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Frances Fox Piven
2007 President Is a Defender of the "Poorest of the Poor"
by Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bait and Switch
I first met Frances Fox Piven in the early 1980s. I was a struggling freelance writer; she was an intellectual star. Everything about her intimidated me: Her habit of not saying anything until she had thought it through, her sociological erudition, her relentless work ethic, her fearlessness in the face of authority, and—if I may mention it—her drop-dead good looks. I am not sure why she took an interest in me, but within months she had convinced me that the highest feminist priority was the defense of the poorest of the poor, that is, women on welfare. And she had somehow inveigled me into working with her on the program of the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), over which she then presided.
Fighting to Reduce Poverty
When we met, Frances was already widely known for her classic books, co-authored with her long-time companion, Richard A. Cloward: Poor People's Movements and Regulating the Poor. She had achieved tenure at Boston University and considerable recognition, including a Guggenheim fellowship and the C. Wright Mills Award from the SSSP. But because of her activism, she was still a bit of an enfant terrible within academia. She had collaborated with the late George A. Wiley, leader of the 1960s welfare rights movement, and developed the confrontational strategy that led to a liberalization of welfare and a reduction in extreme poverty during that decade. Even more perturbing to many of her fellow social scientists, she always said exactly what was on her mind even if that meant publicly upbraiding them for statements she found condescending to the poor.
At the same time, Frances was—and remains—a diligent and hard-working academic citizen. Sometimes I have chided her for putting so much time into academic committees and slaving over her students' dissertations, but she always insisted on being a responsible professor as well as an activist and writer. How does she do it? The secret, revealed to me over time, is that she does not sleep much, and somehow manages to remain alert on a punishing schedule of meetings, travel, and writing deadlines.
Within a short time of our initial meeting, Frances and I began our intellectual and activist collaboration. We coauthored articles on welfare and the threat of welfare "reform" for a variety of publications, including Dissent, The Nation, and Mother Jones. She is a delightful person to write with—rigorous, logical, meticulous about facts, and utterly ego-free. We spent many hours over tea, outlining our arguments, mustering our data, and dividing up the actual writing. In the 1980s, we launched a series of polemics against the notion that full employment is the solution to poverty, pointing out the expansion of low-wage, poverty-level jobs, even in times of relative prosperity. In the mid- 1990s, we helped organize a committee of women academics and journalists in opposition to punitive forms of welfare reform.
Motor Voter Bill
Economic issues were not all that preoccupied Frances in those years. In 1983, she co-founded, with Cloward, a group called Human SERVE, which was dedicated to the idea that if citizens were allowed to register to vote when they apply for aid from government programs or for drivers' licenses, some of the historic administrative encumbrances on the right to vote could be overcome. The poor in particular, who often lack the time for voter registration, would be effectively enfranchised. Human SERVE's approach was incorporated in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, popularly known as the "motor voter bill."
One anecdote about that sticks in my mind. Sometime in the mid-1990s, Frances found herself on the way to the airport without her driver's license. She called Richard at their home and asked him to find it and bring it to her at the train station. He failed to find it, and instead brought her a photo of herself and Bill Clinton taken at the time of the signing of the motor voter bill. That was enough to get Frances on the plane.
Nuts, Brilliant, and Courageous
She is not one to confide casually, and it was some time before I came to understand how deeply rooted her passion about poverty is. I could see how she glowed when she talked about her grassroots welfare rights activism and the friendships she had forged in the course of it. She is genuinely comfortable with the kind of poor women, usually African American, she has worked with on welfare rights, and this no doubt has something to do with her own childhood as the daughter of impoverished Russian immigrants in Queens. By all accounts, her family was more than mildly dysfunctional, with a father who worked until late at night and a mother unable to adjust to life in America. At age 15, Frances was accepted at the University of Chicago and left home to matriculate. She was "a bit nuts" then, she now says, but surely also brilliant and courageous.
After graduating—and a brief marriage— she became a young single mother and graduate student. Those were difficult years, with Frances torn between motherhood, academic life, and activism. Her relationship with Richard, which began in the 1960s, no doubt had a stabilizing effect. He was hardly a typical academic, with his rugged, plainspoken manner and impatience with any kind of obfuscation, but the perfect match for Frances. They collaborated on almost everything until his death in 2001. I was proud to call him, as well as Frances, a friend.
Author, Speaker, and Professor
In the late eighties and nineties, Frances's oeuvre expanded and her influence grew. We co-authored, with Cloward and Fred Bloch, The Mean Season: The Attack on the Welfare State; she and Richard wrote Why Americans Don't Vote and The Breaking of the American Social Compact, and she published Labor Parties in Post-Industrial Societies. In addition to being a lucid and compelling writer, she had become a powerful public speaker, and when she wasn't writing or working with Human SERVE, she was traveling to speak on college campuses, for professional organizations, and at national and international conferences. She became a close friend and ally of Senator Paul Wellstone, who reliably championed the poor in the Senate until his untimely death in 2000.
Meanwhile, her academic career had been jolted by the conflict between Boston University president John Silber and much of his faculty. When it became clear that the autocratic Silber would prevail, many of the faculty leaders left or were forced out. Frances resettled at the City University of New York Graduate Center in 1982, where she attracted a succession of adoring graduate students. They would arrive at her apartment a dozen at a time, for lengthy discussions over Chinese takeout. Frances told me she thought of them as her "daughters and sons."
Within the last few years, she received increasingly mainstream academic recognition, winning a Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology from the ASA (2000), a Lifetime Achievement Award in Social Work Education from the Council of Social Work Education (2001), the ASA Award for the Public Understanding of Sociology (2003), and a Charles E. McCoy Lifetime Achievement Award, from a section of the American Political Science Association (2004). In 2002, she lent her own name to a new award: the Annual Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward Award from the New Political Science Section of the American Political Science Association. Meanwhile, the books kept coming: a revised and updated edition of Why Americans Don't Vote, (with Cloward) in 2000, The War at Home: The Domestic Costs of Bush's Militarism in 2004, and Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America, forthcoming.
And Modest, Too
But as she won respectability, Frances retained her radical vision and critical spirit. If anything, the Bush years pushed her toward even greater outspokenness and involvement. At CUNY, she was active in the struggle to hold down tuition and fee increases. She also became active in the anti-war movement, signing public petitions and speaking at rallies. I was on a plenary panel with her at the 2004 ASA Annual Meeting, where she received a standing ovation for her rousing challenge to develop a more socially engaged and "public" practice of sociology. Her latest book, Challenging Authority (I think it may be one of her best), makes an intellectually impeccable argument for the role of disruption in progressive social change. In a blurb for the cover, I described it as "a Molotov cocktail encased in an elegant crystal decanter."
Frances herself is modest about her "lifetime achievements." After all, welfare reform was enacted in an especially punitive form, and the motor voter law has been vitiated by failures in enforcement and a rash of new state restrictions on access to registration and voting. But her critique of welfare reform continues to reverberate, and helped spark a growing scholarly concern about the low status of "caring" work, such as child-raising. Similarly, her work on voting rights has fed into dismay over the limitations and violations of electoral democracy. Recently, her work on the effects of militarism on the welfare state has reinforced the growing public discontent with the current administration's foreign policy.
Defining Public Sociology
More important, in this context is her contribution to the social sciences—not only her books and other substantive contributions—but her status as a role model for a morally focused, relentlessly critical style of scholarship. At recent ASA meetings, there has been much discussion of what "public sociology" might mean. It should be no mystery, since Frances herself embodies it. Her research interests are defined by glaring social problems, and she is never content with research, publication, and teaching—always following through with activism and, when necessary, the creation of new organizations for social change. Reading through her accomplishments as an activist scholar, you might think she is actually a fairly hefty, multi-talented, team, and not just one individual.
Finally, on a personal note, I want to express my own debt to Frances—as friend, collaborator, and intellectual guru. She sharpened my indignation at the kinds of economic justice that has inspired my work over the last decade. She has been more than generous with her time and her insights, again and again giving a critical reading to drafts I have written. When I was on the road, working on my book Nickel and Dimed, she was one of the only people from my real life, other than family, that I called, telling her that I could not believe what I was finding and experiencing. In that and every other project, her encouragement and enthusiasm have kept me going.
Published in Footnotes November 2006.
Piven delivered her Presidential Address during the 2007 ASA Annual Meeting.


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Facebook's IPO has raised hopes in Silicon Valley that the tech industry's days of wine and roses will soon be back with hundreds of start-ups going public. Even President Obama seems excited. He recently proposed an "IPO on-ramp" to help young, smaller companies go public.
Sadly, everyone is going to be disappointed.
We are not going to see the flood of IPOs that happened during the late 90's. The rules of the game have changed. The infrastructure to facilitate IPOs is no longer there, and the regulatory environment has changed. Joe Grundfest, a professor and a colleague at Stanford Law School, outlines four reasons why the path to the IPO has become so steep for aspiring companies.
First, regulatory costs for companies that aspire to go public have increased substantially. Lawyer and auditor fees have mushroomed in the wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and these professionals cannot be paid in stock. They require cold, hard cash that could otherwise be spent on engineers, sales staff, hardware acquisition, marketing, and other revenue generating functions. Then, once a company goes public, it has to scale up its board membership to comply with more extensive governance requirements as outlined by the NYSE and NASDAQ. And larger boards are more expensive in terms of both the cash and equity commitments required on the part of the company.
Second, the financial markets have changed. It is increasingly difficult for a new company to persuade investors that its investment thesis isn't otherwise captured in a more efficient form by any of a number of industry-based indexes. Only larger companies with a unique story can pass this hurdle. This means that companies such as Facebook and Google can still go public, but an army of smaller, less-differentiated firms will have a hard time.
Third, the analyst sector, which does the intense, company-specific grunt work for IPOs, has been decimated. The Wall Street Analyst settlement, which tried to remedy the misleading reports that analysts were allegedly publishing, eliminated the incentive for financial firms to hire the armies of analysts necessary to cover smaller IPOs.
Fourth, many of the largest and most successful sectors display winner-take-all characteristics early in their evolution. Again, look at Facebook and Google, both of which have been buying up companies that are either in direct competition or are developing complementary technology. In the 1990's, the smaller companies might have survived to be able to go public, but not today. Put another way, in the 1990's we could run the race to find the dominant firm after the competitors went public. Today, however, the race is usually over early in the game.
So, the tidal wave of IPOs isn't going to happen. But this isn't a bad thing.
Yet another professor from Stanford Law School, Dan Siciliano, says that venture capitalists prefer companies with as clear a path as possible to an IPO. Why wouldn't they? IPOs provide big returns, great liquidity, and positive publicity.
It used to be that VCs' preference for the IPO determined the fate of most tech startups. Today, the VC's IPO preference is becoming increasingly irrelevant because most technology startups, especially those in software and cloud computing, don't need as much money to get off of the ground as they used to. Fledgling tech companies have a larger network of angels, incubators/accelerators and sometimes the relatively deep pockets of their own serial entrepreneur founders. This makes it possible for some companies to achieve break-even cash flows earlier than in the past.
Siciliano argues that an over-heated technology IPO environment can create a frenzy of VC funding like what we saw during the dot com bust—when start-ups made the all or nothing dash to the IPO. This leads to unhealthy boom and bust cycles. What is better is to have companies with a long-term focus—which grow and add jobs steadily. VCs and entrepreneurs looking for exits can always pursue acquisitions by long term players.
So we don't need to be overly concerned if we don't see a burst of IPOs. The innovation and job creation will still happen. These jobs just won't be in investment banking. We just need the IPO market to remain robust enough to periodically mint future angel investors and provide the healthy returns for top-tier venture capital firms.
Full disclosure: The Washington Post Co.'s chairman and chief executive, Donald E. Graham, is a member of Facebook's board of directors.

subset: commoncrawl


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The FL Studio 10.0.9 update includes FL SynthMaker 2 included as part of your Lifetime Free Updates, click on the image below and get the FL Studio 10.0.9 installer now.
Don't forget to download and install a new FLRegKey.reg file from your ACCOUNT.
- FL Synthmaker 2
- Harmor update
- Patcher update
- FPC update
- Fruity Vibrator update
- Help file update
Registered customers may choose to install the FL Studio 10.0.9 patch from the this Looptalk thread.
Call for Customer Input
Coming up in a future version of FL Studio is a new Performance Mode that allows users to trigger Audio, Automation and Pattern Clips in a real-time performance using MIDI controllers, a Mouse or the Typing Keyboard. The team are interested in feedback and aspirations from FL Studio customers for this new feature. Click through to the link here below the videos.
SynthMaker Upgrades
FL Studio Producer Edition (or higher) owners can upgrade from FL Studio SynthMaker to SynthMaker Professional Edition. This will allow you to export SynthMaker projects as VST plugins for use outside FL Studio.


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So finally I ran a 20 miler. I didn't know what to expect, and to finish was not what I expected at all. I still can't believe I actually did it. Part of me thinks that little Claude was lying to me, like my nike plus used to, the little cheater, but alas 20 miles down in the books. So I don't want to toot my own horn and I know some of you run this all the time, but it was a big first for me, and there were a lot of things that happened on the way that I knew I would HAVE to share with you guys.
The night before I just kept telling myself that I could do it. I wasn't scared of it, and I knew if I had to walk, crawl or slog my way through it, I could at least try. I got up at 6 am and wanted to take off at 6:30. I had a muffin, three shot blok and got my fuel belt ready. I packed in three bloks to have at the 4 miler make. It started off great. I was really amp'ing myself up over it. I kept telling myself that I COULD do it, and I WOULD do it. Repeating something in your head is really helpful. I was going to run an 8 mile loop, a 4 mile loop the opposite way, and then the 8 mile loop that I ran earlier. Each end of the loop was going to pass by my house because I hadn't had time to get the extra pouch for my fuel belt yet so I was just going to grab my gus from home.
The farthest I've ever ran before this weekend was only about 17.6 miles, and there were a lot of breaks in between since I ran the 10k and ran to the starting line and home after. I started off wearing my arm warmers, shorts and a t-shirt. I felt very good for the first 7 miles. I didn't look down at Claude to see my pace, I just let myself go, and enjoyed the fresh beginning of a new day. I was instantly in the 'zone' and every mile ticked down I just though to myself, "Okay, that's only 18 left, now 17 left, now 16 left." I ate shot bloks at mile 4, this was of course when a nice old guy was running by me and he said hello. I was half chewing, half choking, half trying to breath and I mumbled/drooled out a hello back. He probably thought I was some crazy freak.
It was during this time when I started to imagine myself running a full marathon. I started to think of what I was going to wear on race day, what it would be like to cross the finish line. I started to think about all the girls I'm going to be running with from San Fransisco and Oregon, and how excited I am to see everyone and what a great weekend it will be. Then I started to think, well this is my FIRST marathon, I feel like I should dedicate this to someone. I thought about making a shirt that said, "In memory/honor or something along those lines, of my Mom." I thought about putting a picture on the shirt, what I would want it to say. Then I started thinking about this more and more, and I thought about well if I ever make it to Boston, I would much rather dedicate that race to her, or the race I BQ at to her, and I don't know if I want a shirt with her picture on it, or people to feel bad for me, etc. etc. Then my thought process changed to something else and I forgot about that.
Once I got to 8 miles I had to RACE to the bathroom back at my house. I realized this could be an issue, we are going to have to work on that. Then I got three more shot blok and took off again. While at home I also took off my arm warmers. I felt good on the 4 mile loop still and kept counting down the miles. For the first 8+4 loops I didn't listen to music and just enjoyed my run, not caring about my pace. There was one spot where it smelled like a heap of dead fish, and another where it smelled so strongly of bacon. I realized I cannot smell things on my run or they make me gag. I thought I was going to throw up during these smelly points. There was a huge 177 mile relay race going on and I would smile at the racers walking or running by and sometimes encouraged them with something random like, "Way to go!" I'm so original, I know. They were running from Santa Barbara to Dana Point in relay teams. That was kind of exciting.
After four miles, I stopped at home and went to the bathroom yet again. I made sure both my 'home' stops were only three minutes. I took yet another gu and took off to finish this run. At this point it was pretty hot out so I decided to brave the elements and run without a shirt. That is the only way I'm getting back in shape. If I run without a shirt then I feel like I have to do extra sit ups. :) I grabbed my ipod for this last loop of the run as well because I knew this was going to be where I needed distractions. I took off and was into my run about 13 miles. Then in the distance I saw a huge crowd of walkers on the beach path. I knew this wasn't just a random group of walkers, but it had to be yet another organized event. I was interested to see what it was again. I got closer and closer, and realized it was the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. After a little research this morning I realized it wasn't the actual walk, but a Training Mock Walk, but still everyone was wearing pink and excited to be out and walking and raising awareness to breast cancer on this Saturday. It looked like it could be the real walk there were so many people.
Unexpectedly, I all of a sudden felt my heart start to burn with a familiar hurt, and my breathing was hard. This is when I lost it. I started crying. It was mile 14, I had 6 more to go and I was crying while running next to these walkers. My nose was sniffling and I was just looking down and reminding myself to keep going. To keep putting one foot in front of the other one. They were walking against the route I was running and all saw me crying while running along. Though I had my music on I could hear my breathing and it was weird like shallow wheezing.
I had done the Avon 3-day walk when my mom was still alive my junior year in High School. I had worn the pink gear, I had walked the 60 miles, and my mom (and entire family) were there supporting me through the entire thing. It was a great experience and seeing these women walking was just inspiring and it reminded me so much of my mom it turned me into a wheezing/running/crying mess.
I kept telling myself to suck it up and stop crying, but I couldn't. It was a weird weird mile. I hate crying in front of other people and I just took some deep breaths and kept running. I remember feeling a tear go down my cheek and I thought to myself, really, REALLY you are seriously CRYING?! Then, just as quickly as I started choking up, I stopped crying and was okay to finish the run. The last 6 miler were good. It was once I got to mile 17, I was hurting, my butt was killing me. I have never even felt pain in my butt when I run at all. I got back to my house and thought about my run. I had completed it, I had broke down in the middle and still kept going. Sometimes that's all you need to keep going. I took an ice bath and then showered and laid in my bed for some time watching the Penn Relays and the NFL draft.
I think it reminded me so much of my mom and how she would be so proud of me for running a full marathon. It reminded me so much of how many people are affected by breast cancer, and how many people we need to find a cure for. I'm sure people were like WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG WITH THIS GIRL. When you are tired, and running, and crying, it's hard to breathe.
Doing this run brought so many emotions out, looking back on it now, I would have NEVER expected that something like that would remind me of my mom, none the less make me cry and break down in the middle of a long run. It also made me realize that I can run a full marathon. I was beginning to get nervous and I know the brutalness of a full marathon doesn't even come until the 20th mile, but you know what, bring it on. If you go in with the attitude that it's going to be too hard, that you won't like it, that it's going to stink, that you're hurt, that you can't do it, guess what…
It is going to be too hard, you won't like it, it is going to stink, you will be hurt and you won't be able to do it.
I've played this mental game with myself, and almost got caught up in it again last night. Sunday after the 20 miler was my scheduled rest day and last night when I got home it was cold. I was exhausted and didn't want to run, but decided to go out to 'loosen up' I planned to run a four miler but when I started I was incredibly sore. I didn't even realize how sore I was. I told myself that I HAD to do four miles, and that if they were slow or fast they were going to get done, so I ran 2 miles out away from my house so I couldn't go back after two miles. After the first mile, I had gotten rid of my sore stiffness and was chugging along and knew that I would be fine for four miles. So fine that my last mile was 7:45. I had to allow myself a chance for success.
The two weeks leading up to my 20 miler, I probably put in about 8 miles in each of those weeks. Believing in yourself works wonders. Running is hard, it's just a mental game of pushing yourself to your personal limit. It's not easy, but no one ever said anything that was worth it was easy. Allow yourself to succeed.


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Williams Sonoma House Balsamic Vinegar
Our traditional dark balsamic is from Modena, Italy – a town long celebrated for its exceptional versions of this fine condiment. Our balsamic is crafted from the pure juice of white Trebbiano grapes, fermented and masterfully blended with IGP-certified aceto balsamico, which is aged for up to 18 years in a series of handmade oak barrels, using traditional techniques perfected by generations of artisans. The result is a rich, aromatic balsamic with a complex sweetness and smooth, tangy finish. Use it for everything from making vinaigrettes and dips to drizzling over vegetables, cheese, prosciutto or fresh berries.
- 25 fl. oz. (750ml).
- Made in Italy.
- Balsamic of Modena, Balsamic Condimento of Modena (wine vinegar, grape must, cooked grape must, sugar).
- Acidity: 4%.
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UPS can deliver most in-stock items within 3–5 business days. UPS is unable to deliver to P.O. boxes.
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The shipping rate varies depending on your order total and shipping destination. View Shipping Options and Charges.
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For an additional charge of $26 per address, we can expedite delivery to most destinations. This service is not available for some oversize items, items shipped directly from the supplier (including perishable and custom-manufactured items), out-of-stock items and items to be shipped outside the contiguous 48 states.
Orders received by 9:00 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday will arrive the next business day; orders placed Friday through Sunday will arrive on the following Tuesday.
Return Policy
At Williams Sonoma, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction are our priority. Upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage; we will arrange for a prompt replacement.
If within 30 days, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value. An original receipt or gift receipt is required for all returns and exchanges. Returns with a gift receipt will be refunded in the form of a Merchandise Credit for the amount indicated on the gift receipt. Returns with original receipt will be refunded in the original form of payment, cash and check refunds over $100 will be issued as a company check (may take 14 business days from time of request).
For all cutlery returns (knife sets, single knives, cutting boards, knife sharpeners and knife storage), please contact us at 888.922.4108 to initiate the return.
We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, special-order items, custom upholstery, food, items shipped direct from the vendor or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. Final sale items ending in .97 or .99 cannot be returned.
Made to Order and Final Sale Furniture items are non-returnable and cannot be cancelled once the order is placed.
For returns of items purchased from your Williams Sonoma Gift Registry, we will gladly provide a refund or exchange for the merchandise within 90 days of your event or within 90 days of purchase, whichever date is later. View Full Returns Policy.
Williams Sonoma House Balsamic Vinegar
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|House Balsamic Vinegar, 750ml
|Sugg. Price $39.95 Our Price $31.96


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Friends of Cancer Patients UAE (FoCP UAE) charity is a non-profit organisation, founded in September 1999 under the directives and patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of the Ruler of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
FoCP UAE provides a broad spectrum of support for its patients including financial support, which entails covering treatment expenses for chemotherapy, radiation and other needed medications, in addition to expenses for investigative and surgical procedures including bone marrow transplants and prosthetic limbs. FoCP UAE provides transportation and food allowance for underprivileged cancer patients and facilitates sending patients abroad for specialised treatment. FoCP UAE also provides moral support, offering cancer patients and their families psychological consultations and Hajj and Umrah services.
Icon Group is a leading provider of cancer care across Australasia. Icon believes in bringing the best cancer treatment possible, to as many people as possible, as close to home as possible. They do this through leveraging the latest technology, collaborating with like-minded partners and investing in outstanding people.
Caring for the world one person at a time inspires and unites the people of Johnson & Johnson. They embrace research and science – bringing innovative ideas, products and services to advance the health and well-being of people. Their approximately 126,400 employees at more than 230 Johnson & Johnson operating companies work with partners in health care to touch the lives of over a billion people every day, throughout the world.
For 130 years, Johnson & Johnson has been committed to improving the health of individuals, families and communities around the world, including the most vulnerable populations. Today, their vibrant, entrepreneurial and committed employees bring business acumen and their collaborative spirit to help solve some of the most complex global health problems. By harnessing their collective breadth and scale, and their employees' passion and purpose, Johnson & Johnson strives to advance health care and positively impact the lives of all people.
Kazakh Research Institute of Oncology & Radiology is the equivalent of National Cancer Institute in Kazakhstan. It's responsible for all cancer control programs in Kazakhstan. Hospital is providing multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment, education and training. Our Institute is making cancer policy in Kazakhstan. Two nation-wide screening programs for breast and cervical cancer were launched in 2008 with the support of Ministry of Health.
At present time we are working on development screening programs for colorectal, prostate & gastric cancer.
Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life – from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2016, Merck generated sales of € 15.0 billion in 66 countries. Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany holds the global rights to the "Merck" name and brand except in the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.
For more than a century, MSD, a leading global biopharmaceutical company, has been inventing for life, bring forward medicines and vaccines for the world's most challenging diseases. MSD is a trade name of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA. Through their prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and animal health products, they work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. MSD also demonstrates their commitment to increasing access to healthcare through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, MSD continues to be at the forefront of research to advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and communities around the world - including cancer, cardio-metabolic diseases, emerging animal diseases, Alzheimer's disease and infectious diseases including HIV and Ebola.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the federal government's principal agency for cancer research and training. The NCI coordinates the National Cancer Program, which conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and the continuing care of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients.
Novartis Oncology is a global leader in transforming outcomes for people with cancer. We offer a wide range of innovative therapies to help meet patient needs and have one of the strongest, most productive pipelines in the industry. Our research is driven by a distinctive scientific and clinical strategy focused on precision oncology – understanding how cancer develops on a genomic level and developing drugs that hone in on those targets.
At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives through the discovery, development and manufacture of healthcare products. Our global portfolio includes medicines and vaccines, as well as many of the world's best-known consumer healthcare products. We work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. We collaborate with healthcare providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable healthcare around the world.
Roche is the world's largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management.
Founded in 1896, Roche continues to search for better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and make a sustainable contribution to society. The company also aims for improving patient access to medical innovations by working with all relevant stakeholders. Twenty-nine medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and cancer medicines.
The Roche Group, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is active in over 100 countries and in 2016 employed more than 94,000 people worldwide.
The Swiss Cancer League is a national, charitable, private organisation, founded in 1910. It is the Berne-based headquarter of an association of 19 regional cancer leagues. The Swiss Cancer League covers all aspects of cancer, with the aim of ensuring that fewer people develop cancer, fewer people suffer and die from the consequences of cancer and more people can be treated successfully. The organisation supports innovative cancer research projects, increases public awareness of prevention measures and is committed to early diagnosis and treatment. One of its first concerns is to ensure high-quality advice and psychological support for all cancer patients and survivors and their caretakers. The Swiss Cancer League also supports other cancer control organisations in low income countries.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited is a global, research and development-driven pharmaceutical company committed to bringing better health and a brighter future to patients by translating science into life-changing medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on oncology, gastroenterology and central nervous system therapeutic areas plus vaccines. Takeda conducts R&D both internally and with partners to stay at the leading edge of innovation. New innovative products, especially in oncology and gastroenterology, as well as our presence in Emerging Markets, fuel the growth of Takeda. More than 30,000 Takeda employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients, working with our partners in health care in more than 70 countries.
Tata Trusts are amongst India's oldest, non-sectarian philanthropic organisations. The Trusts own two-third of the stock holding of Tata Sons, the apex company of the Tata group of companies. The wealth that accrues from this asset supports an assortment of causes, institutions and individuals in a wide variety of areas. In this manner, the profits that the Tata companies earn go back many times over to the communities they operate in. These funds have been deployed towards a whole range of community development programmes across the country, for over a 100 years now.
The Japan National Committee for UICC is a group of Japanese organisations that are members of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), gathered to support the UICC to strive to realise the World Cancer Declaration. Currently UICC-Japan is composed of 29 full Japanese UICC members, including major cancer specialists in Japan, cancer centres, research institutes, research funds, hospitals and cancer associations.
Varian Medical Systems' mission is to focus energy on saving lives. To meet this challenge, they equip the world with new tools for fighting cancer. Since the 1950s they have been producing tools that harness the power of X-ray energy to benefit humankind. Varian's history is one of pioneering developments in the fields of radiotherapy, radiosurgery, X-ray tube technology, digital image detectors, cargo screening, and non-destructive testing. Today, they have a robust product portfolio and long-standing relationships with many of the world's leading clinicians. As Varian continues to grow, their staff of over 6,500 people in 70 sales and support offices around the globe is developing innovative, cost-effective solutions that help make the world a healthier place.
World Cancer Research Fund International is the world's leading authority on cancer prevention research related to diet, weight and physical activity. Their vision is to live in a world where no one develops a preventable cancer. On behalf of the cancer prevention charities in the World Cancer Research Fund network, WCRF commissions research from leading institutions around the world into the effects of diet, nutrition, body fatness, physical activity on cancer and cancer survival. This research aims to fill the current gaps in scientific knowledge.
Are you organising a cancer-related event and would like to feature it in our events section?
Are you interested in joining a dynamic network of over 1,000 members?
Would you like to support the work of UICC and its member organisations?


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Need for Speed: Rivals Trailer: It's a Hot Pursuit
A new trailer for Need for Speed: Rivals just dropped giving us a better look at the progression and pursuit challenges we'll have to complete.
We've seen plenty of gameplay from Rivals before, but this latest trailer is somehow more action-packed than most everything we've seen to this point. The footage above also showcases the challenges in AutoLog for both racers and cops. The tasks appear to be simple enough to start, but ramp up in the intensity the more you race and the better you become.
Need for Speed: Rivals arrives on Nov. 19 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, Wii U and Xbox 360, with the Xbox One version arriving on Nov. 22. Check out the trailer above and get ready to race in a little over a month.


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HWKR x Mahalo Poke
The future of food...
ICD Property is getting ready to launch an exclusive new to market hawker food hall concept in Melbourne, and BrandWorks have been engaged to provide our top recommendations for amazing F&B concepts. We would like to recommend Mahalo Poke and think it would be a great opportunity to extend your brand in the Melbourne CBD and to an international market.
You don't want to miss being first. More information coming your way soon, or contact Eleena or Ashley if you can't wait.


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Thursday, 7 February
Members with Birthdays this Month
cyclenews.com: World Superbike Fantasy Game
webbikeworld.com: 2013 MotoGP Schedule
fim-live.com: MotoGP grid bunches up as Pedrosa leads Sepang day 2
hondaproracing.com: Repsol team continues progress in Malaysia
[urlhttp://www.yamaha-motor.eu/eu/news/index.aspx?id=525472]yamaha-motor.eu[/url]: The pace steps up on day 2
autosport.com: Hayden admits Ducati has lost ground in first MotoGP tests
motogp.com: Esparg?? remains CRT rider to beat
motomatters.com: Press release round up day 2
gpone.com translation: Dorna ÔÇô Suzuki welcome in MotoGP
motomatters.com: Suzuki top brass visit Sepang ÔÇô Will they return or won't they make a return?
Formula One
formula1.com: Jerez day 2 ÔÇô Grosjean puts Lotus on top
nbcsports.com: Hamilton crashes in first tests
ferrari.com: Second day of testing at Jerez
mclaren.com: Jerez day 2
autosport.com: Red Bull in better shape than last winter, says Webber
jamesallenonf1.com: A closer look at the back of the grid.
Other Racing
yamaha-racing.com: the Yamaha Classic Racing Team prepares for its final season
supercross.com: Supercross Ryan Villopoto Champion to air on CBS this Sunday
marathonrally.com: Sealine Qatar QMMF announces revised format for Sealine Rally in Qatar
On the Street
Recall: Transport Canada / BMW [2013] R1200GS
Transport Canada: BMW issued recall on R1200GS [2013]
On certain motorcycles, transmission oil pressure may be too high, causing the output shaft sealing ring to leak. Oil leakage ahead of the rear tire could render the vehicle unstable. This could result in a crash causing property damage and/or personal injury. Correction: Dealers will install an oil restrictor to reduce oil pressure at the transmssion output.
motorcyclenews.com: Is the new Husqvarna owner wrong to dump the street models?
motorsportsnewswire.com: ÔÇ£Leasing gets more bikes on the road and that makes everybody happyÔÇØ
FWIW ÔÇô I remain skeptical
cyrilhuzeblog.com: Fast motorcycle industry news
motorcyclenews.com: Does the CB1000 tic the boxes
ridermagazine.co.uk: Beat fuel prices ÔÇô 8 top tips for saving money
visordwon.com: Dealing with theft ÔÇô five tips for beginners
VIDEO: MotorTrend ÔÇô City bike shoot out BMW C600 Sport vs Honda NC700X vs Kawasaki Versys
asphaltandrubber.com: Orang County Choppers merchandise is in bankruptcy
ultimatemotorcycling.com: 2013 Honda CB500X quick look
visordown.com: Road test/First Rides ÔÇô KTM 1190 Adventure review
The MotherShip PressClub
The new BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo adds an innovative new concept to the successful BMW 3 Series line-up. The third body variant in the current model family combines the SedanÔÇÖs dynamic, sporting genes with the practicality and versatility of the Touring, qualities which are backed up by a palpable increase in space and driving comfort. The Gran Turismo exudes aesthetic and emotional appeal, boasts a distinctive presence on the road and offers similarly pronounced driving pleasure. All of which allows the new Gran Turismo to make a compelling case for itself as both an elegant business carriage and a dynamic, comfortable tourer. ..More
This yearÔÇÖs Geneva International Motor Show sees BMW showcasing a compelling line-up of new production models while also turning the spotlight on some groundbreaking premium compact concepts featuring forward-looking design as well as boasting outstanding sustainability credentials. Lending added highlights to the show stand are a range of innovative driver assistance systems from BMW ConnectedDrive. ..More
Munich. For three generations and over 50 years, the Cooper name has identified a MINI offering even more in the way of driving fun. The idea, hatched by brilliant Formula One designer John Cooper, to fuel the agile small car with an extra hit of performance and turn it into a sporting machine for the road and track has lost none of its appeal. But the Cooper has never been about horsepower, as a comparison between the classic Mini and its two successors resoundingly proves. The key here is the basic principle of the creative use of space, combined with the inimitable go-kart feeling that runs like a thread through the three generations of the legendary small car. These famous handling traits are enjoyed by drivers on bendy country roads and city streets around the world, with the classic Mini and 21st-century MINI still regularly crossing each otherÔÇÖs path. ..More
2012 was a record year for Rolls-Royce. Part of BMW Group for the last 10 years, the brand continues to grow in Germany. ..More
Reference Library
Bike Candy
1936 BMW R5 SS ridden by Alfred Schrantz and Claus Clausen during Friday practice for the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy at the 2012 Goodwood Revival.


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Another USG joint, this one on Pikmin 3!
Another USG joint, this one on Pikmin 3!
Just in case anybody here is still following my blog, I've started writing for USgamer.net, a new site run by Gamer Network. I'll still be doing my normal news and interviews for GamesIndustry International, but USgamer is a more consumer-focused site, so I'll be doing some reviews there (already did Muramasa and Soul Sacrifice for Vita), as well as editorials and other fun stuff. Here are a few pieces I've already published:
Merely Wires and Lights in a Box
Top 10 Pride-Swallowing Moments in Gaming History
I Wish Microsoft Kept its Awful Xbox One Policies
Flying Laser Jesus and Gaming's Citizen Kane
Here's a list of all my USG stuff to date.
Check it out and let us know how you like it!
Just wanted to let anybody still following me here know that I set up a new blog for the sort of writing I previously would have put here. So far it's thoughts on Wreck-It Ralph and Man with the Iron Fists, as well as a review for Assassin's Creed: Liberation. I've been playing lot of Gravity Rush recently, so I might write something on that once I finish it. The super-short versions is "It's very good, and I was silly not to check it out earlier."
I found it kind of odd after the Chick-Fil-A controversy earlier this year that some publicly traded companies in the gaming world like EA and Zynga have taken prominent stands in support of LGBT issues, even though their games like Madden and Draw Something have a broad appeal that covers plenty of people who wouldn't necessarily support those views. So basically, I wanted to see if shareholders would have preferred them to just keep quiet on the issue rather than risk alienating a chunk of the customer base. I was a little surprised by what they told me:
From EA's press release for FIFA 13 day-one sales:
"Momentum in North America was fuelled by a launch event in New York hosted by Snoop Lion that propelled the hashtag #SnoopsFIFA13 trending in the United States and worldwide on Twitter, midnight openings at over 2,000 retail stores across the country, and game quality."
No, not really. But I will say that Bayonetta's creators made Choices in coming up with that story. I may not have understood them all, and not all of them worked well, but I appreciate that they made big, bold, creative decisions about the story they wanted to tell. And I will take an interesting failure over a paint-by-numbers success any day of the week. This is also why I love Nicolas Cage so damn much.
If you're curious what I'm on about, it's in response to this:http://www.gamespot.com/news/assassins-creed-iii-dev-says-press-gives-a-pass-to-japanese-games-6392166
So I wrote this article this week:
which got about a 99.9% negative response. Then we recorded this Quoted for Truth episode:
Which got a slightly better resposne. But it was this response above all that salvaged my weekend and made me think that maybe we, as gamers, have some hope after all:
wow I tended to lean on the side of chastising that taiwanese gamer for irresponsibility, but really Brendan makes a great point that stopped me dead in my tracks. Especially since I refuse to buy Blizzard games by the very nature of their "exploitative design". So If my feelings extend to the extent of boycott why not have the decency to empatize with someone else's plight. I really hate being wrong, but I made a misjudgement here. Huh...I truly learned a beautiful lesson today.
The longer I think about it, the more convinced I am that gamer culture, as it stands today, is harmful. We only come together in massive displays of unison in order to hype products, as you might see at Comic-Con and PAX. But we are capable of so very much more.
I managed an arcade in downtown Austin for a couple years, and it was the gamer regulars that often gave me a safe ride home at night after we closed at 1 a.m., or even just killed a work shift here and there playing Magic: The Gathering. They were the people who just loved games and wanted to help others out, the people whom I would never suspect of short-changing the till or cheating a customer. I walked away from that experience with a profound appreciation for the kindness and generosity of "my people," of those branded "nerds" or "geeks," of those who understood their interests could make them pariahs but embraced them anyway. But recent years have me second-guessing myself, and the community I once considered to be "my people." I've seen too much hate vented online for no good reason, too many dead people responded to with too much apathy.
It appears to me that gamers have a serious empathy deficit. And I almost don't care if politicians sieze on this point to bring about wrong-headed legislation, because we've brought it on ourselves. Every right comes with a responsibility. The right to free speech comes with the responsibility to say something meaningful (or at least not harmful to society), especiallly if you're going to tick everyone off and hurt people with what you say. And as near as I can tell, there are fewer than five AAA games in the last five years that have tried to say something more significant than, "Hooray for whatever our target demographic wants." We have the genesis of a new art form here, perhaps the last truly original art form humanity will ever produce (what frontier is left after the audience can personally interact with art?), and we have wasted it on the idea of shooting foreigners in the head to give adolescent violence fetishists a cheap thrill.[EDIT]: I've given the matter a bit more thought, and since realized that I have overlooked some very good things gamers do on a regular basis, like the Child's Play charity drive. That said, I still believe there are negative aspects of gamer culture that we must first acknowledge and declare to be unacceptable before we can make them better.
Capcomannounced the release date for Street Fighter X Tekken for PS Vita yesterday, along with plans to provide customers with up to three different downloadable codes to unlock content in the portable and PS3 editions of the game. This led to me asking for some clarification from Capcom PR, since their announcement didn't spell out every permutation of delivery method and incentive(s). The resulting Q&A is a peek at where we're headed, and what a pain current trends in the industry really are for people who just want to know exactly what they can expect when they make a purchasing decision.
Are the 12 new Vita characters not playable right from the start?
- The 12 new VITA characters are playable right from the start in both the retail and digital VITA versions of the game. For the retail version: if you wish to play these characters on your PS3 as well, you simply need to enter the printed DLC download code that comes with the retail disc to redeem them on your PS3.
Basically, is this like an Online Pass setup where those who buy the game used would need to buy them as DLC in order to unlock them?
- If users buy a used retail copy of the game, they will still have access to the 12 DLC character on their VITA because they are available standard as mentioned. However, if the enclosed DLC codes have already been redeemed by the previous owner of the game, they will not be able to put the 12 new character DLC on their PS3, or the 38 alternate costume DLC content on their VITA or PS3.
If I buy the game digitally at launch, will I get the 12 new characters?
- The digital VITA version comes with the 12 characters standard from the very beginning, just like the retail version. In addition, the purchase history of the 12 characters will be recorded on the user's PSN ID record, so they can redeem them for free on their PS3.
How about the alternate costume DLC for the 38 standard characters?
- The 38 character alternate costume DLC comes as a printed DLC download code for the VITA retail version. This DLC can be shared between the VITA and PS3. For the digital version, the purchase history of the 38 character alternate costume DLC will be recorded on the user's PSN ID, and thus can be redeemed for free on VITA and PS3.
Or the alternate costume DLC for the 12 new characters?
- The alternate costume DLC is available as a pre-order bonus for the retail copy of the game. This DLC can be shared between the VITA and the PS3. The DLC will be available for other users later on.
This is from Nintendo's latest shareholder Q&A on their investor relations website:
Q:I would like to know about the current situation of the company?s operations in China and what problems you have in doing business there. Apart from this specific question, I have an idea for you: I would like you to energetically create software filled with dreams that is exciting for both children and adults. On NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), I watched the news that Mr. Miyamoto, a senior director of the company, recently won a globally acclaimed award. To create such excellent games, I hope Mr. Iwata and Mr. Miyamoto will go through various experiences, including deadly adventures like crossing the Sahara on camelback or exploring the Amazon, full of piranhas, anacondas and crocodiles, together with the company?s other game creators.
If you care about the answer, you can find it here:http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/meeting/120628qa/02.htmlBut I guarantee you it can't be as great as the question.
In season five of Fox's medical drama House, the episode "Here Kitty" opens with the grouchy-yet-brilliant doctor playing with Hot Wheels set up around the body of a comatose patient, sending a car down a ramp to literally jump a toy shark. It was a winking nod to the TV trope invoked to mean that a show's writers have run out of ideas, a clever acknowledgement to the audience that while the show would carry on (for another three seasons, it turned out), it would likely do so as a creatively destitute shadow of its already formulaic former self.
At the time, I was a bit amazed at the honesty of the scene, as if the creators of what had until then been a largely excellent show were stepping outside the confines of the program for just a moment to communicate directly with me as a member of the audience. "Things are going to get bad," they seemed to say. "The realities of the marketplace and our need to put food on the table will keep this running for a while yet, but we just want you to know it's never going to be the same. We owe that much to you for your support all these years."
That moment in a TV show I saw in 2009 was the first thing I thought of when I heard that New Super Mario Bros. 2 would be the first Mario game to feature downloadable content. I already had reservations about the game. When Nintendo showed off a glimpse of it during its Electronic Entertainment Expo media briefing, I was struck by the coin-grabbing focus of the game. Sure, Mario has always picked up coins, but as Nintendo marketing exec Scott Moffit noted on stage, "What you can't help but notice is that this Mario is all about the gold." Coin-lust is a theme Nintendo has played with before, but only with Wario, a character created to represent the opposite of everything Mario embodies. Conveniently, Wario has also been used to satirize shamelessly greedy game publishers in the WarioWare series, essentially presenting such operations as the opposite of everything Nintendo stands for.
So a Mario game fixated on coins raised an eyebrow. But combined with the news of the DLC plan, it presents an irresistibly coherent picture of a creative team signaling a regretful epoch change to the faithful who happen to be paying attention. Well that's what I desperately want to believe, anyway. The truth of the matter is that I just don't think mainstream game developers put that much bigger picture thought into their work, and even when they do, they aren't bold enough to insert subversive candor into their titles. Especially not at Nintendo, proud home of corporate spokespeople with summer homes in the uncanny valley.
Given that, I expect New Super Mario Bros. 2 to be welcomed as a score attack-driven approach to the classic platforming formula. That could be great in and of itself, as I think there are plenty of interesting mechanics the game could crib from latter-day shoot-'em-ups to make for some engaging leaderboard competition. But if this is the beginning of Nintendo's transformation into just another shamelessly greedy game publisher, if the company forsakes the stubborn vision that makes it Nintendo for better and for worse, then we can look back on this and pinpoint New Super Mario Bros. 2 as the inflection point. And we can at least say we were warned.
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Just tried to install dual boot with Xubuntu 12.10 on the Aspire 7740G. I don't know if it crashes because of a previous problem with Windows when trying to update the grapphic driver (I could'nt play any modest game without getting a black screen), but since then, even using Kubuntu, the heat cannot be controlled well. The heat goes up and the processor sends a call for immediate shutdown. No resources were used. Only had a Bittorrent client opened, Firefox, and playing an embedded Flash video … I will try to install Mint soon to see if there is any improvement in the way to provide proper drivers to control the GPU or other component.
Back to Windows 7 again. Traumatized, I hesitate to do a dual boot on my brand new Samsung 5 series which runs by default on the awful Windows 8 (should be good ona tablet though).


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Ribbon & Far Northern Reefs
The Ribbon reefs and Far Northern reefs of Queensland are very beautiful and are one of our favourite diving destinations. Dwarf Minke Whales visit the area in June/July each year to check out the humans, and an encounter with one of these amazing little whales is one you will not forget. The Ribbon Reefs need to be done by live-aboard and we recommend Spoilsport http://www.mikeball.com/Read More


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Scorched Earth
Sunset - Tahoe Meadows, Mount Rose Wilderness, NV USA
Taken at Tahoe Meadows duringAutumn, all of the grass has now turned a golden brown - that's how you know winter is ready. The fence is a way to deter people from walking through certain parts of the meadow and trampling precious growth. Being up at 9700ft things grow very slowly.
Recommended Max Size - 60x40+ on Metal, Pearl, or Satin
Sunset - Rae Lakes, Kings Canyon, CA USA
42 Miles round trip, 9000ft up, 9000ft down and this was the centerpiece location, but as it turned out the winter storm the following day was the real highlight. Rae lakes sit at about 10400ft in elevation. The next day we would climb to 12000ft over Glenn Pass in arctic conditions in the snow, to reach the other valley and finish up our trip.
Pyramid Peak
Kings Canyon, CA
Sunset - Rae Lakes, Kings Canyon, CA USA
This sunset was fueled by a winter storm rolling in. I'm having trouble standing still because of the gusts of wind that want to knock me off this rock. This hike was 42 tortuous miles through Kings Canyon and the John Muir/PCT trails. By the time we climbed over the mountains in the distance, it was 15F degrees with winds of about 50mph. The storm had dropped only 4 inches, but was enough to create blowing snow in arctic conditions. I was so cold waiting for the rest of the group to meet up, that I ended jogging up and down the hill to keep warmth. We ended up climbing down below the no fire line of 10000ft and camping (with a fire) at 9999ft! :)
Third Creek
Sunset - Incline Village, NV USA
The creeks in Incline have turned in to small rivers. You can see in this photo that a lot of foliage is drowning in water. Some of this water is spring fed from Rose Knob Peak, but the majority of the water shown here, is from an avalanche about 2000ft up in elevation, near where this creek starts.
Strawberry Ice
Sunset - Marlette Lake, NV USA
Facing north towards Marlette Lake, Lake Tahoe, Incline Village and even downtown Reno is visible in the upper right corner. So damn cold - I left before the sunset was done. I had been standing around for 2 hours waiting for sunset at 9000ft in arctic conditions - I just Could handle it anymore This photo was taken from Snow Valley Peak off of the Tahoe Rim Trail.
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Enchanted Autumn
Jennifer Waterfalls, Incline Village, NV USA
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Sequoia Ridge
Rae Lakes Loop, Kings Canyon, CA USA
Morning, decending the rest of the way down the mountain. It was supposed to be a 5 mile hike, until we missed the turnoff and it turned into a 12 mile hike. This sucked, but it cut 4 miles off the hike the following day.
Ophir Creek
Sunset - Ophir Creek at Tahoe Meadows
Ophir Creek runs down the mountains and straight through Tahoe Meadows, providing water to all the dogs along the Boardwalk trail. This was Mt. Rose's first snowfall of the 16/17 season - not much yet, but enough to make everything icy.
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Autumn Brook
A small babbling brook within the Mt. Rose wilderness
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Silver Haze
Rae Lakes, Kings Canyon, CA
Taken at dawn during the start of a winter storm.
Blue Earth
Sunrise - High Country, Yosemite, CA USA
Early morning in Yosemite High country (9700) Beautiful reflections of gigantic granite fins await those who wake up early for sunrise. In this photo, a small cloud is blocking the light. This is a very little now location, and as such, I never say what lake it is.
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Tahoe Meadows - Sunset
Sunrise - Mount Rose Lookout, Incline Village NV USA
I got very lucky with this picture. I had originally planned on going to shoot a waterfall this morning, however, after trying for 20 minutes to find the trail, I gave up and raced my car up to the Mt. Rose Lookout to salvage any hopes of getting a sunrise picture. I hiked down a bit to get a better composition, and what I got, was a sky on Fire!
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Phoenix Rising
Sunset - Tahoe Meadows, Sierra Nevada, NV, USA
Sunset at Tahoe Meadows boardwalk. It's snowing a little and the wooden path is frozen over in black ice making walking a precarious task!
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Sequoia Ridge II
Kings Canyon, CA USA
Sunrise - Convict Lake, CA USA
I woke up at 2am and drove all the way from Lake Tahoe to Convict Lake to shoot the sunirse. Why? it was cheaper then renting a room in Mono County. I started out at sunrise here and worked my way back up north, back to Tahoe, stop along the way to take photos of Autumn in the Sierra.
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Divided Light
Sunset - Rose Knob Peak - Incline Village, NV USA
Taken from the taller peak of Rose Knob Peak. 9700ft in elevation and overlooking all of Incline Village. Northern Carson Crest of the Sierra Mountain Range at Dusk. One of my all time favorite hikes since I was a child.
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Landscape Selfie
Donner Lake
Donner Lake - Evening
Incandescent Light
Herlan Peak, Lake Tahoe, NV USA
Looking north from Herlan Peak towards Incline Village. I'm glad I have this this hike out of the way, 'cause I'm not doing it again for a very long time! This peak is great - it features one of the highest vertical free falls straight into Lake Tahoe. I know that if I fell off I would certainly die, but I have no doubt that my body would still make it to the Sand Harbor entrance below. Which, by the way, is why I always keep $10 in my front pocket for the entrance fee. Anyways, a breathtaking view and one day I hope to truly capture on film as seen with my own eyes
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Enchanted Forest
Jennifer Waterfall in Incline Village at Dusk.
The falls are a short distance from the Jennifer street court. I enjoy hiking up and around exploring waterfall after waterfall. During heavy winters, this area is prone to avalanches. This photo was taken during autumn.
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Alleged sex freak Max Mosley's agreed to step down as president of FIA, Formula One's world governing body, after elections later this year in order to unify the Formula One championship. The long nightmare is almost over.
Along with agreeing to not run for a fifth term as head of FIA, Mosley stated:
"There will be no split. We have agreed to a reduction of costs. There will be one F1 championship, but the objective is to get back to the spending levels of the early '90s within two years."
We'll have more shortly on what this all means. [Times Online]


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Ok, obviously not really, but they might as well have judging by today's reaction to the article which appeared in the Sunday paper. The users of London FGSS offer their reasoned opinion and Moving Target critiques here. ACF members offer a more subdued response.
In my opinion its all quite funny, I'm already looking forward to the summer and when the Evening Standard catches on.
On the other hand, this is a work of art….
UPDATE: Dave Moulton has a piece on his blog in reaction to the story and coverage of it on the net. I'm never sure about why people are so bothered about fixed/gear/wheel whatever terminology you want. I'd rather just get on with it…


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ATLANTA BALTIMORE BIRMINGHAM BOSTON BUFFALO CHARLOTTE CHICAGO CINCINNATI CLEVELAND DALLAS DENVER DETROIT JACKSONVILLE KANSAS CITY LOS ANGELES MINNEAPOLIS NEWARK NEW ORLEANS NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA PITTSBURGH PORTLAND H ASKINS & SELLS PROVIDENCE SAINT LOUIS SALT LAKE CITY SAN DIEGO CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS SAN FRANCISCO SEATTLE TULSA WATERTOWN BULLETIN ~~ BERLIN LONDON MANILA PARIS SHANGHAI EXECUTIVE OFFICES 15 BROAD STREET, NEW YORK HAVANA MEXICO CITY MONTREAL VOL. XII NEW YORK, NOVEMBER, 1929 No. 8 THE capital of a corporation is divided into two parts: that which revolves and that which is fixed. The revolving or working part is supposed to increase as it works. The fixed part has a habit of decreasing, and the decrease has to be absorbed by the increase of the part that works. Capital is an abstract term. It denotes a certain number of dollars invested in an enterprise. The concrete evidence of capital is found in the form of goods, or property, or representations of money, to which dollar values have been assigned. If the things which represent working capital increase in amount, through use, their counterpart of necessity must increase. If capital is a standard by which financial condition is to be judged, then any increase in values in excess of the amount contributed as that standard, may be regarded as surplus. The surplus account was intended originally, no doubt, to show the increase, through use, in the amount of working assets. It was designed to show how much could be extracted from those assets without diminishing the amount originally invested in them. But necessity, expediency, and the march of progress have made of the account, as originally conceived, a heterogeneous affair, difficult to describe, and meaningless except when subjected to the merciless test of strict analysis. Into it, of late years, have gone amounts representing estimated increases in the value of physical property, market appreciation of highly speculative common stocks held as investments, arbitrary apportionments of contributed capital, adjustments resulting from conversions of capital liabilities, etc., etc. The prime purpose of a surplus account was to show the amount available for distribution as cash dividends. It has become an account, in many instances, which shows anything but that. The abuse of the surplus account has resulted in a reaction which bids fair to restore the account to its proper meaning and use. The efforts of the American Institute of Accountants to bring about the practice of designating such surplus as "earned surplus" and to differentiate it from all other forms of so-called surplus, are worthy of prolonged applause. Surplus, without doubt, is the excess of assets over liabilities and capital. But, more and more, fortunately, modern practice is coming to the point of relating the surplus to the assets in which it rests; in differentiating that part which is represented by accretions to current assets, and What Is Surplus?
Object Description
What is surplus
Surplus (Accounting)
Haskins & Sells Bulletin, Vol. 12, no. 08 (1929 November), p. 61-62
|Originally published by: Haskins & Sells
|Deloitte Digital Collection
|Digital Publisher
|University of Mississippi Libraries. Accounting Collection
|Date-Digitally Created
|HS Bulletin 12-p61


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Miranda Kerr Bikini Pictures in 2011 Victoria's Secret Ads 2011-08-16 08:03:24
Miranda Kerr Shows Her Amazing Bikini Body in New Ads For Victoria's Secret
Miranda Kerr Shows Her Amazing Bikini Body in New Ads For Victoria's Secret
Miranda Kerr's new bikini ads for Victoria's Secret are out! The supermodel wore over 22 pieces for the campaign, which is her first with the brand since giving birth to son Flynn back in January. Miranda just spent time in New Zealand, where her husband Orlando Bloom is filming the next Hobbit. She and Flynn were fresh off a few weeks in her home country of Australia, so she could work with retailer David Jones on in-store appearances and a runway show. She'll be back Down Under later this month, when she returns to modeling for David Jones in Melbourne on Aug. 27 and Sydney on Aug. 29. Despite being away from her family, Miranda's still got relatives on the brain. She tweeted birthday wishes to her father over the weekend, writing, "It's my dad's 50th birthday today. Happy birthday Dad. Love you to the moon and back." Miranda's fellow Angels are now having their turn before the lens. Lindsay Ellingson tweeted this morning, "In Prague with all the Angels for Victoria's Secret — can't wait to start shooting!"


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A simple automated telephone call may be enough to convice people to take their medicine, a study by Kasier Permanente has found.
As part of the study, an automated telephone call was made to patients on cholesteral-reducing drugs who hadn't picked up their medicine two weeks after it was prescribed. A letter was sent a week later if patients still hadn't filled their prescriptions.
The calls and letters informed people about the importance of taking the medication and encouraged them to have prescription filled or to call their doctor.
The outreach resulted in a 16 percent decrease in people who did not get their prescriptions filled after 25 days, the study found.
The researchers said more needs to be done to increase secondary drug adherance, or getting people to refill their prescriptions.
When people take their medication it helps control health problems and saves money on hospitalizatiosn and complications from disease, the Kaiser researchers said.


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All graphs are at most 4 hours old. The data used in these graphs are compiled by a large team of
trained worms. As such, they are liable to be filled with errors and riddled with castings. You
are advised not to make life decisions based on this information.
If you have suggestions for graphs, please submit them via the forum.
Servers and bandwidth provided byNew York Internet, iXsystems, and RootBSD
8 vulnerabilities affecting 24 ports have been reported in the past 14 days
* - modified, not new
All vulnerabilities
Last updated:2019-10-15 15:43:31


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Find what you need using our comprehensive Kootenay Rockies Upholstery guide and retail store directory of businesses throughout the region.
Customer Listings
Hotsprings FurnitureFurniture manufacturer, custom upholstery, drapery & blinds. We have a high-end furniture line of our own that we are selling to Interior designers.
Kootenay Rockies Upholstery
Kootenay Rockies Shopping Guide
Discover the most extensive Kootenay Rockies shopping guide on the web. This is the place to look before you start driving or walking around town looking for the perfect gift, souvenir or essential item.
If you are not sure about either the area or the category leave the choice to "Display All". You have to specify only one of "Category" or "Region".


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Every time we head out to Tempe in the spring, we (Cheryl and me) go with huge expectations. We are always hopeful that we can have some fun interactions with players; be it with an autograph, a photo opportunity, a conversation or by simply seeing them interact with one another. There's nothing like spring training – the players are more accessible, generally relaxed and in a good mood.
It doesn't always work out that way and there are times when things don't like we hope. This trip had its moments, but almost turned out to be nothing close to what we expected.
First – not as many position players were in camp early as we had hoped for and those that were weren't very accessible. The spring training facility is less fan friendly than it has been in the past. Let's just say that Albert Pujols' impact was evident.
If you've been to Tempe you are probably familiar with the path the Angels take from the practice fields to the stadium. The barricades that line the path are now doubled – meaning that if you want to have your picture taken with a player – there's a bigger gap between you and them. It's nothing horrible, but it's a lot less intimate.
As Albert Pujols, Kendrys Morales, Vernon Wells and others took batting practice on the back fields near the minor league clubhouse, we were only allowed watch from beyond the outfield area. In the past fans were allowed to walk between and behind the fields. That's not true any longer. One rumor floating around was that someone walked into the minor league club house and stole some bats – so security is now taking extra precautions. Bummer.
Those things made the experience a little less enjoyable, but our trip still had some bright spots; however, our last day – Sunday was almost a disaster.
We arrived at the stadium around 10 a.m. – a little later than usual, but normally a good time to accomplish the things we want to do. As I was heading towards the practice fields – I saw Morales and Mark Trumbo on a cart heading back to the clubhouse. I looked out and the practice fields were empty…
"What is going on?" I thought to myself.
I met up with Cheryl and we walked into the stadium to find that the catchers and minor leaguers were taking batting practice. Everyone else was done. We asked around and found out the players were pretty much done for the day. Turns out the rest of the position players would be arriving, checking in, taking their physicals, etc. (I would learn today that Mike Scioscia also happened to be sick and didn't even come to the stadium).
What to do?
The day was looking like a total disappointment.
And then I had an idea – I asked Cheryl if she wanted to head out to the Diamondbacks facility? She was up for it and off we wet (the great thing about the Cactus League is that you're just minutes away from most of the stadiums)...
The day prior – Saturday, we took a trip out to the Fields at Salt River to have a look see. We had heard that it was a beautiful complex and it was. That trip turned out to be good recon. We knew exactly how to get there, where to go to see the Diamondbacks (they share the facility with the Rockies), etc.
Turns out our little journey to Salt River Fields would be the highlight of our trip.
As we walked from the parking lot to the practice areas, I caught sight of the pitchers working out. Cheryl was wondering why I was walking so fast… as she would soon learn, I was on a mission. As I got closer to the area, the pitchers were leaving the field (panic started to set in) and then I realized what was happening… they were walking to an area where fans were waiting to interact. It was at this point that I spotted… you guessed it, Joe Saunders (regular readers of this blog know about our history with Joe).
I pointed and turned back to Cheryl and said, "There's Joe!" We made our way over, and much to our delight, got to spend a few minutes with Joe.
I asked Joe if he had gone golfing yet with Tom Glavine? He said that was "still in the works." Turns out – he's actually going to be golfing with John Smoltz sometime in the future. I read this article in 2010 about his wife Shanel setting up a golf date for Joe to play with Smoltz. Joe was too nice to correct me about the names - which is just like Joe.
Joe signed a few things for us, posed for pictures and basically "made our trip" as Cheryl would tell him. The day looked a little bleak at first, but it's amazing what a little prayer can do. If we had been ten minutes later, we probably would have missed our small window of opportunity.
We hung around for a while, got a few autographs, pictures, etc. before heading to Hillside Spot Café (where we had breakfast earlier) to pick up an order of blondies (cookies) we had ordered and then headed home.
We had a blast with the Diamondbacks and Cheryl and I agreed, we could easily adopt the Diamondbacks as our National League team.
By the way… check out our breakfast: "Hit the Spot" pancakes (Two Flapjacks served w/ sliced Bananas, Caramel, Whipped Crème Fraiche & Peanuts) and an Egg Torta.
On our drive home, Cheryl proved once again how wise she is. She asked me "Where's Bartolo Colon?" I couldn't remember (it's hard keeping up with all the ex-Angels around the league these days) and I told her as much. Her response? "He should go to Oakland?" Why Oakland, I asked? She said, "That's where all the players seem to end up when they're on their way out."
Well, as you probably already know and I learned today - Colon is indeed in Oakland. When I told Cheryl this today - she laughed and then said, "John Lackey needs to go there next." Hey, the girl speaks the truth. Just saying.
Be sure to check out the posts about the rest of our trip (below)...


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Check Out the Coachella Set Times for Weekend 1
If you are headed to the desert in Indio, Calif. to catch the first weekend of Coachella, don't leave without consulting the set times -- posted below for your benefit, so you're welcome! That way, you can plan ahead, draft up your schedule and make sure you don't miss a thing.
You might find yourself with some conflicts, since there are so many good bands playing concurrently. You'll just have to flip a coin, make a list of pros and cons in advance and choose the one with more checks in the pros column or make a spontaneous game time decision on the day of.
Have fun, Coachellans!