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In basketball and football, this could be a big week for the Illini.
It's a big week for the Illini, who play two high level games in basketball and seek an upgrade in the football bowl pecking order.
No. 19 Illinois (6-1) hosts No. 25 North Carolina (4-2) in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge Tuesday (8:30 p.m., ESPN).
Q: Where are the concerns for Illinois basketball heading into the week?
A: Inside. The Illini didn't make a strong impression in the front court against two power conferences foes during the trip to Madison Square Garden. Two pushover wins against Yale and Western Michigan didn't do anything to prove a change has been made. It might have hinted something else.
While forward Mike Davis did a good job on Western Michigan's Flenard Whitfield -- holding the Broncos leading scorer to two points and no rebounds after he entered with averages of 17 and six -- center Mike Tisdale had trouble with slow-footed Western Michigan freshman center Matt Stainbrook, who scored 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting.
"If you're looking for negatives, dealing with big guys in the post,'' Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "We have big guys coming up this week.''
Illinois may have to go big against North Carolina's size -- 6-8 Harrison Barnes, 6-10 John Henson and 7-0 Tyler Zeller. Tisdale and Zeller roomed together during the USA Basketball select team camp last summer.
Even though Gonzaga doesn't have the guards to matchup with Illinois, the Bulldogs bring tattooed 7-foot, 260-pound tough guy Robert Sacre when the teams meet in Seattle Saturday.
Q: Who should be favored in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge?A: Let's go with the Big Ten, the league that touted itself as the best in the country.
After Minnesota starts the series by hosting Virginia, Ohio State and Purdue play key road games. Another pivotal matchup is Illinois-North Carolina, the rematch of the 2005 national championship game. Some of the luster is gone after early Tar Heels losses to Minnesota and Vanderbilt. The Challenge should be decided before the Michigan State-Duke game.
If not, then it's bad news for the Big Ten.
Q: What happened to the pecking order among Big Ten bowl teams?
A: The loss by Iowa at Minnesota Saturday left some doubt in the Big Ten bowl pecking order, and the Illini entered the conversation concerning the Gator Bowl, where coach Ron Zook could be matched with Florida, his former employer. The TV producers like that kind of hook.
Among the bottom five Big Ten bowl teams -- Illinois, Iowa Michigan, Northwestern and Penn State -- Northwestern appears to be the last pick. Penn State legend Joe Paterno is the biggest draw. In Michigan, they're asking about coach Rich Rodriguez's future, and Iowa is riding a three-game losing streak.
If Illinois (6-5 overall, 4-4 in the Big Ten) wins at Fresno State (7-4, 5-3 in the WAC) Friday (9:15 p.m., ESPN), the Illini would finish with an identical record with Iowa. A Florida bowl is much more desirable for Illinois, which recruits the state hard and works Jacksonville, Fla., behind former prep coach Dan Disch.
For Illinois, the Texas Bowl looks like a worst case scenario.
ACC-Big Ten ChallengeMonday Virginia at Minnesota, 6 p.m., ESPN2 Tuesday Iowa at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ESPNU Georgia Tech at Northwestern, 6 p.m., ESPN2 Ohio State at Florida State, 6:30 p.m., ESPN Michigan at Clemson, 8 p.m., ESPN2 North Carolina at Illinois, 8:30 p.m., ESPN Wednesday Indiana at Boston College, 6:15 p.m., ESPNU NC State at Wisconsin, 6:15 p.m., ESPN2 Purdue at Virginia Tech, 6:30 p.m., ESPN Maryland at Penn State, 8:15 p.m., ESPN2 Michigan State at Duke, 8:30 p.m., ESPN


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Since Meg Whitman joined Hewlett-Packard in October 2011, the company has only completed one acquisition, a German cloud printing company Hiflex, bought for an undisclosed sum in December of that year.
For most of her tenure as CEO Whitman has been dealing with the repercussions of the acquisition just before that, the $11 billion purchase of software maker Autonomy, orchestrated by her predecessor Leo Apotheker (though Whitman was on the board of directors at the time). HP took on a boatload of debt to finance the acquisition.
Whitman later admitted HP paid too much and the company wrote-off $8.8 billion, with HP claiming fraud, saying it it found $5 billion worth of "accounting improprieties" on Autonomy's books, a charge that Autonomy's founder, Mike Lynch, has vehemently denied.
The situation has escalated into investigations by regulators in the U.S. and U.K., the resignation of two of HP's board members, the replacement of the chairman of the board, and multiple shareholder lawsuits.
Bloomberg reports that HP is currently in talks to try and settle these suits. During a conference call with analysts on Thursday, Whitman and HP CFO Cathie Lesjak warned, multiple times, that HP has set aside a larger chunk of cash than typical to cover litigation some litigation expenses. It hasn't yet disclosed exactly how much money.
But all of that could mean that HP is finally moving behind the Autonomy disaster.
On Thursday, HP posted a two-in-a-row beat on earnings expectations and said its cash situation is improving. Operating net cash increased by $1.6 billion, the eighth consecutive quarterly improvement of over $1 billion, the company said.
So, after a two-year pause, when asked about acquisitions, Whitman said she may need to start shopping again:
"As this market changes very dramatically, you can see that we may need acquisitions in security, big data, mobility and cloud. We will be very judicious. It will be returns based, and I would say it would be small to medium-sized acquisitions, so that's where we are headed ..."
It will be interesting to see what she buys and how much she spends. HP has a long history of spending big bucks on companies and tech it wants including Palm ($1.2 billion), 3PAR ($2.35 billion), ArcSight ($1.5 billion), 3Com ($2.7 billion), EDS ($13.9 billion) and Compaq ($25 billion).

subset: commoncrawl


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Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's soccer team saw its Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament run come to an end on Friday (Nov. 2) night as the Bulldogs fell to archrival Grand Valley State by a 4-0 score in the semifinal round at the Laker Soccer Field in Allendale.
The top-seeded Lakers bolted out to a 2-0 lead less than 22 minutes into the contest and added two goals early in the second half en route to advancing to the tournament title contest on Sunday.
FSU saw its season end with a 9-8-3 overall record in the conference tournament where the fifth-seeded Bulldogs had upset number four seed Findlay 2-1 on Tuesday (Oct. 30) to reach the semifinals for only the second time in school history.
Ferris State, which was making its third consecutive league tournament appearance, managed only four shots against the defending national runner-up as GVSU improved to 17-1-2 on the year.
The Lakers struck first at 14:15 of the first half on an own goal against the Bulldogs, which happened on a punch behind the goalkeeper's head into the net.
Grand Valley State added its second goal at 21:13 of the contest as Charlie Socia notched her fifth goal of the campaign off a free kick assisted by Taylor Callen.
The Lakers' third goal came in the second half at 49:23 as Kayla Addison tallied her 11th marker of the year in unassisted fashion. She beat a defender on the right side of the box to put the shot in the low corner.
Finally, the Lakers tacked on their fourth and final goal at 69:51 when Alyssa Mira's shot from the top of the 18 to the lower right side found the net. Her third goal of the year was assisted by Casey McMillan.
The Bulldogs played two goalkeepers in the contest with freshman Maddie Haustein notching nine saves in 45 minutes of action before giving way to junior Rachel McCollum, who played the final half.
The Lakers held a 22-4 edge in total shots with 13 on goal to four for the Bulldogs. GVSU's Chelsea Parise notched four saves in earning the win for Grand Valley State, which defeated the Bulldogs for the third time this campaign.
FSU had 11 fouls to 10 for the Lakers and GVSU also owned a 4-0 edge in corner kicks for the night.


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Amelia Louise and Esther Majorie Van Wie
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[March 12, 2014]
Louise Van Wie and Esther Majorie Van Wie, twin daughters of Ashley and
James Van Wie, were born March 3, 2014, at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital
in Lincoln.
Maternal grandparents are Michael and Penny
McIntosh of Lincoln, and paternal grandparents are Lisa and Ed Steerman of Fayetteville, N.C. Great-grandparents are Harold and
Donna Anderson of Moline, Ken and Geri McIntosh of Moline, Dean
Van Wie of Moline, and Sandra Mack of Urbana.
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maori chest tattoo
take weeks and would no doubt hurt like hell. Example of Moko tattoo
The Maori of New Zealand: Moko Masters
They were called Ta Moko and unlike the tattoos of today which are inked
In the Maori language, these tattoos are known as "ta moko.
Maori Moko Tattoo and British Trickster Tattoo


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CLAREMONT, Calif. – A total of five pool records were set by the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps swimming & diving teams on Saturday afternoon at Axelrood Pool, as both the Athenas and Stags swept their dual meet against Caltech and Cal Lutheran. The Athenas defeated Caltech 239-32 and Cal Lutheran 222-57 while the Stags defeated Caltech 222-66 and Cal Lutheran 199-87. Both the men and women for CMS remain perfect in SCIAC competition at 6-0.
The Athenas won 15 of 16 events during the meet and captured two pool records and two NCAA 'B' cut qualifying times. Senior Annika Jessen set a pool record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.61, a 'B' cut time. To start the day, Jessen swam the third leg for the Athenas 'A' 200-yard medley relay team that set a pool record with a time of 1:48.56. Also on the 200 medley relay team were senior Erin MacLean, senior Michele Kee and senior Helen Liu.
In diving, freshman Carli Lessard took the 3-meter diving event with a score of 212.40.
On the men's side, CMS won 14 of 16 events during the meet and captured three pool records. Both the 200 medley and 200 free relay teams set pool records. The 200 medley relay team of freshman Matthew Williams, sophomore Zach Alleva, junior Patrick Shultz and sophomore Joseph Hinton swam the event in 1:33.50 while sophomore Alex Poltash, Williams, Shultz and Hinton swam the 200 free relay in 1:24.98.
The third pool record for the men came in the 500 free as junior Alex Mendoza finished with a time of 4:42.76.
Multiple winners for the Stags were junior James Stevick (1 and 3-meter dive), Williams (200 medley relay, 200 free relay, 50 free and 100 butterfly), Shultz (200 medley and 200 free relays), Alleva (200 medley relay and 100-yard breaststroke), sophomore Matthew Valentine (200 butterfly and 200-yard individual medley) and Hinton (200 medley and 200 free relays).
CMS' final home meet of the season is on Saturday, Feb. 1 vs. Redlands at 11 a.m.
Results: http://cmsathletics.org/sports/wswimdive/2013-14/files/CMS.CIT.CLU.1.25.14.htm


text: I called Direct TV yesterday planning to downgrade our service. Instead of doing that they offered to continue the plan that we have for $4 more than the next lowest priced plan for the next 6 months. Then the woman said that at the end of this 6 month period I could call and ask what special discounts were they offering at that time and get it. The only hitch is that they don't notify you that this is available, you have to call and ask. This is like begging to me and I told her so, but we need to cut costs everywhere we can, so I will do it. If things keep costing more and more we will have to go to their cheapest plan or just cut out TV altogether. As far as I could tell this is available for all customers, but she did say it was because we had been customers for 11 years. I never can tell what is a sales pitch and what is real - and what will change with another customer rep or just another day. Just thought I would pass this along in case anyone is interested.


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The Persistence of the Color Line
Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency
Hardcover, 322 pages, Random House Inc, List Price: $26.95 |purchase
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Excerpt: The Persistence Of The Color Line
The terms under which Barack Obama won the presidency, the conditions under which he governs, and the circumstances under which he seeks reelection all display the haunting persistence of the color line. Many prophesied or prayed that his election heralded a postracial America. But everything about Obama is widely, insistently, almost unavoidably interpreted through the prism of race—his appearance (light-skinned), his demeanor (not an angry black man), his diction ("articulate," "no Negro dialect"), his spouse (dark-skinned), the support he enjoys (anchored by blacks), the opposition he encounters (constituted overwhelmingly by whites).
For Obama himself, the consciousness of race is ever-present. It was evident on Election Night when he remarked on the miraculousness of an African American winning the White House. It was evident at the inauguration when he alluded to the fact that, during his father's lifetime, bigotry denied blacks service in Washington, D.C., restaurants. It was evident at the press conference of December 7, 2010, when, defending hotly disputed tax legislation, he maintained that compromise was central to America, including the Founding Fathers' compromise with slavery—a bargain that some thoughtful observers have condemned as immoral.
There was a time—now it seems long ago—when it appeared, momentarily, that America had taken a giant stride toward redemption. After all, the electorate selected Barack Hussein Obama, a black man, to be president of the United States. The hope, pride, relief, and astonishment generated by this unprecedented event provoked all sorts of optimistic declarations. People who had, in emotional self- defense, habitually eschewed patriotism, now waved American flags enthusiastically. People who had doubted that Americans would ever be able to overcome racial alienation now believed that they could. Expressions of exhilaration produced sounds and scenes reminiscent of reactions to such landmark events as the Emancipation Proclamation, Joe Louis's victory over Max Schmeling; the "I Have a Dream" speech of Martin Luther King, Jr.; and the landing on the moon. Parties erupted featuring such anthems as "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," "A Change is Gonna Come," and "We're a Winner." Strangers danced and cried with one another. People named newborns after the president-elect. On the day after the election, one of my students at Harvard Law School tearfully declared that in light of Obama's election she was reconsidering her career plans. His example, she said, made her want to be a better person. A few days later, I received a letter from an inmate of a maximum-security prison in Indiana that said the same thing.
On Election Night one heard repeatedly echoes of Maya Angelou's statement "I never thought I'd see a black president in the White House in my lifetime." Oprah Winfrey exclaimed that Election Night was "the most electrifying" moment she had ever experienced. People commonly remarked that they felt as if they were dreaming. The day after the election, on a Listserv organized by racial- minority law professors, a distinguished black jurist remarked, "When I woke up this morning, I said to my husband, 'I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamed that a black man named Barack Hussein Obama became president of the United States. Is that weird or what?'"
Blacks were not the only ones feeling and expressing pent-up emotion. Responding to a column in which the black journalist Eugene Robinson explained why he wept on Election Night, numbers of white readers noted that they, too, had been moved to tears. In an open "Letter to a New Neighbor," Washingtonian Betsy Karasik poured out feelings of gratitude:
You proved that Americans are not nearly as narrow-minded as most of us believed; that speaking to us adult-to-adult about race trumps playing the race card; that sticking to the issues and taking the high road do not make you a sucker; that being an intellectual is not a liability . . . and that appealing to the best in people brings out the young, the old, the dissatisfied, minorities and even the opposition in record numbers.
In newspapers and Web sites people posted messages by the thousands displaying ways in which Obama's victory deeply moved them. A reader of The Washington Post wrote, "We still have a long way to go to erase the sin of slavery and end racism. But maybe, just maybe, this is the beginning of the end of race as a major issue. Today, I can truly say, God Bless America, and mean it." A reader of The New York Times stated that Obama's election "does nothing less for me than heal my chronic young boyhood wound of November 22, 1963"—the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. "And also the wounds of Bobby and Martin"—the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., in the spring of 1968. A reader of the Web site Jack & Jill Politics wrote, "This morning I woke up and realized that what I saw last night was not a dream. . . . I realized I woke up in a new time, in a new era. I woke up in A.B.—After Barack."
Euphoric statements made in the grip of the postelection high are painful (and sometimes embarrassing) to recall. Even seasoned observers were swept up by a delusionary millenarianism. Many racial Panglossians, however, have been sobered by realities—the substantial number of Americans who simply refuse to acknowledge Obama's political legitimacy (for example, the allegation believed by tens of millions that he was born abroad), the open contempt displayed by antagonists not only on the airwaves of right-wing talk radio but also in the inner sanctum of Congress (for example, Joe Wilson's infamous shout of "You lie!"), and the stark polarization that characterizes the racial demographics of support for and opposition to Obama. That the opposition is overwhelmingly white is a fact that no one can reasonably dispute. What is disputed, however, is that racial sentiment is an important ingredient in the opposition. "America has turned the page on race," wrote a correspondent for The Economist. "The electorate may be divided by race, but no longer mainly because of race."
It is, of course, true that there are many potential nonracial reasons for rejecting Obama, including disagreement with his domestic policies (his stance on abortion, financial regulation, immigration, taxation, etc.), foreign policy (his prosecution of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance), and also objections to Obama himself. Even some who formerly supported him enthusiastically have subsequently voiced doubts about his mettle as a leader. Racial sentiments, moreover, are devilishly difficult to isolate and quantify in specific instances. In gross, however, the evidence is overwhelming, that racial attitudes affect judgments pervasively—from the administration of justice to support or opposition to social welfare programs, to dating and the marriage market, to employment decisions. African Americans, for in stance, are not only discriminated against in many settings; they are more discriminated against the blacker they are perceived to be. Against that backdrop, it is wholly implausible to think that racial attitudes would not significantly affect assessments of politicians.
That Obama won the White House in 2008 does not mean that racial prejudice is no longer a potent force in American politics. The political scientists Michael Tesler and David O. Sears argue persuasively that the election of 2008 "was anything but postracial. Instead, the racial hopes and fear evoked by [Obama's] potential to become the country's first black president sharply divided racial conservatives from racial liberals. Public opinion and voting behavior . . . were considerably more polarized by racial attitudes than at any other time on record." Racial attitudes, they conclude, are "one of the most important determinants of how the American public responded." Racial liberals supported Obama more than they would have backed an ideologically similar white candidate while racial conservatives opposed Obama more than they would have opposed an ideologically similar white candidate. Furthermore, there are some who voted for Obama in 2008 despite their disinclination to vote for a black candidate. It should be unsurprising that they would turn against him more quickly and sharply than they would have done under identical circumstances if he were white.
The 2008 postelection racial euphoria stemmed from an array of sources, including denial of the breadth, depth, and subtlety of racial divisions in American life. Despite the epochal nature of the election, it should have been understood from the outset that something as thoroughly ingrained as American racial prejudice, particularly its antiblack variant, would not suddenly dissipate despite the goodwill effectively summoned by Obama's skillful campaign. Much of what he had to surmount in order to win was rooted in America's racial traumas. He had to overcome doubts lodged deep in the psyches of blacks, some of whom were so afraid of the lengths to which they thought whites would go to prevent the election of a black president that early on they refrained from supporting him, convinced that he would be assassinated if he emerged as a serious contender. He had to overcome Negrophobia that made it difficult, if not impossible, for some whites to vote in favor of entrusting a black man with the fate of the nation—regardless of the caliber of the white alternatives. A wide variety of biases confronted Obama—from paranoia about his origins and loyalties, to resentment that made a black man's ambition appear inappropriately "uppity," to a hypercritical attitude that magnified his perceived missteps, to lowered expectations that revealed the dismal image many observers have when they think of black politicians. When Senator Joseph Biden mused early in the campaign season that Obama was "the first mainstream African American [running for president] who is articulate and bright and clean," he was simply giving voice to a widespread perception. Obama, moreover, had to overcome the taint of a long association with an Afrocentric spiritual adviser whom the country saw screaming from a pulpit "God damn America!" He had to overcome fear that the Democrats would once again "blow" a winnable presidential contest—this time by nominating a candidate who, partly because of his race, would be unable to persuade working-class whites to vote for him. He had to overcome detractors who complained that he is not black enough as well as those who complained that his wife is too black.


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We're a quarter of the way into the 2011 season, and a couple of standard football principles are starting to come into play: Running the football still has its place in today's pass-happy NFL (SEE: the 49ers, Redskins and Texans); injuries still happen despite all league efforts to the contrary (SEE: Jerod Mayo, Andre Johnson and poor Bryan Thomas); and separating quality from mediocrity is still as tough as ever.
Think You Can Do Better?
Disagree with Elliot Harrison's power rankings? Head to NFL.com/fanrankings to make your own, Nos. 1-32, in whatever order you choose.
» Expert rankings | Consensus rankings
Prior to last weekend's exciting package of games, I harped on Cincinnati's ability to stifle Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Bills (nice one, Elliot) as well as Tony Romo's big-time play thus far (not so good, Elliot).
After this week's games, I -- like most of you football heads -- learned a few things.
»a. New Orleans appears intent on bringing 2009 back.
»b. NFL Ebay -- free agency -- can't top April's draft when it comes to building a defense.
»c. Alternate jerseys aren't going away.
»d. Some bargain brand QBs are playing as good or better than the name brands.
But enough about Alex Smith. Let's get to the rankings, where Smith's Niners and some other NFC teams showed serious upward mobility ...
PREVIOUS: Week 4 | Week 3 | Week 2 | Week 1 | Preseason
Green Bay isn't moving. The secondary, namely Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams, made some plays Sunday. But, Green Bay -- sans Nick Collins -- is still vulnerable vertically. Thankfully, as long as Aaron Rodgers keeps flinging the ol' NERF football around, it really doesn't matter.
If you knew that Darren Sproles was gonna be this integral to the offense, then you probably guessed that Cam Newton would throw for 350 yards per game and the last "Indiana Jones" movie was gonna suck. Well, actually, a lot of us knew that, but you get the point. Sproles had 188 all-purpose yards Sunday, and the Saints' ground game put up 177. Now, if they would just go back to the uniforms they wore vs. Houston.
Two straight weeks, two straight massive comebacks for Matthew Stafford. Remember in Tecmo Super Bowl -- not Tecmo Bowl -- but Tecmo Super Bowl, when Joe Montana could throw it up and Jerry Rice or John Taylor would just jump up and catch it ... no matter how many guys were around? If you were on defense, you would throw your controller across the room as soon as you saw the cut scene with the close up of Rice jumping and the ball sticking to his hands. That's what Cowboys fans did on Sunday, throwing the remote across the room as soon as they saw Calvin Johnson jump over Terence Newman.
New England keeps rolling as it appears it will take four interceptions from Tom Brady for this team to lose. Then again, the upcoming schedule is not a cakewalk: vs. Jets, vs. Cowboys, at Steelers, vs. Giants and at Jets. The committee approach on offense just got more diversified with back Stevan Ridley's 100 yards from scrimmage against the Raiders.
Big win at Reliant Stadium, but it came at a price. Andre Johnson is out. Ben Tate is also hurt. Better hope that hamstring holds up on Arian Foster, Texans fans. When Johnson injured his ankle last year vs. the Redskins, Dallas went with a single high safety the next week and thwarted the Houston offense. No A.J. means tighter coverage on everyone else. Kevin Walter and Owen Daniels are going to have to win their matchups. Good news: Oakland's poor run defense is up next. Foster destroyed them last year (133 yards in one half of work).
That was one ugly football game Sunday night. If you're a Ravens fan, you must love the occasional shot downfield to Torrey Smith. It opens things up for everyone else, although Joe Flacco continues to be consistently inconsistent. More important than the quarterback position, at least this week, was the solid performance by the Ravens' corners, a position that has been a weak spot.
A letdown was bound to happen. To be frank, losing to the Bengals on the road was not the worst thing in the world. That was the best defense Buffalo has played, and it still took a last-second field goal to fall from the unbeaten ranks. One of the keys to staying successful will be to keep finding ways to incorporate Fred Jackson into the offense, and not lose patience in the ground game. The Bills passed on nine straight first down plays in the second half in Cincinnati.
I hesitate to write anything nice about the Chargers, because I don't want to curse the nice people of San Diego and Pacific Beach. You write about Oakland, and Ryan Fitzpatrick pours touchdown passes over their heads in Buffalo. You write about Romo, he hits fly balls to Detroit's center fielders. So, nothing nice about San Diego. A win is a win.
Tampa fans, if you're wondering how the Colts stayed in the game, your answer is 13 penalties for 100 yards. The Bucs lacked discipline Monday night, but offensive coordinator Greg Olson made up for it with some smart play-calling. A heavy dose of LeGarrette Blount, who was John Riggins in a past life, didn't hurt.
Look out. This group is 3-1, with the one loss a two-point setback in Dallas. All the talk about Tim Hightower's carries, and Roy Helu's increased action, played itself out in typical Mike Shanahan fashion -- Ryan Torain gained 135 yards on 19 carries. Meanwhile, the defense gave up fewer than four yards per passing attempt to Sam Bradford. Pretty damn impressive.
If there can be a sneaky 3-1 team in the NFL, it's the G-Men. Hand it to Tom Coughlin, who's making it happen despite the death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts injury situation. Did Big Blue dominate in Arizona? No. But the Giants got pressure on Kevin Kolb and are making opposing passers ineffective. Perry Fewell's defense has limited quarterbacks to a 76.9 passer rating, 10 points below the league average.
Call me a football purist, but Sunday night's game brought a healthy dose of reality to all of those who only pay attention to fantasy numbers. Hey Jets, the guy who snaps the ball -- commonly referred to as the "center" -- is quite important. Nick Mangold's absence led to protection problems and a running game that averaged 2.0 yards per carry against the Ravens. Of course, that's not much worse than the ground game has been all season, as offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer just can't get Shonn Greene going.
Matt Forte hung a 205-spot in the rushing column, but the real story was that offensive coordinator Mike Martz got the memo and gift-wrapped his back 25 carries against the Panthers. In fact, the Bears' run-pass ratio was 31 to 17. Someone should've taken Martz's temperature after the game to make sure he was feeling okay. That's not like him.
My defense of the Titans as a potential wild-card team appears healthy (this week). A key to Tennessee's win in Cleveland was constantly forcing the Browns into third-down situations -- they had 20! The victory was an emotional one for the Titans, who had to play a few days after the death of former offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, a respected figure around the league.
Every Steelers follower I know felt the Texans matchup was a bad one. While Foster had a nice game, Pittsburgh held its own. Despite starting William Gay at corner, Matt Schaub and the vaunted Houston passing attack was mostly held in check (although Andre Johnson's injury certainly helped). The Steelers were missing two starters on the offensive line, lost Rashard Mendenhall, James Harrison, and Aaron Smith during the game and were still there at the end. With the Titans, Jaguars and Cardinals coming up on the schedule, it's not panic time.
Romo giveth, and Romo taketh away. I'll tell ya, you write an article defending a guy and then he shoots the thing all to hell.
Even with Michael Vick's injury status and the Eagles struggling on defense, pretty much no one gave the 49ers a chance in Philadelphia. But look who's 3-1? Frank Gore responded to criticism of being fat and happy with his new contract -- as well as fantasy owners benching him in droves -- with 127 yards on only 15 carries. The Niners' biggest positive to come out of the win, however, was an efficient Alex Smith, who got a lot of bang for the buck on 33 throws (291 yards) and didn't toss a pick.
The Raiders had their butts handed to them by a better team, plain and simple. There are three huge issues preventing Oakland from toppling San Diego in the AFC West: Penalties, run defense and penalties. The Raiders commit almost 10 penalties per game and give up 5.9 yards per carry. That won't cut it against the NFL's elite.
Falcons fans should be concerned with their team's inability to put away an inferior opponent like the Seahawks. Considering the Falcons had to travel 3,100 miles to play a game, though, just take the win. Matt Ryan played what was probably his best game of the young season, but he still isn't wowing anyone. Atlanta's key in the NFC has to be its ability to run the football, and that aspect of the offense has struggled the last two weeks.
The 2011 Eagles are slowly but surely becoming the poster child for why building through free agency pales in comparison to building through the draft. All of a sudden, next week's road game in Buffalo -- marked down in the preseason as an easy "W" -- is a must-win situation. You can count on one hand how many 1-4 teams have recovered to make the playoffs.
Andy Dalton showed Bengals fans what they needed to see. Was he great all game? No. Did he throw some picks? Yes. But he also led a drive to get a winning field goal against the then-unbeaten Bills. He was clutch, as was Mike Zimmer's defense. I told my colleagues (who shouted me down) on "NFL Fantasy Live" that Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick would not torch the Cincinnati defense. Sure enough Fitzpatrick only threw for 199 yards and had no touchdowns. Great win, Cincy.
I was in the Green Room at NFL West in Culver City, peacefully watching a portion of the games with Steve Mariucci, that is until Mooch yelled, " Colt McCoy threw 61 passes!" I second that and can't imagine that's the blueprint Team Holmgren has for Cleveland. The home loss to the Titans is the exact kind of game the Browns need to take. They're not talented enough (yet) to lose these games and win on the road against better clubs.
Have you noticed yet that Carolina is nobody's push over? In defeat, Cam Newton threw for 374 yards while the running game came out of hibernation to put up 169 yards. We even had our first sighting of a productive DeAngelo Williams (82 yards). Just imagine how competitive 2010's worst team would be if linebackers Jon Beason and Thomas Davis hadn't gone down to injury.
The calls for Tim Tebow are only going to get louder if the television broadcast annoyingly shows him standing on the sideline every time Kyle Orton misfires on a 5-yard out. Here's some news for the masses: a) Denver's defense is as much to blame for Sunday's debacle as Orton; and b) Tebow doesn't give John Fox a better chance to win. Orton and the passing game certainly turned it on after the Packers jumped ahead 21-3. Of course, that's the problem, the offense is not igniting when Denver needs it most.
That last sequence of downs vs. the G-Men was not inspiring. Watching Kevin Kolb, it's almost as if he hasn't decided how good he is yet. Some plays he's decisive and a risk-taker, then suddenly he's not and Craig Krentzel-like the next set of downs. Either way, Beanie Wells looks good. Expect Ken Whisenhunt to lean on him ... like a 20-25 carries per game lean.
How much did the 12th man want Steven Hauschka to bang that 61-yarder through? Seattle needed that upset like Top 40 radio needs talent. So what's the upside in almost upsetting a perceived quality team, like Atlanta? Tarvaris Jackson showed everybody something in the second half. A stat line of 25 of 38 for 319 yards has never been uttered next to Jackson's name. The defense was solid against the run, again. The Seahawks are allowing only 3.2 yards per carry (third in NFL) and forcing teams to beat them with the pass, which hasn't exactly been tough to do.
Kansas City moves up this high because of character, and of course, beating the Vikings. After calling them out on "NFL Fantasy Live" two weeks ago, K.C. has played much better. The defense performed admirably Sunday, holding the Vikings to 10 points, and the Chiefs might have an opportunity to get their second win this weekend in Indianapolis. Todd Haley's team is fighting, despite the fact that the football Gods took his 2011 preseason plan and dumped it over a stadium rail where a street cleaner and marching band rolled over it. Just like in "The Naked Gun" ... "My Dad went the same way, Frank."
This just isn't fair to Vikings fans. It's bad enough to have your team at 0-4, with virtually no shot of making the playoffs. But to have to sit through Donovan McNabb go through another just-good-enough-to-get-you-beat performance has to be absolutely maddening.
It looked like the Jags were going to get beat 50-3 at one point Sunday. A little red-zone defense stopped that from happening. Jacksonville ranks 32nd in points scored, red-zone drives, passer rating and passing yards. Blaine Gabbert struggled going 16 of 42 against the Saints. But, at the end of the day, everyone in Jacksonville knows what they would've got with David Garrard. Gabbert equals upside. Saving $8 million-plus probably didn't hurt, either.
The Chiefs' 2011 plan got crapped on, while the Dolphins' 2011 plan appears to be crap, at least to the Miami fans I've spoken to. It's a difficult point to argue, considering the ill-fated approach to land Jim Harbaugh and then give Tony Sparano a half-hearted vote of confidence once Harbaugh said no. Sparano's background as an offensive line coach isn't manifesting itself, either. Miami has allowed 14 sacks, while Reggie Bush has been a certifiable bust as a lead back.
If you think the Colts are mailing it in, take a look at Pierre Garcon's second touchdown Monday night. Sell-out blocks by a couple Hall of Great players in Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne ... 30 yards downfield.
It's starting to look pretty bleak in St. Louis. The Rams rank below both the Jags and Vikings because they've already allowed 113 points. Offensively, Josh McDaniels and Sam Bradford miss Danny Amendola and his ability to work underneath the secondary, and the running game gave Bradford virtually nothing vs. Washington's front seven. The preseason favorite to win the NFC West is now 0-4, with the Packers, Cowboys and Saints coming up. St. Louis could easily start 0-7.


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Fine millinery was on full display as the Democratic Women of Clifton gathered on Sunday, Feb. 10, to celebrate its eighth anniversary in style. The theme of this year's party was "Hats Off to Democratic Women!" and members complied by donning an assortment of colorful chapeaus—from the classic fedora, brim snapped and businesslike, to the romantic cloche and the whimsical Victorian.
Gathering in the home of member Gretchen Klimoski of Clifton, members mingled with honored guests to share appetizers, beverages and lively conversation.
DWC Membership Chair Chris Randon welcomed high-powered women from Northern Virginia: Delegate Charniele Herring (D-46), Chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia; Del. Eileen Filler-Corn (D-41); Fairfax County School Board members Pat Hynes (Hunter Mill district) and Tammy Kaufax (Lee district); Kate Hanley, former chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and secretary of the commonwealth; and former Virginia State Senators Patsy Ticer and Mary Margaret Whipple. Randon talked about the early history of the DWC and recognized Hanley for having attended the first meeting of the DWC in 2005.
THE WEEK OF VALENTINE'S DAY has special significance for DWC members. In February of 2005, 100 women met in the Clifton Town Hall to organize the Democratic Women of Clifton (DWC). The group now boasts a membership of more than 400.
The DWC also recognized several women for their contributions to various Democratic causes in Northern Virginia: Ruth Miller, vice chair south of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee; and Martina Leinz, Virginia chairman of the Million Moms March. Others honored were Jane Touchet, chairman of the Democratic Women of Lake Ridge; Pixie Bell, former secretary of the Democratic Party of Virginia; Janet Carver, a member of the 2008 and 2012 Electoral College; Becca Durr, deputy finance director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; and Tina Hone, former Fairfax County School Board member.
"Everyone attending the celebration then removed their hats in a salute to all of these special guests," said Jane Barker, co-founder and current chair of the DWC. "It was a fun moment."
Barker addressed the members and guests and praised the accomplishments of the DWC in its dual mission of educating women about political issues and creating a forum for discussion and political action. Barker further congratulated members for their outstanding support of two service projects during the recent holiday season. The DWC was a large contributor to the toy and coat drive sponsored by Fairfax County Fire and Rescue. In addition, members of the DWC contributed more than $3,600 to Our Daily Bread, the local non-profit organization that provides food and other services to area families in need.
"It's great to celebrate with women who continue to make our community, our commonwealth, and our politics better with never-ending, thoughtful, positive involvement and giving," Barker said. "Their enthusiasm and commitment continues to make a difference today with this terrific turn-out to celebrate our distinguished Democratic women. We are energized to grow and improve this year as we advocate for important issues and work for Democratic candidates and elected officials."
THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING of the DWC will focus on the environment. That meeting will be held on March 10 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Clifton Community Hall. A candidate forum is also being planned for the spring in anticipation of the coming statewide elections.
The DWC is open to all Democratic women in Northern Virginia. Anyone interested in joining may email email@example.com or visit the website at www.democraticwomenofclifton.org.


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About Texas Timing Association
Go back for a moment to the late 1940's and early 1950's. WWII was over, and thousands of young veterans, back from the excitement of being overseas and in combat, found themselves bored by civilian life. They sought their kicks in things like stunt flying, riding stripped-down motorcycles, and tearing around the countryside in old cars with souped up engines. Street racing by these young daredevils, called 'dragging,' was considered to be one of the great social problems of the age. Before gaining grudging acceptance in subsequent decades, hot rodders in that day were usually branded as troublesome hoodlums.
The first effort to make drag racing respectable was a move to confine all the racing to off-street tracks. The original sanctioning body, the National Hot Rod Association, established legitimate class-based drag racing in Southern California. When the NHRA made the first big move away from its west coast base, heading out across the US to establish drag racing as a safe and respectable sport nation-wide, their first stop was at a legendary spot in North Texas.
Texas Drag Racing Begins
On some clear, sunny weekends beneath the brilliant Texas sun, every hot rodder and car nut in the Southwestern United States had began to gather and race the first Sunday of each month at an abandoned Army Air Force auxiliary landing field east of Dallas, near the tiny rural town of Caddo Mills. The deserted airport way out in the country had runways more than a mile long, made of wide, solid concrete, with traction like no one had ever seen before. The NHRA Safety Safari pulled in there one spring weekend in 1954, and established the Caddo Mills drag strip as only the second sanctioned track in the country outside of California.
Most of the contestants at those first Caddo races drove their cars there, and raced on the same tires that were spun and smoked on that concrete track by the same engine and drive train that took them back and forth to school or work every day of the week. The track was operated by the North Texas Timing Association, and by the members of all the car clubs that were members of NTTA. Caddo was run by and for hot rodders.
In the decade of the 1950s, Caddo was recognized as being not only one of the first drag strips in the country outside of California, it was by far the most important track in this whole part of America. This legendary strip hosted still-talked about runs by Don Garlits and his "Swamp Rat", Bobby Langley's renowned series of "Scorpion" dragsters, the twin-engine terrors of both Eddie Hill and Jack Moss, Nationals-winning altereds like Buddy Anderson's "Widdle White Wabbit" Fiat and Don Breithaupt's '32 Ford "DCB" coupe, Arizona's "Speed Sport Special" modified roadster, Carl Stones' "Rolling Stone" roadster, August "Hands" Hartkoff, and many others.
It was home many times to the Texas State Championships, presented annually by the NTTA up into the 1960's. Caddo existed for many years as the greatest place in the Southwestern United States to race, but unfortunately, was never operated as a carefully managed business. Times changed, other tracks opened, and eventually both Caddo and the NTTA passed on.
Traditional Drag Racing
The spirit created and nurtured at Caddo Mills remains with us yet today. Side-by-side racing, pitting home-built hot rods and race cars created out of daring ideas, hard work, and ingenuity rather than with deep pockets and generous sponsorships, where it was all about competition and camaraderie: these traits became established as the basic tenets of hot rodding. Though the times have indeed changed, and with them public taste and styles, the spirit and roots of traditional hot rodding live on now just as before.
The Texas Timing Association is a group of racers who cherish those days of traditional drag racing, as it was done when wheelbases were short, engines were out in front where you could keep an eye on them, nitromethane and methanol were commonly used fuels, and most of the spectators were just other racers and hot rodders standing by the fence in the staging area waiting their turn to go to the starting line.
There are a number of former national champion cars and drivers of that era who run with the TTA. Unlike some of the original cars that are now in museums or private collections, a famous few of these fabulous machines are still around and doing the same exciting thing they were built to do. The rest are exact reconstructions of the original cars, or have been built to the look and style of traditional hot rods and drag racers. Friends from the Outlaw Fuel Altered Association, Southwest Junior Fuel Association, Central States Gassers, and Southwest Superchargers often come race with us. Whatever the case, the appearance and performance of the cars you see run with the TTA is always authentic and traditional.
How We Race
It used to be heads-up, flat-out, one-on-one, hard-core drag racing. Hardly anyone got rich or famous in those days, and everybody raced just for the thrill of speed, the trophy that came with winning, and the bragging rights. There were no corporate sponsors, no big money, and very few touring professionals. People drag raced just for fun, not to earn a lot of cash or sell more cars or other products for a sponsor.
The Texas Timing Association still races just because we love to do it! Come to a TTA event and see authentic former national championship cars. Many of these are unrestored, proudly displaying the patina of age that has developed since they were built in the 1950's and 60's. These are the original cars that started it all: Front-Engined Dragsters, Altered Coupes, Roadsters, and Sedans, and all the exciting Gassers, Traditional Hot Rods, Funny Cars and Super/Stockers that complete the picture. It's the real deal!
Mostly, we're just racing the only way that ever made sense to us. Late model front-wheel-drive foreign door cars with whiny little four cylinder engines, stutter boxes, and electronics really don't interest us. We like those big ol' American V-8's, from historic early Ford flatheads to the screaming smallblock Chevy's and on to thundering big inch Hemi's, some with blowers or mechanical fuel injection, a lot with roller cams and zoomie headers, others on methanol and nitromethane. Many of the Texas Timing Association cars are hand-built front-engined dragsters or modified pre-WW II-style coupes, sedans, or roadsters. To us, this is hot rodding the way it began, the way it became legendary, the way it really was back then, is to us now, and always will be in our lives.
Reconnecting Traditional Hot Rodding and Drag Racing
The Texas Timing Association is working to keep the traditional roots of drag racing alive, and show the new racers and fans how our sport developed, and what the cars of its earliest and most sensational days looked and ran like. We are particularly interested in encouraging the reunion of all types of hot rodders: bringing those with the most traditional cars, as well as 21st century street rodders and show car owners, back into union with drag racers. Our sport began and grew from a mixture of these three elements when hot rodding, car shows, and drag races were all simply different parts of the same thing.
That thing grew away from its traditional roots when Fuel Coupes became Funny Cars, when Dragster engines moved back behind the driver, when A/ Gassers got late model bodies and became Pro Stockers. Many people became disenchanted with the way drag racing changed, and moved away to other areas of the hot rodding sport. The tragic change began when the national sanctioning bodies made a decision to do away with traditional drag racing classes and cars in return for greater sponsorship money. Sadly, they made rules favoring late model cars in all but just a few special classes so the sponsors and manufacturers could more profitably see their products "win on Sunday and sell on Monday".
The emphasis on newer looking cars in modern drag racing alienated many of the traditional hot-rodders, with their deuce coupes and high-boy model "A" roadsters and radically chopped sedans. These are the people that started the whole thing. The sport of drag racing began because these original hot-rodders put big engines in old cars and wanted to compete with each other to see whose was fastest. The TTA honors and values these classic cars, along with the car clubs and traditional hot rodders who have kept that flame burning brightly throughout the years. These are the cars the TTA wants to see back out on the track.
Then, Now, and Forevermore
Towards this goal, the TTA is developing a series of drag races with traditional hot rods and authentic historical drag race cars. Back in the day, the original North Texas Timing Association was a group that brought together all of the mid-20th century car clubs into the single body that operated the famed Caddo Mills drag strip. Now, in the early 21st century, the subsequent Texas Timing Association seeks Texas car clubs to partner with us and help to put on our modern day events in the same old way.
There was no difference between hot rodding, car shows, and drag racing back in the day, and we find no reason for us to be divided now. We are one and the same, then, now, and forevermore. Some of us do it on the street, others at shows, and still more of us on the strip, but all of us do it with that classic hot rod spirit. Big time professional racing changed, but we never did.
The real hot rod spirit lives on in us, and is what we at the Texas Timing Association are working to strengthen by reviving traditional events such as the Texas State Championships. If enough other hot rodders, car clubs, and drag strips that share our interests join in, we will be able to produce traditional drag races several times a year at tracks around Texas. If you are interested in being involved in this effort with the Texas Timing Association, whether as a drag strip owner, a member of a co-hosting hot rod club, or as a contestant, please contact us and offer your support.


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Do you like Jazz? Do you like Reggae? Do you like Jazz and Reggae? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you don't want to miss the upcoming 21st Annual Jazz Reggae Festival at UCLA. Taking place Memorial Day weekend, the highly anticipated two-day concert plays host to some of the most amazing musical artists in the worlds of soul, hip-hop, R&B, Reggae and dancehall.
Kicking off on Sunday, May 27th, UCLA's Intramural Field will be enveloped by avid fans ready to hear the rich tones of Grammy Award-winning artist Jill Scott. Scott will lead what is referenced as 'Jam Day' which will also include Lupe Fiasco, Les Nubians, Soullive, Christian Scott, J*Davey and Dujeous. While listening to the music, concert attendees will be able to savor the taste and enjoy the sights of this cultural hub. Many vendors will be on hand selling everything from pallet-pleasing delicacies to clothing and compact discs. Pouring over to Monday, May 28th, the festivities will make way for the rambunctious sounds Reggae artists like Luciano, Cham, General Degree, Mr. Peppa, Joseph Israel, Triniti, Syren, and Eljai.
What is important about this year's festivities is the step toward the ' Green' side. Yes, the festival is paying attention to our environment by using eco-limos for the transportation of artists, the planting of trees to offset emissions and dedicating a resource area to educate attendees. Fun and environmental-friendly, now that's what I call a must-attend event!
Now that you are amp'd about attending this event, you might be wandering how to purchase tickets, right? Well, advanced tickets are on sale right now for the low price of $25 for either day and $45 for both days through Ticketmaster outlets or through the UCLA Central Ticketing office. But you must act fast because time is running out! But, don't be dismayed if you miss purchasing a ticket in advance. There will be the opportunity to purchase tickets on the day of the event for $30.
For additional information about the event, tickets, parking and all you need to know to be included in this memorable Memorial Day, please log onto www.jazzreggaefest.com
See you there!


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== Committee Membership ==
== Committee Membership ==
[http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/2014-15_Directory#Bylaws_.26_Organization_Committee 2014-2015 Committee Membership]
[http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/2014-15_Directory#Bylaws_.26_Organization_Committee 2014-2015 Committee Membership]
Latest revision as of 14:37, 6 February 2018
The Committee revises the GODORT Bylaws as necessary or upon the request of membership; compiles and updates the Policy and Procedures Manual (PPM) and reviews the manual for editorial consistency; and conducts a periodic organizational review of GODORT and its units.
Members of the Committee are elected by GODORT's membership. The Committee's Chair is chosen from among the elected members.
The Committee's work products are the GODORT Bylaws and the GODORT Policies and Procedures Manual (PPM)
Proposed Changes in Bylaws 2014
Bylaws - current version, previous versions, historical proposed changes
Policy & Procedures Manual
PPM - current version
PPM Changes for Consideration - Last updated following Annual 2009
Committee Membership
2014-2015 Committee Membership
2013-2014 Committee Membership
2012-2013 Committee Membership
2011-2012 Committee Membership
2010-2011 Committee Membership
2006-2007 Committee Membership
2005-2006 Committee Membership
- Agenda_2012_Annual
- Agenda_2011_Annual
- Agenda_2011_Midwinter
- Agenda_2010_Annual
- Agenda_2010_Midwinter
- Annual 2009
- Bylaws_Agenda_2009_MW
- Agenda_2008_Annual
- Bylaws Minutes 2012 Annual. Unofficial (quorum not met)
- Bylaws_Minutes_2011_Annual. Includes handouts re virtual participation
- Bylaws_Minutes_2011_MW
- Bylaws_Minutes_2010_Annual
- Bylaws_Minutes_2010_MW
- Bylaws_Minutes_2009_Annual
- Bylaws_Minutes_2009_MW


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BEIRUT, Lebanon, April 4 (UPI) -- As Syria's civil war grinds on, major differences are emerging between Islamist and secular rebel forces, raising fears that the defining conflict will be a showdown between these forces rather than battling the Damascus regime.
There are growing fears that the country will be divided in a war between north and south, a split that almost led to a civil war between the two regions in 1954 centered on Syria's two great trading cities -- Aleppo in the north and the capital Damascus in the south.
Analysts and other observers liken this to the intense rivalry in Libya between the Islamist east centered on Benghazi and the west dominated by Tripoli.
The friction between the rebels has deepened in recent weeks, with Islamist forces led by the increasingly powerful jihadist Jabhat al-Nusra and the Farouq Brigades of the Free Syrian Army at each other's throats.
In January, Thaer al-Waqqas, leader of the FSA's al-Farouq Brigade was killed in northern Syria amid suspicions he was involved in the death of Firas al-Absi, head of a group linked to the al-Nusra Front.
On March 24, Mohammed al-Daher, a popular al-Farouq commander in eastern Syria, was badly wounded in an apparent attempt to assassinate him by the al-Nusra Front.
The next day, Col. Riad al-Asaad, who established and initially commanded the FSA, was badly wounded in a car bombing. It was initially attributed to the regime but Syrian sources said it bore remarkable similarities to the attack on Daher.
"A full-blown civil war among the rebels is not out of the question," said analyst Victor Kotsev.
U.S. history Professor Joshua Landis, who lived in Syria for several years and now teaches at the University of Oklahoma, says the real war in the country "is being fought on the ground by militia leaders who are becoming the real leaders of Syria."
The Islamists, who fought mainly in the north and northwest around Aleppo where they were supplied from neighboring Turkey, are increasingly pushing south after taking the strategic Deir al-zur region and its oil fields.
In recent days they have taken regime bases near the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau in the south that has been largely occupied by Israel since 1967.
The Islamists' presence has alarmed the Israelis, who fear they could come under attack on what for 40 years has been their quietest border.
Landis noted that the Islamists are heading south "down the Eastern highway toward Damascus ...
"Already al-Nusra has a strong foothold in the Damascus region in the Palestinian neighborhood of Yarmouk, around the Jebel Druze and the Daraya-Adhamiya district of Damascus.
"Many Damascenes are fearful of being overrun by the North," Landis observed. "The time-honored divide between North and South is again gaining relevance."
He was referring to 1954, when the country split in half under the dictator Gen. Adib ash-Shishakli who had seized power in December 1949.
The north, led by mutinous Druze troops and Aleppo notables, rose against him and military forces began moving south on Damascus, where Shishakli ruled. Civil war was avoided at the last minute when the United States and Saudi Arabia convinced Shishakli to go into exile in the kingdom.
"Today," Landis wrote in his blog, "Syria is not so lucky. North and South could be in for a real fight, dividing the country not only along geographic lines but also along ideological lines."
Meantime, there's strong speculation that the United States and Britain are seeking to build up the FSA and its allies around Damascus so they take the capital rather than have it fall into Islamist hands.
That would fit in with recent disclosures the Americans and British are working with the Jordanians, and to a lesser degree the Saudis, on training secular forces in the Hashemite kingdom on Syria's southern border.
But, Landis observed, "it is not clear how committed the U.S. and the West are to manning up the opposition in the South of Syria to get the jump on the growing Islamic tide washing down from the North."
Kotsev said, "The noose around Damascus is slowly tightening and many observers believe the fall of the capital is a matter of time."
Meantime, he added, "it remains to be seen who disintegrates first: the regime or the main rebel groups opposing it."


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After recently scuttling a bill that would require paid sick days, the Bloomberg administration and the business community now are training their sights on two more City Council proposals intended to help workers. The bills ask developers who receive major taxpayer subsidies to guarantee that the jobs their big projects create will pay decent wages.
In its efforts to combat this initiative, the administration and its allies have raised a number of arguments. But examination of the facts shows that the objections have no basis in reality. Instead, New York's own experiences and those of other cities demonstrate that living-wage policies are important tools for ensuring that development delivers the middle-class jobs that communities -- and our economy -- need in order to recover and thrive.
The City Council Proposals
The City Council proposals would build on the city's current living-wage law, which was enacted in 1995 and broadened in 2002. It guarantees a $10 minimum wage plus benefits or the prevailing industry wage (whichever is higher) for certain types of service workers at companies that operate under contracts with city agencies. The new proposals (Intro 0018 and Intro 0251) would expand these successful local wage standards to workers employed on taxpayer-subsidized economic development projects.
Every year, the city awards many millions of dollars in tax breaks to promote growth across the five boroughs -- everything from the Hudson Yards project on the West Side, to the new Coney Island in Brooklyn. While these projects are touted for the jobs they will create, security guards and cashiers at subsidized projects often are paid just $8 or $9 per hour with no benefits.
Under the City Council proposals, when developers seek such taxpayer subsidies, they would need to recruit tenants and building service contractors that will provide decently paying jobs. Specifically, on projects where developers receive subsidies, all workers would be required to be paid at least $10 per hour -- a very modest wage floor. And for building service workers -- for whom the standard wage in most large buildings in New York is more than $20 per hour -- developers would be required to match that prevailing industry wage.
Big Real Estate, Not Small Businesses
For starters, the administration says the bills would hurt small business. But the developers that receive these subsidies are about as far from small businesses as one can get. And the businesses they bring in as partners are typically major retail and hotel chains, not mom-and-pop shops.
In fact, small businesses generally oppose the city's policy of subsidizing big development projects, because it gives the chain stores an unfair advantage over local mom-and-pops that don't get tax breaks. That is why small-business groups like the Neighborhood Retail Alliance support the City Council's living-wage and prevailing-wage bills. They argue that if these big projects are going to be supported with taxpayer funds, they should at least pay their workers decently.
Developers Will Still Develop
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's other main argument is that it is unrealistic to ask developers to guarantee decent wages and that doing so will kill projects and jobs. That's a serious charge. But the experiences of New York and other major cities present compelling evidence to the contrary.
Although you would never know it from the mayor's rhetoric, Bloomberg has required wage standards on most major development projects across the city in order to win City Council support. This started in 2005 with the redevelopment of the Brooklyn waterfront in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Bloomberg, then–City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and developers signed an agreement to pay decent wages to the janitors and security guards who would eventually be employed in the buildings there. Far from killing any projects or jobs, the developers eagerly moved forward with new luxury high-rises up and down the waterfront. Today, buildings like the Toll Brothers' Northside Piers complex in Williamsburg operate profitably, while paying their janitors solid, middle-class wages.
Since 2005, the city has gone on to use similar standards on other major projects, such as the Willets Point, Coney Island and Domino Sugar factory redevelopments. There is no evidence that the wage guarantees have hurt the city's ability to recruit developers, or developers' ability to get financing or attract tenants for their projects.
But while New York has begun to make progress, it still must play catch-up to other cities in what it expects from businesses that benefit from taxpayers' largesse. Los Angeles, under Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has been the national leader in making the creation of living-wage jobs a top priority. No major subsidized development project there goes forward without a living-wage standard -- not just for building service workers, but employees in all low-wage jobs that may be generated. Projects ranging from the Staples Center/L.A. Live sports-and-entertainment district and the Kodak Theater (host to the Academy Awards), to hotel and retail development projects have been built using living-wage standards.
Los Angeles' economic development agency has found that these standards have not prevented developers from balancing project budgets, getting financing, and finding anchor tenants. The employers that the city has partnered with on these projects include major hotel chains like Marriott, Ritz and the W; food-service contractors like HMS Host and Aramark; and retailers like Trader Joe's and Costco.
San Francisco, under Mayor Gavin Newsom, has used the same strategy with equal success. For example, the massive redevelopment of the city's Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point section announced this summer (which will include 635,000 square feet of retail, 2.6 million square feet of office and research space, 10,000 residential units, and a football stadium) will require living wages for all jobs in the project area. The Lennar Corp., the nation's second-largest homebuilder, eagerly sought city approval for the project. The city's living wage was so uncontroversial that there was virtually no mention of it during the public debate over the project.
Stalling With a Study
In an effort to delay action on the proposed bills, the Bloomberg administration has commissioned a million-dollar study of the impact that living-wage laws have had across the nation. The administration hired the nation's leading anti-minimum wage economist, David Neumark from the University of California at Irvine, to conduct the analysis. Neumark, who is affiliated with the Employment Policies Institute -- a lobbying group for low-wage employers seeking to keep wages low -- has staked out an extreme and controversial position on wage standards. He opposed even the modest increase in the federal minimum wage to $7.25.
Worse still, his research on living-wage policies has been exposed as fatally flawed. Rather than gather actual data on workers and businesses covered by living-wage policies, Neumark attempts to tease out the impact of such measures from general citywide employment data. However, as more careful economists have pointed out, in most of the cities that have adopted living-wage laws, the policy affects only a very small number of workers. And it simply is not possible to discern the impact -- whether positive or negative -- on such a tiny sliver of the labor market from general data.
Benefits of Living Wages
Last month, the Center for American Progress released an important new national study of living-wage laws that definitively debunked Neumark's findings. It puts to rest the real estate lobby's claims that living-wage policies have impeded job growth by creating an "anti-development" business climate. And it lends support to the large body of careful research over the past decade that has examined actual living-wage policies on the ground -- and documented substantial benefits, not just for workers but also for employers.
For example, in a case study of San Francisco International Airport, University of California economists found the living-wage policy there raised pay by an average of 22 percent for workers such as security screeners, cashiers and restaurant servers. At the same time, airport employers saw annual turnover for security screeners plummet from 94.7 percent to 18.7 percent, resulting in annual savings of $4,275 per employee in recruitment costs. Employers also reported improvements in employee performance, employee morale, and customer service.
Rebuilding the City's Middle Class and Economy
Bloomberg has begun promoting New York's record of job growth as a model for the nation. But that job growth has produced an hourglass economy, with high-paying finance jobs at the top, low-wage service jobs at the bottom, and less and less for the city's eroding middle class.
Los Angeles has provided a road map for a pro-growth development strategy that expands the tax base and brings in new employers, while improving wages for hotel, retail, and service workers. New York needs to learn from this approach.
Producing more middle-class jobs is vital, not only for New York's working families, but also for its economy. Because consumer demand powers our economy, a thriving middle class that can afford to spend money at local businesses is essential for sustaining growth. New York's recovery strategy must therefore include initiatives for rebuilding a base of good jobs at good wages for the workers who make the city run. The City Council's living-wage and prevailing-wage proposals are a good place to start.
Paul K. Sonn is legal co-director of theNational Employment Law Project


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5 Grand - Over Here [Unsigned Hype]
" Official Music Video for Philly's own 5 Grand (Next Day Air Motion Picture Soundtrack and Vibe Magazines Artist on the Verge) new single "Over Here". The single is produced by J-Strong and available on ITunes now. For more information, visit 5GRANDLIFE.COM or Global Recording Group at GRG-MUSIC.COM. To purchase the single, visit http://www.itunes.com/5grand & P3movement.com"
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|Version 46 (modified by 22 months ago) (diff),
What is the Tor Meeting?
A meeting of the core Tor team, developers, volunteers and invited guests in Rome, to discuss plans, milestones, deadlines, and other important matters.
Participant Guidelines: 2017Montreal/ParticipantGuidelines
Week at a glance
- March 11: meeting invitees arrive; sometimes group dinner in the evening.
- March 12: Tor open board meeting; structured agenda with specific tracks.
- March 13: structured agenda with specific tracks.
- March 14: self-organizing open space: working and hacking sessions.
- March 15: self-organizing open space: working and hacking sessions; later everyone heads home.
The event venue will be located in The Rome Life Hotel. http://www.moodhotels.it/eng/life-hotel-roma/meeting-rooms-rome.html
We will have three separate hotels for this meeting. They're all located on the same block. They are The Rome Life, The Rome Times, and The Rome Glam Hotels. http://www.moodhotels.it/eng/life-hotel-roma/index.html http://www.moodhotels.it/ita/rome-glam-hotel/index.html http://www.moodhotels.it/eng/times-hotel-roma/index.html
To get to the city from the Fiumicino airport (FCO) you have 4 options:
- Train (recommended option)
From the FCO airport, take the train (Leonardo Express) to Rome Termini. It costs 14 EUR, it's direct, takes 32 minutes and runs fairly regularly. You can buy tickets from the automatic machines (with an annoying voice shouting at you) at the train station in the FCO airport.
The hotel is a 13 minute walk (1.1km) from Rome Termini station.
- Taxi
A taxi ride from the FCO Airport to inside the Aurelian Walls (which is where the hotel is) has a fixed price (tariffa fissa) of 48 EUR. Be sure to tell the taxi driver of this option before you get in the taxi. The taxi ride may take 1 hour, but that depends on the traffic.
As you exit the airport, many people will offer you a taxi ride, but they will try to rip you off. Ignore them or kindly decline and go to the taxi stand outside.
While in theory most taxis should accept credit cards, their credit card machines always seem to have some form of malfunction. So be sure to either have enough cash on hand or ask them before starting the ride if they accept credit cards.
- Bus
The bus is cheaper than the train, but takes longer. Here you can find a list of bus companies that offer Fiumicino transfers: http://www.adr.it/web/aeroporti-di-roma-en-/pax-fco-bus.
- Uber
The situation with Uber in Italy is a bit complex (tl;dr Uber as you know it does not exist in Italy). If you book an Uber, a fancy car will pick you up and the price will be either equal or greater than a taxi.
Due to the change in seasons, March can be an unpredictable time of the year weather-wise, with both chilly and fairly warm days. To avoid getting caught short by any sudden temperature changes, bring a mix of warm and cool clothing.
It doesn't usually rain much in Rome during March, so you should probably expect to get a lot of sunlight under blue skies.
Weather Forecast
Update this closer to the date!
If you want to tell people that you're going or not going, please add yourself to this table:
(Remember, Day 0 through Day 2 are invitation only.)
|Mark this column if you want a room in the hotel block
|Preferred name for name tag
Here's where information about the group dinner goes. If you plan on attending the "meet and greet" dinner, please add yourself to this table:
Coordination mailing list
Subscribe to the tor-meeting mailing list to keep informed about plans.
Outcomes and Session ideas
Put your ideas for outcomes and sessions here:
(Wiki page format is YearCity/AgendaIdeas)
Open Days
(YearCity/Notes|Session Notes
Nearby (temporally and physically) conferences
Right before the Tor Meeting, there's the Internet Freedom Festival (IFF) in Valencia, Spain, between 5th-9th March 2018. Learn all about the IFF here: https://internetfreedomfestival.org/
Local Medical Resources
The hospital emergency number is: 118.
Pharmacy / Chemist
There's a pharmacy (Farmacia Quirinale di Maria Cristina Nisi) on Via Milano 54, which is less than 100m from the hotel. It's open daily from 8:30am to 7:30pm, and between 8:30am to 1pm on Saturdays. It's closed on Sundays.
Every pharmacy has a sign next to their door with a list of all nearby pharmacies and their opening hours for that week. If you are looking for an open pharmacy you can also try searching on the web for "Farmacie aperte".
If you have health issues, it's probably best to go to the emergency room (pronto soccorso) and ask to see a doctor. In Italy you can visit a hospital without insurance, and without having to ask for a mortgage to pay the bill.
Interesting local stuff
Groceries / Supermarket
There's a supermarket (Conad City) on Via del Boschetto 54, which is a 2 minute walk (190m) from the hotel. It's open daily between 8am to 9pm, and between 8am to 1pm on Sundays.
Porta Portese is Rome's biggest flea market, selling everything from vegetables, antiques to clothes (https://www.likealocalguide.com/rome/porta-portese). It's only open on Sundays from 6am to 2pm. If you go, prepare to bargain.
"If you don't care about how we cook stick to your Burgers and Leave our dishes alone." - Some Italian mad at food
In Italy we love food and are very passionate about it. We therefore make some of the best food in the world.
|Restaurant Name
|Type of restaurant
|Dar Bruttone
|Via Taranto 118 (San Giovanni)
|Traditional Roman cuisine with a twist
|Their "Carbonara Tartufata" is the best pasta in the world!
|Vecchia Roma
|Via Ferruccio, 12 (Piazza Vittorio)
|Traditional Roman trattoria, with pizza
|It's a pretty small place.
|Da Bucatino
|Via Luca della Robbia, 84
|Must get bucatini all'amatriciana! Don't worry, they give you a bib to not get your shirt dirty.
|Dar Poeta
|Vicolo del Bologna, 45
|You will most likely have to wait a bit to get a table and you can't reserve, but it's worth it.
|Via del Monte della Farina, 28
|Fancy Pizza place
|Great pizza & pasta!
|Al Grottino
|Via Orvieto 6
|Amazing pizza!
|Urbana 47
|Via Urbana, 47
|Hipster Italian cuisine
|La Carbonara
|Via Panisperna, 214
|4 minute walk (350m) from the hotel, offers classic Roman dishes.
Gelato (i.e. ice cream)
In Italy we love ice cream, have a history of making it, and have perfected its art!
You will therefore find gelaterias everywhere, and most will probably be great.
Below are some recommendations.
|Via Uffici del Vicario, 40
|Established in 1900 & still a family run business to this day.
|La Romana
|Via Venti Settembre, 60
|Established in 1947 as a family run gelateria.
|Gelateria del Teatro
|Via dei Coronari, 65
|Short walk from Piazza Navona, known for its high-quality ingredients.
|Gelateria Grom
|Piazza dei Cinquecento
|Close to the hotel & includes ingredients for those with lactose intolerance.
|Via degli Orfani, 87
|Right next to the Pantheon, been around since 1878, still offers amazing gelato!
In Italy we love coffee, and so you will have a hard time finding bad coffee.
If you walk into any bar and ask for a coffee, you will get an espresso coffee (as it should be).
These are the possible variations of an espresso:
- Lungo (long)
- Ristretto (short)
- Al vetro (in a glass cup)
- In tazza grande (in a big cup)
- Americano (with added water)
- Macchiato a caldo (with a dash of hot milk)
- Macchiato a freddo (with a dash of cold milk)
You can also get a cappuccino in every cafè and it's also very good.
Don't ask for a "Latte", you will get a glass of milk.
While it's true that most bars (even the shady one next to the train station) offer excellent coffee experiences, there are some that do stand out:
- Sant'Eustachio Il Caffè - Piazza di San Eustachio, 82 - They roast their own beans and I would recommend buying some coffee here to bring back home.
Craft Beer
Sightseeing in Rome
Rome is an ancient city full of attractions worth visiting. Some of these are included in the table below.
|Open Hours
|Trevi Fountain
|It's less crowded late at night (but still quite crowded)
|9am - 6pm
|Usually no queue :)
|12 euros
|8:30am - 5pm
|Buy your ticket online (in advance) to skip the (huge) queue!
|Roman Forum & Palatine Hill
|Included in the Colosseum ticket
|8:30am - 5pm
|Located right next to the Colosseum
|Piazza Venezia
|Walking distance from the Colosseum
|Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel
|17 euros
|9am - 6pm (last entry at 4pm)
|Buy your ticket online (in advance) to skip the (huge) queue!
|St. Peter's Basilica
|7am - 6pm
|Located right next to the Vatican
|Piazza di Spagna
|Includes the famous Spanish Steps & Fontana della Barcaccia
|Piazza del Popolo
|Includes an Egyptian obelisk & various famous fountains
|Piazza Navona
|Famous fountains and Egyptian obelisks
|Campo de' Fiori
|Giordano Bruno was burnt alive on this square (located close to Piazza Navona)
|Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano
|7am - 6:30pm
|The oldest & most highest-ranking church in Rome
|Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
|7am - 6:45pm
|It's beautiful.
|Capitoline Museums
|11,50 euros
|9:30am - 7:30pm
|Probably best to purchase your ticket online (to skip the queue)
|Catacomb of Priscilla
|8 euros
|9am - 12pm, 2pm - 5pm
|Called "the Queen of the Catacombs".
|Gianicolo Hill
|Panoramic view of Rome
|Circus Maximus
|The first and largest stadium in ancient Rome.
|Borghese Gallery
|22 euros
|Tuesday to Sunday, 8:30am - 7:30pm
|Also worth walking around the Villa Borghese park.
|National Museum of Castel St. Angelo
|15 euros
|9am - 7:30pm
|Beatrice Cenci was beheaded at Castel St. Angelo & legend has it that her ghost walks on the bridge every year on 11th September.
"Day trips" from Rome
There's a lot to see and do in Rome. But if you plan on staying in Italy for extra days (before and/or after the Tor Meeting), here are some other great places you can easily visit by hopping onto a train from Rome.
|Train ride
|1 hour & 15 minutes (from Rome Termini station)
|Try the Napolitan pizza & hike the Vesuvius volcano.
|40 minutes (from Naples Central station)
|Ancient city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, yet still preserved (UNESCO World Heritage Site).
|1 hour & 22 minutes (from Rome Tiburtina)
|Considered the birthplace of Renaissance.
|3 hours & 10 minutes (from Rome Termini)
|Medieval city in Tuscany, famous for its cuisine, art, and museums (UNESCO World Heritage Site).


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Book Description
Moby Dick is a vast and dangerous white whale. An enemy for many years after the whale bit off his leg, the crazed Captain Ahab is obsessed with his quarry. Together with his extraordinary crew, Ahab braves the oceans of the world to hunt the fearsome Moby Dick. Geraldine McCaughrean is one of the most distinguished living children's authors. She has won the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Children'... More
Book Information
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|Paperback (350 editions)
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Herman Melville (Author) : Herman Melville was a published author and an editor of children's books. Some of the published credits of Herman Melville include Moby-Dick: New Edition (Everyman's Library (Paper)), Moby Dick, Typee... more
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Be a part of the Colchester Tour Series
Be a part of the Colchester Tour Series
Colchester will be celebrating another amazing Pearl Izumi Tour Series cycle racing day on 30 May 2013 - the race is returning to the town for its fourth year thanks to Colchester Borough Council.
Castle Park will be packed with free events for all ages during the afternoon, including novelty bikes, a 10-second cycling challenge courtesy of Essex University's human performance unit, dance tasters and sports skills sessions.
And CTC is leading two community cycle rides that will culminate in a ride on the actual Tour Series racing circuit meaning that participants can cross the finish line in front of the Colchester crowds!There will also be the chance to meet members of Team CTC pro-women's team.
The rides are free and open to all. They will be gentle and relaxing and led by experienced cycle leaders.
Join the Rides
The rides are starting at 1pm at two points - Colchester Hythe and Highwoods, and will lead you through the best parts of Colchester's cycle network before culminating on the high street at 3.30pm for a half hour opening of part of the circuit.
The professional races will commence at 5.30pm, with the women's Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix series followed by the men's race at 7pm.
Register for the BIG Colchester ride
Contacts: Richard Monk or Grace Lee / Tel. 01206 506412
Find out more about the Tour Series Race in Colchester


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Challenge Nation is a series of urban adventure races coming soon to a city near you! Each Challenge is part 5K race, part scavenger hunt, and part urban exploration--which all adds up to 100% fun as you compete against other Challengers to quickly solve the clues and beat them to the finish line!
We're visiting 35 cities nationwide in 2015! Look for your city on the schedule to the right.
Visit your city's page to find out more details about where the race starts and how to register. If you still have more questions, visit our FAQ page with all the answers, or just email us if you still have questions!


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Whether clients desire art for its esthetic value, because peers collect as well, or as an asset class, investing in art is a part of managing wealth that takes special expertise. Universities do it. Pension funds sometimes do it. And your wealthy clients may do it often. Invest in art, that is.
Because of the unique nature of every piece of art, and the volatile and emotional connection that many collectors have with their pieces, art is really not a typical investment. Nobody would normally bid up a stock or bond because of an emotional attachment or longing to possess a particular share or bond. Yet, one hears about it often in the art world. Because of this, art can be extremely difficult to put a value on. And placing a value on the art clients possess is essential to protecting it, to understanding where it fits into a client's asset mix and what needs to be done to maintain its value.
At Schwab Impact, Dreweatts Deputy Chairman Clive Stewart-Lockhart (left) enriched a rapt audience with his views on how to buy, sell, value and protect the art that means so much to clients. Dreweatts is a U.K-based Fine Arts Auction house.
Two Picassos, Miles Apart
Stewart-Lockhart opened with two of Picassos paintings. One was a 1965 portrait of his wife, Jacqueline Roque, "Woman With The Large Hat, Bust." The other was a painting of his mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, called "Nude, Green Leaves, And Bust." When they were sold, one day apart, "which one was worth more?" Stewart-Lockhart asked the crowd.
While the painting of Picasso's wife sold for "$9 million," he says, the painting of Marie-Thérèse Walter was auctioned for "$106 million." Why the $97 million difference? Picasso's mistress was a "great sitter," the painting had "provenance," it had belonged for years to Picasso's agent, so it had been "absent" from the art market for a long time, says Stewart-Lockhart. In addition, he said, it had been the beneficiary of "great marketing by auctioneers.'
'What Is It Worth?'
There are really three kinds of valuations placed on art, according to Stewart-Lockhart:
- "Retail replacement value—what you would insure it for (three times auction value)"
- "Fair market value—willing buyer and seller"
- "Marketable cash value"
It's important to appraise the art for insurance, taxes, collateral and division of assets in an estate or divorce, Stewart-Lockhart explains.
'Sir George' Is Divorcing, Again
As an auctioneer, Stewart-Lockhart is used to being in front of a crowd and is very entertaining. He tells the story of "an habitual divorcee, Sir George." One day, Sir George called Stewart-Lockhart, at 10 am, in need of "a particular sum, and help to identify an asset to dispose of." Sir George had, says Stewart-Lockhart, "a need for speed."
Stewart-Lockhart called a friend in the business, who arrived at Sir George's house by noon. They agreed on an "asset," and a price, and the money was in Sir George's account "by 1 pm. That's incredibly swift," notes Stewart-Lockhart. Indeed.
Art as an Asset Class
There are pension funds and other institutions that have allocated a percentage of assets to art. Here Stewart-Lockhart uses the British Rail Pension Fund (BRPF), as an example. In 1974, looking to diversify the pension's portfolio, BRPF set out to add art as an asset class. In the depths of that horrible recession, inflation was "just under 30%," he says, and BRPF desired "long-term growth, equal to or greater than inflation.
With a £40 million war chest, and Sotheby's as an advisor, Stewart-Lockhart says, the fund acquired art from 1974 to 1983, and then slowly sold it from 1983 to 2000. The fund realized a profit of £168 million—an annual return of about 4% after inflation, he added. Some of the best-performing art classes were "Japanese prints, impressionists—12.9%" annually after inflation, and "early Chinese porcelain and ceramics—8.2% annually after inflation, says Stewart-Lockhart, citing Eckstein and Associates' data.
While BRPF is "still the only available model of institutional investment fund performance," Stewart-Lockhart notes, other institutions and funds do invest. But BRPF remains a "model of good practice," he says.
He notes that the CEO of The Fine Art Fund, Philip Hoffman, cautions: "I don't advise anyone with modest wealth to invest in Art. Unless he is putting in less than 5% of his money into Art, he shouldn't do it."
Commissions are charged to buyer and seller. At auction, that can be "20% to 25% of the hammer price. Do not," Stewart-Lockhart advises, "accept the commission rate that the auction house gives you; you can do a deal." The commission, he argues, is negotiable.
Investors in art also need to consider the costs of: "insurance, restoration, storage, transport, and, if collection on a grand scale, curatorial services," Stewart-Lockhart explains.
Why Art?
In addition to art as a diversifier of assets, there are other reasons to invest in art; among them: economic slowdown, capital appreciation, speculation, tax benefit, philanthropy, emotional dividends and social status."
Stewart-Lockhart ran down the list of risks in collecting art. These include: "liquidity, damage, change in taste, economic downturn, political upheaval," as well as, "government legislation and contested ownership." Two others, droit de suite and Calif. resale royalties," require that living artists be paid a royalty when art changes hands. Finally, "contested ownership" can be an issue.
Investing in art can be an esthetically and emotionally pleasing way of spending money. If clients want to diversify in this way, Stewart-Lockhart suggests, get good advice, and make sure clients buy what they like, because they may own it for a long time.


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10 tips for last minute tax filers from the American Institute of CPAs
WASHINGTON -- Here are 10 questions and answers from the American Institute of CPAs to help you with any last-minute uncertainties you may have as the deadline for filing your 2011 individual income tax return approaches.
Q. Is April 15 still the deadline for filing my tax return?
A. Not this year. You have two extra days this year because April 15 is a Sunday and April 16 is a local holiday in the District of Columbia. That means that you have until midnight on Tuesday, April 17, to file your federal tax return. It is also the due date for First Quarter Estimates if you are required to pay estimated taxes quarterly.
Q. Do I have to make that mad rush to the post office to mail my tax return by midnight on April 17?
A. Not if you e-file. The IRS strongly encourages taxpayers who have access to a computer to file online at www.IRS.gov. Your local certified public accountant can also electronically file your return for you. If you prefer to mail your return, the United States Postal Service uses special procedures and maintains extra-long hours to make it as easy as possible for taxpayers who wait until the last minute to get their returns in the mail by midnight. You can also use one of the IRS-designated private delivery services.
Q. What does it cost to file my return online?
A. There is no charge to use IRS e-file to file your return electronically.
Q. What do I do if I can't file by the April 17 deadline?
A. Individuals who need additional time should submit a request for an extension by filing IRS Form 4868, "Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return."
Q. Can Form 4868 be filed electronically?
A. Yes. Or, request an extension by mailing Form 4868 by midnight on April 17, 2011.
Q. How will I know if my request for an extension has been approved?
A. Filing a Form 4868 on time and in accordance with all IRS requirements automatically grants a taxpayer an extension to file their 2011 income tax return until Oct. 15, 2012.
Q. How complicated is Form 4868? Will I be able to fill it out myself?
A. Form 4868 is very short, only asks for basic contact information and requires that you estimate what your taxes are for 2011. If you prefer, your certified public accountant can file the form on your behalf or answer any questions you may have.
Q. Why am I required to estimate my taxes if I'm requesting an extension?
A. Correctly filing Form 4868 only extends the date by which you have to submit your tax return. It does not delay the requirement to pay your taxes by April 17. You will need to estimate the taxes you owe because at least 90 percent of what you owe must be included with your Form 4868. Otherwise, you likely will be subject to interest and late filing penalties.
Q. What if I request an extension but think I'll be getting a refund?
A. If you are expecting a refund, you don't need to do anything other than file Form 4868. However, you will not receive a refund until you have filed your tax return.
Q. Does filing Form 4868 also give me an extension on the deadline for submitting my state income tax forms?
A. It depends. Each state has different rules. Be sure to check your state's filing requirements for requesting an extension.
For help getting started preparing your tax return, check the tips on the AICPA's 360 Degrees of Taxes website, a public service site to assist taxpayers year-round with tax filing questions and tax planning, and tax saving strategies. And, if you're hiring a tax preparer, become an informed consumer by reading "Facts to Know When Choosing a Tax Preparer" on the 360Taxes.org website.