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The fever is heating up in Europe over the recent E. coli scare, and strain-specific tests quickly ruled out bean sprouts as the cause of the deadly outbreak. The following update comes from http://technologyreview.com, which is published by MIT.
German bean sprouts were declared dangerous on Monday morning and safe by Monday afternoon.
Bean sprouts were briefly added to the list of foods seen as potential sources of E. coli 0104—a new strain that has infected more than 2,300 people and killed 23 in Germany over the past three weeks. The list of potentially dangerous foods includes cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, and other raw salad vegetables.
The rapid reprieve for sprouts can be attributed to the availability of high-speed pathogen-specific tests. These assays, laboratory procedures that measure the biochemical activities of food samples, can now return reliable results in as little as 10 to 24 hours.
"As soon as we finished sequencing the DNA of this strain, we made the results public, like any ethical company would," says Nir Nimrodi, head of food safety at Life Technologies, which has developed a custom test for E. coli 0104.
Life Technologies, a California-based biotechnology company with laboratories in Darmstadt, Germany, started shipping custom testing kits to European laboratories this week so that food suspected of carrying the pathogen could be tested as quickly as possible.
"We all have E. coli right now in our bellies," Nimrodi says, "but not all the strains are dangerous, and even fewer of them are deadly to those infected. And if you use a general E. coli test, even if it tests positive, it does not mean you have discovered a source. With a strain-specific test, you can find out if you have been watering plants with infected water and need to stop, or if you have a specific crop of vegetables that are affected and need to be recalled."
It can take as long as 10 days to gather results using traditional laboratory testing methods, but the new test can determine the presence or absence of the hybrid E. coli pathogen in hours.
"It has implications for public health and epidemic monitoring," says Michael Somers of Children's Hospital Boston. "The less time you have to spend growing patient specimens and subtyping something like E. coli, the easier it is to find the source of an epidemic."
He added that "about 10 percent of the people infected with E. coli develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)." The kidney infection develops four to 10 days after bloody diarrhea appears. Some 90 percent of HUS cases in children are attributed to E. coli infections.
According to researchers, the new strain is a hybrid of enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC).
EAEC was first identified in 1987 and is well-documented as a cause of persistent diarrhea, especially in children in the developing world, and as a food pathogen that is increasingly resistant to antibiotics in industrialized countries. EHEC is associated with hemorrhagic colitis and HUS. It is the leading cause of acute renal failure in children.


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This entry is our analysis of a document considered particularly relevant to improving outcomes from drug or alcohol interventions in the UK. The original document was not published by Findings; click Title to order a copy. The summary conveys the findings and views expressed in the document. Below is a commentary from Drug and Alcohol Findings.
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National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2011.
From England's gatekeeper to the public provision of health services, guidance for commissioners on how to organise and procure alcohol treatment and brief intervention services in an area which implement related national clinical guidance and satisfy policy requirements.
Summary This guidance from the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) aims to support commissioners in England to in their attempts to provide services for the identification and care of hazardous, harmful and dependent drinkers which implement other relevant NICE guidance on alcohol, and to commission high quality services that meet the quality standard on alcohol dependence and harmful alcohol use. Essentially it extracts the messages for commissioners from related NICE and other official guidance and distils these in to a single document to guide the organisation and procurement of treatment and brief intervention services in an area which embody those messages. In doing so it offers reasons for organisations responsible for spending health service resources to devote these to services for drinkers.
The guide highlights the benefits of commissioning for outcomes – principally reducing consumption, alcohol-related hospital admissions and alcohol-related mortality by improving access to evidence-based interventions that promote recovery.
It is estimated that only a small proportion of the £2.7 billion annual expenditure on alcohol-related harm is spent on identifying and treating alcohol misuse. NICE guidance advocates an invest-to-save approach by prioritising the prevention of alcohol-use disorders. This commissioning guide sets out a whole system approach to commissioning integrated alcohol services across the whole spectrum of care, from preventing harmful drinking through opportunistic screening and brief interventions, to specialist treatment programmes for children, young people and adults, and their families or carers.
The guide describes the following service components required to deliver a high quality service:
• opportunistic screening and brief interventions for adults who are hazardous and harmful drinkers;
• diagnosis, assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence in adults, in specialist services;
• services for children and young people who are vulnerable to alcohol-related harm;
• whole system commissioning of high quality alcohol services.
Each section offers examples of service models, including case studies and ideas for using Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) and Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) to drive improvements to alcohol services. There is also an outline service specification to assist commissioners when tendering or contract managing alcohol services.
The benchmark section contains further information to help commissioners to assess levels of alcohol dependence and hazardous and harmful drinking in their population. A population benchmark has been provided for the number of people in England aged 16 or above who are hazardous, harmful or dependent drinkers.
The guide contains a commissioning and benchmarking tool that can be used to calculate the costs of increasing access to opportunistic screening and brief interventions and to specialist alcohol treatment for adults. Providing evidence-based packages of care using the stepped-care model may reduce the unit cost of treatment per person by offering the least intensive, most cost effective intervention that is appropriate. Whole system commissioning may generate savings by reducing alcohol-related harm and alcohol-attributable hospital admissions
commentary Other related NICE guidance documents are listed below.
Alcohol-use disorders: diagnosis, assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence Assessment of what evaluation research means for alcohol dependence treatment in Britain, featuring reviews of the literature on the topics it covers.
Alcohol-use disorders: preventing the development of hazardous and harmful drinking Prevention guidelines which prioritised population-wide changes like price rises and outlet restrictions which affect everyone, independent of the choices they make.
Alcohol use disorders: diagnosis and clinical management of alcohol-related physical complications Clinical guidelines on the medical care of people suffering acute alcohol withdrawal or alcohol-related lack of thiamine, liver disease, or inflammation of the pancreas.
Alcohol dependence and harmful alcohol use quality standard Concise statement of 13 practices which constitute high quality health care for problem drinkers and good practice in identifying and advising hazardous drinkers. The standards may be used to assess and reward providers and health service commissioning authorities.
Last revised 03 March 2012. First uploaded
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Top 10 most closely related documents on this site. For more try a subject or free text search
DOCUMENT 2011 Alcohol dependence and harmful alcohol use quality standard
REVIEW 2010 Alcohol-use disorders: Preventing the development of hazardous and harmful drinking
STUDY 2008 Reducing alcohol harm: health services in England for alcohol misuse
STUDY 2011 Reducing the impact of alcohol-related harm to Londoners – how well are we doing?
STUDY 2012 Alcohol screening and brief intervention in primary health care
STUDY 2012 Alcohol screening and brief intervention in emergency departments
DOCUMENT 2017 Drug misuse and dependence: UK guidelines on clinical management

subset: commoncrawl


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InvestorsBuyingHouses extends a genuine offer to homeowners in Fishers, and nearby areas, irrespective of the condition of their homes. We understand that homes come in all sizes and shapes, sometimes showing structural and repair problems. In such a situation, InvestorsBuyingHouses are here to assist you without any obligations, offering a fair and prompt cash offer.
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Having a balance between work and home life can be a challenge. With this challenge come great rewards when it is done successfully. By balancing a career with home life it will provide benefits in each environment. You will become healthier, mentally and physically, and you will be able to produce more career wise.
With a Work-Life Balance you will be managing your time better. Better time management will benefit all aspects of life; you will be working less and producing more. This workshop will show how to focus on the important things, set accurate and achievable goals, and communicate better with your peers at work and your family at home.


text: Finding a qualified lawyer can be difficult. So many Fairfield, Connecticut immigration law firms list their services online, and it can be a somewhat overwhelming task to determine which will be best qualified to handle your visa application, deportation hearing, green card application or other immigration-related matter. That is why we built this directory. You can compare attorneys in Fairfield that handle a wide range of immigration applications, appeals and hearings. Because our directory is free and easy to use, you can quickly compare their services or can contact a Fairfield immigration lawyer at their offices to learn more about their services and whether they will be able to help you.


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Every election, candidates spend A LOT of money on their campaign. Do your students know where the candidates get that money and what they spend it on? Do they know how to find out? Use this printable campaign finance infographic/poster to show students the cost of running a campaign, and how the FEC can help hold candidates accountable.
Love this infographic? Explore all of our free election curriculum and teaching resources at our Election Headquarters.
iCivics en español! A version of this infographic is available in Spanish along with a Spanish Teacher's Guide.
Pedagogy Tags
I find the materials so engaging, relevant, and easy to understand – I now use iCivics as a central resource, and use the textbook as a supplemental tool. The games are invaluable for applying the concepts we learn in class. My seniors LOVE iCivics.
Lynna Landry , AP US History & Government / Economics Teacher and Department Chair, California


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COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Detroit entrepreneur surprised university engineers here recently, when he invented a heat-treatment that makes steel 7 percent stronger than any steel on record – in less than 10 seconds.
In fact, the steel, now trademarked as Flash Bainite, has tested stronger and more shock-absorbing than the most common titanium alloys used by industry.
Now the entrepreneur is working with researchers at Ohio State University to better understand the science behind the new treatment, called flash processing.
What they've discovered may hold the key to making cars and military vehicles lighter, stronger, and more fuel-efficient.
In the current issue of the journal Materials Science and Technology, the inventor and his Ohio State partners describe how rapidly heating and cooling steel sheets changes the microstructure inside the alloy to make it stronger and less brittle.
The basic process of heat-treating steel has changed little in the modern age, and engineer Suresh Babu is one of few researchers worldwide who still study how to tune the properties of steel in detail. He's an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Ohio State, and Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Integrative Materials Joining for Energy Applications, headquartered at the university.
"Steel is what we would call a 'mature technology.' We'd like to think we know most everything about it," he said. "If someone invented a way to strengthen the strongest steels even a few percent, that would be a big deal. But 7 percent? That's huge."
Yet, when inventor Gary Cola initially approached him, Babu didn't know what to think.
"The process that Gary described – it shouldn't have worked," he said. "I didn't believe him. So he took my students and me to Detroit."
Cola showed them his proprietary lab setup at SFP Works, LLC., where rollers carried steel sheets through flames as hot as 1100 degrees Celsius and then into a cooling liquid bath.
Though the typical temperature and length of time for hardening varies by industry, most steels are heat-treated at around 900 degrees Celsius for a few hours. Others are heated at similar temperatures for days.
Cola's entire process took less than 10 seconds.
He claimed that the resulting steel was 7 percent stronger than martensitic advanced high-strength steel. [Martensitic steel is so named because the internal microstructure is entirely composed of a crystal form called martensite.] Cola further claimed that his steel could be drawn – that is, thinned and lengthened – 30 percent more than martensitic steels without losing its enhanced strength.
If that were true, then Cola's steel could enable carmakers to build frames that are up to 30 percent thinner and lighter without compromising safety. Or, it could reinforce an armored vehicle without weighing it down.
"We asked for a few samples to test, and it turned out that everything he said was true," said Ohio State graduate student Tapasvi Lolla. "Then it was up to us to understand what was happening."
Cola is a self-taught metallurgist, and he wanted help from Babu and his team to reveal the physics behind the process – to understand it in detail so that he could find ways to adapt it and even improve it.
He partnered with Ohio State to provide research support for Brian Hanhold, who was an undergraduate student at the time, and Lolla, who subsequently earned his master's degree working out the answer.
Using an electron microscope, they discovered that Cola's process did indeed form martensite microstructure inside the steel. But they also saw another form called bainite microstructure, scattered with carbon-rich compounds called carbides.
In traditional, slow heat treatments, steel's initial microstructure always dissolves into a homogeneous phase called austenite at peak temperature, Babu explained. But as the steel cools rapidly from this high temperature, all of the austenite normally transforms into martensite.
"We think that, because this new process is so fast with rapid heating and cooling, the carbides don't get a chance to dissolve completely within austenite at high temperature, so they remain in the steel and make this unique microstructure containing bainite, martensite and carbides," Babu said.
Lolla pointed out that this unique microstructure boosts ductility -- meaning that the steel can crumple a great deal before breaking – making it a potential impact-absorber for automotive applications.
Babu, Lolla, Ohio State research scientist Boian Alexandrov, and Cola co-authored the paper with Badri Narayanan, a doctoral student in materials science and engineering.
Now Hanhold is working to carry over his lessons into welding engineering, where he hopes to solve the problem of heat-induced weakening during welding. High-strength steel often weakens just outside the weld joint, where the alloy has been heated and cooled. Hanhold suspects that bringing the speed of Cola's method to welding might minimize the damage to adjacent areas and reduce the weakening.
If he succeeds, his discovery will benefit industrial partners of the NSF Center for Integrative Materials Joining Science for Energy Applications, which formed earlier this year. Ohio State's academic partners on the center include Lehigh University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Colorado School of Mines.
Contact: Suresh Babu, (614) 247-0001; firstname.lastname@example.com [From June 14-30, 2011, Babu is best reached by email, or through Pam Frost Gorder.]
Written by Pam Frost Gorder, (614) 292-9475; firstname.lastname@example.com
Materials Science and Technology


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GitHub recently reinstated the repository for youtube-dl, a popular free software tool for downloading videos from YouTube and other user-uploaded video platforms. GitHub had taken down the repository last month after the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) abused the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's notice-and-takedown procedure to pressure GitHub to remove it.
By shoehorning DMCA 1201 into the notice-and-takedown process, RIAA potentially sets a very dangerous precedent.
The removal of youtube-dl's source code caused an outcry. The tool is used by journalists and activists to save eyewitness videos, by YouTubers to save backup copies of their own uploaded videos, and by people with slow or unreliable network connections to download videos in high resolution and watch them without buffering interruptions, to name just a few of the uses we've heard about. youtube-dl is a lot like the videocassette recorders of decades past: a flexible tool for saving personal copies of video that's already accessible to the public.
Under the DMCA, an online platform like GitHub is not responsible for the allegedly infringing activities of its users so long as that platform follows certain rules, including complying when a copyright holder asks it to take down infringing material. But unlike most DMCA takedowns, youtube-dl contained no material belonging to the RIAA or its member companies. RIAA's argument hinges on a separate section of the DMCA, Section 1201, which says that it's illegal to bypass a digital lock in order to access or modify a copyrighted work—or to provide tools to others that bypass digital locks. The RIAA argued that since youtube-dl could be used to infringe on copyrighted music, GitHub must remove it. By shoehorning DMCA 1201 into the notice-and-takedown process, RIAA potentially sets a very dangerous precedent, making it extremely easy for copyright holders to remove software tools from the Internet based only on the argument that those tools could be used for copyright infringement.
youtube-dl's code did contain the titles and URLs of certain commercial music videos as a part of a list of videos to use to test the tool's functionality. Of course, simply mentioning a video's URL is not an infringement, nor is streaming a few seconds of that video to test a tool's functionality. As EFF explained in a letter to GitHub on behalf of youtube-dl's team of maintainers:
First, youtube-dl does not infringe or encourage the infringement of any copyrighted works, and its references to copyrighted songs in its unit tests are a fair use. Nevertheless, youtube-dl's maintainers are replacing these references. Second, youtube-dl does not violate Section 1201 of the DMCA because it does not "circumvent" any technical protection measures on YouTube videos.
Fortunately, after receiving EFF's letter, GitHub has reversed course. From GitHub's announcement:
Although we did initially take the project down, we understand that just because code can be used to access copyrighted works doesn't mean it can't also be used to access works in non-infringing ways. We also understood that this project's code has many legitimate purposes, including changing playback speeds for accessibility, preserving evidence in the fight for human rights, aiding journalists in fact-checking, and downloading Creative Commons-licensed or public domain videos. When we see it is possible to modify a project to remove allegedly infringing content, we give the owners a chance to fix problems before we take content down. If not, they can always respond to the notification disabling the repository and offer to make changes, or file a counter notice.
Again, although our clients chose to remove the references to the specific videos that GitHub requested, including them did not constitute copyright infringement.
It's no secret that EFF doesn't like Section 1201 and the ways it's used to shut down innovation and competition. In fact, we're challenging the law in court. But in the case of youtube-dl, Section 1201 doesn't apply at all. GitHub agreed, and put the repository back online with its full functionality intact.
GitHub recognized that accusations about software projects violating DMCA 1201 don't make valid takedowns under section 512. GitHub committed to have technical experts review Section 1201-related accusations and allow code repository owners to dispute those accusations before taking down their code. This is a strong commitment to the rights of GitHub's developer community, and we hope it sets an example.
EFF is proud to have helped the free software community keep this important tool online. Please consider celebrating this victory with us by making a donation to EFF.


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Passing the baton
This will be one of the more difficult blog posts to write because I have nothing but great things to say about my three-plus seasons on the 76ers beat.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, will be my last day at the Inquirer and my last day covering the Sixers. As of tomorrow, this blog -- Deep Sixer -- will belong to John Mitchell, who will be taking over the beat for the Inquirer. John will also take over the Twitter handle of @DeepSixer3. Because I'm leaving for a new job at ESPN (one not involving much NBA coverage), I'll be keeping my Twitter account, but changing the username. (That's still undecided, but if you follow me now, you'll follow me when I change the username!)
I just wanted to thank everyone for all of their correspondence -- both complimentary, constructive, and critical -- throughout the last three years. Although there were many difficult times, there were just as many great moments.
My first blog post, I believe, included a rather elementary mistake (I see that now) regarding the Sixers' roster going into the 2008-09 season. I took some heat for the error, but those same readers were willing to stick with the coverage as the Sixers started training camp at Penn State.
I think what I learned throughout the last three years is that Philly is looking for only one thing: passion and effort. I made a lot of mistakes, some more noticeable than others, but I can say that nearly all Sixers' fans were willing to forgive those errors if it came accompanied with additional effort: a long blog post after a crucial win or loss -- one at least attempting to explain some of the things that had happened on the court that night.
Thanks to all the e-mailers and posters who took the time to add to the discussion, especially here on Deep Sixer. I was grateful the dialogue rarely devolved; it was always my goal to talk basketball and X's and O's.
So, again, thanks to everyone for following the coverage. I don't want to write too long because, well, this part has absolutely nothing to do with basketball. And that was never what this blog was about.
Thank you for a wonderful three years,
Each week, Kate will check in from the road and answer fan questions about the Sixers. Click here to ask Kate a question or e-mail her at email@example.com.


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This website is designed to make the job of 18B attorneys somewhat easier. Here you will find links to other helpful websites that will enable you to access Supreme Court decisions, Court of Appeals decisions and a multitude of legal articles on various legal questions that confront the criminal or family court practitioner on a daily basis.
Message From The Administrator
Welcome to the Website of the Nassau County Assigned Counsel Defender Plan. It is my hope that the information you find here will assist you in the representation of your 18B clients.
There is much explanatory information on this website regarding the 18B program, including our policies, procedures and requirements, but there is also a great deal of information that relates to the defense of criminal cases generally, including primers on different areas of law, recent cases, strategies regarding problem areas, sample motions and forms and links to other helpful websites.
If you are not yet a member of our 18B program, please take a minute to review our qualifications. If you fulfill them, and if you have a sincere desire to help the indigent, you can download an application and return it to me at the Nassau County Bar Association. I will act on it immediately. My thanks go out to all of our current panelists, and my regards go out to all others, with the hope that you will join our ranks in the near future.
Robert Nigro Administrator
To download forms, vouchers & view files in this site you will need "Adobe Reader":
The Nassau County Assigned Counsel Defender Plan has been in existence since 1966.
We currently have over 100 experts in various fields who stand ready to assist our attorneys in the defense of the indigent. We currently have over 260 attorneys on our various panels
The rate for 18B case work of all types (family, felony, misdemeanor, and appellate) is $158 per hour.
Nassau County Assigned Counsel Defender Plan 15th & West Sts Mineola, NY, 11501 Phone 747-8448 Fax # 873-8032
Home | Qualifications | Rules | Applications | Arraignment | Parts 11/12 | Part 9
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Neal Sharing Campaign Offices With Warren, Downing
While both offices belong to Neal, Elizabeth Warren's campaign for U.S. Senate, the Massachusetts Democratic Party and Benjamin B. Downing's campaign for state Senate will operate out of Neal's headquarters.
"As we have seen in the past, Democrats are successful when we work together to achieve common goals," said Neal, currently the representative for the 2nd Mass District. "Once I established the locations for my regional campaign headquarters I knew offering Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democratic Party, and Senator Downing the opportunity to join my Springfield and Pittsfield offices would be beneficial to Democrats of the First Congressional District. I look forward to working closely with Elizabeth and continuing the close relationship I have shared with Ben and the Massachusetts Democratic Party."
Neal is running for the Democratic nomination for representative. Part of his current district will be merged with the 1st Mass Distrit beginning in January 2013. Warren is challenging the sitting Republican incumbent for the Senate seat. Downing is running for his fourth term in the state Senate representing communities in Western Massachusetts.
"I'm excited to be opening offices in Springfield and Pittsfield and to continue meeting people throughout Western Massachusetts," said Warren. "I look forward to working with Congressman Neal to address the unique challenges facing the region and to level the playing field for middle class families across the commonwealth."
"It's great to see the grassroots excitement and organizing that Democrats are committed to across Massachusetts," said Downing, who previously served as an intern in Neal's Washington congressional office. "I'm looking forward to working with the Mass Democratic Party, Congressman Neal, and Elizabeth Warren to make sure the Berkshires help elect leaders committed to fighting for the middle class."
Neal's regional campaign headquarters are both situated in residential areas with high traffic. While the Pittsfield office is a short distance from the downtown business district, the Springfield office is located in the heart of the East Forest Park neighborhood that was decimated during last year's June 1st tornado.
"Winning campaigns are fueled by volunteers with the buzz and excitement created through an active headquarters," Neal said. "We are fortunate to have campaign offices in prime locations that will enable our volunteers to mobilize and organize effectively."
U.S. Rep. Hopeful Nuciforo Submits Nomination Papers
Andrea Nuciforo became the first canidate to officially enter the race on Thursday. |
The Middle Berkshire Registar of Deeds and former state Senator submitted more than the required 2,000 signatures to become the first candidate on the ballot. Nuciforo will be running against U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, and writer Bill Shein.
Nuciforo hand-delivered the nomination papers to the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Springfield office.
"Being the first candidate to complete this monumental task is a clear sign of the strength of our organization and message. Voters across central and western Massachusetts have told me time, and time again that after 24 years, they're ready to send a strong Democrat to Washington that will stand up for woman's right to choose, and stand up against the Wall Street deregulation ushered on by Rep. Neal," Nuciforo said.
"This is the first time Rep. Neal has had a meaningful primary challenge, so thanks to the dozens of volunteers, interns, family and friends that were out pounding the pavement and knocking on doors to secure my name on the Sept. 6 primary ballot, we're one step closer toward being represented by a real progressive."
The newly drawn district covers parts of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester counties and all of the Berkshires. The Berkshire's current Rep. John Olver, D-Amherst, is retiring and redrawn districts pits Nuciforo and Shein against Springfield-based Neal.
Cariddi Campaign Plans State House Jaunt
Gailanne Cariddi, the new 1st Berkshire's newly elected representative, will be sworn in on Jan. 5 with other state officers. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Committee to Elect Gailanne Cariddi has plans for supporters of the 1st Berkshire District's first woman representative to see her sworn in.
Cariddi, elected in November to replace outgoing Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, will be sworn in at the State House on Wednesday, July 5, at 11 a.m. with other incoming legislators.
The committee has engaged King Ward Coach transportation to accommodate the many requests of people in the 1st District to attend the ceremony. The cost for the round trip to Boston is $30 per person. There will be ample time to visit the State House, surrounding historical areas of Boston and enjoy lunch.
The bus will leave North Adams at 7 a.m. from TD Bank on Main Street. There will also be one stop in Pittsfield at the Crowne Plaza, departing at approximately 7:45 a.m.
The State House ceremony includes the oath of office for the governor, lieutenant governor, senators, representatives and members of the Governor's Council.
Anyone interested in attending the celebration should contact Antoinette Cariddi at 413-652-2023 or Marie Harpin at 413-664-4362 by noon, Thursday, Dec. 9. Participants may make their check payable to the Committee to Elect Gailanne Cariddi and send them to 100 Galvin Road, North Adams, MA 01247.
Tags: Cariddi, oath, State House |
Cariddi Clear Winner in 1st District
Gailanne Cariddi is hugged by supporters at Petrino's Cafe after winning the 1st Berkshire District. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Gailanne Cariddi emerged as the winner in the 1st District, the first new state representative in 24 years and the first woman to occupy the seat. Although a primary election, there's no Republican running so the Democratic winner will coast to victory in November.
The longtime North Adams city councilor was surrounded by well-wishers at Petrino's Cafe on Main Street in North Adams as numbers continued to flow in from the district's hilltowns.
"I'm sure that it really hasn't hit me yet because it's so wonderful for so many voters to come out and support me," said Cariddi. "I really want to thank all the voters because without all of them, and the team we put together to run this election, we wouldn't be this happy right now."
The city native felt she was the leading candidate and her father was sure. He wasn't excited Tuesday, she said, "he said he knew I was going to win."
"Right along I felt I was the leading candidate but I told everyone I had two opponents from Adams nipping at my heels so I had to keep going," said Cariddi, referring to House hopefuls David Bisssaillon and Edward MacDonald.
Cariddi easily took North Adams, pulling 1,710 votes to Bissaillon's 575 and MacDonald's 379. She came in second in Adams, no surprise, with Bissaillon sweeping the town with 1,328 votes; Cariddi took 356 and MacDonald 261. It was in Williamstown, however, that Cariddi pulled far enough ahead that it would have been tough to catch her. She pulverized both men with 70 percent of the vote. Some 1,028 ballots were cast for Cariddi in the Purple Valley compared to 293 for Bissaillon and 164 for MacDonald.
She continued to roll up the smaller towns, gaining 221 votes in Clarksburg (Bissaillon, 120; MacDonald, 48) out of the 425 votes cast, and took Charlemont with 84 votes.
Cariddi believed her stances on the economy, jobs, community development, green initiatives, agriculture, small business, tourism and arts and culture put her over the top.
"They want somebody with a positive attitude who's going to keep moving our district forward," she said. "I think all of those things resonated with the voters. I talked about them time and time again. People wanted issues; I gave them issues."
The party was winding down at the Bounti-Fare in Adams for David Bissaillon. The former Berkshire Chamber president said he didn't want his supporters to leave sad.
"The people who worked for me, who supported me, they were my heroes. I'm grateful for what they've done," he said.
David Bissaillon talks with a supporter at the Bounti-Fare after losing his first run for office. |
He wasn't ready to speculate on if he'd make another try at elected office — "not tonight" — and planned to take a breather and get back to work at Coakley, Pierpan, Dolan & Collins Insurance Agency.
"Unfortunately, my message didn't resonate with the voters," Bissaillon said. "We ran a clean campaign and I learned a lot. .... I wish Gail all the best. It's a great victory for her."
Edward MacDonald, who had been confident of a surge on Sunday, had already closed up his gathering at the American Legion in North Adams before we got there. The Chester town administrator had worked hard but couldn't catch Cariddi nor capture his hometown of Adams.
Tags: Cariddi, Bissaillon, MacDonald |
Primary Election Day: Voting
Update 11:00 p.m.
Well, the votes are in and Tom Bowler and Gailanne Cariddi are the big winners so far tonight. In the 2nd Berkshire District, Michael Case beat out Rosanne Frieri for the Republican nomination but we here it's still neck and neck in the Democratic primary between Tom Szczepaniak and Paul Mark. The Berkshire Eagle called the race for Szczepaniak at 10 p.m. but an hour later PCTV said Mark was in the lead by 6 percent.
Update: 7:38 p.m.
The North County towns are reporting at least 30 percent turnout. In Adams, some 1,874 had voted by 6 p.m. with 33 percent turnout at the town's DPW garage. The town has 5,634 registered voters.
This was the first election for new Town Clerk Haley Meczywor, who described the experience as "interesting." "You really don't know what's going on [in an election] until you've been here all day," she said. "It's been really interesting."
Clarksburg had a 37 percent turnout at 7:20, with 409 voting out of about 1,119 registered voters. Cheshire had a 32.5 percent turnout shortly before 7, with 1,874 ballots cast out of 5,634 voters. Cheshire, in the 2nd District, had primaries for both Democrats and Republicans. We're told few Republican ballots were selected.
Samantha LaValley-Leary submits her vote into the Ward 5 ballot box at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center in North Adams. |
Update 4:59 p.m.
We're getting a late start with election news today but we can tell you that voting is steady in the three biggest North County towns. In North Adams, nearly 2,000 had already cast votes with three hours left. Poll workers at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center, site of voting for Wards 1, 2 and 5, said the turnout has been steady since early this morning.
Last year's hotly contested mayoral election in the city saw more than 5,200 votes cast; that compares to just under 4,000 for the special Senate election that featured native daughter Martha Coakley.
"We vote whenever there's an election," said Donna LaValley-Leary of Ward 5.
We ran into David Bissaillon outside the North Adams polling station. The Adams resident is running for 1st Berkshire District and said he had a good feeling about the voting so far.
Dave Bissaillon rallies the troups in North Adams. |
The former chamber president said he'd spent four or five hours in the hilltowns and in Franklin and Hampshire counties this morning. "I wanted to get to them and spend some time there," he said, adding that it was quiet at the polling stations but he expected things to pick up later in the day.
He was more pleased with a heavy turnout in Adams and Williamstown.
"I think it will be a strong turnout ... whatever happens, we'll all be smiling at the Bounti-Fare later."
Dan Bosley, the man whose shoes Bissiallon is trying to fill, was headed back to his office. He too was pleased with the turnout in his stamping grounds. Turnout will be critical factor in the race for sheriff, with Pittsfield native Tom Bowler expected to do well in his hometown. However, the county's biggest city has no other races on the ballot to draw voters out.
The mayoral election last year drew 13,215 votes, or around 46 percent; a similar number voted in the special Senate election. Pittsfield's primary last September drew fewer voters, but still nearly 8,000 for a 28 percent turnout.
Tags: primary, election |


text:
It's that time of year when the whole, "Why is the Equinox called Mabon?" debate rears it's ugly head. Like many Gardnerians I'm fairly unimpressed by the name thanks to a whole bunch politics. There are other names for the festival, however, my personal preference is Equinox. It's a good sturdy name that even those who do not follow my path understand. But On the whole I'm pretty happy to state that it's each to their own.
I thought about writing a nice long academic post about the historical evidence and the modern justifications for calling this festival by certain names. But it's been done to death by many very eloquent people. So if you are looking for that kind of article may I suggest you start HERE with Jason Mankey's blog on the subject.
For the last few years I've been very much about the experiential being balanced with the academic. And that wondrous synergy that can occur when the historical and factual meets the new imaginings of dedicated practitioners of the craft. So this year I thought I'd approach the whole event in a different and innovative manner.
Last Winter Solstice I took part in an excellent read along on Twitter #thedarkisreading. In which participants read the enchanting Susan Cooper book "The Dark is rising". Not only was it lovely to have a reason to sit and read for a short while each evening. It really made me focus on certain seasonal themes. Which gave me an idea.
One of the primary sources for the existence of Mabon ap Modron (Great Son, son of the Mother) is the Welsh Medieval tale "How Culhwch won Olwen". The story is included in the misnamed collection of tales known by most as the Mabinogion. On the surface it's a rip roaring tale of adventure, knights and valiant kings, brave young men and giants. This epic quest for true love sees the erstwhile hero and his amazing companions travel from the very South of Wales all the way to Cumbria. Performing seemingly impossible feats. Meeting the oldest animals and battling formidable creatures using all the powers and Magick sat their command.
It can of course be read just as that, an amazing tale of daring-do, but its a tale of layers. Embedded within are mysteries for those who care to look. Initiations of the body and mind, for those who would immerse themselves ritually into the very tale itself. So this year I resolved to take time reading it to see what wisdom it could impart for me during this season. A touch of meditative bibliomancy if you will.
I've studied this story many times, as an Awenydd of the The Anglesey Druid Order it comes up a fair amount in the orders amazing annual training course. So I wasn't really sure what I might get from this exercise being so familiar with the text. But the gods of Land, Sea and Sky never fail me.
The first thing that struck me was the sheer quantity of shape shifting that occurs during the tale. Culhwch's mother Goleuddydd (quite literally daylight) losing her mind in an echo of Rhiannon's story and seemingly reverting to a zoomorphic state to give birth. Poor Pryderi is linked with a stable in the first branch, Culhwch a pig sty. Perhaps his mother is the very same sow that led Gwydion to the Ash tree from which the young Sun God Lleu Llaw Gyffes hangs between the worlds.
In fact pigs feature very heavily in many of the tales, from the very first branch it is the swine of Arawn slipping into this world that starts the whole story arch moving. Not a mare of sovereignty at all. Is this then an indicator of an older or parallel belief/initiatory system hidden within all the tales? Certainly food for deep thought. And now undoubtedly the focus of experiential ritual in my future.
I find this idea particularly poignant as the whole tale hangs on the hero's relationship to sovereignty. In his case his relationship with Arthur. The kings willingness to trim the youths hair in recognition of kinship is echoed in the demands of the Giant Ysbaddaden. Reading between the lines his only real desire is to ensure an appropriate wedding feast for his Goddess like daughter and to have his hair trimmed using the comb and scissors held between the ears of the great Boar Twrch Trwyth (another pig). Thus effectively regaining his own sovereignty. Interesting huh?
Secondly the textual notes to the tale (if you get a good translation) reveals that one of the companions Teyrnon Twrf Liant ( Great Lord, Roar of the flood tide) whose kingdom in Gwent is often associated with the Severn bore. Now I've known this for a while, but I've never really put much consideration into it. My ritual landscape is primarily that of North Wales. But the Mabon of whom we seek it is claimed was held somewhere along the Severn estuary. He was discovered by the Salmon of Lyn Lliw who travelled the bore every flood tide. So here we have our divine child of the season, in his prison in Caerloyw (Gloucester) but held apparently by the bore. Just as Pryderi was kept by Teyrnon in his youth. And when is the bore at his strongest. At the equinoxes.
Perhaps it's not such a bad name for the festival after all. I rather like it in-fact especially if we were to pair the autumnal equinox of Mabon with a vernal equinox of Modron…..oooo now there's a thought?


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The witness given by Breda O'Brien at the 2014 Kilmore Diocesan Assembly on 26th October 2014.
The 2014 Kilmore Diocesan Assembly took place in St. Patrick's College, Cavan on 25 – 26 October 2014. in St. Patrick's College, Cavan.
The theme of the Assembly was taken from three words Pope Francis used during his first homily as Pope: "Walking Together, Building the Kingdom, Professing our Faith", and marked the culmination of two years of planning and consultation. Over 300 delegates attended on each of the two days including representatives from each of the 35 parishes in the diocese, priests and permanent deacons, religious, pastoral assistants, and representatives of apostolic and church-based organisations and societies operating in Kilmore.
Over the course of the two days, delegates discussed a number of issues including the findings of a diocese-wide listening survey; current patterns of sacramental practice; effective ways of ministering to young people; and proposals for future directions for the diocese in the light of the decreasing and aging number of clergy. There were a number of small group and open forum discussions during the course of the Assembly during which the delegates reflected on how to address key pastoral challenges facing the Church in Kilmore. A team of fifty facilitators collated the responses from the small group discussions.
All the delegates agreed that what was important now would be "follow-up" and "action". A report on the Assembly and its recommendations will be made at all Masses throughout the diocese on Sunday 23rd November, the Feast of Christ the King. At the same time the Diocesan Pastoral Council will begin work on turning the recommendations into a Pastoral Plan to serve the diocese until 2020.


text: A long recognized naked-eye variable star, R Aquarii is actually an interacting binary star system, two stars that seem to have a close, symbiotic relationship. About 710 light years away, it consists of a cool red giant star and hot, dense white dwarf star in mutual orbit around their common center of mass. The binary system's visible light is dominated by the red giant, itself a Mira-type long period variable star. But material in cool giant star's extended envelope is pulled by gravity onto the surface of the smaller, denser white dwarf, eventually triggering a thermonuclear explosion and blasting material into space. Optical image data (red) shows the still expanding ring of debris originating from a blast that would have been seen in the early 1770s. The evolution of less understood energetic events producing high energy emission in the R Aquarii system has been monitored since 2000 using Chandra X-ray Observatory data (blue). The composite field of view is less that a light-year across at the estimated distance of R Aquarii. via NASA http://ift.tt/2tjeNfX


text:
TOKYO - Japanese scientists have produced 26 generations of clones from a single mouse, the lead researcher said Friday, possibly paving the way for the mass replication of valuable livestock.
The team have so far produced 598 mice that are genetic copies of one original creature in an experiment that has so far been going for seven years, said Teruhiko Wakayama of the Riken Center for Developmental Biology.
"This is by far the largest cloning project using a mammal," he told AFP.
"By applying our study, mass reproduction of prized animals should become possible even after the original animals die," he said.
Reliable methods for cloning over an extended number of generations could be a boon to farmers who have, for example, a cow that produces a lot of milk, or an animal that is expected to produce particularly high-quality meat.
Natural breeding does not guarantee that an animal's offspring will have the same qualities, but a clone is an exact copy.
Wakayama has significantly improved on existing capabilities that had a low success rate and tended only to last for a few generations.
Nucleus inserted into living egg
The team used a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, whereby a cell's nucleus, which contains the genetic information of the original animal, was inserted into a living egg that had its own nucleus removed.
The egg was then planted in a surrogate who delivered the clone. That cloned result then became a donor for another cell nucleus, which was implanted into a host cell, allowing the cycle to continue.
Overall, the cloned mice have normal biological features, including normal longevity and reproductive capability.
Detailed genetic analysis showed limited abnormalities in non-vital aspects, such as large placenta, but the clone-specific abnormalities neither increased nor decreased over generations of recloning, Wakayama said.
Wakayama's team has found that use of a certain chemical agent, called a histone deacetylase inhibitor, and other technical improvements allowed recloning to continue for many generations, he said.
"Our results show that repeated iterative recloning is possible," he said.
"I want to say we should be able to continue this forever. We will continue our study until we see the end of it," he said.
The study was published in the US-based journal Cell Stem Cell.


text:
Update: here's an idea from a reader:
Enter your nominations for the worst publisher and worst editor at a McClatchy newspaper, and tell us why they deserve such an honor.
Great idea... enter nominations in comments.
This blog is mainly about the spectacular train wreck at The Sacramento Bee and its parent company, the McClatchy Company. But I also post about current events, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, politics, anything else that grabs my attention. Take a look around this blog, hope you enjoy it.
Enter your nominations for the worst publisher and worst editor at a McClatchy newspaper, and tell us why they deserve such an honor.
Great idea... enter nominations in comments.
Oh, oh, The Debt Czar President is caught RED handed.
Your Tax Dollars to Sell
Obama's Health Care Plan
EXCLUSIVE: White House confirms to FOX News that it used taxpayer dollars to hire private communications company to distribute mass e-mails — including unsolicited spamming to help sell Obama's health plan…
The top radical socialists that have taken over the DNC, would see no reason to mix with the great unwashed people of the USA. Anything the rabble says is ignorant. Only the elites know what is good for the country, and in the majority, they couldn't care less what anyone else thinks, even some of their own more moderate members.
-Top Dems Taking Pass on Health Care Town Halls-
[snip]... But while rank-and-file members are facing the tough questions, party leaders have remained largely absent from the in-person town hall discussions.
Since recess began at the beginning of August, none of the top party leaders in the House and Senate -- as well as the five committee chairmen from relevant committees -- have faced the public at traditional public town hall meetings.
...The top radical socialists that have taken over the DNC...
ROFL! Completely delusional, courtesy of far-right talk radio and a closed mind. No wonder you lost the election.
OBAMA will set a record for being the President who became a "lame duck" at the earliest point in any presidency.
Obamacare-Point and Counterpoint
By Frank S. Rosenbloom, M.D.
Obama's point: Nearly 50 million Americans are without health care.
Counterpoint: Nearly 13 million Americans are without health [insurance.] No one in the United States is without health care. Government regulations prohibit patients from being turned away from hospitals, which must provide medical care to anyone. The huge number that the Obama administration has used is highly inflated.
@ American Thinker
Enter your nominations for the worst publisher and worst editor at a McClatchy newspaper, and tell us why they deserve such an honor.
Obama's health care plan is dead. The Dems are dead if they rush it through next month. Right now they're running scared and they know they won't have a majority after next year's elections. They have blown a golden opportunity and given conservatives a gold-plated opportunity.
England and Lloyds bank "Jizya" (a tax muslims impose on non-muslims) equivalent.
An overdraft? That'll be £200 at Lloyds TSB (but only £15 if you're a Muslim) (Daily Mail)
Many Lloyds TSB customers are being hit with charges of up to £200 a month if they go into the red - while Muslims who use the bank are only being charged £15.
The part-nationalised bank has been accused of religious discrimination over the disparity between overdraft charges on its standard current account and its Islamic account.
The Islamic account was set up by the high street bank to attract Muslim customers by allowing them to keep faithful to their religion.
Sharia law does not permit the payment of interest so the 'typical' Islamic account at Lloyds TSB has been set up without an overdraft facility.
The bank says this is a management fee, not a payment of interest, so does not contradict Sharia law.
Iranian Boy Who Defied Tehran Hardliners Tells of Prison Rape Ordeal (The Times) [Definitely not the New York Times, they only care when it suits their DNC masters]
The 15-year-old boy sits weeping in a safehouse in central Iran, broken in body and spirit. Reza will not go outside — he is terrified of being left alone. He says he wants to end his life and it is not hard to understand why: for daring to wear the green wristband of Iran's opposition he was locked up for 20 days, beaten, raped repeatedly and subjected to the Abu Ghraib-style sexual humiliations and abuse for which the Iranian regime denounced the United States.
"My life is over. I don't think I can ever recover," he said, as he recounted his experiences to The Times — on condition that his identity not be revealed. A doctor who is treating him, at great risk to herself, confirmed that he is suicidal, and bears the appalling injuries consistent with his story. The family is desperate, and is exploring ways of fleeing Iran.
Reza is living proof of the charges levelled by Mehdi Karoubi, one of the opposition's leaders, that prison officials are systematically raping both male and female detainees to break their wills. The regime has accused Mr Karoubi of helping Iran's enemies by spreading lies and has threatened to arrest him.
Nomination: Charlotte Observer
Pubisher: Ann Caulkins
Editor: Rick Thames
Reason: For their complete lack of interest in holding local government accountable. They have turned the Charlotte Observer into merely a government rag that cheerleads the latest government scheme to transfer tax dollars to special interests in downtown Charlotte.
I just read "Third Floor Empty at Sac Bee" thread and there are several nominations for the same bad Sac Bee manager/managers. Sounds like we already have a winner/winners???
Mark Zieman is the worst publisher. He has turned the Red Star into a total joke. The best people are gone, and the dregs stay on to pollute KC. Zieman and Rhonda Lokeman have dragged the Star down into the gutter.
I have to agree with Zieman being the worst publisher. I've only seen the Star's degradation first hand for the past 4 years, but that place started publishing straight trash immediately after his appointment.
I suspect rather than being a completely dishonest dirt bag socialist, it is more of a case that he is weak and simply allowed his friends to take control of what is published with little to no responsible supervision.
Of course, anyone would have to wonder about the mental stability of a man that would actually marry the likes of Rhonda Lokeman. That just defies all logic. Love may be blind, but loving Rhonda Lokeman would require deaf, dumb and numb too.
Nomination: Sacramento Bee
Publisher: Cheryl Dell
Editor: Melanie Sills
These bozos published names and salaries of all state employees but refused to publish their own salaries. Then they asked people to send in pictures of their neighbors who water on the wrong days of the week and printed pictures of the water-wasters.
7:38 PM Sorry dude but with all due respect, Zieman did the very same thing with posting all the state salaries.
He didn't encourage anyone to snitch for watering, but he did allow his reporters to publish the name, address and photo of a Star critic, along with a photo of his house as an invitation to do him or his family harm.
We will not even get into their attempts to create racial divide, unchecked slander or total disregard for any of the standards set by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Zieman rose to power because he was the project editor for a series that ended up winning a Pulitzer. He plotted and calculated which topic would be a likely prize winner for a midwestern paper like the Star (Agriculture), and he studied the prize applications of previous winners. Then the two reporters he chose wrote the series he outlined. Lo and behold--his team pulled it off, and the paper won the Pulitzer. Soon after, Editor Art Brisbane (himself newly promoted from metro columnist in an out-of-left-field choice by the publisher) elevated Zieman to managing editor, then editor when Brisbane became publisher, then eventually publisher after Brisbane moved up in Knight Ridder. Brisbane, who came back to the Star after failing to set the world on fire at the Washington Post, thought the Star would soon be rolling in Pulitzers like his rivals at the Post because Zieman had found the secret formula. Of course it's been 18 or 19 years and we're all still waiting for the next Pulitzer under Zieman's reign, or any other indication that he has the managerial or leadership skills that justify his lofty position. Before the Pulitzer, Zieman was arrogant and obnoxious with no justification. After the paper won the Pulitzer, he had some justification for being arrogant and obnoxious. Now, as the paper sinks under his watch, he remains arrogant and obnoxious, but instead of being a rising hot shot, is just kind of pathetic. So he gets my vote.
Worst of the bunch: Fort Worth Star-Telegram publisher Gary Wortel and editor Jim Witt.
In less than 2 years on the job, "Hatchet Man" Wortel has cut hundreds of jobs, cut pay, cut benefits, sold buildings and employee parking lots, closed two local bureaus and the state bureau in Austin, which once was among the best in Texas, and eliminated the Opinion, Travel, and Arts sections while cutting most of the national/foreign news section, and doubling the price of the paper. Before he did all this the paper was already generating about $50 million a year profit for McClatchy. And then he sets aside two days a month where he is available to meet with employees individually who want to suggest additional ways to cut costs (lmao). To top it off, he can't even write e-mail. His secretary does it for him (sent on behalf of Gary Wortel).
You may remember editor Jim "Oops" Witt, who accidentally sent out a memo to the entire editorial department that was meant for Hatchet Man. In it he argued why the most junior sports columnist should not be laid off while bad-mouthing a columnist who has more seniority and is a superior reporter/writer.
Both Hatchet Man and Oops have virtually no contact with the rank and file workers in the newsroom. They have managed to turn a once-great paper for one of the largest cities in the country into an advertiser wrapped with briefs fit for a small town.
Heckuva job, Worty and Witty.
McClatchy's VP of news will be very proud of you when he visits this week. Hell, you should take up a collection from your fellow suits to give him more money that he can take back with him to Sacramento.
Bankruptcy court is the only way to get rid of this ship of fools who are destroying whatt's left of a once-great paper. Employee morale has already been destroyed; new ownership/management can restore it.
Nomination: Merced Sun Star
Publisher: Hank (the weasel) VanDerveen
Reason. "Allegedly" being one of the main players in deconstructing the Modesto Bee production department. Shortly after the Modesto Bee production department was notified of the impending layoff, he became Publisher of the Merced paper. Hank just happened to be at some of the negotiation meetings, but no one could explain why because he worked in a different department. If it looks fishy and smells fishy it must be fishy!
The Obamanation world apology tour...or The Magical Mystery Tour...Or where's BarackO...
Still looking for those missing states?
How about some T-shirts commemorating his tour...
Get high with Barry Sotero!
With all due respects to how bad Mark Zieman is, he is essentially Art Brisbane's lackey. hence my nomination goes to Art Brisbane (former) publisher and Mark Zieman editor.
It was Brisbane that turned The Star into a whore for Kansas City's corrupt establishment. It was Art Brisbane who promoted a local anti-evangelical hate group and made Kansas City the most hateful city in the country politically. It was Art Brisbane who gutted the formerly highly respected Wyandotte bureau into a bastion of happy chat PR for Carol Marinovich and her successors (now that they're owned by the KCMO establishment). It was during Art Brisbane's tenure as co-Chair of a local "charity" that it became a front group for leftist causes and had to can its ED for political involvement. Brisbane was little more than the lawn jockey/shine boy at the River Club using his paper's integrity as his entre into polite society. Like his namesake, he prattled socialism out of one side of his mouth while he kissed the ass of the establishment with the other side. Zieman was simply there as Brisbane's butt boy and stand-in after he left.
6:25: Was he still there when your column was cancelled? Or was that Zieman? And at that time, were you still the county Republican chairman in Wyandotte County?
Incompetent McClatchy managers are all pretty much cut from the same flawed cloth. In their small worlds and minds, they're doing a beautiful job and nothing shakes that belief. They were promoted because they told their superiors what they wanted to hear, not because these drones were brilliant innovators and respected leaders.
Positive change only comes when the CEO makes it happen. A power cleanse of these inept, cartoonish managers would revitalize McClatchy and its work force. Are you listening Gary?
Not involved politically at the time I wrote my column. Brisbane was publisher and the column(s) that got me fired were about a corrupt Republican senator who chaired a committee that channeled money to the Foundation that employed both he and his wife.
The story was first uncovered by a Ralph Nader 50 states project, but they only got part of it. I followed up on their work. Ironically when I started asking for public records for how the money was spent (specifically for a column to be written for The Star) The Star's attorneys represented the Foundation in opposing the requests and in the lawsuit that I filed that followed.
Turns out that Brisbane was very closely aligned with both the Foundation (where he was an adviser) and the Senator's wife through her work.
My editor, Rich Hood, allowed me to write the column knowing full well the dangers to his own job in doing so. He later withheld The Star's endorsement of the Senator based in part on my research and was terminated after 29 years with The Star a short time later.
For those who want to ascribe my motivations to sour grapes, I was delighted when the column ended. had I not been canned, I would have had to resign since it was simply too much of a drag on my income. The year after I left my income went up $22K and I turned down both other opportunities to write and a radio show on Christian radio.
It was a wonderful opportunity, and I enjoyed working with the copy editors and Rich. No one in editorial was ever unkind to me. Indeed, Yael Abouhalkah gave me some information that gave my own research a real leg up in doing the final column. Steve Winn was an absolute professional and even Rhonda Lokeman gave me some helpful hints. (I don't recall any contact with either Laura Scott, or Barb Shelly, but I did have a couple of conversations with Lewis where I noticed the stunning reflection of light off the back of his skull when you looked in his eyes.)
When I started I promised myself I would write every column as if it was my last, and I was stunned that I lasted as long as I did. A real tribute to Rich Hood's integrity.
That final column gave me an insight into the inner workings of the metro area establishment and how it worked in maintaining and perpetuating its power. As a student of sociology and fan of C. Wright Mills, it was a fascinating experience that I wouldn't trade for anything and my thanks always to Rich Hood for giving me that opportunity.
6:40 AM You didn't expect that response, did you?
LOL you may now crawl back under your rock and examine your ass in detail. Do not forget to say thank you to Mr. Altevogt for handing it to you.
...the column(s) that got me fired were about a corrupt Republican senator who chaired a committee that channeled money to the Foundation that employed both he and his wife...
To summarize: You, a conservative Republican activist at a time when the conservatives were taking control of the state party away from the moderates, and not a full-time employee of the newspaper with a reporting track record known to the top editors, wrote a column making allegations of criminal (or at least unethical) activities. And the paper (a privately-owned, for-profit company) apparently decided that the column opened it to possible legal problems, and chose not to publish it. And then, based on its experience with you and your columns for more than a year or so, chose to drop your column.
Wrong. They published it. Every word was vetted by my editor and verified. Unlike any other writer I included footnotes with my column indicating the source of the information. Not only was the column published, but my editor withheld the Star's endorsement of what had heretofore been a favorite son of The Star based on the work I had done on that column. The column was terminated the day it was published by the publisher.
You idiots just can't think that anyone else could possibly be right about something. Your narrow minded ignorance and bigotry is your weakness.
Rich Hood was the real hero of this story. I didn't care about writing the column anymore. It had become a burden. But Hood knew far better than I how dirty Brisbane was and that my column could get us both fired. He knew and yet he published it. He also had the courage to follow up by refusing to endorse a corrupt candidate for political office. For that he paid with his job. 29 years down the drain, fired by a dirty publisher.
The joke is on Brisbane and The Star. Hood now has an excellent position with the EPA and Brisbane is a "consultant", or as working class folks call it, unemployed. The Star's editorial staff is an embarrassment to the community run by an affirmative action baby who was willing to do Brisbane's bidding.
12:07 PM Why don't you just give up. He's making you look like a fool.
...You idiots just can't think that anyone else could possibly be right about something. Your narrow minded ignorance and bigotry is your weakness...
John, with all due respect, that seems to be your attitude in at least half of your posts.
If you don't like what you read, please go to another blog. It's really quite simple.
To go back to the original question for the day, some of you have described people who are lousy bosses, and I wouldn't dispute your facts, but my argument is that Brisbane and Zieman are not only bad bosses who damaged their papers, but they've reduced The Star to little more than a handmaiden to Kansas City's corrupt establishment (ranked in the Top Ten corrupt cities in the country by George Magazine). I think that trumps anyone else that's been mentioned hands down.
in addition, Zieman's mishandling of the downsizing has left The Star bloated at the top and scavenging at the bottom. They've fired the reporters that could have helped them do what a local paper does best, i.e. cover local news and maintained deadweight columnists like Yeal Abouhalkah, Mike Hendricks and Lewis Diuguid who have made The Star a national laughingstock with idiotic comments that socialism was a code word for black and what was Hendricks' moronic comment that got him in trouble? Anyhow, it was so embarrassing that they sent Mary Sanchez on to O"Reilly to defend him, adding insult to injury.
didn't Melanie Sill get a half-dozen or so votes on an earlier topic? she's got the east-west swing going with critics on both coasts. that should count for something. in the sick mcclatchy world that something is usually a raise and promotion.
didn't Melanie Sill get a half-dozen or so votes on an earlier topic? she's got the east-west swing going with critics on both coasts. that should count for something.
Yeah, she has completely trashed her charge on both coasts, but these people in KC have the numbers and the goods on the KC McClatchy goons.
It seems like the Star is handing them ammunition every single week and these guys record it for posterity.
How long were they railing on Rhonda Lokeman before they had video on her in the slammer?
That damn rag is embarrassed on national news damn near as much as the Traitor Times is these days.
After reading the comments, this California Worker Bee has to throw a vote for Brisbane and Zieman as Being Best Bottom Feeders.
I will say that the Sacto gang came in a close second.
Miami hardly ever gets any tough love. Must be one of the better managed McClatchy papers.


text:
uucp - system-to-system copy
[XSI] uucp [-cCdfjmr][-n user] source-file... destination-file
The uucp utility shall copy files named by the source-file argument to the destination-file argument. The files named can be on local or remote systems.
The uucp utility cannot guarantee support for all character encodings in all circumstances. For example, transmission data may be restricted to 7 bits by the underlying network, 8-bit data and filenames need not be portable to non-internationalized systems, and so on. Under these circumstances, it is recommended that only characters defined in the ISO/IEC 646:1991 standard International Reference Version (equivalent to ASCII) 7-bit range of characters be used, and that only characters defined in the portable filename character set be used for naming files. The protocol for transfer of files is unspecified by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
Typical implementations of this utility require a communications line configured to use the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Chapter 11, General Terminal Interface, but other communications means may be used. On systems where there are no available communications means (either temporarily or permanently), this utility shall write an error message describing the problem and exit with a non-zero exit status.
The uucp utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
The following options shall be supported:
- -c
- Do not copy local file to the spool directory for transfer to the remote machine (default).
- Force the copy of local files to the spool directory for transfer.
- -d
- Make all necessary directories for the file copy (default).
- -f
- Do not make intermediate directories for the file copy.
- -j
- Write the job identification string to standard output. This job identification can be used by uustat to obtain the status or terminate a job.
- -m
- Send mail to the requester when the copy is completed.
- -n user
- Notify user on the remote system that a file was sent.
- -r
- Do not start the file transfer; just queue the job.
The following operands shall be supported:
- destination-file, source-file
- A pathname of a file to be copied to, or from, respectively. Either name can be a pathname on the local machine, or can have the form:
system-name!pathnamewhere system-name is taken from a list of system names that uucp knows about. The destination system-name can also be a list of names such as:
system-name!system-name!...!system-name!pathnamein which case, an attempt is made to send the file via the specified route to the destination. Care should be taken to ensure that intermediate nodes in the route are willing to forward information.
The shell pattern matching notation characters '?', '*', and "[...]" appearing in pathname shall be expanded on the appropriate system.
Pathnames can be one of:
An absolute pathname.
A pathname preceded by user where user is a login name on the specified system and is replaced by that user's login directory. Note that if an invalid login is specified, the default is to the public directory (called PUBDIR; the actual location of PUBDIR is implementation-defined).
A pathname preceded by / destination where destination is appended to PUBDIR.
- Note:
- This destination is treated as a filename unless more than one file is being transferred by this request or the destination is already a directory. To ensure that it is a directory, follow the destination with a '/'. For example, /dan/ as the destination makes the directory PUBDIR/dan if it does not exist and puts the requested files in that directory.
Anything else shall be prefixed by the current directory.
If the result is an erroneous pathname for the remote system, the copy shall fail. If the destination-file is a directory, the last part of the source-file name shall be used.
The read, write, and execute permissions given by uucp are implementation-defined.
Not used.
The files to be copied are regular files.
The following environment variables shall affect the execution of uucp:
- Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to determine the values of locale categories.)
- If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables.
- Determine the locale for the behavior of ranges, equivalence classes, and multi-character collating elements within bracketed filename patterns.
- Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files) and the behavior of character classes within bracketed filename patterns (for example, "'[[:lower:]]*'" ).
- Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error, and informative messages written to standard output.
- Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES .
Not used.
The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
The output files (which may be on other systems) are copies of the input files.
If -m is used, mail files are modified.
The following exit values shall be returned:
- 0
- Successful completion.
- >0
- An error occurred.
The domain of remotely accessible files can (and for obvious security reasons usually should) be severely restricted.
Note that the '!' character in addresses has to be escaped when using csh as a command interpreter because of its history substitution syntax. For ksh and sh the escape is not necessary, but may be used.
As noted above, shell metacharacters appearing in pathnames are expanded on the appropriate system. On an internationalized system, this is done under the control of local settings of LC_COLLATE and LC_CTYPE . Thus, care should be taken when using bracketed filename patterns, as collation and typing rules may vary from one system to another. Also be aware that certain types of expression (that is, equivalence classes, character classes, and collating symbols) need not be supported on non-internationalized systems.
First released in Issue 2.
The LC_TIME and TZ entries are removed from the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section.
The UN margin codes and associated shading are removed from the -C, -f, -j, -n, and -r options in response to The Open Group Base Resolution bwg2001-003.


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The Wi-Fi Alliance's announcement of the low power version IEEE 802.11ah, dubbed "HaLow", was dismissed by some analysts as being too late to make a significant impact in the fast growing Internet of Things (sector). That view is wrong and seriously discounts the power and momentum behind Wi-Fi, to the extent that HaLow has already received extensive coverage in the popular as well as technical press. It is already far closer to being a household name than other longstanding contenders as wireless protocols for IoT devices such as Zigbee and Zwave.
It is true that certification of HaLow compliant products will not begin until 2018, but with IoT surging forward on a number of fronts including the smart car, digital home and eHealth, SoC vendors such as Qualcomm are likely to bring out silicon before that. There are good reasons for expecting HaLow to succeed, some relating to its own specifications and others more to do with the overall evolution of Wi-Fi as a whole.
Another factor is the current fragmentation among existing contenders, with a number of other protocols vying alongside Zigbee and Zwave. This may seem to be a reason for not needing yet another protocol but actually means none of the existing ones have gained enough traction to repel a higher profile invader.
More to the point though HaLow has some key benefits over the others, one being its affinity to IP and Internet through being part of Wi-Fi. Zigbee has responded by collaborating with another wireless protocol developer Thread to incorporate IP connectivity. But HaLow has other advantages, including greater range and ability to operate in challenging RF environments. There is already a sense in which the others are having to play catch up even though they have been around for much longer.
It is true that Bluetooth now has its low energy version to overcome the very limited range of the main protocol, but even this is struggling to demonstrate adequate performance over larger commercial sites. The Wi-Fi Alliance claims that HaLow is highly robust and can cope with most real sites from large homes having thick walls containing metal, to concrete warehouse complexes.
The big picture is that Wi-Fi is looking increasingly like a multi-channel protocol operating at a range of frequencies to suit differing use cases. To date we have two variants, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, which tend to get used almost interchangeably, with the latter doubling up to provide capacity when the former is congested. In future though there will be four channels, still interchangeable but tending to be dedicated to different applications, combining to yield a single coherent standard that will cover all the basses and perhaps vie with LTE outdoors for connecting various embedded IoT and M2M devices.
HaLow comes in at around 900 MHz, which means it has less bandwidth but greater coverage than the higher frequency Wi-Fi bands and has been optimized to cope well with interference both from other radio sources and physical objects. Then we have the very high frequency 802.11ad or WiGig standard coming along at 60 GHz enabling theoretical bit rates of 5 Gbps or more, spearheaded by Qualcomm, Intel and Samsung. WiGig is a further trade-off between speed and coverage and it will most likely be confined to in-room distribution of decoded ultra HD video perhaps from a gateway or set top to a big screen TV or home cinema.
Then the 5 GHz version might serve premium video to other devices around the home, while 2.4 GHz delivers general Internet access. That would leave HaLow to take care of some wearables, sensors and other low power devices that need coverage but only modest bit rates. As it happens HaLow will outperform all the other contenders for capacity except Bluetooth, with which it will be on much of a par.
HaLow will be embraced by key vendors in the smart home and IoT arena, such as Paris based SoftAtHome, which already supports the other key wireless protocols in its software platform through its association with relevant hardware and SoC vendors. SoftAtHome can insulate broadband operators from underlying protocols so that they do not have to be dedicated followers of the wireless wars.
AirTies is another vendor with a keen interest as one of the leading providers of Wi-Fi technology for the home, already aiming to deliver the levels of coverage and availability promised by HaLow in the higher 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. It does this by creating a robust mesh from multiple Access Points (APs), to make Wi-Fi work more like a wired point to point network while retaining all the flexibility of wireless.
All these trends are pointing towards Wi-Fi becoming a complete quad-channel wireless offering enabling operators to be one stop shops for the digital home of the future, as well as being able to address many IoT requirements outside it.
At the same time it is worth bearing in mind that the IoT and its relative M2M is a very large canvas, extending to remote outdoor locations, some of which are more far challenging for RF signals than almost any home. In any case while HaLow may well see off all-comers indoors, it will only be a contender out doors in areas close to fixed broadband networks. That is why there is so much interest in Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) combining Wi-Fi with LTE and also why there are several other emerging wireless protocols for longer distance IoT communications.
One of these others is Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), a low power wireless networking protocol announced in March 2015, designed for secure two way communication between low-cost battery-powered embedded devices. Like HaLow it runs at sub-GHz frequencies, but in bands reserved for scientific and industrial applications, optimized for penetrating large structures and subsurface infrastructures within a range of 2km. LoRaWAN is backed by a group including Cisco and IBM, as well as some leading Telcos like Bouygues Telecom, KPN, SingTel and Swisscom. The focus is particularly on harsh RF environments previously too challenging or expensive to connect, such as mines, underwater and mountainous terrain.
Another well backed contender is Narrowband-LTE (NB-LTE) announced in September 2015 with Nokia, Ericsson and Intel behind it, where the focus is more on long range and power efficient communications to remote embedded sensors on the ground. So it still looks like being a case of horses for courses given the huge diversity of RF environments where IoT and M2M will be deployed, with HaLow a likely winner indoors, but coexisting with others outside.


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We already know that Olympians are the world's best of the best when showcasing their athleticism. Watching them show off their superhuman strength, perfect execution of form and their otherworldly endurance makes it's easy to forget that most of them are still young adults.
When they're not competing, the athletes at the Olympic Games in Tokyo have been keeping us entertained by other means via social media.
Here's a list of our favorite captured moments.


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One of my favorite things about the weekend is that Joey is home and we can enjoy a nice breakfast together. He usually requests waffles, but sometimes I can convince him to try something new. I've had the idea of doing an egg dish with herbs and goat cheese for a while now, but I couldn't decide on the specifics - should I make an omelet, frittata, or just mix them into some scrambled eggs? I eventually settled on a simple baked eggs preparation, and I'm so happy with my choice!
This elegant breakfast comes together in under 20 minutes. The most time consuming part is chopping the herbs. We both really enjoyed these eggs, though next time I think I'll cook them in a shallower dish. I used ramekins, but I felt like they were a little too deep, and the eggs weren't cooked very evenly. We still really enjoyed this breakfast though - I really loved how the top gets crispy, and I loved the combination of the herbs with the goat cheese. Toast is a must, and bacon and fruit are optional (but highly recommended) sides.
Baked Eggs with Herbs and Goat Cheese
inspired by Ina Garten, Barefoot in Paris
serves 2
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tsp chopped fresh scallions
- 1 tsp chopped fresh parsleye
- 1 Tbs chopped fresh basil
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tbs crumbled goat cheese
- 2 Tbs heavy cream
- 1 tbs unsalted butter
- 4 large eggs
Meanwhile, combine the herbs, garlic, salt and pepper in a small dish. Carefully crack 2 eggs into each of 2 teacups, being careful not to break the yolks.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and quickly but carefully pour the eggs into each of the dishes. Scatter the herb mixture and goat cheese over the eggs, and season well with salt and pepper.
Return the baking sheet to the oven, and cook until the whites are just set, 5-6 minutes, rotating the baking sheet to ensure even cooking. Remove from oven and allow to sit about 1-2 minutes before serving.


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Visit Cellar360
Cellar360, located on the main level of historic Ghirardelli Square in the Woolen Mill Building, is perfect for any get-together from friends who want an intimate private tasting to a large corporate team-building event.
Here visitors can sample fine wines, shop for epicurean gifts and take classes in the Food & Wine Education Center. The 6,000-square-foot facility offers one of the longest tasting bars in the industry, a private wine tasting Club Room with views of the bay, an outside Piazza-like dining area and a full demonstration kitchen. If you want to hold a private event, Cellar360's Event Coordinator can even help you get just the right guest chefs and speakers.
Looking for a last-minute gift but you don't live in the San Francisco Bay Area? Cellar360 also serves as an expansive retail space highlighting excellent wines from over 40 regions–all available online. Everything that's in the store is also available online.
For the next two days, Cellar360.com is offering 35% off any purchase when using the code HOLIDAY at checkout. What are you waiting for?
Whether visiting Cellar360 San Francisco in person or on the web, you're sure to find that perfect holiday wine gift for your family and friends.
Cellar360 is fully wheelchair accessible with public parking.


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Emphysema is missed more often in Black Americans than in white Americans, and now researchers report they have figured out why.
The investigators found that many Black men who were considered to have normal results after race-specific interpretations of a common lung function test called spirometry actually had emphysema when assessed using computed tomography (CT).
Emphysema involves the gradual destruction of lung tissue and is often associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Spirometry measures how much air a person can exhale and inhale. It's standard practice to interpret spirometry results using race-specific norms, resulting in a predicted lower limit of normal for FEV1 and FVC for Black patients, the study authors explained. FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in the first second) is the maximum amount of air a person can exhale in one second and FVC (forced vital capacity) is the maximum amount exhaled after breathing in deeply.
Race-based correction of spirometry has no biological basis and comes from an old mistaken belief that Black people have smaller lungs, the study authors pointed out.
For the study, the researchers examined the results from more than 2,600 Black and white men who had lung CT scans at an average age of 50 and spirometry at an average age of 55.
The study showed that nearly 15% of the Black men with above-normal spirometry results based on race-based adjustments were found to have emphysema on CT scans, compared with just under 2% of white men.
"We found that significant racial disparities in emphysema prevalence occur predominantly among those with FEV1 between 80% and 120% of that predicted," said study author Dr. Gabrielle Liu. She is a pulmonary and critical care fellow at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
"This suggests that the greatest potential for misclassification using race-specific equations occurs among Black adults who are at risk for disease and who could potentially benefit from risk factor modification," said Liu, who was scheduled to present the findings May 15 at the American Thoracic Society annual meeting in San Francisco. Such findings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
"We feel these findings support reconsidering the use of race-specific spirometry reference equations in favor of race-neutral reference equations, and support further research into the utility and implications of incorporating CT imaging into the evaluation of those with suspected impaired respiratory health and normal spirometry," Liu said in a meeting news release.
More information
There's more on emphysema at the American Lung Association.
SOURCE: American Thoracic Society, news release, May 15, 2022


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These are two recent releases from EMI Classics' Gemini series, in which two discs are sold for the price of one mid-priced disc. (The moral of the story seems to be this: if you see an EMI Classics release that catches your eye, hang on, because it probably will be reissued three times in the next decade, at progressively lower prices!)
The Schubert set is kind of like going to a cocktail party where the hors d'oeuvres are so good that after having one, you have another. Then another. Still another… and so on, until you've made a meal out of hors d'oeuvres and you have no room left for your dinner. This purportedly complete collection of Schubert's waltzes for solo piano (you can never be sure that another one isn't going to turn up in a cabinet or in a basement somewhere) contains a whopping 138 tracks: 84 on the first CD, and 54 on the second. That's an average of a little more than one minute per waltz. I'm breathless just thinking of it.
Although many of these waltzes probably were born as public improvisations for the entertainment of Schubert's friends, most of them were published in larger sets. These sets show how cleverly the composer was able to construct a chain of as many as 36 waltzes (the Erste Walzer, D. 365). In other words, Schubert did his best to avoid monotony, whether pianists were subsequently playing the waltzes as home for their own pleasure, or for the entertainment – listening or dancing – of an audience. Still, I don't recommend listening to 148 minutes of Schubert waltzes at one sitting. It is good to know that they are all there, however! Listening to them, we can hear what the genre sounded like in its still rather inelegant youth. Johann Strauss the elder was born seven years later than Schubert, and Johann Strauss II was three when Schubert died. We can also hear ideas that other composers (such as Franz Liszt) picked up and ran with. (Schubert wrote both Valses nobles and Valses sentimentales, but apparently Ravel was beguiled more by the names than by the melodies.)
Schubert's waltzes don't present pianists with many technical challenges -they were meant for amateurs, after all – yet it is quite possible to play them boringly or insensitively. Bordoni, a pianist whose name I have not heard until now, does a good job with this music. He doesn't gild the lily, as it were, but neither does he assume that the music plays itself. He injects variety into the proceedings without being untrue to Schubert. He's a guide who seldom calls attention to himself, but who doesn't let his travelers miss a single delicious detail. These recordings were made between 1976 and 1978, and although the piano sound shows its age – it can be hard and clangorous – it isn't terrible.
I suspect many of us had our first exposure to Chopin's waltzes and études through Seraphim LPs by Agustin Anievas, an American pianist, although his name might suggest otherwise. Anievas made a big splash in 1961 when he won the first international Dimitri Mitropoulos Music Competition, made several recordings for EMI, and received his Master's from Juilliard in 1974. (Now he teaches at Brooklyn College, apparently.) As a performer and a recording artist, he seems to have been far less active in the past two decades. Why?
Anievas's recording of the waltzes dates from 1969, and it still holds up very well. An excellent technique is on display here, but not at the expense of musicianship. Granted, few if any of these waltzes (unlike Schubert's) were intended to accompany actual dancing, but that doesn't mean that the dance element should be ignored, and Anievas doesn't. Also, he distinguishes between the elegant "public" waltzes and those that are more "private," with moments of whimsy – the so-called "Minute Waltz" – and introspection – the waltz in C Sharp minor. (For what it is worth, it should be noted that, on this CD, the waltzes are unusually sequenced – neither numerologically nor chronologically.) In both the waltzes and the four impromptus, one never feels roughhoused by Anievas, whose playing is both masculine and elegant.
Anievas recorded the études as well, so I am unsure why EMI chose Andrei Gavrilov's problematic recordings of these works over Anievas's, unless it was because they were eager to have more DDD material on this set. Gavrilov, some 20 years Anievas's junior, arguably has an even better technique. Unfortunately, he is much too willing to exploit it. In these recordings, made between 1985 and 1987, Gavrilov often goes as fast as he can – even if it distorts the shape of the music – and sometimes comes dangerously close to pounding. (Or is the early digital recording at least partly to blame?) Even if these are mere technical exercises – and they aren't – there is no reason to play them as charmlessly – even viciously – as Gavrilov does. Danielle Laval's performance of the Trois nouvelles études (1837) does them justice, although I'm not at all convinced about theirquality.
The Contredanse dates from 1827, when Chopin was in his adolescence; the Cantabile was composed seven years later. These also are minor works, but their inclusion here might interest Chopin completists. Barto plays them unobjectionably. Barenboim's performance of the slightly more important Berceuse captures its bejeweled prettiness.
The analog recordings (those by Anievas, Laval, and Barenboim) are warm, although Anievas's waltzes are not given optimally detailed sound. I find Gavrilov's sound to be glary, just like his playing!
Copyright © 2006, Raymond Tuttle


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Whangarei Heads and Kingfishers Garden Art Panel #1773
Great for gardens and bathrooms, or anywhere you want a splash of colour.
Fully outdoor suitable art, on 3-4mm thick composite aluminium, with light black edges.
These are fully outdoor suitable, safe in the sun & rain for many years, UV treated, full gloss,
Pre drilled in the corners, ready to hang using stainless steel screws.
The panels are made for long life outdoors, & have been very successfully tested in full sun conditions so far for 6 solid years. But of course nothing lasts forever. Serious long term life of the panels will depend on where you put them and how much sun they get, but at these great prices you can afford to put them in the full sun, enjoy them at their glorious best & just get more later!
The panels are virtually maintenance free – just hose down if they get dusty. Do not scrub or rub – they have a surface coating which you do not want to damage – if you have to clean something off please just use a very soft wet cloth or sponge – not a paper towel or rough scourer.
Of course, you are also totally able to hang these indoors – they are fantastic in kitchens and bathrooms too.
Large 80cm x 54cm


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- Learn more about John S. and James L. Knight Foundation →
Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. We invest in journalism, in the arts, and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Our goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy democracy.