text:
|Biography Articles Advise & Dissent Books Book Him! Search Contact Home
"My Break with the Extreme Right," generating lots of controversy
By Michael Fumento
My Salon.com article "My Break with the Extreme Right" is creating quite the furor.
"Breaking With Movement Conservatism Over Its Ugliness," The Atlantic, By Conor Friedersdorf, May 25
"Bartlett, Sullivan, Frum ... And Fumento," Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Beast, May 25
"Another One Leaves the Movement," David Frum, The Daily Beast, May 24
"Apostate Conservatives, Ryan Cooper, Washington Monthly blog, May 25
"The Right Wing Tilt Toward Mass Hysteria," Huffington Post blog, by Zaki Hasan, May 29
"Another Prominent Conservative Takes On The New Right," Doug Mataconis, Outside the Beltway Blog, May 24
"Fumento on 'Today's Right-Wing Darlings'" Jonathan Adler, Volokh Conspiracy (Major Right-wing Blog), May 25
"Former National Review Writer Renounces the Right: "The New Hysterical Right Cares Nothing for Truth or Dignity," by Charles Johnson (Highly Influential Former Right-Wing Blog)
"Moderate Republicans Eaten by the Far Right - Or rather, looking in the mirror?" by Siguhu, The Daily Kos (Extreme-Left Blog), May 24
"Writer Michael Fumento Quits Conservative Movement, Calls It 'Hate, Anger And Fear Machine'"" by Dan Avery, QUEERTY (Gay Web site), May 25
"Conservative Quits Right, Cites Allen West 'Extremism,' Malkin 'Hate,'" The New Civil Rights Movement Web site, by David Badash on May 25
"Writer Michael Fumento Quits Conservative Movement, Calls It "Hate, Anger And...", Agency of Books to Worldwide, May 26
On the other hand, a former editor of mine at the Wall Street Journal, James Taranto, dismissed a highly-researched piece of 2,700 words with a solid argument and tons of links with a single tweet: "In what alternative universe is Michael Fumento a 'prominent conservative'?"
That's it; everything I wrote in Salon.com devastated in 144 characters or less. In Taranto's mind, anyway.
My credentials are clearly stated in the piece, and include about a score of articles for newspaper for which Taranto works including the original expose of Erin Brockovich and a piece that denied a newspaper a shot at the Pulitzer Prize for alarmist reporting that heretofore had everybody convinced. Oh, and my classic piece that snuffed out the alleged black church burning epidemic of 1996. Yeah, Wall Street Journal. Now try VERY HARD to recall one piece that Taranto has ever written that's had any impact on any issue in the U.S?
That said, it's true I haven't appeared in those vaunted pages in seven years. That's when the rabid right took over. If you couldn't work in some nasty gratuitous attack on the left, they didn't want you.
May 29, 2012 08:38 PM · Permalink · Barack Obama ~ Politics · TrackBack (0)
A Good Friday to Remember -- The rather dramatic story of my near-fatal car crash off a cliff
By Michael Fumento
Good Friday, April 17, 1992: I'd just started a great job at Investor's Business Daily in Los Angeles, and two weeks earlier I'd purchased the car of my dreams, a beautiful, blue Toyota MR2 Turbo. To me, at least, it looked like a small Ferrari. It was fast and sleek. I was taking my girlfriend, Mary, who had just recently followed me out from Denver, where we'd met, to see a city she'd always dreamed of visiting: San Francisco.
Those articles would be about us.
My essay "A Good Friday to Remember," first appeared on Good Friday two years ago and prompted more fan email than any other piece I've written. If you end up crying, that seems about typical.
April 5, 2012 04:32 PM · Permalink · Ponderings ~ Religion ~ Toyota
No moon base by 2020 made simple
By Michael Fumento
Reaction to Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's proposal that, "By the end of my second term we will have the first permanent base on the Moon [with] commercial near-Earth activities that include science, tourism, and manufacturing," has tended either to be whether it's a good idea or whether it's feasible. It's not feasible; it's impossible. But even those saying that tend to make the issue more complex than it is. Here's a simple explanation to focuses on merely one aspect: Transportation.
Since the Space Shuttle program ended, the U.S. has had no capacity even to send people into space. Yet even the Shuttle could only carry a crew of seven and only into orbit. (In this context, it's important to note that Gingrich mentioned putting 13,000 people on the moon.)
That's a far cry from going to the moon, landing on the moon, taking off from the moon, and returning to earth. Safely. The Shuttle was extremely dangerous. Essentially every aspect of a moon transportation vehicle would have to be new. Could such a vehicle be deployed in eight years?
Consider, design concept to development times of:
Point made.
What Scrooge's 3 ghosts can teach about US Economy
By Michael Fumento
This holiday season, the American public and economy could benefit from being visited by three ghosts - or at least one politician willing to assume their role as blunt bearers of bad news as well as hope for a brighter future.
When Ebenezer Scrooge asks the Ghost of Christmas Present how sick Tiny Tim is, he gets not the answer he wants to hear, but the one he needs to hear: "If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, the child will die."
Contrast that with what Americans are routinely told about the economy: that all apparently bad news has a sterling silver lining; that laws of economics somehow don't apply to the United States; and that there's plenty of time to deal with these problems later. As I write in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "All of this is as dangerously false as it is soothing."
Fact is, use of terms like "soft patch" are utterly bogus. The economy has been in a downward spiral for three decades, masked only by ever-increasing borrowing. REAL unemployment hasn't gone down a bit in the last year and in fact has steadily increased over the past decade. Household income for the vast majority of Americans has been dropping for over a decade.
Excuses for why the economy is ailing are utterly ludicrous. The natural disasters in Japan? Really? Third-quarter US GDP growth was a mere 1.8%, in JAPAN it was 5.6%!
By now it should be obvious things won't just "get better." Things will just worse, UNLESS like Dickens' ghosts our political leaders start telling the public not what it WANTS to hear, but what like Scrooge, it NEEDS to hear. What it needs to hear is that "If these shadows remain unaltered by the future" the American economy MUST inevitably plunge into an economic depression, whence it will (eventually) emerge as a mere vestige of its former self.
A Few Numbers Portending the End of the American Dream
By Michael Fumento
Yes, we basically paid a month's interest.
We are a spendaholic people who feel entitled; which is why fully half of the budget goes to entitlements. We will not pay for that which we buy, and are greatly offended at the suggestion that we should. We will not change.
Nero fiddled. We play Angry Birds, collect from Facebook "friends" we never heard of, and tweet about our latest bowel movements. Pathological narcissism has become the norm, and we have become a nation of electronic addicts like something out of Brave New World.
Says one of the few who really gets it, Cong. Michael Grimm Michael Grimm (R.-NY), "We're in a financial crisis. If we don't have massive cuts, we will lose the American dream for future generations."
It's lost already. Time to reread The Grapes of Wrath on your ebook, Apple, or Droid - or read it for the first time. It's going to be hell.
By Michael Fumento
Pres. Obama has made expanding U.S. exports a centerpiece of his economic plan. In his January State of the Union Address, he noted that "95% of the world's customers and fastest-growing markets are beyond our borders" and that export-related jobs "pay 15% more than average." At a time when jobs are in short supply, he later said, "building exports is an imperative."
So naturally, he's done everything possible to ease passage of the Colombia Free Trade Pact, which the Bush Administration negotiated and the then-Democrat controlled Congress battled up. Right? Wrong.
As I write-in Investor's Business Daily, the pact is lopsided towards the U.S. in that Colombia's exports to us are already tariff-free, while our products sent there carry duties of up to 25% - an estimated $3.2 billion total since the agreement was reached.
Those tariffs would disappear and, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission, expand opportunities for a broad array of U.S. sectors, increase our gross domestic product by about $2.5 billion, lower our massive trade deficit and create J-O-B-S.
That's also where export markets are opening up. Economic performance confidence levels are higher in Latin America than in any other part of the world. That's why other nations are busily entering trade agreements with Colombia, including the entire European Union.
Yet in December Obama refused to even send the Pact to Congress. I absolutely will not speculate as to why.
Not at all.
Not a hint.
Well, except that Big Labor doesn't like the Pact because it means competition for them. And Big Labor donates Big Money to political campaigns, with 90% going to the Dems.
But, of course, the Dems can't say that. So they say they're worried about protecting the rights - indeed the lives - of Colombian labor union members. Except that the percentage of such members reported killed last year was vastly below Colombia's overall homicide rate - not to mention a fraction of that of New Orleans.
But, under tremendous GOP pressure, it looks like Obama is finally sending the Pact to Congress - who, we should hope, has the wisdom to force the President to accept his own rhetoric.
April 9, 2011 01:37 PM · Permalink · Barack Obama ~ Economy ~ Government ~ Latin America
Rationality and the Taping of Moving Boxes
By Michael Fumento
I have long been fascinated by both aberrational and irrational human behavior, at least since I documented a mass outbreak of hysteria regarding the so-called "heterosexual AIDS explosion" that wasn't GOING to take place but allegedly already had.
More recently, I documented that the whole Toyota flap was mass sociogenic hysteria in the same category of the missing children and Satanic abuse in the day care centers hysteria. This notwithstanding that I've been unable to find a single publication willing to print what I show is clearly obvious. Editors don't think anybody is interested that this is America's greatest mass hysteria in many years, and that such mass hysterias usually cause tremendous and lasting damage. And maybe they're right.
Mind, "irrational" and "aberrational" are by no means synonymous. Often enough, irrationality rules the day and it's rationality that is aberrational.
The irrationality that interests me the most is my own. That's allowed because relative to other Americans, I don't have a very large ego. I readily admit when I do dumb things and I ponder why. Such is the case as I've been packing boxes for my forthcoming move to South America.
I found that with flattened boxes I was consistently flipping them so that I first taped the bottoms, filled the boxes, and then taped the tops. But what's a "bottom" and "top?" Silly! It's determined by the writing on the boxes! But who cares what the writing says? Top and bottom are whatever you make of them. So I was being irrational and wasting a bit of time in making sure the lettering was upright.
Or was I?
Fact is, while I SHOULD be packing as if the box is going to be tossed and tossed and tossed, probably part of my brain is assuming this box will be kept upright. Certainly when it's in my possession it will be. That's an important part of the time. And my guess is that while many movers will simply toss boxes about (more roughly, of course, if they're marked "fragile"), that a certain percentage will also be affected by the lettering on the side. Even if that percentage is quite small, spread across a large number of boxes (Too large, "Groan!") it could result in reduced breakage.
So the "irrational" turns out to be not so irrational after all!
Now, with a rub of my lucky rabbit's foot and a four-leaf clover in my pocket, I'm back to packing.
March 9, 2011 01:05 PM · Permalink · Ponderings
The Subsidy of America is Coming to an End
By Michael Fumento
Two items on the front page of yesterday's Washington Post: "Record U.S. Deficit Projected this Year" and "Two lawmakers from Michigan propose billions in incentives for buyers of electric cars." What's wrong with this picture? That's the problem. We don't see anything wrong with this picture. We want it all. But we can't have it all.
Some people think electric cars are nice, because the pollution they generate is off-site. But as Charles Lane, a liberal, writes: "If the cars were cheaper than gas-power cars of equal performance," that would be one thing. "But electrics are substantially more expensive than cars of greater quality." So we have to heavily subsidize them to get them out the door.
On the other hand, gasoline-powered car owners are forced to use ethanol. That's a subsidy to the everyone involved in the ethanol industry, and again it has to be subsidized because it's inferior to gasoline. It cuts your mileage and does essentially nothing to reduce pollution. You just can't go around subsidizing everything.
True enough, the main problem is entitlements. Which, not incidentally, are subsidies. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid already absorb 40% of the budget and grow inexorably without anybody casting a single vote to increase them. Left untouched, they will destroy the country. But earmarks are readily controllable and yet still uncontrolled.
Our nation has a spending addiction. And our politicians don't have the guts to tell the public that no, we can't have it all. And so we will continue to borrow and the Fed will continue to print money. In other words, subsidize the government so it can subsidize special interests.
But as Peter Orzag, Obama's former budget director, writes in the Financial Times, "International investors would be wise to pay close attention to fiscal trends within the U.S." Don't worry, they already are. And at some point, although it will be very costly to them, they will get nervous enough to stop subsiding our subsiding.
Orzag adds, "I hope it does not ultimately require a crisis to restore fiscal sustainability at the federal level, but I fear it will." Indeed, it will. At some point, some point soon, it will all come crashing down.
January 28, 2011 12:09 PM · Permalink · Economy ~ Environment ~ Government
Civility Project Shuts Down for Lack of Interest
By Michael Fumento
The Civility Project is no more and never was, as you can read here and here.
"The worst e-mails I received about the civility project were from conservatives with just unbelievable language about communists, and some words I wouldn't use in this phone call," Civility Project head Mark Demoss said.
"This political divide has become so sharp that everything is black and white, and too many conservatives can see no redeeming value in any liberal or Democrat. That would probably be true about some liberals going the other direction, but I didn't hear from them."
Mr. DeMoss said he was not convinced that there is a link between vicious political attacks and violent acts, but he added, "Whether or not there's violence, whether or not incivility today is worse than it's been in history, it's all immaterial. It's worse than it ought to be."
We are experiencing a mass hysteria of political hatred and anger. Both are common to mass hysterias in that they stimulate the lower brain. Ultimately, you no longer see humans as humans.
Thus you can slaughter whole groups of people, even fact to face, just because they are DIFFERENT. Different nationality, different religion, different ethnic background, different wealth status. It doesn't really matter. You find something YOU believe is different enough to dehumanize them.
And there are always the rabble rousers. You know their names. I used to be friends with some of them. Whether they actually believe the awful things they say is irrelevant. It's good for their egos and pocketbooks and the damage is the same.
Slaughter is the worst, but there are lesser grades of harm that usually come first. And, in this case, hopefully not at all. But this isn't just a short-lived fad anymore than is the hatred and fear of intellectuals and the triumph of mediocrity.
It's yet another sign of a once-great nation in decline. The America we grew up in is no more. If it still looks like it is, you're prey to wishful thinking.
January 17, 2011 01:28 PM · Permalink · Ponderings
Autism Doctor a Fraud, But Hardly Alone
By Michael Fumento
"A deliberate fraud." That's what the British Medical Journal, one of the world's most prestigious periodicals, has written of the study that kicked off the current anti-vaccine movement. It's "clear evidence of falsification of data should now close the door on this damaging vaccine scare," it said in a heavily documented editorial.
Many people, including me, have spent years puncturing his claims and those of his acolytes in the anti-vaccine movement. But a media that thrives on sensationalism instead played up the phony link.
Yet while this "deliberate fraud" has been exposed, others continue to go unchallenged, or worse, get trumpeted by reporters who should know better.
Why! That's even more than I got for writing that article for AOL News!
January 10, 2011 03:11 PM · Permalink · Diseases (other than AIDS and cancer) ~ Hysteria ~ Vaccines
It's World AIDS Day; Have We Truly Forgotten the Victims?
By Michael Fumento
World AIDS Day has rolled around again, amid charges by C. Everett Koop that "HIV is no longer on the public's radar screen, and the result is deadly serious." So the 94-year-old former Surgeon General told the 2010 National Summit on HIV Diagnosis, Prevention and Access to Care in late November. The disease is becoming "the forgotten epidemic," he claimed, causing a dangerous "growing sense of complacency."
AIDS forgotten? Sure, like Sarah Palin is forgotten.
As I observe in my Forbes.com piece today, "On World AIDS Day, Let's Remember the True Forgotten Victims," The term "HIV" brings up over 100 million Google hits in just the past year. Nor is it even an epidemic. U.S. AIDS cases peaked 17 years ago, then plummeted to a steady "endemic" level within three years. Worldwide, a UNAIDS report released last week states the epidemic peaked 11 years ago in terms of cases, with infections peaking much earlier.
Yet HIV/AIDS will receive over $3 billion in the 2011 federal research budget. That doesn't include an entirely separately-funded "infectious disease" category. Granted, it's shy of the 100 billion gagillion that Dr. Evil wanted in order to ransom the earth, but:
Further, the vast majority of federal AIDS spending can't possibly lead to a cure or vaccine or prevent a single new case. Of the approximately $26 billion budgeted this year for HIV/AIDS, only 11 percent will go for research and 3 percent for prevention. The rest is care, cash, and housing assistance.
Federal non-research AIDS spending far exceeds the combined research grant budget for all diseases combined - including AIDS! This even as NIH has to turn away over three-fourth of grant applicants.
It's Koop who's worried about being forgotten. So let's indulge him. Let's recall that he was among the worst perpetrators of AIDS mass hysteria, which I first debunked in a 1987 article and then my 1990 book The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS, including popularizing the term "heterosexual AIDS explosion." The lesson here, Koop said in his talk with no hint of irony, is "If you tell people the truth, in a very factual way, they will act."
No, the lesson is you can indeed fool most of the people most of the time. And then become a hero for it - even as the entire nation pays a horrible price for it for perhaps generations to come.
In Black and White, Toyota Hysteria Exemplified (Forbes.com)
By Michael Fumento
It's not "live!" It's not even "In color!" And there's no sound. But it's quite stunning.
A surveillance video posted by Fox Chicago News Online shows a 2006 Toyota Corolla backing out of a parking space and striking a car. The Corolla then shoots forward and slams into another vehicle, knocking it aside. Next the car swerves, presumably in an effort to avoid a strip mall, and crashes into a brick wall. The driver, Leon Przybylowski, died of his injuries later that day.
As I write in my new Forbes.com piece, "In Black and White, the Toyota Hysteria Exemplified," the family is now suing Toyota. They insist the video supports their claim that Przybylowski, as the newscaster put it, was "yet another victim of sudden unintended acceleration." Their lawyer says it was another victim of "across the board" and "systematic failure" on the part of Toyota. Both, huh?
Actually, the incident is almost a perfect example of why Toyota SUA accidents really happen, comprising as it does:
Oh, and gremlins.
There's no systematic failure with Toyotas. Prior to the hysteria outbreak, only three sudden acceleration complaints were filed with NHTSA regarding 380,000 Toyota Corollas model year 2006. Rather that failure has been that of the media in utterly failing to convey the importance of the above factors.
November 19, 2010 08:48 AM · Permalink · Automobile Safety ~ Toyota ~ Trial Lawyers
The Butcher's Bill for Texting while Driving
By Michael Fumento
In my LA Times piece "Texters, You'd Be Better off Driving Drunk," Oct. 3, I stated "There are no reliable studies regarding deaths associated with driving and texting." Well, there is now.
Texting behind the wheel accounted for 16,141 deaths between 2002 and 2007, according to Researchers from the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Ft. Worth. One way of putting that in context is that in the last 10 years NHTSA has attributed five (5) deaths to sudden unintended acceleration in Toyotas, four in one car. So where are all the newspaper articles and congressional hearings on text messaging?
To arrive at their number, Fernando A. Wilson and Jim P. Stimpson, writing in the Nov. issue of the American Journal of Public Health, analyzed nationwide data from the Fatality Accident Reporting System and texting records from the Federal Communications Commission and CTIA, a wireless telecom industry group.
They compared the number of deaths there have been versus those that would have occurred if there were no text messaging.
And it's only going to get worse. The average monthly number of text messages was 1 million in 2002, but by 2008 it was 110 million.
Panic over five deaths and complacency over 16,000? Not untypical. Since my first AIDS article in 1987 it's been a common theme of mine that the media, the government, and people in general aren't just irrational about reducing risks but actually tend to view them butt-backwards. The more rare something is, the more attention it gets along with more regulations. The more common something is, the more used to it we are and are willing to accept it.
Cassandra is not just the stuff of Greek legends.
October 28, 2010 11:43 PM · Permalink · Automobile Safety
Supreme Court Case May Wipe Out Vaccine Industry
By Michael Fumento
Back when Congress knew how to pass good legislation, in this case in the mid-1980s, it took most cases involving vaccine liability out of the normal court system and put them in a special vaccine court where science and medicine would rule instead of the whims of scientifically and medically ignorant juries.
That's because vaccine companies were going the way of the woolly mammoth, in part because it's just not a very profitable business and in great part because they were awash in over $3.5 billion of lawsuits claiming little more than the post hoc fallacy of "Before the person was vaccinated her or she was fine and since the vaccination he or she became sick." Seriously.
Even as it dramatically cut spurious claims, it helped persons who really had suffered from adverse reactions both by cutting litigation costs and by taking them outside of "roulette wheel" justice wherein a case might net a reward of millions while a virtually identical one would be rejected entirely.
But as I write at Forbes.com, this system itself is now endangered by a Supreme Court case in which the plaintiffs are claiming that having lost their case in Vaccine Court that rather than appeal within that system they should be able to try the case in state or federal court. And Congress did allow for some such exceptions.
But no, not this one. It's very clear from the history of what led up to the statute that Congress did not want cases such as these to bypass the system. Why? In part as one court found, it could to a great extent destroy that very system. I provide other arguments. If we lose this system many, many children will not get their vaccines until something else is instituted. And many will die.
October 27, 2010 10:53 AM · Permalink · Legal ~ Pharmaceuticals ~ Regulation ~ Trial Lawyers ~ Vaccines
Of mice and men and Christine O'Donnell
By Michael Fumento
A recent exchange between Christine O'Donnell and Bill O'Reilly, with a lack of scientific information on both sides.
O'REILLY: Everybody knows that scientists have enough knowledge to clone a human being if they wanted to.
Regarding O'Reilly, as per usual when you see the term "everyone knows" it's a hint of something untrue. It is possible that scientists now have the capability of cloning a human being.
But cloning mice proved fairly easy, sheep much harder, and monkeys much harder yet. Until somebody actually does clone a human being, we won't know whether scientists have enough knowledge. But of course at some point they will have the knowledge and the will clone humans. And it won't be the end of the world. We already have human clones. They're called identical twins.


text:
I am a Barca Pro user however for some reason I cannot get a response from Pocosystems for the the free upgrade from v.1 to v.2.
My first attempt at contacting Pcosystems was at least a few weeks ago and no response from any of my 2 attempts to contact them today either.
I assume they read the threads on this forum so I suspect it's a simple mix up somewhere along the line and that this post will hopefully help bring this to thier notice.
Thanks in advance.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Chicago Man Speaks Out After Doing 3 Weeks Of Jail Time For Yawning In Court! "I Mean I Yawned. Thats What It Was"
yawn, jailed, court, judge, illinois, us
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
Find Top-Rated Middlesboro Credit Repair Companies
There are 1 top-rated credit repair companies in your area and 10 to avoid.
After 20 years, it's now free to join.
- More than 10 Million Verified Reviews
- Nationwide Coverage
- Trusted Ratings
Business Description: www.scoreologyusa.com is a national credit repair company providing our clients with one on one unmatched customer service. We have a track record of proven, outstanding results. We offer a wide variety of credit repair, building and budgeting services. Give us a call to set up your Free Consultation. Scoreology was formerly known as Credit Dr.


text:
I awaken to find you there again, ready to greet me Lord. You know all about me, every part of me. You are not interested in my talents or my strengths. You are not looking where I have it all figured out.
No, that's just not it. That's just where I don't get it.
It's that scary place. When the lightning and the thunder roared so loud and the house shook as if it might fall to the ground. When I was a child that place made me tremble like a skinny leaf. That's when I looked for you. When I cried out to you.
Now I'm old and the thunder doesn't scare me so much. Now I'm hardened with thick scars. Am I not strong? Just look at me and see how strong I am.
Yet in the stillness before the dawn you offer me what I can not give myself. You offer to heal and restore me in places I can not. The places where I am weak and still tremble at the storm.
Take this little boy's hand. Heal this little boy's heart. I cry out to you again.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
. . .
2 Cor 12:10


text:
TANYA Brown is the first Access student from Peter Symonds College to try for and receive an offer from Oxbridge.
She is one of the 40 upper sixth students at Peter Symonds, from 24 secondary schools, who have received conditional offers – 15 from Oxford and 25 from Cambridge.
Tanya, 24, is thrilled with the prospect of studying Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at Lady Cavendish College in Cambridge.
Hannah Sparkes and Matilda Ferry-Swainson, who were home educated until their GCSEs, are also looking forward to gaining the grades to take up places at Cambridge.
The figure this year is fewer than in some recent years.
College Principal Stephen Carville said: "I am extremely proud of this year's group of students, who have received offers from Oxford or Cambridge universities against such tough opposition.
"There are very few schools or colleges, of any kind, anywhere in the UK, state or independent, who can match this figure. It is a testament to the talent and hard work both of the students and also of their teachers and advisers. We must also pay credit, in this achievement, to the secondary schools at which these young people studied before coming to Peter Symonds College."
Four of the students studied at Henry Beaufort and Westgate, three at Swanmore College of Technology and Perins and Thornden, two at Test Valley in Stockbridge and two at Kings'.
The students, with their subjects, colleges and secondary schools are: Abigail Robinson, Experimental Psychology, New College Oxford, Alton Convent; Tessa Lee, Natural Sciences Fitzwilliam Cambridge, Cams Hill School; Ewan West, Engineering, Girton Cambridge, Cams Hill; William Wilson, Chemistry, University College Oxford, Canford; Diana Flindt, Natural Sciences (Physical), Magdalene Cambridge, Churchers; Kelly Whitaker, Law with French Law, Exeter Oxford, Churchers; Francesca Barber, English, Trinity Cambridge, Henry Beaufort; Rivkah Hatchwell, Philosophy, Clare Cambridge; Henry Beaufort; Eleanor Ridge, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Lady Margaret Hall Oxford, Henry Beaufort; Tamsin Woodman, Natural Sciences (Biological), Trinity Hall Cambridge, Henry Beaufort; Matilda Ferry-Swainson, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, Queens Cambridge, home educated; William Hurrell, Engineering, Selwyn Cambridge, King Edward VI; Alexander Smith, Chemistry, Queen's Oxford, Kings'; Meg Honigmann, English, St John's Cambridge, Kings'; Tanya Brown, Psychological & Behavioural Sciences, Lady Cavendish Cambridge, Moira House Girls; Zachariah Gilmore, Maths, Queens Cambridge, Perins; Jonathan Hart, Medicine, St Catharine's Cambridge, Perins; Olivia Probert, Natural Sciences, Downing Cambridge, Perins; Sophie Compton, Veterinary Medicine, St John's Cambridge, Rookwood; Eleanor Wolverson, Geography, Churchill College Cambridge, South Wilts Grammar; Emily Niblo, French and Italian Pembroke Oxford, St Annes Catholic School; Sarah Attrill, Biological Sciences, St Catherine's Oxford, Swanmore; Anna Burningham, Chemistry, St Edmund Hall Oxford, Swanmore; Sophie Guerreri, Natural Sciences (Biological), Girton Cambridge, Swanmore; Jack Peach, Maths, Girton Cambridge, Test Valley; Eleanor Gravenor, Music, Exeter Oxford, Test Valley; Jasmynne Bushrod, Chemical Engineering (via Natural Sciences), Jesus Cambridge, Testwood; Hannah Sparkes, Classics, Downing Cambridge, The Bridge Education Centre; Frederick Barnes, Chemistry, St Hugh's Oxford, The Clere School; Karan Chadda, Medicine, Downing Cambridge, The Mountbatten; Alexander Dalgleish, Computer Science, Robinson Cambridge, Portsmouth Grammar School; Alistair Smith, Physics, University Oxford, The Romsey School; Rosemary Brook-Hart, French and Spanish, Wadham Oxford, The Westgate; Fiona Brown, Geography, Girton Cambridge, The Westgate; Joshua Carter, Maths, Downing Cambridge, The Westgate; Harriet Collier, Linguistics, Murray Edwards Cambridge, The Westgate; Timothy Bird, Geography, Open Oxford, Thornden; Danielle Lewis, Maths, Fitzwilliam Cambridge, Thornden; Darius McArdle, Chemistry, Lady Margaret Hall Oxford, Thornden; Isobel Ager, Japanese, Queen's Oxford, Wykeham.


text:
A Silver Lake resident named Chris advised his neighbors on Shadwowlawn Avenue near West Silver Lake Drive to be on lookout for a motorcyclist who early this morning managed to get inside his Lexus parked on the street. The motorcyclist fled the scene after one of Chris' neighbors who saw the crime taking place shouted at the suspect before anything was taken (though the vehicle registration maybe missing). Police said they think that the suspect wearing a multicolored motorcycle jacket and helmet may have opened the Lexus door with a key that can be used to open similar cars.
"LAPD visited and said more than likely he was looking for a garage door opener and has probably been casing Shadowlawn and other streets for a good while," Chris said in an email. "Take your garage door opener OUT of your car."


text: Hi, We have cloned a sponge (porifera) Tyrosine Kinase, and the ORF appears to begin with GTG instead of the common eukaryotic start site ATG. Can anyone refer me to literature or a databank entery of a protein with such a start site? Thanks in advance, Zeev Pancer, Ph.D. Dept. of Applied Molecular Biology Inst. fur Physiologische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz E-mail: pancer at mzdmza.zdv.uni-mainz.de


text:
So we left off with me getting a job as a character artist at Traveller's Tales. Since then I search high and low for a place to live and was seriously running out of time. But luckily I found a one bed flat about a 4 minute walk from work. Which I have to say is so helpful, considering the trains here are very infrequent and is like a 60's bus on rails! Bit of a change from London where I have lived for 2 years in various parts.
So I've started work and been there for a month now. And everything is in full swing for working on Lego Harry Potter 5-7. I'm mostly on costume change duty due to the sheer amount of character we have and the different outfits they wear. I'm also getting to design some minor characters from scratch too which is great considering I haven't been there long. We also have other stuff in the pipeline which we haven't started on yet which sounds (and looks) awesome.
But the number one thing I've discovered about the games industry since I've properly started in it? It's the people! I love people in general and the guys are work with are awesome. Being a company of 200+ people it's not too large that you get lost but big enough is that you can meet lots of different types of people. The feeling of camaraderie and team working is immense.
I'm so excited for our games release and I can see the fruits of our labour being enjoyed by people around the world!


text:
Last Thursday about mid-morning, I received an email from a neighbor of mine who works in the Woodruff Library at Emory University: "I hear numbers between 15-20 for chickens in the library this morning. They are all rounded up, do you think there is a chicken rescue out there, or neighbors that would be interested? I think the library has called animal control."
Now that is an email one doesn't see coming, even in the life of an urban homesteader. But I have worked at Emory as a writer and an editor for seventeen years, and for some reason the message felt like a natural confluence of two aspects of my life that don't usually overlap. So I got right on it. I called the library and begged them to hold off on calling Animal Control . . . too late! The birds were on their way to chicken jail.
But the librarian filled me in: some members of the Emory University Senior Class of 2011, in a classic "college prank" maneuver, released a bunch of pullets, a couple of hens, and a rooster in the reference section of the library. Here is the video of the birds making quite an impression on a bunch of strung-out students in the middle of final exams:
And here is a video one of the librarians took after the security crew rounded them up in the loading dock area and secured them with — what else? — book cases (I'm really sorry I missed seeing that):
Undeterred, I then called my next-door neighbor and one of my partners in all things chicken, Bill, and begged him to drop whatever he was busy doing and drive over to Animal Control with me. He laughed and, not one to dodge a wacky adventure, helped me load up as many animal carriers as we had between the two of us into his Jeep, and away we went. Here is the video I shot of our trip:
We brought home ten. I sent a few emails, and by the end of the day, I had identified more experienced flockkeepers willing to adopt them than I had chickens to place in new homes. So I decided to return to Animal Control on Saturday morning for the rest. But by the time I got there, the others had all been taken, save the rooster, who had wriggled free at some point and is now roaming the woods around Animal Control (I have secretly named him Lynyrd, as in "Freebird").
The ten we gathered up seem vigorous and healthy. The little hen, whom we have decided to keep for ourselves, is already laying (we have named her Dooley, and the other two we are keeping are Charlotte Brontë and Dorothy Sayers, since they had such literary beginnings with us).
The Library Boks will spend a full week in quarantine to make sure they are free from any sneaky diseases that might spread to other flocks. I devoted most of this weekend to placing them with their new families and helping folks figure out how to best manage the transition (the key is to do it gradually and to give the new birds a safe place to hang out while it's happening, and to not be alarmed by some aggression while the pecking order is being established). Everyone who took some of the birds agreed to follow through on the quarantine. Here are some pictures of them as they meet their new flockkeepers:
I know some have been troubled by the student pranksters' lack of regard for the animals' welfare. But chickens are resilient creatures, and these birds seem to have not been too traumatized. And they all have good homes and will have the best possible life a chicken can have. I love a happy ending.


text:
Chris Lambert needed a new print or packaging design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 68 designs submitted by 7 freelance designers.
Wave Away
I am an outdoorsman. This is a product I have been working on for a long time and I am very excited to be taking the final steps in taking it to market. I am blessed to have the help of Brent Ehrler who is ranked #2 in the world of professional bass fishing. He is well known across the U.S. among the fishing community so I want his pictures to be first and foremost regarding the brand name.
The first target market will be sport fishing enthusiasts who own boats or know someone who owns a boat.
The package is a simple blister card that needs graphics on the front and back. There's also a bottle label and a card that goes over a microfiber cloth. All of the pictures and outlines are attached below. I want the designer to put all of the required elements on the packaging but I want them to use the artistic approach and make it all flow.
I think that I have laid things out pretty well on the attached file "packaging elements". I hope that all of the dimension regarding the different elements makes sense and is easy to work with.
Wave Away has an unregistered trademark. I would like for the "tm" symbol to be used on the quotes and product descriptions.
I feel like I have all the required material in place so the designers need to use the artistic ability and get the packaging laid out in a visually appealing way. The pictures of Brent are what I want peoples eyes to be drawn to at first. I would like to have the pictuers edited so that there isn't any background to make things too busy.....trim the outline around Brent.
The Wave Away logo has the words sonar and gps cleaner above it. I would like those words removed from the logo since it will be so small on the packaging.
The spray bottle will be clear and the microfiber cloth will be blue. The cover in front of the microfiber cloth can be altered to fit the designers ideas. It doesn't need to be rectangle in shape. I would like for a portion of the cloth to be visible from the top but I don't think we should have too much of it showing. The less cloth showing the more space we have for graphics and text.


text:
Overall, +2 for the internship. The internship was a really positive experience for me on many levels. I met amazing people and got an inside view of how an Open Source project works. Chris and Zeljko were awesome mentors, and I learned a great deal from them about Quality Assurance and automation. I also accomplished my goal of learning to code QA automation tests in Cucumber and Ruby. It was truly inspiring to work in an environment that held itself to the high standards it promotes of collaboration, transparency and sense of community. By participating in the Engineering Community Meetings I got to see the ways in which Wikimedia works to involve volunteers at many levels. Very impressive was the quality of the QA automation workshops we held, and the number of volunteers participating. Also impressive was the QA mailing list, and the high level of discourse there. I always wondered how open source projects like Wikipedia are able to be so successful. Now I know; it is the dedication and passion of the people involved that makes these projects happen. It was cool to see this up close and personal, as I saw how projects evolved and people collaborated together to make things happen.
On a personal note, I am grateful that programs like the Outreach Program for Women exist to give people like myself an opportunity to learn new skills. I have been trying to get into the QA automation field for some time, but unfortunately I have found that the corporate world is not so eager to take a chance on you if you don't already have the skill set they are looking for. This becomes the classic chicken-and egg problem. You can't get the job till you have the skill, and you can't get the skill until someone gives you an opportunity to work in that field. Kudos to OPW and Open Source for giving people a chance to advance themselves and learn new things, and to break out of this cycle!
On to the list of my major accomplishments:
- Wrote a test plan for VisualEditor, detailing the types of tests needed to test VisualEditor.
- My test cases were the first automated tests to be written to check VE functionality. They included tests for logins, links, headers, references and bullets. To see my coding contributions, please go here.
- Learned cutting edge technology to write my tests: Cucumber, Ruby, Page Object Design and Selenium/Watir.
- Did exploratory testing of VisualEditor resulting in several bugs being found, and filed in Bugzilla.
- Make use of Git and Gerrit to check in my code and get code reviewed.
- Contributed to the QA community outreach at Wikimedia by helping to run the QA automation workshop for volunteers, attending Engineering Community Meetings, and pair programming to train a new QA volunteer.
For the future, I am planning to still contribute to QA automation efforts at Wikimedia, and will also be job hunting, looking for a QA automation job in the Boston area. By the way, if anyone out there has any job leads for this sort of job, please let me know! (Email: rachelqa99 (at) gmail.com)
Thanks to the Wikimedia Foundation for giving me this wonderful opportunity, and thanks to the Outreach Program for Women for making this program happen.
See you all around the web. :)
Thanks to the Wikimedia Foundation for giving me this wonderful opportunity, and thanks to the Outreach Program for Women for making this program happen.
See you all around the web. :)


text:
Bryanna Clark Grogan's Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 21st Century Table: The kitchen journal of a vegan food writer.. I'm on Facebook and Twitter (see links in sidebar at right).
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
On the right, quesadillas filled with leftover Seitan "Steak" au Poivre, my Vegan "Gruyere", and baby spinach
On the left, Vegan "Gruyere" and Mango Quesadillas
On Monday I had a thing about quesadillas. I had breakfast late and I took a couple of corn tortillas out of the freezer. I know, flour tortillas are supposed to be the thing for quesadillas, but I really love corn tortillas. I topped one with slices of my homemade Vegan "Gruyere" (but you could use any vegan "cheese") and fresh mango slices, topped it with another corn tortilla, and then pan-grilled it on both sides in a nonstick pan. I ate it with some storebought corn and tomato salsa...very satisfying.
By the time I was hungry for lunch, I still craved tortillas, so I took a couple more out of the freezer, but this time I sliced one of my leftover Seitan "Steak" au Poivre in half horizontally and paired it with more of the Vegan "Gruyere" and some baby spinach leaves.
I grilled it the same way. Because the "steak" was so peppery, I didn't need salsa with it.
There you have it...nothing dramatic; quick, easy, tasty, healthful. What do you like in quesadillas? Do you prefer corn or flour tortillas?
18 comments:
- Jane M said...
Looks yummy! I prefer the corn tortillas myself...much more flavour. I think maybe they have more nutrition than wheat ones? Maybe wrong about that but I use corn tortillas too.
- Wed May 31, 08:29:00 AM PDT
In our house, we always used corn torts when I was growing up! I think corn is traditional and flour is Americanized quesadillas :)
- Wed May 31, 08:37:00 AM PDT
- primaryconsumer said...
I prefer corn tortillas anyday.
- Wed May 31, 09:13:00 AM PDT
My preference is the flour tortillas. I like that they are more flexible ... when rolled or folded they don't tend to crack at the fold. That said, as mentioned the corn ones ARE more flavorful than plain white ones. But I usually get the flavored ones ... jalapeno, basil/herb, sundried tomato, etc.
- Wed May 31, 10:55:00 AM PDT
- harlemgrrl said...
the steak/spinach/cheese looks so tasty, i hope the seitan au poivre recipe is in the next newsletter. would make a great vegan summer bbq treat, yum.
and although i really like both kinds, i slightly prefer soft and chewy flour tortillas.
- Wed May 31, 12:38:00 PM PDT
- Bryanna Clark Grogan said...
harlemgrrl, the "steak" and "steak" au poivre recipes will be in the next newsletter!
- Wed May 31, 12:55:00 PM PDT
oh bryanna, thank you for this. I've recently realized that I have a wheat intolerance, and white flour tortillas are a big no-no for me. I can't have the seitan (essential wheat gluten) but the corn quesadilla opens up a lot of options for me!
thanks again!
- Wed May 31, 12:59:00 PM PDT
I love fresh corn tortillas, but for quesadillas I usually use whole wheat flour tortillas. My favorite filling is the following (also a spectacular combination for nachos, with blue corn chips):
Black beans
Finely diced jalapeños (from the jar, not fresh)
Marinated artichoke hearts
Sliced kalamata olives
Vegan mozzarella cheese substitute
The flavors are all really strong but go together surprisingly well, especially with a nice creamy vegan mozzarella. Yum!
- Wed May 31, 01:34:00 PM PDT
Why did I not know you could freeze tortillas? Duh! Brilliant!
- Wed May 31, 07:43:00 PM PDT
- O' said...
Haven't been very bloggy, and what do I miss? Fake steak au poivre! Bryanna, have I told you lately how much I love you? Signing up for that newsletter tout de suite!
- Thu Jun 01, 08:53:00 AM PDT
- Crystal & Ryan - Café Cyan said...
I just learned how to say Gruyere, now I will have to learn how to make vegan Gruyere. I love quesadillas! Check that...I love eating food.
- Thu Jun 01, 10:18:00 AM PDT
- harlemgrrl said...
the "steak" and "steak" au poivre recipes will be in the next newsletter!
my picnic basket says thank you :)
- Thu Jun 01, 10:49:00 AM PDT
- The Reluctant Vegan said...
It's all gorgeous!
You know, I've been reading your stuff since the olden days of vegsource.org (before .com), and I just realized that I don't own any of your cookbooks! This cannot be allowe to continue. Do you have a suggestion for which one to try first? (If it helps, I seem to drool most over your cheese recipes.)
- Fri Jun 02, 11:41:00 AM PDT
- Bryanna Clark Grogan said...
reluctant vegan-- thanks! Even if you are only 25 or something thereabouts, you might like to check out "Soyfoods Cooking for a Positive menopause" just for the recipes! Or "Nonna's Italian Kitchen". Or you might like to subscribe to The Vegan Feast Newsletter, where all my new stuff is.
- Fri Jun 02, 11:47:00 AM PDT
- harlemgrrl said...
reluctant vegan,
in the (unsolicited) opinion of a totally biased vegan foodie, take bryanna's advise and in addition to the newsletter go for nonna's kitchen.
mmm, bruschetta, scaloppine alla marsala w/cappellini, and lemon tart
it's even my omni bf's favorite cookbook (for me to cook from of course, but still...)
- Fri Jun 02, 02:35:00 PM PDT
You can't go wrong with any of Bryanna's books; but I say start with Nonna's too!
- Fri Jun 02, 07:33:00 PM PDT
- The Reluctant Vegan said...
Thanks, everyone! Both books and the newsletter are on my list (doesn't everyone have a list of things they'll buy as soon as they can afford to buy something?) :-)
- Fri Jun 02, 11:12:00 PM PDT
- The Reluctant Vegan said...
Oh, and I'm 40 or someplace thereabouts. ;-)
- Sat Jun 03, 10:23:00 AM PDT


text:
January 12, 2006
Get directions to Wabash College Fine Arts Center
The Indianapolis Opera Ensemble will present a concert at 8 p.m. Wednesday, January 18, in Salter Hall in the Fine Arts Center.
The Indianapolis Opera Young Artist Program takes opera education on the road throughout Indiana and neighboring states. Four young professional singers and a coach/accompanist are selected through national audition. This ensemble-in-residence logs nearly 10,000 miles annually, presenting a variety of programs to over 50,000 students and adults in its 22-week season.
Presenting nearly 10 shows weekly, these early-career singers hone critical professional skills. Members fill supporting roles in mainstage productions, receive vocal coaching from the Artistic Director, participate in classes with visiting mainstage artists and train in stage movement, combat, and scene study.
The program is free and open to the public.


text:
by Tom Utescher
No fewer than 11 lads from last year's Springside Chestnut Hill Academy soccer team skedaddled with diplomas back in June, including high-scoring forward Danny Hull, speedy midfielder Dan Trulear, and starting goalie Sam Feirson. Obviously, the Blue Devils will need to have at least a few relatively inexperienced players mature quickly to fill in around the returning veterans if they hope to improve upon last season's 4-6 showing in the Inter-Ac League.
After starting practice last Monday, the SCH booters ended their first week together with multi-team tune-up tournaments on Friday and Saturday. The itinerary this week includes a trip down south for a match against Chapel Hill High School, located near coach Joe DiSalvo's collegiate alma mater, the University of North Carolina. DiSalvo, heading into his fourth season piloting the Devils, is a graduate of the old Chestnut Hill Academy, as is second-year assistant coach Bob Buoncristiano.
The four seniors on the team, who have been designated quad-captains this year, are forward Andrew Marcantonio-Fields, midfielder Tom Higgins, and defenders Tim Ogle and Kevin Voye.
Junior midfielders John Phillip Kelly and Anthony Liddy are both third-year varsity players, and their classmates and fellow mids Andy Hall and Evan Wilson were both on the varsity squad last year. New additions from the junior class are defender Pat Feighery, who played second singles on the SCH tennis team last spring, and center mid Alec Greenhill, a transfer from Council Rock North High School.
The contenders for the goalie vacancy left by Feirson are junior Josh Moss and freshman Sam McDowell.
Forward Jose Contreras, mid Michael Bown, and defender Peter Davis are all sophomores who were varsity players as freshmen, and this fall they'll be joined by classmates Brian Hamilton (mid) and Jack Prochniak (defense).
Coach DiSalvo said he has his eye on half-a-dozen ninth-grade prospects:
Tim Booth, Hunter Ferry, Blake Greenhall, Padgett Gustavson, Harrison Kapp, and Henry Kelly. Greenhall (Alec Greenhall's brother) and Booth are new arrivals at Springside Chestnut Hill; the other four are returning students.


text:
If it's at all possible to put a positive spin on a searing drought that has withered crops, dried lakes and altogether fried a weary Heartland this summer, it may be this:
Fewer tornadoes.
Preliminary data gathered by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that fewer tornadoes skipped, dragged or plowed across the United States in July than during any other July in the 60 years since reliable numbers began being recorded. The same analysis shows that the summer of 2012 may break the record for the fewest tornadoes for any U.S. summer.
In prime tornado season, from mid-April to late July, the U.S. typically sees about 850 twisters — two-thirds of the 1,300 or so that sweep across the nation yearly.
"This year, we are going to end up with about just a little less than 300 (in the height of the season), more than 500 tornadoes behind what would be normal," said Harold Brooks, a research meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla., who analyzed the data with colleague Greg Carbin, a meteorologist at NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, also in Norman.
August, with about 20 tornadoes reported so far, tends to be one of the least active tornado months, ranking fourth behind December, January and February.
The number of July twister touchdowns this year was a skimpy 12 — a far cry from the 150 or so that have been known to rake across the lower 48 states in the late summer months. Before this year, the quietest July was in 1960 when 42 tornadoes swept across parts of the U.S.
Brooks said the reason is as clear as the omnipresent pale blue skies overhead: No thunderstorms.
"You need to have thunderstorms as a starting point, and that hasn't happened," he said. "We're all aware of that."
Wind shear is also vital. That, too, has been sorely lacking with the jet stream and its attendant winds coursing up into Canada. Those currents are ranging farther north than is typical and compounding the drought.
"As the summer progressed, the drought just got deeper, more intense," said Jim Keeney, weather program manager for the National Weather Service Central Region Headquarters in Kansas City. "There was no chance to develop the storm systems that produce any kind of precipitation, let alone tornadoes."
Likewise, the more northerly flowing jet stream also pushed lower-48 storm chasers — accustomed to stalking violent vortices through the Tornado Alley that runs from Texas through Oklahoma and Kansas — into the northern climes.
"It's been really slow for those people as well," Keeney said. "A lot of them had to go way farther north and had to move up to Canada."
To be fully accurate, Brooks and Carbin looked at the numbers while trying to adjust for tornado "inflation" — the fact that better technology, along with more storm chasers and spotters, would likely provide more accurate tornado numbers than in past years. In other words, historical tornado numbers are probably far less than actually occurred.
Adjusted for inflation, the 42 tornadoes that occurred in July 1960 would be adjusted up to about 73, making the paltry 12 of the most recent July even more significant.
Last year, by contrast, saw 1,691 tornadoes reported across the country. Only 2004, when the country was hit by 1,817 twisters, had more on record.
The great tornado "drought" of 2012 becomes notable considering the year's violent start, with far more tornadoes than average recorded in January, February and March.
"We were about 100 tornadoes above normal through March," Brooks said.
Then, on April 14, 80 tornadoes walloped the nation in a single day, with 12 spinning through parts of Kansas, including on the edge of Wichita, where a mobile home park was splintered by raging winds.
This year is no gauge of next year's tornado season, Brooks said. What is certain, Keeney said, is that one of the droughts is going to continue for the time being.


text:
EUREKA — Two men accused of cutting knobby growths known as burls from an old growth redwood tree in Northern California have been convicted of felony vandalism.
The Times-Standard of Eureka reports (http://bit.ly/1jkQiiN) that Danny Garcia, of Orick, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 19 after pleading guilty to the charge on May 27. The second defendant, Larry Morrow, also pleaded guilty to felony vandalism. He was sentenced to three years probation.
Officials with Redwood National and State Parks say a researcher found several large burls missing from a tree in the park in April 2013.
An anonymous tip led to the discovery of the burls at a shop in Del Norte County and the subsequent arrests.
Burls can go for $2 to $3 a pound. Authorities have recently reported a rise in burl poaching along the Northern California coast.
Information from: Times-Standard, http://www.times-standard.com


text:
Families in the Philippines uprooted by disaster have begun receiving text messages which they can cash like checks to buy food. The pilot project makes use of the widespread availability of mobile phones in the Philippines, which is known as the "texting capital of the world". Watch video
MANILA— The Philippines is one of the most phone-savvy countries in the world, but it's also prone to violent storms and conflict, which force people from their homes and threaten them with hunger.
In emergencies like these, WFP often helps by setting up "Cash for Work" projects that help uprooted communities get back on their feet. With the cash people earn as they work on rebuilding homes and communities, they can buy the food they need.
Now, in the texting capital of the world, WFP is testing mobile phones as a way of distributing the cash.
"It's like a digital wallet—almost like a bank account," said WFP Country Director Stephen Anderson, who explained that giving participants cash in the place of food rations allows them to buy a wider variety of food in a way that favours the local economy."
Our survey shows that they are spending up to 70–80 per cent of the cash on food," he added. "We think that's a good thing."


text:
Waterfront townhome living is brought to a new level of luxury in this artfully designed new showplace, one of just two, facing south on the Cap Knight Bayou Canal, where the picturesque view stretches over the wide waters to the yacht-filled Lighthouse Point Marina. Leading South Florida builder Ellemar Luxury Construction has teamed with RWB/Linares Architecture in creating this stunning residence with a rare combination of innovative modern design, superior construction, townhome ease, and some of the most sought-after features of a private estate. Not only does the home have its own full-service yacht dock, right near the inlet, it also enjoys an exquisite outdoor entertainment space featuring an infinity pool and spa by the soaring lanai outfitted with a summer kitchen, capturing the waterfront view from right by the shoreline which has a new seawall.
Styled with coastal-themed elements and nautically inspired touches, the sleek-lined contemporary architecture translates to a wonderful sense of space in the generous, light-filled layout totaling 5,626 +/- square feet with four bedrooms, four and a-half baths, walk-in closets, impact-rated glass, and a two-bay garage, plus an expansive sky deck on the third level. Airy glass walls connect to the waterfront's outdoor oasis from the spacious great room that seamlessly combines the lofty-double height living area, open dining room, and epicurean's kitchen. The powder room doubles as the cabana bath. A private guest suite is also on the main level. Upstairs, the luxe master suite opens through a view-filled window wall to its own waterfront balcony, and indulges in a spa-style bath next to two walk-in closets. In the other wing, two more bedroom suites open to another balcony.
Scheduled for completion in August of 2018, this new luxury townhome is the epitome of perfection in a choice waterfront setting right off Lake Placid, where it flows into the Intracoastal Waterway just north of the ocean inlet. For the best of both worlds, the ideal location enjoys the peaceful and scenic atmosphere of gracious Lighthouse Point while having the world-class attractions of Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton a short drive away.
- List Price
- $2,795,000
- Property Type
- Bedrooms
- 4
- AC Square Feet
- 4,147
- Garage Spaces
- 2
- Year Built
- 2019
- Taxes
- $5,078
- Tax Year
- 2018
- New Construction
- Yes
Here is the estimated breakdown for this property's mortgage and tax payments. Feel free to adjust any of the values.
Results received from this calculator are designed for comparative purposes only, and accuracy is not guaranteed.
No properties found
No properties found
No properties found


text:
Vanessa Williams and Kim Kardashian were at the Atlanta airport early this morning, hopping a flight back to Los Angeles after shooting scenes for Tyler Perry's movie, "The Marriage Counselor."
Vanessa and Kim make a fun pairing ... both had to overcome sex scandals early in their careers before they rose to superstardom.
Reach for the stars.
CommentsClick To View
Hot Video


text:
Ontario Masters in Project Management On Campus Programs & Degrees
Individuals who possess strong organization and communication skills and who are proficient at multitasking and problem solving may be interested in attending masters in project management schools. Depending on their background and careers goals, they may choose to pursue a masters of project management degree, or an MBA in project management.
Many industries utilize project managers to oversee a project from the planning phase through the final closeout. Project managers coordinate with a team to create a budget, define the scope of work and set deadlines for the project. They then work to utilize human, material and technological resources to compete the project within the agreed-upon parameters.
Masters in project management schools seek to prepare graduates to take on these and other challenges through a combination of coursework, practicums and projects. Universities that offer masters degrees in project management on campus also provide students with the opportunity to interact with peers and professors face-to-face as they learn the tools and techniques needed to excel in this industry.
Basics of Masters in Project Management Schools
Masters in project management schools may offer a wide variety of programs. A master's in project management program focuses specifically on the skills necessary to see a project from its inception through its completion. Schools may also offer MBA programs with a project management concentration alongside more general business classes.
Typically masters in project management schools offer courses on-campus at a set time. However this does not mean you sacrifice flexibility. In fact, many campus based project management masters programs offer night courses or part time options for working students.
In between classes, students may be able to take advantage of campus resources, like libraries, labs,
gyms and student services. This may make it a perfect choice for those looking for the "traditional" grad school experience, full of opportunities to network with professors and peers.
Certification in Project Management for Masters Degree Students
In addition to the potential career benefits that earning a masters in project management degree on campus provides, many students also wish to become certified by the Project Management Institute (PMI). This respected organization sets quality and educational standards for the global project management community. Some university programs are accredited by the PMI's Global Accreditation Center for Project Management Education Programs (GAC). GAC accreditation is a rigorous process, but one that adds prestige to a program and its graduates. Others schools offer opportunities for students to accrue PMI credits and credentials as part of their master's level coursework.[i]
Potential Careers for Project Management Masters Degree Holders
Project management is a diverse field that may offer professionals the opportunity to purse a number of different potential career paths. Project managers might pursue potential career opportunities in industries including; healthcare, information technology, construction, transportation and engineering. Depending on their education and experience, they may oversee projects related to green technology, software development or infrastructure. While many work for corporations, government and nonprofit organizations also employ project managers. A small sampling of project management careers includes:
- Information Technology Project Managers – Oversee computer, electronic and software activities within an organization. Projects may include the creation of new technologies or the implementation and expansion of existing technologies.
- Environmental Engineers – Prevent, control and remediate environmental hazards with various engineering techniques and technologies. May collaborate with scientists, technicians, government organizations, lawyers and engineers.
- Construction Managers – Direct the activities needed to construct or maintain structures and facilities. Coordinate with architects, owner's representatives, superintendents and subcontractors to plan, schedule and complete construction projects that are in compliance with local and national safety and building codes.
Regardless of the industry, one of a project manager's primary tasks is to constantly monitor the progress of a project and ensure that budgets, deadlines, quality control standards and other specifications are being met. They must serve as a liaison between laborers or technicians and owners or clients to ensure that the product delivered meets expectations in every way, while also providing a profit for the company.
Potential Career Outlook for Project Managers
Job prospects in project management are as varied as the industries this field encompasses. However, the outlook is positive for project managers in many sectors. According to O'Net, in 2014 the median wage for a project manager in information technology was $83,410 annually, with a projected growth of 3% to 7% over the next ten years[ii]. Environmental engineers earned $83,360 in 2014, and face a faster-than-average project growth of 15% to 21% in the coming years[iii]. The 2014 median wage in construction management was $85,630. This field also faces faster-than-average job growth (15% to 21%) over the next ten years[iv].
A project manager must be able to balance the needs and expectations of many individuals and groups as they plan, schedule and execute a project. They should be adept at building teams and coordinating with others. In many ways, they are like the hub of a wheel, serving as the center where the disparate elements of a project come together. Students who choose to pursue master's degrees in project management on campus can find a number of interesting programs and unique opportunities. They may have the chance to participate in research projects, network with peers and professionals, and gain valuable professional certifications. By advancing their education, they can enhance their current career or pursue new potential career opportunities.
Find Masters in Project Management Schools
Ready to attend classes on campus and earn your project management masters degree? Start your search right here. Click on any of the program listings to read descriptions and contact masters in project management schools directly.
Your future could be only one click away!
Sources: [i] http://www.pmi.org/Certification.aspx | [ii] onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1199.09 | [iii] onetonline.org/link/summary/17-2081.00 | [iv] onetonline.org/link/summary/11-9021.00
Sponsored Listings
- Guelph, ONGuelph, ON
University of Guelph
Graduate Program in Planning and Development
Sponsored Listings


text:
Woman Plunges To Her Death After Tripping Over Thongs
It was Lorena Barrera's first day living in Los Angeles when she decided to take a photo at a popular tourist spot.
Sadly it would be her last.
The 21-year-old was with friends at Point Fermin Park when she decided to get a closer view of the ocean.
Climbing over a metre high wall, Barrera edged closer to the edge of the cliff which had cost two others their lives the week before.
As she made her way across, the Nevada local tripped on her thongs, falling 30 metres to her death.
According to ABC7 LA, Barerra was found at the base of the cliff where she had fallen onto the rocks below.
A Los Angeles Fire Chief told the station her friends tried their best to save her.
"The two people she was with made an effort but they lost her grip and she fell," he said.
Officials say the cliff causes around a dozen accidental death each year because people try to get too close to the edge.
Barrera's friends have described the great pain her death has caused on a GoFundMe page.
"She passed over in such an unexpected and horrific way," they wrote.
"She was only 21 years old had such a bright future ahead of her."


text:
- no detail
- some detail
- full detail
Arnaldo Momigliano and Tim Cornell
In Rome a client was a free man who entrusted himself to another and received protection in return. Clientship was a hereditary social status consecrated by usage and recognized, though not defined ... More
client kings
David C. Braund
The term 'client kings' is conventionally used by scholars to denote a range of monarchs and quasi-monarchs of non-Roman peoples who enjoyed a relationship with Rome that was essentially harmonious ... More
Piero Treves, Cyril Bailey, and Andrew Lintott
(1) Magisterial or priestly: a board of officials. (2) Private: any private association of fixed membership and constitution (see clubs, roman).The principle of collegiality was a standard feature of ... More
Peter Sidney Derow
The title of the chief annual civil and military magistrates of Rome during the republic. Two consuls were elected annually for most, if not all, of the republic by the centuriate assembly (see ... More
Coruncanius, Tiberius
Peter Sidney Derow
Tiberius Coruncanius, from *Tusculum, consul 280 bce, dictator (for elections) 246, died 243. As consul he celebrated a triumph over *Volsinii and *Vulci and was active with his colleague (P. ... More
cursus honorum
T. Corey Brennan
Down to the 3rd cent. bce there were perhaps few rules concerning the cursus honorum (career path) other than a requisite period of military service before seeking the political offices open to one's ... More
A. N. Sherwin-White and Andrew Lintott
An extraordinary supreme magistracy at Rome, used first in military, later in domestic crises.In Latin cities we find the name 'dictator' given to a regular magistracy, but there is no evidence that ... More
education, Roman
J. V. Muir
There is very little reliable evidence bearing upon formal education in the early period. Education was then certainly centred on the family and was probably based upon apprenticeship supervised by ... More
Andrew Drummond
Comprised bundles of rods, approximately 1.5 m. (5 ft.) long and of elm- or birchwood, and a single-headed axe; they were held together by red thongs and carried by *lictores. An iron set from a late ... More
Peter Sidney Derow
Imperium was the supreme power, involving command in war and the interpretation and execution of law (including the infliction of the death penalty), which belonged at Rome to the kings (see rex) ... More
- no detail
- some detail
- full detail


text:
Skip to comments.(Inked) In Czech Republic, A Leading Presidential Candidate Has a Full-Face Tattoo
Posted on 01/11/2013 2:45:28 PM PST by DogByte6RER
In Czech Republic, a leading presidential candidate has a full-face tattoo
File this under, Things that could never happen in America. That man is Vladimir Franz, a Czech composer who is tattooed from head and face to toe, and hes third in the polls in the Czech Republics presidential election, which is going on Friday and Saturday.
This is the first time Czechs will directly elect a president a mainly ceremonial position because the prime minister largely runs the country.
Since the breakup of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic has had two presidents, Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus, and both were elected by Parliament. But both of those elections were plagued by charges of corruption, so the legislature handed over the vote to the general public.
Klaus, the incumbent, called the direct elections a fatal mistake because someone like Franz might succeed him.
Franz, a composer and 53-year-old professor at Pragues Academy of Performing Arts, campaigned on a platform of anti-corruption, education and morality, gathering 88,000 signatures in a petition for his candidacy in 2012. The Guardian reports that his tattoos dont seem to bother most Czechs, especially the youth:
He has proved particularly popular with young voters and those not yet eligible to cast a ballot. In a mock presidential election at 441 high schools across the country a month before the vote, Franz won by a landslide, winning more than 40% of the approximately 60,000 votes cast.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"Finally ... my big chance. If Franz wins, I have a real shot at that high level public relations job that I have been seeking for a long time."
He'd have a better shot at guv of Minnesota.
Impressive Maori style ink, no less. I think it's cool, personally.
When people talk about someone having to carry a sign
that says, "I'm STUPID", there it is.
Why do I feel certain he's in the back of a patrol car...
It's a sick, sick world out there. I can see why the global communists have their best chance to achieve total global dominance over the planet at this time in history. Most people currently infesting this joint are totally braindead.
Why doesn't the guy fill in the non tat areas on his face and run as the first post racial president... Worked real well in the USA ...
Good Lord, those things hurt just looking at them. Never had one or a piercing. Brrrrrrr... I hate needles.
I was expecting a well done Maori style tribal looking face tat, but this guy looks like he's trying to be Al Jolson.
Too much coverage. Not enough defined lines.
Tip of the Day: Codify into your law that no one under Age 21 (26 would be better) and who doesn't own property and pay taxes can vote.
Too much white in the eyeballs. That will be the next frontier, no doubt.
They already have some who specialize in tattooing eyes. I saw it on the discovery channel that they can tattoo the whites with either full coloring or by inserting objects just under the clear part.
They even can tattoo in some glow in the dark ink to make your eyes glow under a black light.
I've got 3 tattoos and they really don't hurt much. They feel like someone scraping your skin a bit and it feels like a mild sunburn for about a day or two.
But I cant imagine having anyone doing it to my eyes. That would be going too far.
Thanks for the info. I'm speechless.
The world's first voluntary negro? I do see some bare spots to work on.
But the big story is that his opponent Karel Schwartzenberg was actually Karl Johannes Nepomuk Josef Norbert Friedrich Antonius Wratislaw Menas Fürst zu Schwarzenberg), 12th Prince Schwarzenberg and 7th Prince Schwarzenberg and Duke of Krumlov. It's like the last 60 or 70 or 100 years didn't happen.
Except they did happen.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


text:
Circular Reasoning: The 'Mystery' of Crop Circles and Their 'Orbs' of Light
Special Report
Joe Nickell
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 26.5, September / October 2002
Since they began to capture media attention in the mid 1970s, and to proliferate and evolve through the decades of the 1980s and 1990s, crop circles have provided mystery and controversy. New books, touting "scientific research," continue the trend. The topic is also getting a boost from a new Hollywood movie, Signs, starring Mel Gibson as a Pennsylvania farmer who discovers a 500-foot design imprinted in his crops and seeks to learn its meaning.
At issue are swirled, often circular designs pressed into crop fields, especially those of southern England. They can range from small circles only a few feet in diameter to elaborate "pictograms," some now as large as a few hundred feet across. By the end of the 1980s books on the crop circle phenomenon had begun to spring up as well, and soon circles-mystery enthusiasts were being dubbed cereologists (after Ceres, the Roman goddess of vegetation). Circlemania was in full bloom (Delgado and Andrews 1989; Nickell and Fischer 1992; Schnabel 1994).
Most cereologists-a.k.a. "croppies" (Hoggart and Hutchinson 1995)-believed the circular designs were being produced either by extraterrestrials or by hypothesized "plasma vortices," supposedly "small, local whirlwinds of ionized air" (Haselhoff 2001, 5-6). A few took a more mystical approach. When I visited the vast wheat crops of the picturesque Wiltshire countryside in 1994, at one formation a local dowser told me he believed the swirled patterns were produced by spirits of the earth (Nickell 1995).
Hoaxers, most croppies insisted, could not be responsible because the plants were only bent and not broken, and there were no footprints or other traces of human activity. Skeptics replied that from mid-May to early August the English wheat was green and pliable, and could only be broken with difficulty. As to the absence of tracks, they were precluded by de facto footpaths in the form of the tractor "tramlines" that mark the fields in closely spaced, parallel rows (Nickell and Fischer 1992).
Investigation into the circles mystery indicated that it might be profitable to look not just at individual formations but at the overall phenomenon (rather on the old principle that one may fail to see the forest for the trees). Forensic analyst John F. Fischer and I soon identified several characteristics that suggested the work of hoaxers (Nickell and Fischer 1992):
- An Escalation in Frequency. Although there were sporadic reports of simple circles in earlier times and in various countries (possibly as UFO-landing-spot hoaxes), the classic crop circles began to be reported by the mid 1970s. Data on the circles showed that their number increased annually from 1981-1987, an escalation that seemed to correlate with media coverage of the phenomenon. In fact it appeared that the coverage helped prompt further hoaxes.
- Geographic Distribution. The phenomenon showed a decided predilection for a limited geographic area, flourishing in southern England-in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and nearby counties. It was there that the circles effect captured the world's attention. And, just as the number of circles increased, so their locations spread. After newspaper and television reports on the phenomenon began to increase in the latter 1980s, the formations began to crop up (so to speak) in significant numbers around the world. Indeed the circles effect appeared to be a media-borne "virus."
- Increase in Complexity. A very important characteristic of the patterned-crops phenomenon was the tendency of the configurations to become increasingly elaborate over time. They progressed from simple swirled circles to circles with rings and satellites, to still more complex patterns. In 1987 came a crop message, "WEARENOTALONE" (although skeptics observed that, if the source were indeed English-speaking extraterrestrials, the message should have read "You" rather than "We"). In 1990 came still more complex patterns, dubbed "pictograms." There were also free-form shapes (e.g., a "tadpole"-like design), a witty crop triangle, and the hilarious bicycle (see Hoggart and Hutchinson 1995, 59).
- There also appeared beautifully interlinked spirals, a Menorah, intricate "snowflake" and stylized "spider web" designs, elaborate "Torus Knot" and "Mandala" emblems, pentagram and floral patterns, and other distinctive formations, including an "Origami Hexagram" and several fractals (mathematical designs with a motif subjected to repeated subdivision)-all consistent with the intelligence of modern homo sapiens. At the end of the decade came many designs that included decidedly square and rectilinear shapes, seeming to represent a wry response to the hypothesized swirling "vortex" mechanism.
- The Shyness Factor. A fourth characteristic of the cropfield phenomenon is its avoidance of being observed in action. It is largely nocturnal, and the designs even appear to specifically resist being seen, as shown by Operation White Crow. That was an eight-night vigil maintained by about sixty cereologists in June 1989. Not only did no circles appear in the field chosen for surveillance but-although there had already been almost a hundred formations that summer, with yet another 170 or so to occur-not a single circle was reported during the period anywhere in England. Then a large circle-and-ring formation was discovered about 500 yards away on the very next day!
These and other characteristics are entirely consistent with the work of hoaxers. Indeed, as John Fischer and I were about to go to press with our investigative report, in September 1991 two "jovial con men in their sixties" confessed they had been responsible for many of the crop formations made over the years. In support of their claim the men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, fooled cereologist Pat Delgado. He declared a pattern they had produced for a tabloid to be authentic, insisting it was of a type no hoaxer could have made. The pair utilized a rope-and-plank device to flatten the plants, demonstrating their technique for television crews, e.g., on ABC-TV's Good Morning America on September 10, 1991 (Nickell and Fischer 1992, 145-148).
Cereologists were forced to concede that hoaxers were producing elaborate designs and that "there are many ways to make a hoaxed crop circle" (Haselhoff 2001, 34). (For example, some who go 'round in circles use a garden roller to flatten the plants [Hoggart and Hutchinson 1995].) While in the past some cereologists thought they could distinguish "real" from fake circles by dowsing (Nickell 1995), the more cautious now admit it is not an easy matter, "certainly not as long as we do not even know exactly what mechanism creates crop circles" (Haselhoff 2001, 34).
Nevertheless the croppies were sure that some of the formations must be genuine, citing various "unexplained" features. More recently they invoked new "scientific" evidence in that regard, such as that provided by "the BLT Research Team" in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The "B" and "T" are circle "researchers" and "L" is a semi-retired biophysicist, W.C. Levengood. He finds a correlation between certain deformities in plants and their locations within crop-circle-type formations, but not control plants outside them (Levengood and Talbott 1999). However, correlation is not causation, and there are other objections to his work (Nickell 1996a). As well, more mundane hypotheses for the effects-for instance, compressed moist plants steaming in the hot sun-appear to have been insufficiently considered.
Crucially, since there is no satisfactory evidence that a single "genuine" (i.e., "vortex"-produced) crop circle exists, Levengood's reasoning is circular: although there are no guaranteed genuine formations on which to conduct research, the research supposedly proves the genuineness of the formations. But if the work were really valid, Levengood would be expected to find that a high percentage of the crop circles chosen for research were actually hoaxed, especially since even many ardent cereologists admit there are more hoaxed than "genuine" ones (Nickell 1996a; Nickell and Fischer 1992). For example, prominent cereologist Colin Andrews (2001) has conceded that 80 percent of the British crop circles are manmade; yet Levengood claims his research "suggests that over 95 percent of worldwide crop formations involve organized ion plasma vortices . . ." (Levengood and Talbott 1999).
Levengood and others who postulate crop-stamping, ion plasma vortices have to face the fact that those remain unrecognized by science. They owe their imagined existence to George Terence Meaden, a former professor of physics who took up meteorology as an avocation. His book The Circles Effect and Its Mysteries (1989) is still revered by many cereologists. Alas, however, he merely attempted to "explain" a mystery by creating another, and-humiliated by hoaxers-eventually retired from the scene, conceding that all of the complex designs were fakes (Hoggart and Hutchinson 1995, 59).
Nevertheless, many circles aficionados have begun to photograph supposed vortex effects which, curiously, resemble some of the same photographic anomalies that are the stock-in-trade of ghost hunters. For example, in her Mysterious Lights and Crop Circles, credulous journalist Linda Moulton Howe (2000, 137, 255) exhibits a flash photo taken in a crop circle that shows a bright "mysterious arch with internal structure that seems to spiral like a plasma." Unfortunately for Howe (erstwhile promoter of cattle mutilations and similar "mysteries"), the effect is indistinguishable from that caused by the camera's unsecured wrist strap reflecting the flash (Nickell 1996b). As corroborative evidence of this mundane cause, the bright strand-like shapes typically go unseen by the ghosthunter or cereologist, only appearing in their snapshots.
Again, Howe (2000, 169-176) shows several photos containing "transparent spheres" that the croppies call "energy balls," "light orbs," "atmospheric plasmas," etc. They are indistinguishable from "orbs" of "spirit energy" typically seen in photographs of graveyards and other "haunted" places and that sometimes appear in snapshots as UFOs. Skeptics have demonstrated that these globelike effects can be produced by particles of dust, water droplets, and the like reflecting the flash (Mosbleck 1988; Nickell 1994; Burton 1999). Other simulators of paranormal "energy" in photos include lens flares (the result of interreflection between lens surfaces), bugs and debris reflecting the flash, and many other causes, including film defects and hoaxes (Nickell 1994).
Sometimes, however, "hovering balls of light" and other "energy" effects are reported by eyewitnesses, though not only in the vicinity of crop circles (Haselhoff 2001; Howe 2000). These too may have a variety of causes including pranksters' parachute flares ("Flares" 1999), various misperceived aerial craft and other phenomena (such as ball lightning), false claims, hallucinations, etc. In some instances, small lights observed moving about cropfields at night might have come from the flashlights of the circle makers!
It appears that for the foreseeable future the crop-circle phenomenon will continue. At least it has moved from the level of mere hoaxing-"a form of graffiti on the blank wall of southern England" (Johnson 1991)-to represent an impressive genre of outdoor art. The often breathtaking designs (best seen in aerial photographs, like the giant Nazca drawings in Perú) are appreciated not only by the mystery mongers but by skeptics as well. Indeed as reliably reported (Hoggart and Hutchinson 1995), skeptics have helped to make many of them!
I am indebted to CFI staff-especially Tim Binga, Kevin Christopher, Benjamin Radford, and Ranjit Sandhu-for helping in various ways to make this report possible.
- Andrews, Colin. 2001. Cited in Haselhoff 2001, 37-38.
- Burton, Garry. 1999. Welcome to 'Orb World.' members.aol.com/Analogsys/index2.html.
- Delgado, Pat, and Colin Andrews. 1989. Circular Evidence. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Phanes Press.
- Flares spark reports of UFOs. 1999. Cornish Guardian, August 19 (quoted in Howe 2000, 166-167).
- Haselhoff, Eltjo H. 2001. The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd.
- Hoggart, Simon, and Mike Hutchinson. 1995. Bizarre Beliefs. London: Richard Cohen Books, 52-61.
- Howe, Linda Moulton. 2000. Mysterious Lights and Crop Circles. New Orleans, La.: Paper Chase Press.
- Johnson, Jerold R. 1991. Pretty pictures. MUFON UFO Journal, 275: 18, March.
- Levengood, W. C. and Nancy P. Talbott. 1999. Dispersion of energies in worldwide crop formations. Physiologia Plantarum 105: 615-624.
- Meaden, George Terence. 1989. The Circles Effect and Its Mystery. Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire: Artetech.
- Mosbleck, Gerald. 1988. The elusive photographic evidence, in Spencer and Evans 1988, 210.
- Nickell, Joe. 1994. Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky.
- —. 1995. Crop circle mania wanes. Skeptical Inquirer 19:3 (May/June), 41-43.
- —. 1996a. Levengood's crop-circle plant research. Skeptical Briefs 6:2 (June), 1-2.
- —. 1996b. Ghostly photos. Skeptical Inquirer 20:4 (July/August), 13-14.
- Nickell, Joe, and John F. Fischer. 1992. The crop-circle phenomenon: an investigative report. Skeptical Inquirer 16:2 (Winter), 136-149.
- Schnabel, Jim. 1994. Round in Circles. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
- Spencer, John, and Hilary Evans, eds. 1988. Phenomenon: Forty Years of Flying Saucers. New York: Avon.


text:
Oklahoma vs. the West
This dispute includes drilling, wilderness, guns and climate change
Note: This is a sidebar to an HCN magazine cover story: Dr. No: How Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn -- and his colleague, Sen. Jim Inhofe -- run roughshod over the West
The biggest piece of environmental legislation in decades -- the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 -- might have been "of 2008," or been passed in various forms even earlier, were it not for Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn.
The Omnibus Act bundled 164 conservation efforts into a massive package that designated 2 million acres of new wilderness and increased the wild and scenic river system by 50 percent. It helped enable buyouts of oil and gas leases in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest and ratified wilderness deals that were negotiated on the ground in Idaho's Owyhee County and Utah's Washington County. Many Western environmentalists, ranchers, county officials and other stakeholders were involved in creating the Omnibus.
But the act itself can be blamed on Coburn, which is why it's known around Capitol Hill as "Tomnibus." "What he did was put holds on virtually every bill that came out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee," says Paul Spitler, a high-ranking Wilderness Society staffer based in Washington, D.C. Coburn blocked so many individual bills in 2008 that supporters decided to lump them together into the omnibus package in early 2009, hoping to pass all 164 measures at once. They succeeded, but not without a fight.
At Coburn's insistence, the Omnibus Act was "read (on the Senate floor) until the wee hours of the morning, which dragged out the timeline for an extra day," says Spitler. "And at that point, he said, 'OK, you guys can go home now.' "
Coburn again drew the ire of Western environmentalists in September, by holding up passage of five popular wildlife-protection bills, one of which -- the Crane Conservation Act -- was sponsored by a fellow Republican, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo. Oregon's Sen. Jeff Merkley, California's Sen. Barbara Boxer and Washington's Sen. Maria Cantwell -- all Western Democrats -- were also among the five bills' sponsors. Probably the most popular one would have banned the "animal crush videos" that Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the United States, describes as "the vile depictions of staged scenes in which scantily clad women maim and torture animals for the sexual gratification of viewers." Coburn said those bills were a distraction at a time when the Senate should be addressing the deficit.
"One can understand Sen. Coburn's interest in fiscal restraint," Pacelle wrote in his Humane Society blog. "But in his case, it is an obsession, and it borders on a mania."
Stories like this justify Coburn's nickname, which plays off his medical degree and the name of the villain in an old James Bond movie: "Dr. No." And "No" might as well be the middle name of Oklahoma's other ultraconservative senator, James Mountain Inhofe. Both have used their Senate tenures largely for one purpose: Obstruction. They're effective advocates for the causes they believe in, slowing or stopping legislation and regulations they oppose. They've also attracted national attention by taking contrarian, often-controversial stances, and by giving a prominent voice to beliefs that are far out of the mainstream. They help give extremism credibility.
Inhofe has spent much of his career working to undermine or totally dismantle environmental protections. As chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee from 2003 to early 2007, he often held hearings that were more like kangaroo courts. In one 2003 hearing on climate change, he pitted two climate-change deniers against one scientist representing the mainstream view. That summer he held a similarly biased hearing on mercury pollution: A lone voice expressed the majority view that mercury is toxic and regulations are needed on the power plants that release 48 tons of airborne mercury every year, while two experts testified in favor of the opposite view. The Bush administration subsequently moved to dramatically weaken Clinton-era mercury regulations, a rollback later defeated in federal court.
Inhofe also opposes efforts to protect polar bears by limiting the carbon emissions that cause climate change, denouncing them as "an attack on our economy and our energy security." As a leading climate-change denier, he's worked to block any significant action on the problem, including the environmentalists' best hope -- the cap-and-trade bill that died earlier this year -- even as climate change threatens the West, contributing to drought, a forest beetle crisis and record-breaking wildfires.
Inhofe saves some of his hottest rage for the Environmental Protection Agency, which he's called "a Gestapo bureaucracy." In 2006, when EPA staffers based in Denver went into natural gas fields with infra-red cameras to detect pollution, Inhofe attacked the agency and tried to pressure the employees to back off. In 2009, he called for a criminal investigation into the EPA, charging it with suppressing evidence that climate change doesn't amount to much. "They've been cooking that science since 1998," he told Fox News.
"He seems to really have a long-term vendetta against the EPA," says Scott Thomasson, domestic policy director for the Progressive Policy Institute, a moderate left-of-center think tank. "(It's) so deeply ingrained at this point that he has a presumption of incompetence and malice about everything that they do."
Meanwhile, Coburn, a longtime friend of the National Rifle Association, used legislative trickery to make it legal to carry loaded guns in national parks, despite the strong opposition of the National Park Service. He slipped the amendment into the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009.
Earlier this year, Coburn blocked Senate approval of a $3.4 billion payment to Native Americans to settle a class-action lawsuit over the Department of Interior's longtime mismanagement of mineral royalties on tribal lands. (That case is not yet settled.) In 2009, he tried to block Senate confirmation of Hilary Tompkins, a Stanford-educated New Mexico Navajo, as the top lawyer in Obama's Interior Department. (The Senate eventually confirmed Tompkins.) In 2008, he opposed a sweeping $35 billion improvement of the Indian Health Service, even though many Western senators of both parties backed it and a total of 83 senators voted for it.
Both of the Oklahoma senators strongly support the oil and gas industry. They've repeatedly backed federal subsidies and sought to increase drilling, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while resisting tougher regulations, fuel efficiency and conservation measures. Inhofe led the fight to carve out an exemption in the Safe Drinking Water Act for "fracking" -- the high-pressure pumping of chemicals to free up natural gas in underground formations, a process many Westerners believe threatens water quality. This theme of the senators' influence is felt every day in Western states where drillers are constantly claiming more of the landscape.
According to the League of Conservation Voters, during his terms in the U.S. Senate and House, Coburn has voted against environmentalists' positions from 87 to 100 percent of the time, depending on which session you focus on. Inhofe has voted against environmentalists 96 to 100 percent of the time. That's another way the Oklahoma "nos" are heard around the West.
Related stories in this Oklahoma package:
Dr. No: How Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn -- and his colleague, Sen. Jim Inhofe -- run roughshod over the West
Editor's note: How outsiders shape the West