $3.40, $2.40 and $2.10.
A 40-1 first out winner over the course June 9 for trainer Marty Jones, Mr. Ornery outfinished stablemate Blue Jay Attack by a nose for second. He paid $4.40 and $2.80 while the show price on Blue Jay Attack was $2.40.
Dance With Gable, Valentine Boy, who disputed the issue early with the winner, and Heart Fever completed the order of finish.
Racing resumes Saturday. Post time is 1 p.m. Track gates at Betfair Hollywood Park will open at 9:55 a.m. for simulcasts.
The main event on the 10 race card is the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup, a Grade I at 1 ¼ miles over Cushion Track.
Game On Dude, who lost by a nose to stablemate First Dude in this race a year ago, is the 4-5 favorite on Russ Hudak's morning line.
One race before the Gold Cup, fillies and mares will face off on turf in the $150,000 Royal Heroine Mile. The Grade II is headed by Redondo Beach Stakes winner All Star Heart, Quiet Oasis and Nereid, who is seeking her first win since she dead heated with Cambina in the 2011 American Oaks.
There will also be a fedora giveaway – one per paid admission while supplies last and Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another will be paraded between the third and fourth races.
Doug O'Neill, I'll Have Another's trainer, and Mario Gutierrez, who went 4-for-4 aboard the Flower Alley colt, will be available for an autograph session from 12-1 p.m. near the Paddock Tote Board.
Meanwhile, jockey Chantal Sutherland, the regular rider for Game On Dude, will be Kurt Hoover's guest on The Inside Scoop, which begins at 12 Noon at the Paddock Tote Board.
Additionally, there will be a Gold Cup hat contest with a $500 first prize and Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr. will present the Award named in his honor between the fifth and sixth races to longtime California owner-breeder and former California Horse Racing Board chairman John Harris.
Copyright © 2009-2012, Hollywood Park. All rights reserved. Site design by Love Has No logic Design Group


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Businesses from the Taunton area and neighboring regions are concerned about how the Affordable Care Act will result in extra paperwork, the recalculation of company insurance plans to adjust to government-subsidized health care and a new system of rating factors to determine small group health insurance premiums.
Businesses from the Taunton area and neighboring regions are concerned about how the Affordable Care Act will result in extra paperwork, the recalculation of company insurance plans to adjust to government-subsidized health care and a new system of rating factors to determine small group health insurance premiums.
About 120 representatives from local businesses, human resources specialists, and insurance brokers gathered at the Holiday Inn in Taunton on Wednesday to learn about the changes going into effect next year through the federal Affordable Care Act. The event was organized by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the largest employer association in the state, and it featured a panel of experts from the Health Connector, the independent state agency that provides an online marketplace for health care.
"I think the biggest concern is how to find answers," said Russ Sullivan, an AIM vice president who acted as host for the discussion. "Everyone is at a different place. Some are concerned how they will master it. Others are just concerned what the cost will be. The common denominator is uncertainty."
Sullivan talked to the group about how the ACA will result in rating factor changes that apply to all companies with 50 employees or less, which are not mandated to provide health care to employees under the new law.
AIM initially wrote a letter to the state asking the government to support a waiver for Massachusetts, excusing it from the rating factor portion of the federal health care law. Recently, Gov. Deval Patrick wrote to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services supporting such a waiver.
While the ACA limits the rating factors to four categories used to calculate small group health insurance premiums — including age, family size, geographic area and tobacco use — the Massachusetts health care law enacted in 2006 allows for additional consideration to the type of industry, group size and group purchasing cooperatives, along with other factors, for a total of nine factors.
AIM, which represents 5,000 Massachusetts employers, said the federal system of rating factors could increase premiums for some Massachusetts employers by more than 50 percent. A state Division of Insurance study said the increases would be roughly 60 percent of small employers (377,468) due to the rating factor changes. The report said 181,000 small scale employer members would have premium increases more than 10 percent, and more than 45,000 will have their premiums increase by 30 percent, while decreases of 10 percent will benefit 83,000 small employer plan members.
In his letter, Patrick highlighted the state's 97 percent insurance coverage for all Massachusetts residents and said that a waiver of the new rating factor requirements "will avoid increases in health insurance premiums for a large segment of our small-employer population and their employees."
Beyond rating factors, AIM points to a recent study commissioned by Massachusetts health insurers that predicted changes under federal health reform will raise premiums by Bay State employers by an average of 3.7 percent on top of typical base-rate increases.
Planning for employees who opt for subsidized health care provided under the ACA was another hotly discussed topic. With a higher level of subsidies granted to employees under the law, it impacts how an employer can plan year-to-year for the health care plans that they offer to employees.
"Formerly, under the state law, if you offered your own health care you didn't have employees able to get subsidized health care through the (Health) Connector," said William Vernon, who was at the meeting as state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, representing 8,000 Massachusetts small businesses. "Now the employee has more choices. As a result, the employer has to make some choices as well. They'll have to start calculating, doing more work to make up the difference in cost for the company health care plan."
Vernon said that while there are uncertainties, "these meetings are about adapting, not complaining."
The most important thing for small businesses to know is that there will be changes, regardless of what size the business is, Vernon said.
Among those include legally mandated notification requirements, to inform employees of federal health care changes and updates, Vernon said. That "bureaucratic paperwork" can cause more work and frustration for small companies with only a small number of workers.
"For small employers, they don't have HR people to do this for them," Vernon said. "For a company with five to 10, or 15 employees, they don't have it. They might have a payroll company they may rely on. But I don't know how much the payroll companies are aware of what's going on here, or that they are prepared to help their clients with this."
Vernon said that the new classification of large business as having 50 or more, compared to the state approach of 11 or more, seems like a good thing. But he said that "a lot of employers are lulled into a false sense of security" by this, despite all the new legal requirements.
In addition to many human resources and benefits workers at the meeting, there were several insurance brokers present.
John Turco, vice president of Rogers and Gray Insurance, which serves southeastern Massachusetts and the Cape, said he was trying to soak up as much information about the new law as possible.
"We're trying to stay up," Turco said. "It's always changing."
Curtis Nelson, of Nelson Insurance and Financial Services, said that the new law is a big concern among brokers who wonder if they still have a place in the market.
"The more immediate concern is how to advise our customers, the employers," Nelson said. "You're concerned for the small employer running a machine shop, who's trying to survive. Then, they to deal with all these regulations. Because the law is always changing, and there are mandates coming at different dates, and sometimes they are postponed … it's a struggle."
Jason Lefferts, director of communications for the Health Connector, said his agency will be providing answers to many of the questions it is getting online at www.bettermahealthconnector.org. The Healthcare Connector is participating in at least seven similar forums this month throughout the state. Lefferts said thus far his agency hasn't received a lot of feedback in terms of cost.
"Generally we've seen through two meetings of these so far that the business community has a lot of questions, somewhat detailed," Lefferts said. "More on the administrative side on how this works and what (they) need to do to be compliant. It's been great for us so far. We've been able to answer a lot of questions."


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
Operating room staff members at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center Monday celebrated the successful completion of the hospital's 200th robotic surgical procedure by "SAL" the Surgical Robot. Dr. John Rutkowski and Dr. Brian Rambarran of Western New York Urology Associates performed the milestone operation.
"Our experience with 'SAL' has been overwhelmingly positive," said obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Donna Azam Feldman, the head of the Memorial's division of robotic surgery. "Patients like the smaller incisions, minimal scarring, reduced pain and quicker post-operative recoveries that robotic surgery promotes. As word gets around, more and more patients are asking if their surgeries can be performed robotically."
"Performing robotic surgery at Niagara Falls Memorial has proven to be a real convenience to our patients who want to enjoy its advantages while staying close to home," Rutkowski said.
"SAL," which stands for Save A Life, is actually the da Vinci Si Surgical System. Specially trained surgeons began using SAL in March 2012 and the system is now utilized by more than a dozen gynecologists, gynecological oncologists, urologists, bariatric surgeons, colorectal surgeons and general surgeons to perform minimally invasive robotic surgery at Memorial.
The $1.7 million da Vinci Si System gives Memorial's patients access to the most effective, least invasive surgical treatment option available today. For more information, call Memorial's Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery Hotline at 716-278-4492 or visit www.nfmmc.org/Services/daVinci.


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Lamar State's Dream Season Halted in First Round
The Lamar State dream season was bounced back into reality Tuesday evening and its championship aspirations were dashed after the Seahawks offense was held in check virtually all night in a 70-52 loss to the Monroe Mustangs.
Turnovers, poor offensive execution and missed free throws doomed the Seahawks from the beginning of the game, as the team never really got into any kind of offensive rhythm. Of course, the Monroe defense had a lot to do with that, as the Mustang team speed was on display all night, especially on the defensive side, holding the Seahawks to a mere 20 percent shooting in the first half.
Lamar State kept the game close for the first 30 minutes of the ball game, trailing by only four at halftime, 27-23, and the Seahawks hung around the first few minutes of the second half, never trailing by more than six. In fact, Lamar State pulled to within three, 37-34, after a Vonn Jones three point basket, and it appeared that the Seahawks were poised to make one of their patented come-from-behind runs.
However, unlike the other teams that have allowed Lamar State back in, Monroe simply locked it down defensively, the Seahawks couldn't buy a bucket and on the other end, Monroe simply had its way inside with too many easy baskets and suddenly, the three point margin ballooned to a 47-35 contest and the lead stayed in double-digits the rest of the way.
Gordon Ball led the Seahawks with 15 points, and the sophomore from Missouri City also pulled down eight boards. While the possibility of a championship is over, the Seahawks can still play for seventh place but must win their next three games. The NJCAA is a double-elimination, and Lamar State plays again on Thursday at noon.
Lamar State's incredible run continues tonight when the Seahawks, winners of the Region 14 Conference Tournament last week, takes on Monroe College from the Bronx, New York in the opening round of the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchison, Kansas.
The game starts at 6:30 p.m. and can be seen live online at www.njcaa.org/tvor www.psblive.com.
This is the first NJCAA Tournament trip for the Seahawks, who were a club basketball team a mere seven years ago, and began competing in Division I JUCO basketball only three years ago.
Lamar State is 25-9 on the season and has won eight straight games dating back to February 16. Monroe is no slouch either in the consecutive wins department, as the Mustangs have rattled off 19 wins in row dating back to Dec. 12. Monroe, 29-4 on the year, is one of only two teams in the 16-team field to make a return trip from last year's tournament. They finished seventh last season.
The Seahawks are led by a veteran, sophomore group that includes Region 14 Tournament MVP Vonn Jones, as well as Southeast Texas product Roman Vaughn, who was the only Region 14 player this season and first ever Seahawk to be named NJCAA National Player of the Week.


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Holiday shopping doesn't have to be a chore. Not if you make an adventure out of it — filled with time to browse, stop for a drink or a meal, and — who knows — pick up a little something for yourself.
With all that in mind, I recently took a stroll in one of Oak Park's shopping areas, stopped for lunch and a mani-pedi. Oh, yeah, and found a trove of presents for some of the toughest cases on my gift list. (See photos here.)
If you haven't been shopping lately in this near west suburb, get going. You can hop the Metra (Oak Park stop on the Union Pacific West line),the CTA Green Line (Harlem/Lake) or just jump in the car and head for the area around Marion and Lake streets, where an abundance of great options will make fast work of your holiday shopping to-do list.
Shops: The cheery team of Takara Beathea-Gudell and her daughter Miya Beathea keep me coming back to their two (soon to be three) Marion Street shops. Takara (123 N. Marion St.; 708 445-7511; shoptakara.com) is great for jewelry, accessories and clothing especially suited for curvy women. Owner Beathea-Gudell carries her own designs (up to 3X by special order) and lots of dreamy sweaters, scarves and the like, some by local designers. Meet her daughter Miya Beathea, who helps oversee Shoe Soko down the street (111 N. Marion St.; 708-848-7656) and Friday, will open Croix, a boutique where all fashions are less than $99, at 131 N. Marion St. (708-524-9200).
For gifts you won't find elsewhere, try Oak Park Antiques (125 N. Marion St.; 708-386-9640). There are more than a dozen vendors with one-of-a-kind offerings from fine jewelry and Bakelite (The Gold Hatpin) to old Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park photos (vendor No. 8) to vintage Jackie O. sunglasses (vendor No. 51).
Eats: Aripo's, a Venezuelan restaurant and sandwich shop (118 N. Marion St.; 708-386-1313; aripos.com), is a frugal delight specializing in arepas, a doughy cornmeal concoction stuffed with chicken, beef, eggs — you name it. East Coast import Five Guys Burgers and Fries has a fanatic following (especially the fries), and there's one at 1115 W. Lake St. (708-358-0856; fiveguys.com). You can always hit the Cozy Corner ("the Cozy" to locals) for traditional coffee shop fare, including breakfast all day (138 N. Marion St.; 708-383-1750). But my favorite is watching the chefs cook my meal — sushi, too — at Szechwan Beijing (1107 South Blvd.; 708-386-8889; szechwanbeijing.com).
Insider tips: We all know what a problem it is for a weary shopper to find a tidy, welcoming restroom, but you'll find one (and maps and gifts galore, especially Frank Lloyd Wright stuff) at the Oak Park Visitor Center (1010 W. Lake St.; 708-383-4145; downtownoakpark.net). For a lengthier respite, try a mani-pedi ($35) at Polished (1036 W. Lake St.; 708-763-0292; polishednailsandtan.com), where service is fast and delightful. For fun events, music, sales and discounts, check visitoakpark.com.
Worth a side trip: Yearning for more? Try nearby Oak Park Avenue at Lake Street (the CTA's Green Line Oak Park stop), and check out the clothing and accessories at Sanem's (134 N. Oak Park Ave.; 708-524-5450; sanems.com). There's also the Oak Park Arts District (oak parkartsdistrict.com), Harrison Street west of Austin Boulevard. You're always welcome at Buzz Cafe (905 S. Lombard Ave.; 708-524-2899; thebuzzcafe.com). And if you want to try your hand at DIY gifting, the staff at Bead in Hand makes it easy and fun (145 W. Harrison St.; 708-848-1761; beadinhand.com).


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Simple Arrangement: Hydrangea, Cranberries, & Apples
A luxury like fresh cut flowers is something often overlooked during the holidays. After all, most of us have already decorated a pine tree, organized poinsettias, and, well, decked the halls with boughs of holly. But if you're in the minority that is still looking for more Christmas-inspired flora in the home, try this elegant but straightforward floral arrangement that won't set you back more than the price of a few stocking stuffers.
Just last week we discussed how to keep holiday decorations subtle and simple. Thus, I found it fitting to show one of my favorite floral arrangements that recalls traditional arrangements like a few stems of hydrangea but updated with some pops of red in winter appropriate cranberries and apples.
The key is to begin with a simple vessel (I actually used a glass hurricane from Crate & Barrel) and let the flowers do the talking.
1. Pour in the cranberries (I used two bags but could have probably gone with a third) and fill with water.
2. Cut the hydrangeas to the right height. The cranberries will float and actually help hold the stems in place so no need to worry about cutting the stems too short.
3. Then take some wood skewers, stab some apples, and drop in the hydrangeas: instant Christmas spirit.
If you replace the water after three days this should last just over a week (the cranberries and apples will last longer so you can continue to just replace the hydrangeas).
The best part about clean and subtle arrangements is their ability to transition throughout the year. Try replacing the cranberries and apples with lemons and tangerines and you have a perfect summer arrangement.
Images: Timothy Ragan


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Bob Ivry
Monday, 19 November 2012 08:12 AM
Rebecca Black abandoned her dream house on Hazelwood Road in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2010, a year after the recession ended.
As the U.S. economy grew, Black's world shrank. Today she rents an apartment about the size of her old living room and works for the same $12 an hour she's earned for years.
If Thomas F. Marano takes a late lunch, he makes more money in a single morning than Black does all year. Marano once led the team at Bear Stearns Cos. that bought Black's mortgage in 2005 and thousands of other subprime loans to sell to investors.
During the 2000s housing boom, they both won — Black got a home and Marano made millions.
In the aftermath of the longest economic downturn since the Great Depression, only one of them kept winning. The biggest lenders are doing better than ever while those with the least, many of them black borrowers, are struggling the most. One dividing line for this widening gap is the dotted one where millions of home buyers signed their names to loans they couldn't repay. With the dream of home ownership snatched away, they and their communities may never be the same.
"It's completely not fair," says Tomeka R. Hart, president of Memphis Urban League Inc. and a Shelby County school board member. "It speaks to a kind of injustice where people at the top are winning out against people at the bottom."
Abandoning Graceland
Four million U.S. homeowners have lost their homes to foreclosure since June 2009, when the 19-month U.S. recession ended, according to RealtyTrac Inc. Few places have felt the pain more than Rebecca Black's hometown of Memphis. In the residential blocks around Elvis Presley's home, Graceland, 30 percent of the houses are empty or visibly in need of repair, compared with 22 percent in 2009, according to the Center for Community Building and Neighborhood Action at the University of Memphis.
"You see rows and rows of single-family homes that have been abandoned, not just in the so-called ghetto but everywhere in the city," says Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. "Home ownership was beginning to catch on with people who never dreamed of it. Just when they got their hands on the ladder to pull themselves up, it turned out they bought more house than they could afford and some had interest rates they didn't know they'd agreed to pay. And it was over."
Memphis had the highest concentration of subprime mortgages among the 20 biggest U.S. cities in June, based on data from the National Association of Realtors. Subprime loans have higher interest rates and were given to borrowers with bad or no credit.
Predatory Lending
Lenders were 3½ times more likely to steer blacks to high-interest mortgages than whites with comparable credit scores, according to a Center for Responsible Lending study of 27 million loans originated from 2004 to 2008. In Memphis, where 63 percent of the 652,000 residents are black, officials say their city was targeted for such predatory lending -- a practice that Marano says his company didn't engage in.
"Bear Stearns had rigorous compliance policies in place to prevent predatory lending and unfair mortgage practices," Marano says in an e-mail.
Marano, 51, whose fellow 1983 Columbia University graduate was a transfer student named Barack Obama, left Bear Stearns in 2008, the year it became burdened by defaulting subprime loans and collapsed. He now works as chief executive officer of a mortgage company called Residential Capital LLC, or ResCap, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May. Marano received $8 million in compensation last year, an 8 percent raise from 2010.
Black, a 64-year-old Army veteran who works feeding, bathing and dressing a man crippled by Lou Gehrig's disease, made about $24,000 in 2011, the same amount listed on her 2005 mortgage application.
Earnings Gap
The earnings gap between the richest Americans and the rest of the country grew to its widest point in more than four decades last year, based on U.S. Census Bureau data. The 1.2 million households whose incomes ranked them in the top 1 percent saw their pay rise 5.5 percent last year, while incomes fell 1.7 percent for the 96 million households in the bottom 80 percent -- those that made less than about $100,000 a year.
The fates of Black and Marano show how the 7.2 percent expansion of the U.S. economy over the last 3½ years has mostly been an economic recovery for the already well-off. Hard times still plague neighborhoods such as Hazelwood Road in southwest Memphis, where Black bought the three-bedroom brick house for $61,750 in May 2005.
Nine of the 15 parcels on Black's side of the street have houses that sit empty, have been bulldozed flat or have been overtaken by vegetation growing as thick as a wall. Five of them were abandoned after the recession ended, public records show.
"This used to be a pretty neighborhood," Black says.
Backyard Barbecues
Neighbors tended gardens and barbecued in their back yards, she says. Black and her teenage sons, Major and Chris, took turns mowing the grass. They used a stepladder to trim the hedges and patch the leaky roof, and when the air conditioner broke down, Black scraped together the money to fix it.
Returning for the first time since moving out, Black points to a dark dent in the wood beneath an eave where water is getting in. The hedges are haywire, and thieves have ripped out the cooling unit. The window that Major once climbed through because he didn't have his key and the door that Chris used to bang shut -- plywood is nailed over them now.
"I was crazy about this house, so proud," Black says, placing her palm on the board that covers the hole that was once her front door. "I just didn't have enough money."
She points to the brick house next door, surrounded by dead grass. Her neighbor used to wave hello from the shaded concrete porch, she says. He died in 2007. No one lives there now. Whitewashed plywood covers the windows and doors.
Dark Hieroglyphs
To the west, a house sits on a rise, shaded by trees. Black remembers residents hauling in mattresses and a sofa. Now she notices dark hieroglyphs scribbled on the yellow siding. Gang graffiti, she says. Plywood there, too.
Across the street is another boarded-up house. Three doors over, stapled to a porch post is a notice: The property is for sale to settle unpaid taxes. On the next block, more hollow shells, one of them a half-charred skeleton, and on King Road, behind Hazelwood, more deserted properties, more plywood.
When she hears that in March, a 28-year-old man was shot and killed while driving a pickup truck just steps away from where she's standing, she blurts, "I didn't know that!" She shields her eyes from the hazy smudge of sun and looks toward the house marred by gang graffiti. "I can't say I'm surprised," she says softly.
Holistic Veterinarian
Thomas Marano has owned at least two houses in Madison, New Jersey, where the Main Street commercial district features brick- and masonry-fronted bistros, wine shops and a holistic veterinarian. Commuters can hop on New Jersey Transit at the train station, built in 1916 of rough-hewn gray stones and registered as an historic site, and be in New York City in about an hour.
Marano bought a home on busy Shunpike Road in March 2002 for $580,000 and sold it to Oldpike Associates LLC for less than $100 in November 2002, according to County of Morris Tax Board records. He's listed as chief executive officer of Oldpike Associates in public records and his children are identified as members, or shareholders.
Wealthy people sometimes transfer their assets to limited liability companies so their heirs can avoid paying estate taxes or to protect the assets if they get sued, says Y. David Scharf, a partner with Morrison Cohen LLP in New York who was speaking generally and doesn't represent Marano.
Marano is a defendant in "five or six" securities lawsuits, says Joel C. Haims, a partner with Morrison & Foerster LLP in New York who does represent him.
Indoor Pool
A 10-minute walk up the hill from Shunpike, at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, a for-sale sign sits in front of a five- bedroom home with a heated indoor swimming pool and sauna.
Marano and his then-wife, Amy Ullrich, bought the home in July 1995 for $805,000, public records show. Marano sold his stake to Ullrich in March for less than $100.
Today's list price: $1.4 million.
In Madison, whose 16,000 residents are 87 percent white and 3 percent black, the median home price was $641,400 in 2010, according to the census.
The median home price in Memphis was $90,500 in September, according to the Memphis Area Association of Realtors. Home prices are down about $3.5 billion, or 18 percent, since 2009, data from the census and the Realtors' group show.
Empty Row
Home values have fallen by half in Memphis's Frayser neighborhood, where Steve Lockwood checks out rehab candidates in his pickup truck. On Sunny View Drive, in the northernmost part of town, 10 houses in a row sit empty, their yards a mess of weeds.
Lockwood, 63, is executive director of the Frayser Community Development Corp., a non-profit group that has renovated nearly 100 abandoned homes in the last decade.
"I'm proud of what my people do and what we've accomplished because we've accomplished a lot," Lockwood says. "But we're getting our a--es kicked. We're winning a lot of battles but we're losing the war."
Predatory lending contributes to the suffering, says Phyllis G. Betts, founding director of the Center for Community Building and Neighborhood Action at the University of Memphis.
Complaint Settled
In May, Memphis and Shelby County settled a predatory lending complaint they'd filed against Wells Fargo & Co., with the bank pledging $7.5 million to help borrowers with down payments and home renovations. The San Francisco-based lender admitted no wrongdoing, and says it strictly prohibits discrimination based on race, age or other demographic factors.
After reaching the settlement, Wells Fargo, the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, set a record in the third quarter of 2012 with $4.9 billion in net income. Over the last four quarters, its profit was greater than that of Walt Disney Co., McDonald's Corp. and Boeing Co. combined.
Since January 2009, Wells Fargo has forgiven more than $5.5 billion of mortgage principal for customers facing financial hardship, says Vickee J. Adams, the bank's vice president for external communications.
"We are committed to putting people in homes and helping them stay there," Adams says.
Predatory lending has been devastating to the black middle class, says Webb A. Brewer, an attorney with Brewer & Barlow Plc in Memphis who helped represent the city in its Wells Fargo lawsuit. "It's not hyperbole to say that this is one of the biggest civil rights issues of our time."
No Tricks
In 2007, two years into paying her mortgage, Black says her $502 monthly bill went up. She says she thought she'd gotten a fixed-rate loan and complained to Marcus L. Gibbs, her mortgage broker.
Gibbs, in an interview, says he remembers it was difficult to get Black a loan because she paid everything in cash and didn't have a credit history. Her loan documents say she signed a variable-rate mortgage. Black paid $13,519.63 in fees, the documents say.
"I thought it was a fair loan," Gibbs says. "I didn't trick her or anything. I wouldn't do that."
BayRock Mortgage Corp., a now-defunct Alpharetta, Georgia- based mortgage wholesaler, bought the loan from Gibbs' company, according to BayRock's founder and CEO, William M. Medley Jr. In turn, Bayrock sold it to a Bear Stearns subsidiary, EMC Mortgage Corp., Medley said.
'Stratospheric Compensation'
Marano's team at Bear Stearns put Black's mortgage into a security called BSABS 2005-HE8, according to a person with direct knowledge of the transaction who asked not to be named because of pending litigation. Bear Stearns sold the security to Hamburg-based HSH Nordbank AG, according to court documents. In a legal complaint, HSH Nordbank says it lost "a minimum of $42 million" on that security and others from Bear Stearns.
In a separate complaint, mortgage insurer Ambac Assurance Corp. says Bear Stearns "deliberately and secretly" abandoned loan-quality standards to churn out securities it could sell to investors. The investment bank's conduct enabled Marano and his colleagues to receive "stratospheric compensation," most of which was paid in cash, the complaint says. Marano, who is not a defendant in the case, declined to comment on it and other pending litigation.
By the end of 2007, Black was struggling to keep up with her bills. First she cut out trips to the movies, then the family's occasional dinners at the China Inn buffet. She drove without car insurance. Then one of her clients died and she was out of work. It bothered her to be unemployed, she says. She felt purposeless. She went on food stamps and fell behind on the mortgage. All she could afford to fix for dinner were chicken necks and beans, she says.
Demand Letters
Black found work again. EMC Mortgage, the Bear Stearns subsidiary, sent her letters demanding she catch up on her payments. As it was, she and the boys didn't have money to go anywhere, she says. It was work and school and come home. Her monthly payments rose to $650. Almost everything she earned she spent on food and the mortgage, she says.
In March 2008, JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought Bear Stearns in a deal brokered by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Soon after, Marano joined ResCap. In 2009, his first full year at the helm, he was paid $5.6 million while ResCap lost $7.3 billion.
"I was chosen to lead ResCap because of my depth of knowledge of the mortgage industry and my more than 25 years of experience in mortgage-backed securities," Marano said in an e- mail. "I believe that given the challenges and complexities associated with ResCap I have had a significant positive impact on the business and obtained the best result possible for all interested parties."
Left Behind
In April 2010, Black says she got a letter from EMC, which had become part of JPMorgan Chase in the Bear Stearns deal, saying that the mortgage company was going to foreclose.
"I was scared the sheriff was going to come and put a lock on the door and put me out," she says. That was an embarrassment she couldn't bear, she says. "We got out in a hurry."
Among the possessions Black says she left behind were two items she wishes she'd taken -- a lamp and a chair given to her by a late older sister who took her in after her father died when she was a teenager. She had no room for them in her new apartment and no money to rent a storage space.
Black filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Her $60,000 debt to EMC Mortgage was discharged.
Boarded-Up House
EMC never foreclosed. The house is still in Black's name. According to public records, she owes $1,529.35 in city and county taxes for 2011 and 2012 and $615.06 for city workers to board up the house and mow the grass after a neighbor complained of snakes.
New York-based JPMorgan Chase set a record with $5.7 billion of net income in the third quarter of 2012.
Black's possessions might still be in the boarded-up house, she says. "In what condition, I don't know," she says.
The rent for Black's one-bedroom apartment is $475 a month including utilities.
"For the rest of my days I want to stay right where I am," Black says.
In February, Ally Financial Inc., ResCap's parent company, was one of five mortgage firms in the $25 billion "robo- signing" settlement with the federal government and 49 states over the mishandling of thousands of foreclosures. The complaint said company representatives signed orders to repossess homes they didn't have a right to and foreclosed on homeowners who weren't behind on payments. Ally allowed Rescap to file for bankruptcy in May.
Modifying Loans
"Our company's process for preparing foreclosure affidavits was flawed," Marano told a congressional committee in November 2010, a little more than a year before the settlement. "There were affidavits signed outside the immediate physical presence of a notary and without direct personal knowledge of the information in the affidavit. These flaws are entirely unacceptable to me." He vowed to correct the problems.
ResCap "has been diligent in modifying loans whenever possible, having completed more than 820,000 default workouts for borrowers since 2008, which represent more than 30 percent of loans serviced during my tenure," Marano says in an e-mail.
Greatest Snow
In 2010, the year Black abandoned her dream home to the tall weeds, Oldpike Associates, the New Jersey-based company that lists Marano and his children as members, built a 6,000- square-foot, 4½-bathroom house on 10 acres in Park City, Utah, according to public records. It sits on the top of a hill, surrounded by pine, aspen and oak, at the end of a winding driveway lined by boulders.
Park City, which advertises the "greatest snow on earth" and hosted events of the 2002 Winter Olympics, is perhaps best known to non-skiers as the site of the Sundance Film Festival.
The Summit County tax assessor values the home at $1.69 million.
On Hazelwood Road, the house two doors down from Rebecca Black's old place sold for $3,000 in February 2011, public records show -- a 95 percent reduction from what Black paid for hers in 2005.
That was before the bloodshed.
On the night of March 30, police say Calvin DeWayne Jefferson, commonly known as Mack Kane, was behind the wheel of a white pickup truck when two men approached him on Hazelwood Road. One or both of them shot Jefferson, police say. As he died, the truck kept rolling, according to a resident, Katie Greer. It flattened a section of chain-link fence across the street from Black's old house.
Angel's Trumpets
It's impossible to draw a straight line from the community's decline to Jefferson's death, says Kioni Logan, who grew up in the neighborhood and says she knew Cal, as she calls him, for more than a decade. It would be equally wrong to conclude there's no connection at all, she says.
Police haven't announced any suspects and haven't called the killing gang-related. Still, Logan says she believes gangsters played a role.
"Gangs take over empty houses," she says. "They do whatever they want."
Greer says Jefferson's killers fled into the woods along a path in the grass between the house with gang graffiti and the house where she's lived for 13 years.
"It's really depressing," Greer says, looking out her storm door, hands folded at her chin. "I try to stay prayed-up and sometimes that doesn't even work."
In the front yard of her old house, Rebecca Black searches for her favorites, the droopy yellow flowers called Angel's trumpets. She has to high-step through overgrown grass, and when she finds them there are no blossoms, just green stalks choked by weeds.
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2009 Pack/Process Expo Focuses on Innovating Sustainability
Pack/Process Expos were larger with fewer attendees; vendor innovation focused on sustainability.
With the recession already under way, the combined shows Pack Expo, Process Expo and Converting & Package Printing Expo drew 44,115 buyer attendees — down only 3 percent from the 2006 megashow — in their five-day November run at Chicago's McCormick Place. Given the state of the economy, officials of the three associations behind the expo said they were satisfied.
"In today's current economic conditions, having a slightly lower attendance than the 2006 show is the reality," said Charles Yuska, president/CEO of Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute. "The good news is that the leads data clearly indicates that attendees came with specific projects in mind and focused their time and attention on finding suppliers that can address their immediate packaging concerns."
However, shortly after show, Steve Schlegel quit as president/CEO of the Food Processing Suppliers Assn., sponsor of Process Expo. No explanation was given by the association. George Melnykovich, longtime co-president remained in charge.
There were 67,964 total attendees, counting exhibitor personnel, at the combined shows. International attendees (5,645) and exhibiting companies (2,281) also were down just less than 10 percent, although square footage was up slightly, to just more than 1.3 million sq. ft.
This year's theme was "Change, Innovation and Sustainability," and there was heavy emphasis on the last. Daily keynote speakers addressed the movement to more environmentally friendly packaging. Those speakers were Amy Zettlemoyer-Lazar, packaging director at Sam's Club and co-manager of Wal-Mart's Sustainability Value Network, and Robert Parvis, packaging manager at Sam's Club; Betsy Cohen, vice president of sustainability for Nestlé; Trevor Cusworth, a director at Deloitte Consulting; and Glenn Wright, commercial vice president, Dow Chemical Co.
Following are some of the products introduced at the show.
Lightweighting the package
PrimaPak debuted as part of the company's EarthClear packaging line. It's designed to replace traditional jars, bottles and cans with similar-looking but significantly lighter packages formed from rollstock with top and (optional) bottom fitments. In one example, a 16-oz. package for peanuts, a glass jar would weigh 400g (material weight alone), a composite can 68g, PET jar 62g, and PrimaPak would weigh 19g. Thousands of trucks could be eliminated resulting in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption.
Clear Lam Packaging; www.clearlam.com
Identified foreign objects
A powerful new tool for food processors and packers looking to maximize food safety and assure product quality through tracking and control of foreign material, FM Alert enables the company's G6 optical sorters to capture and save a digital image of every object identified as foreign material. Armed with these images, processors can quickly identify critical quality problems and take corrective action. Software can be customized to capture images of objects that match specific criteria for size, shape, color and structural properties.
Key Technology Inc.; www.key.net
Patty cakes
A completely hydraulic, microprocessor controlled, multi-outlet forming machine, the 745 combines accurate weight control, minimum leakage, and quick changeovers with mobility. The Food Forming Machine's portable design allows it to be transported to wash-down departments or other areas in the plant. It can run beef, pork, poultry, fish, vegetables and cheese.
NuTec Manufacturing; www.nutecmfg.com
Homogenizer for emulsions
A horizontally mounted, five-piston positive displacement pump with built in homogenizing device, Tetra Alex 350 is suitable for high-pressure homogenization of emulsions and suspensions. Applications include pasteurized milk, UHT milk, cream, yogurt, condensed milk, ice cream mix, fruit juices, concentrates, purees, tomato products, dressings, ketchup, liquid egg, mayonnaise, sauces and gravies.
Tetra Pak Inc.; www.tetrapak.com
Sprint to a cut
The DiversaCut Sprint Dicer offers small to mid-size processors simple changeovers from one type of product cut to another and takes up minimal amount of floor space. The dicer accepts infeed product up to 6.5 in. in any dimension and features across-the-line start with a 1.5 hp motor. Popular applications include strip cutting, dicing, or slicing of various fruits and vegetables.
Urschel Laboratories; www.urschel.com
Chocolate made easy
Using standard, readily available raw materials, dark, milk and even white chocolate can be produced on the CE6000, the newest and largest member of the ChocoEasy line of compact chocolate production plants. A broad range of machines allows production of batches from 150kg to 6,000kg within the enclosed, space-saving module. Conching and fine grinding are combined with the user-friendly module to produce quality, reproducible chocolates.
Netzsch USA; www.chocoeasy.com
Now a synthetic blend
The vendor for years has made Reflo refrigeration compressor oils and several Process Expos ago introduced a fully synthetic version. This year brings Reflo XL, a synthetic blend, for operators who want extended fluid life, reduced wear and longer drain intervals in ammonia refrigeration systems along with a lower price than the fully synthetic version.
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In the New York Times, a writer with personal experience of lifelong disability warns against the spreading legalization of assisted suicide:
Perhaps, as advocates contend, you can't understand why anyone would push for assisted-suicide legislation until you've seen a loved one suffer. But you also can't truly conceive of the many subtle forces — invariably well meaning, kindhearted, even gentle, yet as persuasive as a tsunami — that emerge when your physical autonomy is hopelessly compromised.
Advocates of Death With Dignity laws who say that patients themselves should decide whether to live or die are fantasizing. Who chooses suicide in a vacuum? We are inexorably affected by our immediate environment. The deck is stacked.
This is eloquent and disturbing first-hand testimony of our society's growing tendency to define and prize "quality of life" at the expense of life itself.


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Manufacturer focus: Designing labs, research buildings
Labs and research facilities house sensitive equipment and must maintain very rigid standards. Two manufacturers provide insights.
Rick Hermans, Applications Director, Daikin McQuay
Victor Neuman, Health Care/Lab Engineer, Schneider Electric
CSE: What tools or knowledge do engineering schools need to provide young engineers in order to successfully specify or design systems for labs?
Daikin McQuay: Engineering schools must provide students with the fundamental physics, psychrometrics, thermodynamics, and heat transfer knowledge as it applies to HVAC in general. Architectural engineering schools provide more practical skills in how to put HVAC systems together in concept for laboratory applications, specifically with respect to ventilation and the relationship between hood exhaust, make-up air, and static pressure control.
Schneider Electric: I started in lab design in 1983 when I was hired by the visionary lab planner Earl Walls, who passed away in the last year. He was a proponent of lab "modularity." The only constant of scientific research is change. Teaching modularity in design allows laboratory building to adapt to changes in the building which are needed to account for advances in scientific methods.
CSE: What are some common missteps that engineers might make on a laboratory project? Any tips you can provide?
Schneider Electric: In lab pressurization control, there is a common misstep of locating the variable air volume (VAV) duct with its pitot flow sensors too close to the takeoff from or to the supply duct or exhaust duct. Flow accuracy of this pitot sensor is not crucial in office buildings but it is vitally important to laboratory pressurization controls. While more accurate sensors are recommended, if you are using pitot flow sensors in your lab, it is imperative that there be at least three duct diameters of straight duct at the inlet of the pitot and one duct diameter of straight duct at the exit of the pitot flow sensor. Many engineers feel that straight duct is not necessary when using venturi valves. However, our work with commissioning agents have made us very aware that even with venturi valves it may be required to have a length of straight duct for the commissioner to insert a removable pitot tube in order to certify the venturi valve's performance.
Daikin McQuay: Too many designs are overly complicated. They use exotic equipment and controls when more simple designs will suffice. Labs are special, to be sure, but they can be solved with simple designs that are understandable, effective, and efficient. One tip would be to pay attention to the building envelope, especially the interior walls which are critical elements in maintaining static pressure control between spaces.
CSE: Please describe a recent lab project you've worked on—share problems you've encountered, how you've solved them, and aspects of the project you're especially proud of.
Daikin McQuay: One past project was interesting and instructional from an academic perspective. The lab spaces were laid out in 10-ft modules with moveable partitions. The ventilation had to be flexible to accommodate various future revisions of lab space along these modules. The solution was a common vertical plenum space which served both as an air recirculation corridor and a utility corridor with connections of utilities in the same 10-ft intervals.
Schneider Electric: Schneider Electric recently completed a major animal breeding facility in Asia that was particularly complex. The engineer had specified that the entrance airlocks to each major animal holding room were to have five cascading pressure levels. This was accomplished to everyone's satisfaction with a cooperative effort of the consulting engineer, owner, commissioning agent, and Schneider Electric as the building automation provider. In addition, the system was required to monitor and log pressure readings at each point every second.
CSE: When designing a lab that is part of a multi-use building (such as in a hospital or university building), what unique challenges do you have?
Schneider Electric: The challenge in a university lab is balancing the open environment of a university with the security needed for scientific research. Scientists appreciate large open plan labs, but this is a challenge when planning the airflow containment and pressurization control.
Daikin McQuay: If a lab is not a single, purpose-built structure, you are constrained by the architecture of the other functions in the building. Since labs have unique ventilation requirements, you spend a lot of time trying to accomplish those ventilation designs in an architecture not meant for them. The most obvious of these is the fume hood exhaust system.
CSE: Describe your involvement in a recent integrated project delivery (IPD) lab project or research facility.
Daikin McQuay: The role was as owner's representative. The duties were to write requests for proposal and to assist in the selection of the IPD team members, negotiating the common contract, and providing owners input on the design development. Since the lab was so unique that neither the owner nor the design team had ever done one before, the design process was a journey of discovery that couldn't have been accomplished with any other project delivery process.
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CFA volunteers sent to fight a Victorian mine fire were locked out as workers battled flames with failing water pumps and no power, an inquiry has heard.
A firefighter said when the CFA strike team eventually saw the fire on the Hazelwood mine's northern batters it looked like "a vertical lava flow".
"I've never seen fire of that extent when I've been to previous mine fires," volunteer Anthony Lalor told the mine fire inquiry on Wednesday.
He said when the strike team was dispatched to the mine on the evening of February 9 they couldn't get through a gate and were unable to cut the lock with bolt cutters.
Morwell's fire station has a swipe card that allows access to the mine but Mr Lalor said there was no device on the gate to read the card.
"It took some time to communicate that we couldn't gain access at that point," he said.
The strike team was redirected to another gate but he couldn't say what time they eventually got into the mine.
"It took quite a long time for us to be able to get that (gate) remotely operated to allow that to open," Mr Lalor said.
The inquiry heard earlier that power and water pumps were failing as workers employed by mine operator GDF Suez attempted to fight fires flaring inside the mine.
The mine's technical services manager, James Faithful, said when he took control as emergency commander about 8.30pm there was no power and fires were burning in and around the mine.
"For starters we had no power. We were sitting in the mine admin offices in the dark," Mr Faithful said.
"We had very limited water within the mine, there was indeed no pressure."
He said the focus was on getting the power back rather than fighting the fire.
Additional resources, like tankers, were sent in and mine workers were turning on sprinklers and trying to get hoses into areas where they were needed, Mr Faithful said.
But incident controllers were also aware of risks on the worst bush fire danger day since Black Saturday, he said.
"We were doing what we could with what we had," Mr Faithful said.
Mr Lalor said the CFA also had trouble accessing water that could be used to fight fires.
"We were struggling for water," he said.
The fire at the Hazelwood mine shrouded the neighbouring town of Morwell in smoke and ash after it was ignited.
The inquiry continues.


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Ill. officials kick off youth anti-violence week
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois officials on Monday kicked off a youth violence prevention week by calling attention to the shooting death of a 6-month-old Chicago baby, but did not offer new strategies or funding to address the problem.
Gov. Pat Quinn and Illinois Department of Public Health Director LaMar Hasbrouck instead talked up the importance of creating awareness and pointed the public to the department's website, which includes a link on cyberbullying. The appearance at a new Chicago children's hospital marked the start of National Youth Violence Prevention Week.
Quinn recently has focused on violence in Illinois. He spent the last two Sundays at Chicago houses of worship reiterating his call for an assault weapons ban and pointing to last week's slaying of Jonylah Watkins, who was shot while sitting on her father's lap inside a vehicle. Police had initially said she was shot while her father was changing her diaper, but they clarified details of the shooting Monday.
"It should be an alarm bell to all of us that we need to do more and more to end the violence," Quinn said of the baby's death. "Violence is a public health menace. We have to use public health strategies to take on and prevent violence."
Hasbrouck said the first step is to increase awareness and then focus on programs that work.
The renewed attention to youth violence comes shortly after Quinn proposed a state budget that calls for more than $400 million in cuts to elementary, secondary and higher education. Quinn has said he's retained funding for early education, but had to make the cuts because of the strain Illinois' nearly $100 billion in unfunded pension debt — the worst in the nation — puts on other spending.


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QB Quinn Gray says he's set to sign with Texans
Texans, Gray close to deal
QB optimistic about joining club as soon as today
Barring unforeseen complications, former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Quinn Gray will sign a one-year deal for $645,000 with the Texans today, giving them three veterans at the most important position on the team.
Coach Rick Smith said last week the Texans prefer to have three veteran quarterbacks on the roster when the regular season begins.
Gray helps the Texans in two ways. First, if starter Matt Schaub is injured again and Sage Rosenfels is elevated, Gray becomes the experienced backup. Second, if they're offered a second-round pick for Rosenfels, having Gray behind Schaub would make it easier to make the trade.
"The Texans have two good quarterbacks, and if everything goes like I hope it does, I'll be added to the mix," Gray said Sunday after arriving in Houston. "Hopefully, everything will go well when we meet (today at Reliant Stadium). I hope to be able to sign."
Gray visited Green Bay and Oakland. He has a trip to Buffalo scheduled.
"I don't plan on leaving here," he said. "I'm ready to sign.
"My agent (Drew Rosenhaus) has a one-year deal in place. We've been talking on the phone, and now I'm going to meet face-to-face with coach (Gary) Kubiak and coach (offensive coordinator Kyle) Shanahan. I'm excited about it."
Gray, who turns 29 next month, spent five years with the Jaguars and was 2-2 as a starter last season. He helped the Jaguars defeat Tampa Bay and Tennessee. They lost to New Orleans and the Texans.
"Things didn't work out in Jacksonville, (but) I think I can fit in here," Gray said. "I love Houston. I like the organization and where the Texans are headed."
In the Jaguars' 42-28 loss at Reliant Stadium, coach Jack Del Rio rested many of his starters before the playoffs.
Gray finished 25-of-39 (64.1 percent) for 302 yards and four touchdowns. He didn't throw an interception.
"That's the best game I've ever played," Gray said. "I've got that game on tape, and I've watched it a lot."
For the season, Gray was 80-of-144 (55.6 percent) for 986 yards and 10 touchdowns with five interceptions. His rating was 85.6.
"I feel great about this situation," Gray said. "Free agency didn't go like I thought it would, and I'm ready for a new opportunity. I'm ready to sign and start learning a new system.
"I played with (defensive tackle) Anthony Maddox at Jacksonville. Andre Johnson is a friend of mine. I look forward to signing and getting to work."
The Texans' non-mandatory offseason program begins March 31 at their Reliant Park facility.