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Some folks have been up in arms over the announcement of Google Reader shutting down its services, which it officially did earlier this month. I'm not sure what your personal thoughts on RSS are, but I'm of the mind that RSS is not as necessary as it was before social media came into the mix. I actually abandoned Google Reader a few years ago when I started using Twitter as my PLN. I'm not the only one who isn't bothered by the death of Google Reader because, unlike RSS feeds, Twitter users read and evaluate articles before posting about them (for the most part). The people I follow help me decide whether the article is worth reading and, if I'm interested in saving it to read later, I will "favorite" the tweet.
Why Favorite Tweets?
I typically favorite tweets for one of two reasons:
1. They are hilarious and I get a good chuckle in the belly every time I look at them:
Hey, you know who knows more about economics than Paul Krugman? Everyone who comments on his blog. Just ask them.
— Boone B. Gorges (@boone) January 10, 2013
2. They have info or a link I want to save for future reference of some sort:
Twitter Opens Up Tweet Performance Analytics To All, For Free http://t.co/jM0gu8IhXc by @drizzled
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) June 13, 2013
The last tweet is relevant to this post about analytics (yes, I'm getting there I promise).
As you may already know, sadly @brianfoote left the community team a few months ago, and with his departure we lost a great many things. While I wouldn't even dream of trying to reboot Footesnotes, I've been dipping my toes in the Google Analytics water and started taking over weekly analytics reporting earlier this month. Before then, I would just add my social media stats to Brian's weekly analytics and call it a day. Well, since it's been about a semester since I even looked at the social media stats and I didn't know much of anything about Google Analytics, I was happy when @admin suggested I sign up for an upcoming workshop hosted by JustPublics356 and CUNY J School called: Analytics and Metrics: Advanced Social Media. I thought this would be a wonderful professional development opportunity not only for my position as Community Facilitator on the Commons, but also for my position as Academic Operations Assistant at CUNY SPS. As part of my duties at SPS, I manage web content and LivePerson FAQs. Recently, I started working with the Marketing team on refining keywords and adding micro data to our School's website. I figured this workshop would be a great way to learn more about Google Analytics, search engine optimization, and social media metrics (a win-win for both SPS and the Commons).
Analytics Workshop: Friday, June 21, 2013
Our Instructor, Sandeep Junnarkar, the Director of Interactive Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, started the workshop by providing a link to his handout: http://bit.ly/analytics4academics. It was great to refer to Sandeep's handout as he showed the different aspects of Google Analytics and WordPress.
One of my biggest WordPress takeaways was on permalinks — the links for each blog post. As you can see in the screenshot below, the default link is a strange string of characters and numbers that really have no meaning or relevance. Sandeep suggested changing the default to include the day and name, explaining that it's better not only for search engine optimization purposes, but also for readers who want to know when a post was published. Lightbulb. So many times when I was attempting to research a new technology or troubleshoot an issue, I'd get miffed when I couldn't find the published date because I didn't know if the post was still relevant. I have since switched my permalink settings to include the date and subject in case viewers can't find the published date within the post itself (you might want to check your blog's permalink settings as well).
While the workshop had a heavy focus on WordPress, I would be able to apply much of what I had learned to the SPS Website project. Another terrific SEO resource on the Commons comes from Robin Camille. In her post, Gentle SEO Reminders, Camille lists some helpful search engine optimization tips for businesses and organizations. She also suggests using the Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin on the Commons, which automatically adds OpenGraph meta tags to blog content based on the keywords and descriptions entered.
Another great aspect of the workshop was the other people who were there. Some had been blogging for years, while others either just started a blog or were thinking about starting a blog. We may not have stayed exactly on track, but the discourse between workshop participants and the instructor made it much more relevant and rewarding.
Twitter Analytics
When Sandeep started talking about how to measure Twitter traffic in Google Analytics my ears perked up — after trying many tools and going through Twitter streams to parse out data I was super excited to learn how to really do it. Since many folks use different Twitter Clients (such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck), their clicks show up differently in Google Analytics. Obviously Google Analytics has some drawbacks, but Sandeep suggested using Advanced Segments to capture all of the different Twitter Clients; providing more accurate metrics.
By including twitter.com, t.co, tweetdeck, hootsuite, and bit.ly, you will be able to get a more accurate picture of how Twitter is (or isn't) driving traffic to your site. Since we use the cuny.is URL shortener I have to include that in my advanced segment.
Towards the end of the workshop when Sandeep was discussing various tools that can be used to measure Twitter metrics I remembered that tweet from TechCrunch that I favorited only a couple of weeks before (see, I told you the tweet would be relevant :-)
). Turns out that many of the third-party applications that once measured Twitter metrics no longer worked because Twitter changed their API. I informed the group of Twitter's recent announcement of their new analytics and Sandeep said that he was interested in checking it out. While we're on the subject of Twitter's API messing up stuff, it also recently interfered with an awesome new feature set for the Commons 1.5 release (more on that in an upcoming social media roundup)…
Above is the new Twitter Analytics dashboard, which is great because it's built directly in Twitter. From what I've read around the web (mostly in the comments section), it seems that Twitter hasn't rolled this out to all of their users and some features vary depending on the user. Since the @cunycommons account was on the right list (no, I didn't have to pay off Jack Dorsey), I started using it last week to measure RT's, mentions, favorites, replies, followers, and clicks. You have the ability to download the data in a CSV file, but unfortunately it currently only provides metrics for favorites, retweets, and replies so you still have to scroll through the stream to view all of the metrics. While I can access the Timeline Activity dashboard (screenshot above), I still don't seem to have access to the Followers dashboard. I expect that more users will be able to use Twitter Analytics in the coming months and that they will refine and expand their metrics as time goes on, but I wasn't overly impressed with what it had to offer.
@cunycommons Analytics
It was a strong week for us on the @cunycommons Twitter account. Our followers list increased by 2% to 1847. This week's retweet rate was 28% and, out of the original 36 tweets, the 10 retweets resulted in 9 additional retweets. We also received 24 mentions, 11 favorites, 3 replies, and 152 clicks via Twitter.
Since we attach cuny.is links to all Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ posts, the click through metrics cover all of these platforms in addition to clicks from others' retweets. This week, according to the cuny.is dashboard, URLs were selected an average of 60 times per link and 1,631 times in total. Our top tweet (below), received 24 clicks in our Twitter stream and 156 altogether via http://cuny.is/1bl.
Did you make a website to accompany your dissertation? http://t.co/2eOfohbQdr
— CUNYAcademicCommons (@cunycommons) July 9, 2013
Many thanks to CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and JustPublics@365 for hosting the analytics workshop! If you are interested in signing up for an upcoming workshop, check out JustPublics@365's upcoming events.
The post Social Media Roundup: Analytics appeared first on Commons Connect.


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You know I love a good DIY project. When I came across this bold striped Zara blazer while thrifting I knew it would make a great canvas for some embroidered iron on patches.
Upcycled Zara Blazer DIY
I was modelling it here with the vintage 70s chambray jumpsuit which has since sold from my Etsy store.
Here I am as I wore it out.
That 1950s red handbag is a new addition to my personal collection from RetrouverBiz. I couldn't resist the cool shape.
How To: Upcycled Zara Blazer DIY
You can find iron on embroidered patches at craft stores or online through Etsy. I bought mine when I was in Hong Kong visiting my husband at their massive wholesale fabric neighbourhood. What an adventure that was! It took forever for us to find this tiny hole-in-the-wall-store amongst the hundreds of others. Once we found it though it was embroidered patch heaven! They had small drawers full of patches up the walls to the ceiling. Needless to say I went crazy and brought home a big bag full of patches which I've been using for multiple DIY projects.
Just lay out your design on the back of your blazer. When you are happy with the placement of your patches pin them in place. One at a time iron on the patches according to the iron on directions. It will only take about fifteen minutes and is dead easy!
If you wish you can also stitch around the patches with a sewing machine to ensure they are well secured as sometimes the glue on the back of the patches isn't enough.
Check out the tiger's eyes!
I glued on googly eyes so they move! Ha ha! I love it!
Last week was HUGE for vintage finds.
I'm excited to share all the treasures I found at the Ian Drummond Studio Sale this past weekend.
Here is a little peek at what it looked like… and yes Virginia…it is all vintage! GAH!
Everywhere I turned there was more fabulous vintage!
I spent over two hours trying to narrow down my choices.
The selection was vast and varied including items from the early 1900s.
I enjoyed just looking at the quality and details of each piece.
In the end I stuck with my favourite decades 50s, 60s and 70s and came home with eleven pieces. I could have easily bought five times that amount, if not more. The temptation to go overboard was intense. I stuck within my budget though and made it out without totally breaking my bank.
I'm still trying to decide which pieces I'll be keeping for my personal collection and which ones will end up in my Etsy store.
This week I hope to take some photos to help me decide.
I've also been adding to the Etsy store lately and will be updating that this week with LOADS of great finds I picked up on my recent trip to BC.
Have you ever gone to a vintage warehouse sale? Would you like to?
Linking up with Patti at Visible Monday and Turning Heads Tuesday.

subset: commoncrawl


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Form fitting mud guards
Our Lexus splash guards, are tailor fit to match your fenders perfectly. They're easy to install, no drilling required, conform perfectly to your fenders, and protect your ride from the rage of the road.
Tougher than nails
The mud cover is made from durable, impact resistant all-weather PP injection molding material + PTR that's as tough as nails. It can well protect the vehicle shell from splashing and hitting by water, mud, and stones on the road.
Looking slick.
The sleek style of our wheel well splash guard give your ride a factory look, only better.
Name: Car mud guards
place of production: Make in China
Quantity: 4PCS/Screws
Material: PP injection molding material + PTR
Color: Black
Fit for Lexus NX200 2017-2022
Installation Precautions:
Different models have different installation methods. Most models can be installed non-destructively. The original car comes with screws that can install the mudguard. A few models need to be drilled and installed, and we will equip them with the necessary screw accessories.


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Zatonskih Topples Krush |
By Jennifer Shahade | |
October 6, 2009 | |
Today at the 2009 U.S. Women's Championship , IM Anna Zatonskih prevailed with Black in her much awaited game against IM Irina Krush. In the Lasker Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, Zatonskih found an unusual way to snare Krush's queen in a minority attack gone wrong. 3554 Championship newcomer and University of Maryland Baltimore County student Sabina Foisor is also in good shape with 2.5/3. Another player to watch is 18-year-old Philadelphian Alisa Melekhina, the youngest competitor in the event. In round three, Alisa won against Tatev Abrahamyan with Black, using a surprising opening weapon for the second game in a row. 3553 Tomorrow, a big match-up of the day will be Baginskaite-Zatonskih. See the full schedule here and the crosstable. Catch that and the other four games live on uschesschamps.com or the chess.fm broadcast. Be sure to read in-depth daily bulletins edited by Chris Bird, with analysis by GM-elect Ben Finegold. Also watch the videos posted on the official website. |


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JavaScript can be used to control hordes of small robots, creative maker projects, and IoT devices. With the Node.js ecosystem at hand, hardware prototyping gets fun, intuitive and fast.
JavaScript on Things is the first step into the exciting world of programming for small electronics. This fully-illustrated, hands-on book teaches readers how to get going with platforms like Arduino, Tessel 2, and Raspberry Pi.
Use the Manning discount code gardnerb for 37% off!
Project author: Lyza Danger Gardner
JavaScript Robotics is on the rise. Rick Waldron, the creator of the Johnny-Five platform and lead author of Make: JavaScript Robotics, is at the forefront of this movement. This book brings together fifteen innovative programmers, each creating a unique Johnny-Five robot step-by-step, and offering tips and tricks along the way. Experience with JavaScript is a prerequisite.
Project authors: David Resseguie, Raquel Velez, Anna Gerber, Lyza Danger Gardner, Kassandra Perch, Susan Hinton, Andrew Fisher, Sara Gorecki, Julian David Duque, Jonathan Beri, Donovan Buck, Emily Rose, Bryan Hughes, Pawel Szymczykowski
Design, build, and program your own remarkable robots with JavaScript and open source hardware!
There has been a rapid rise in the use of JavaScript in recent times in a variety of applications, and JavaScript robotics has seen a rise in popularity too. Johnny-Five is a framework that gives NodeBots a consistent API and platform across several hardware systems.
This book walks you through basic robotics projects including the physical hardware builds and the JavaScript code for them. You'll delve into the concepts of Johnny-Five and JS robotics.
Project author: Kassandra Perch


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The cornerstone of the project is Fx, a parallelizing Fortran compiler that runs on a number of parallel systems, including the Intel Paragon, Alpha workstation clusters, the IBM SP/2, the Cray T3D, and the Intel iWarp system.
The basic research approach is to work with real applications from scientific, signal, and image processing, learn what it takes to run these applications efficiently on parallel systems, and then incorporate these ideas into tools. For example, experience with real-time image processing applications revealed that, because of the relatively small image sizes, purely data parallel mappings would not be efficient. This led to the development of the first parallelizing compiler that integrates both task and data parallelism in a uniform framework.
General information | Example Fx programs | Distributed code |
Fx overview | fftc1.fx (1D complex FFT) | CMU task parallel program suite |
Fx papers | fftc2.fx (2D complex FFT) | Fast T3D array transpose library |
Fx user guide | fftc3.fx (3D complex FFT) | Pipelined phase-rotation FFT |
Fx people | radar.fx (tracking radar) | |
hist.fx (image histogram) |


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From an LCG source:
Rod Meredith's Super Special Not So Special Christmas Sermon
Jerry Weston informed readers of the following in last week's LCG Weekly Update (formerly authored by Doug Winnail), "This week, Dr. Meredith spent a good amount of time preparing his message for the live Sabbath Service transmission, where we expect somewhere around 750 to 800 to be in attendance, along with several thousand tuned in over the Internet. We encourage people to "share" the posts about the Charlotte Family Weekend live special Sabbath Service on Facebook".Members of LCG were given the impression in the weeks leading up to this year's Winter Weekend that Mr. Meredith's sermon was going to be a show stopperAs I prepared to listen to this "special message" I hoped and prayed and prayed and hoped that it would be inspired but alas, it was the exact same sermon he has been giving for years. Nothing inspired. Nothing uplifting. Nothing that gave evidence of putting in extra preparation for this "special" event for which hundreds of LCG members flocked to Charlotte.Rod Meredith's sermons are so tediously redundant that many no longer even attempt to pretend to be taking notes because he uses the same scriptures over and over again. It is painful at this point.It's become increasingly difficult to keep from rolling my eyes after church when people are gushing about how "great the sermon was" or how "inspired" it was. I feel like shouting, "it was the same exact sermon we have heard a thousand times!" but I just nod in agreement because I know better than act anything other than enthusiastic.The title of the sermon was "The Future of God's Work" but RCM says nothing about the future of anything.Instead, like EVERY Rod Meredith sermon The Future of God's Work included the following:
- Idolatry of HWA
- Telling us how he's the best, most awesome evangelist on earth because he spent the "more time than anyone else alive" around the worshipped HWA (they had many, many meals together, etc)
- Then RCM proceed to go through his resume for the 1,000,000 time starting with his calling, AC and his ordination, teaching freshman Bible and the Epistles of Paul, baptizing tours, beginning Global and Living (he leaves out the part about forging checks and stealing money from Global with the help of Don Davis to start LCG), how he's the only evangelist in the world ordained by the greatest man to ever live HWA... yada yada yada
- Then we get into how the gays and transgenders are ruining the world (not a sermon goes by without mention of the gays)
- THE LADY WITH THE WITHERED ARM - can we please have a sermon without this story? Please!
- "Horny teen-aged boys" and homosexuals (again, forevermore)
- Time is short
- British Israelism (even though most ACOGers no longer believe this completely disproved, outdated theory)
- Church government (I'm not sure if I'm more sick of hearing about church government or the lady with the withered arm)
- Back to how he knew HWA the best so therefore he's the best because of osmosis


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Here are all the major terms and conditions regarding our services at Little India Restaurant
When you sign in to our website, you agree to the terms and conditions that we have. The terms and conditions apply to the transactions related to the services. You give us necessary information related to the address, contact, email, and others for the service purposes.
By placing your order, you become liable for the prices of the ordered items along with the associated taxes. We provide you a clear knowledge of the prices along with the taxes included at the time of the order placement. Hence, you should clear all your doubts about the prices in the first place.
We have a set radius of services in various locations. We require your address in the location and contact details to deliver the food within the given period of time. The policy of delivering fresh food requires you to give us the necessary time to send your orders.
There are several payment methods available when you are using Little India Restaurant services. The methods are safe and secure. So, you can pick any of the available choices and make the payments.
If you have more questions related to our terms and conditions, feel free to give us a call. Our team is always there to clear your doubts and help you leverage our services.
Keep enjoying delicious food at your own place with Little India Restaurant


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Answers to Your Cost Segregation Questions
What is a CSSI® Study?
A CSSI® Study is an engineering-based analysis that reclassifies or segregates real estate components and improvements between real and personal property. This reclassification accelerates the depreciable lives from 27.5- or 39-years to 5-, 7-, or 15-years.
- What is a CSSI® Study?
- Why haven't I heard of cost segregation?
- Does my property qualify?
- Can I benefit from a CSSI® Study?
- When should a study be done?
- What information will be needed to complete a CSSI® Study?
- How does a CSSI® Study work?
- Why should I perform a CSSI® Study?
- How long does a CSSI® Study take?
- What will happen in the event of an audit?
- Can a CSSI® Study apply to buildings not yet constructed?
- Why should I choose CSSI®?
Why haven't I heard of cost segregation?
Cost segregation was first applied and performed by major accounting firms with in-house cost segregation departments on the largest properties of their most significant clients. Study costs were routinely upwards of $100,000.
The CSSI® study was created using the methods and protocols to deliver this same service to commercial property owners at very affordable rates. By choosing the CSSI® Study, you can take advantage of this tax-saving strategy that was once only utilized by the owners of substantial properties.
Does my property qualify?
Yes, if you:
1.) Cost segregation is frequently completed not only on newly constructed buildings but also on buildings that have been in in-service for many years
2.) Buildings or building improvements with a remaining depreciable basis are potential candidates
3.) Your building or improvement cost basis is at least $200,000
4.) You anticipate holding the property for at least three years
Can I benefit from a CSSI® Study?
If you are a U.S. taxpayer with a tax liability, a cost segregation study can be a lucrative tax strategy. Let us provide you with a complimentary preliminary analysis to determine potential tax benefits.
When should a study be done?
A study can be completed in the year the building or improvements is placed in service. However, the U.S. tax code allows taxpayers to "catch up" on the depreciation that was not claimed from the first day the property was placed in service without amending prior years' tax returns. A cost segregation study should be considered on any property with a remaining depreciable basis.
What information will be needed to complete a CSSI® Study?
While each study differs, we generally request the following information, if available:
1.) A current tax depreciation schedule
2.) Building cost information
3.) Blueprints or architectural drawings and renovation plans, if applicable
4.) The property will need to be available for an on-site inspection and walk-through
We can assist you in gathering the necessary data.
How does a CSSI® Study work?
Building costs are generally classified for federal income tax purposes into three categories:
1. Tangible Personal Property,
2. Land Improvements, and
3. Real Property.
Each has a different recovery period and method under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS). Our engineering-based cost segregation analysis is performed by professional personnel with in-depth knowledge of construction methods, materials, and building components. We perform a detailed analysis to accurately identify the building components and improvements that will be reclassified to take advantage of accelerated depreciation.
Why should I perform a CSSI® Study?
Without a CSSI® Study, your tax professional will only be able to accelerate certain assets. A CSSI® Study provides your tax professional with accurate engineering-based information to establish 5-, 7-, 15-, and 27.5- or 39-year depreciation schedules. When these schedules are applied, there are substantial increases tax savings in the earlier years of owning your property.
How long does a CSSI® Study take?
A CSSI® Study normally takes approximately six weeks from the time we receive all the appropriate documentation.
What will happen in the event of an audit?
Although a CSSI® study has never triggered an audit, if you are under audit for any reason, and the CSSI® Study comes into question, CSSI® will defend the audit at no cost.
Can a CSSI® Study apply to buildings not yet constructed?
No. However, for projects not yet constructed, CSSI® can provide estimates on tax savings from your construction budgets. A CSSI® Study will be delivered when construction is complete.
Why should I choose CSSI®?
CSSI® has been in business since 2003 and has completed tens of thousands of studies. CSSI®'s personnel are experts in cost construction, tax laws, real estate development, and construction experience to maximize your tax savings. Our company will work to help you take advantage of this extremely viable tax savings solution.
If you have any more cost segregation questions, call CSSI® today.


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== An amazing item in the Declaration of Independence ==
But let's focus on that oppression part. The Jefferson-authored U.S. Declaration of Independence (USDI ) makes clear that states and people can ethically separate themselves from a no-longer tolerable union with more-dominant others, even if that means breaking solemn oaths. But the Declaration also emphatically demands that such oath-breaking bear a steep burden of justification, by strong grievances and repeated, blanket refusal by the dominators to discuss redress.
You don't break solemn oaths unless the entity you swore loyalty to refuses to negotiate in good faith. Or no honorable person does.
Actually read the secession documents of South Carolina etc., filled with whines and yowls about how northern states refused to crush free speech or suppress abolitionist newspapers and were conspiring to limit the spread of sacred slavery across the Americas. And yes, "slavery" is touted glowingly and explicitly 37 times in the SC document. So yes, it was all about slavery.
In contrast, the 1860s secessionists broke their solemn oaths (and yes, they had sworn loyalty to 'The United States' vastly more often, across previous years, than ever to their home states) without sending a single delegation to talk to the incoming President-elect Abraham Lincoln.
Not a single delegation. Not one.
That makes them traitors, pure and simple. And what their heirs are achieving now, with treasonous betrayal of the U.S. to foreign despots, gambling moguls, petro-sheiks and mafiosi, is something a long time coming. 21st Century Americans need to remember this fact.
== An amazing snippet in the Declaration of Independence ==
Yes, there are also clauses that indigenous peoples might object to. I've spoken elsewhere about how our hard and painful journey - expanding horizons of inclusion - was only just beginning, back then. Nevertheless, this one above is rich in irony, and I wonder if anyone has mentioned it.
As for states' rights... what malarkey! The South owned and operated the federal government from 1830-1860 and used it as a bludgeon against northern peoples, radicalizing them till they voted for Lincoln, something that would have been impossible just a few years earlier. And it led to the hottest (so far) phase of our ongoing, 250 year Civil War.
== A Big-Bold Book of Best-of-Brin Blogs? ==
By popular demand, I am creating a quick e-book that merges together many of my political postings under the following title:
Next time, I may post the table of contents. Avidly vigorous pre-readers are already at work.
== And finally... ==
Draw your own conclusions about what this map tells us about regional capabilities at self-control. Then try looking up state by state comparisons of teen sex rates, teen births, abortions, STDs, divorce*, gambling, drug addiction, domestic violence and every other solid metric of the "morality" that Red America has screamed they have so much more of, for my entire lifetime. Oh and over-reliance on federal assistance and largesse from the blue states they so ungratefully despise.
It would be SO wrong of me to even raise any of that... if we had not already been warred upon endlessly and with increasing venom, including volcanic rage against every fact-centered profession... including scientists, journalists, teachers, doctors, law professionals, professors... and above all the civil servants and Intel/FBI/military officers in the so-called "deep state," who have striven mightily to limit the damage, ever since Vladimir Putin and his assets took Washington D.C.
* The divorce rate among GOP politicians is easily twice that of democrats. (Bets?) At the top, the ratio is infinite. Twelve marriages among just Reagan, Hastert, Gingrich, McConnell, Trump, all of them topmost leaders of the GOP…
And now? Rudy Guiliani's estranged wife must have been the last to figure this out:"I feel betrayed by a man that I supported in every way for more than 20 years," Mrs. Giuliani said in an interview. "I'm sad to know that the hero of 9/11 has become a liar."


text: University of Glasgow INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL AND LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY =20 POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIPS IN PLANT MOLECULAR SCIENCE =A314,317 - =A3 15,986 p.a. (under review) Two postdoctoral positions funded by the BBSRC are available in the Plant Molecular Science Group. Both posts are for 3 years and are to start as soon as possible. 1. With Dr G.I. Jenkins and Dr M.R. Knight (University of Oxford) on the signal transduction processes coupling UV-A/blue photoreception to the control of gene expression in Arabidopsis (see Plant Cell 8, 1555-1567).=20 Applicants should preferably have experience in molecular biology and/or cell physiology, ideally in cell calcium measurements.=20 2. With Dr. G.I. Jenkins and Dr. A. Crozier on the role of phenylpropanoid and flavonoid compounds in conferring UV protection using novel Arabidopsis mutants with elevated expression of flavonoid biosynthesis genes and increased tolerance of UV-B and transgenic Lotus corniculatus plants altered in the levels of putative protective compounds. Applicants with interests in UV protection, secondary metabolism and/or experience of the analysis of plant products by HPLC or GC would be especially welcome. = =20 Applications, including a full CV and the names and (e-mail) addresses of two referees should be sent to Dr. G.I. Jenkins, Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bower Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. Informal enquiries are welcome: Dr G.I. Jenkins (0141 330 5906; e-mail: g.jenkins at bio.gla.ac.uk) or Dr. A. Crozier (0141 330 4613, e=96mail: a.crozier at bio.gla.ac.uk). Closing date 2nd May 1997. --=20 >: Marc R Knight | Department of Plant Sciences, Tel. + 44 1865 275023 | University of Oxford, Fax. + 44 1865 275074 | South Parks Road, http://users.ox.ac.uk/~dops0009/ | Oxford OX1 3RB.


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What to Expect from Data Storytelling in 2016
Note: This piece first appeared in ComputerWorld.
Data storytelling is undergoing a big change, one that will influence not only data journalism but also how data is shown in the business world. And 2016 will only accelerate this trend.
Five years ago, data journalism focused on rich interactives designed primarily for a monitor or laptop screen. Those interactives were complete applications, destinations to be browsed. You could explore, drill down, filter, and play with them. This was a rich experience in the days when we used a mouse and keyboard.
The world has changed. First, we're mobile. Second, social media has transformed the way we consume content. We scroll through streams and streams of content, quickly, on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Buzzfeed. This has led to an increase in "scrollytelling": using scrolling to reveal videos, sounds, and animations which flow into and out of the story text. A great example from this year is "The Dawn Wall," the New York Times' piece on the astonishing 19-day free climb in Yosemite National Park in California.
These trends are affecting interactive data journalism, leading to fewer rich interactive data destinations. Does this mean data is playing less of a role in journalism? Not at all. Let's look at the effects on data journalism.
1. Scrolling Animates the Charts
Click to visit the full interactive version.
Scrolling, not mouse clicks, are being used to change charts. My favorite is "Why Pinellas County Is the Worst Place in Florida to be Black and Go to Public School" by the Tampa Bay Times. It tells the sad story of increasing segregation of schools in Pinellas County in Florida. The scroll action transitions from chart to chart, making the story easy to follow, and making the data itself central to the view on the screen.
A similar example comes from the New York Times' "How the US and OPEC Drive Oil Prices." Once again, each scroll transitions the chart to a new view, with a supporting paragraph.
Click to visit the full interactive version.
Hannah Fairfield, senior graphics editor at the New York Times, highlighted this trend last year at Tapestry, the data storytelling conference. "Design for mobile requires strong editing because the visuals and the text have to work tightly together," she says. Instead of expecting a reader to explore a big data visualization with filters, she says, it is more effective for a graphics editor to surface the most revealing data.
2. Embedding Simpler Charts to Add Context
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
The second effect is the move from large, complex pieces of work to simpler charts embedded in long-form stories. The charts remain interactive but they are in line with the story text. A recent example is this story on "The Science behind Australia's Most Popular Wedding Dates" from the Sydney Morning Herald by Inga Ting.
"Breaking a story down, chart by chart, is a way of taking them along for the ride," says Ting. "When it comes to exploring the data themselves, they approach it with ideas of what to look for rather than just being thrown into the deep end from the get-go."
3. Lightweight Is Top Priority
Buzzfeed's science reporter Peter Aldhous has moved from standalone desktop pieces to simple animated D3 charts or looping GIFs. "Our audience is mostly coming to our content on mobile," he says. "I avoid graphics that require people to tap on buttons or menus."
Click to visit the animated version.
This trend was also highlighted by Aron Pilhofer, executive editor of digital at The Guardian in the excellent PolicyViz podcast last July. He told Jon Schwabish that "meaty, destination interactives" are no longer viable. Instead, "data viz should complement the story, weaving organically into the narrative."
If those are the trends, what do they mean for you?
Whatever data we work with, when we share our insights, our goal is to move people to see things they haven't seen before. Charts alone don't do it. Text alone doesn't do it.
Marrying the two together is vital. It needs to be done in a manner that works with mobile technology and fits the way we consume information. 2016 will be an interesting year in data journalism.
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Conan's on 60 Minutes, Dave's visiting Reege
On Sunday, Conan O'Brien's finally allowed to appear on TV again -- and he'll celebrate by sitting down with "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft for an exclusive interview.
According to the New York Times, the segment will feature clips from Conan's current stage show and "will center on the comic's comments about the fractious events surrounding his decision to leave NBC rather than accept having his show pushed back a half-hour to make room for Jay Leno to return to late-night television. But Mr. OBrien is still under restrictions not to disparage NBC or Mr. Leno. 'He flirts with the restrictions,' Mr. Kroft said in a telephone interview."
Because of NBC's contractual restrictions, "60 Minutes" can't air promos before Sunday showing O'Brien's face. "I think we'll just show me talking to him and have to blank his face out," Mr. Kroft told the Times.
In other don't-miss interview news, David Letterman will be making a rare appearance on a talk show that isn't his own. The CBS host will be a guest on Friday's edition of "Live with Regis and Kelly."


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Click on the following link to order. There is a special on the Book+Calendar combination at $45 (You get the calendar for $6 !)


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Ericsson out
This has been a very interesting holding over the last six months, with my analysis and buying strategy for once working very well. I did my initial analysis (Value Hunting – Ericsson) of the company in September. The stock was then trading in the 60 SEK range and I concluded that I was wary about the negative trend since 2014. I also did a skew analysis, concluding that the stock has in the past had a history of serious negative surprises. Little did I know how timely my analysis would be when the next quarterly report was out and the stock trading down -20% on the day. I had decided to take a position sub 50 SEK and that opportunity already materialized. I took a 2% position with the plan to add further if the stock moved towards the low 40 SEK range. And so it did, the stock continued to trade down. Averaging down is in general very painful for me, it helped me a lot to have committed to this already here on the blog. So at around 43 SEK I doubled up. Again I was lucky in the sense that this was more or less the absolute bottom.
A few months later the market has started to recognize the potential for a Cisco bid. This was one of my main arguments for buying and especially adding in the stock at 43 SEK. The stock has now traded up nicely, and is now trading again in the 60 SEK range. Given that I don't think the company outlook has changed much, the risk-reward is more or less back to where when I did my initial analysis. The medium term trend stock chart now looks better and missing out on a potential Cisco bid would obviously be very hurtful. But the stock is no bargain anymore and I choose to exit my full position on today's close.
Thoughts on China
Currently on a business trip to Shanghai and again fascinated about how quickly things change in this city. This time the new normal is to only use Alipay and Wechat pay. We went down to the food court and my colleague had to buy the food for me because the small food stalls do not accept cash or Mastercard/Amex/Visa. You can basically only pay through your smartphone with Alipay, Wechat pay (it was also possible to use Unionpay, although nobody used it). Last time I was here cash was still accepted, it has gone so fast, Shanghai city center is going cashless! My colleagues are telling me a bit jokingly that it's no big worry to loose your wallet, but if you loose your smartphone you are in trouble (to be able to pay). Taxis are the same thing. When I visited the city 3 years ago, finding a taxi was super easy, you could pick one up anywhere on the street. Today you could be standing next to the road for 1 hour, looking like a moron waving after taxis which are all already taken. Everyone books their taxis through their smartphone, and then obviously pays through the phone. Not armed with a smartphone loaded with all the latest Chinese services makes you lost in this ever changing city.
So if what has happened in central Shanghai is a guiding light for the country maybe China as a whole is more or less cashless in 10 years and 1.3 billion people pay their daily spending through Alipay or Wechat pay. Without taking into account the hundreds of other initiatives Alibaba and Tencent have, I could almost be willing to long these companies on only this single observation. Although just looking a tiny bit deeper, shows that Ant Financial which owns Alipay is only 33% owned by Alibaba and the market is still waiting for Ant Financial to do its anticipated IPO. Maybe the valuations already reflects this glorious future both for Alibaba/Alipay and Tencent/Wechat pay. Some reader views on this would be very welcome.
For my sport-shoe hunting, a bit disappointing to realize I won't have time to try out any Xtep shoes, why? Because the do not have any stores in central Shanghai. They are all further out, and even often far away from subway stations. So I learned something, the tier 1 big city Chinese are already too rich to be the main potential customer group for these type of local brands, it's all Adidas and Nike here, maybe that says something about the long-long term potential of these brands, if they do not manage to change their brand image..


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Yesterday saw part one of this interview tumble out of bed and onto the web plus a DiS premiere of the new video from Uffie, the Fred Durst of the so-called 'MySpace generation'. In part two of DiS founder Sean Adams' chat with Uffie, she discusses the kefuffle about Ke$ha and expands on her development as an artist.
DiS: When you were growing up, who were your icons that really inspired you?
Uffie: No-one, really. I guess I loved but I don't like, the Hollywood girls like Paris Hilton and girls like that, and people say so much crap about them and they're just living their life, and it seems like a joke on everybody, like, they can't really be that stupid and it's a joke on everybody that they care so much and get so angry about these people.
DiS: Do you ever wish you had never opened your mouth and started letting people into 'your world', or the maybe slightly exaggerated version of the world of Uffie, so you could just live how you wanted, without the almost Warholian documentation and criticism of your life by strangers?
Uffie: Obviously, this kind of life, you get pushed to being eccentric. Like at school you can't just be all crazy, without getting abused for letting your freak flag fly. I guess, for me, I haven't realised what's happening and it's kind of fascinating. When you open up to other people it's really weird and you can kind of connect, in the same way, and I'm like I don't know how this happened.
DiS: How much has your song-writing changed? You mentioned earlier thinking about singing songs for years to come, whereas I imagine when you started it was just some fun with a microphone and some beats, with no idea anyone would ever hear it?
Uffie: Before it was just like, okay, I have to to write a song because I'm in a studio, so it was like 'Hot Chicks, that's the theme'. Now, with song-writing, Mirwais got me to go deeper within, yknow, your artist. So it was more like feelings and stories, rather than 'this is what I did last night' with lots more abstract concepts, so things have changed a bit.
DiS: What did you learn about yourself making a full-length album?
Uffie: I guess it was mostly the difference between songs and making an album with a concept that has to try to fit together. I think you just, like, can experiment much more because I could write songs that didn't have to be singles or think about how it would sound in the club. I could think about people listening to it in their homes and cars and stuff like that, so I could do much more what I wanted, without having to worry about marketability and stuff like that.
DiS: How much of the music is you and how much is the producer?
Uffie: A lot of the first stuff was the producers because I didn't know what I was doing. I bought the hip-hop to it so it was more me but they really influenced things a lot. On the album, I got to do more research and its a lot more me.
DiS: So did you kind of direct the music?
Uffie: Like, I want a beep here and then... (laughs). With a lot of them, I would be like 'I want strings here' or 'wouldn't this be cool' but I didn't get to push the buttons or anything like that. I just gave a general idea. It was so interesting to me and I certainly watched what was happening a lot more because it would be awesome to produce my own music because I can't always vocalize the sounds in my head. It would be awesome to do everything and maybe one day I'll try!
On Ke$ha...
DiS: So, 'Tik Tok' sounds rather like 'Thhhe Parrrty', and I saw you tweeted a link to an article about that... thoughts?
Uffie: There's definitely a similarity but I don't wanna trash-talk about her. Then again, everything is a sample of something or a copy of something, nothing is really original any more. I think it's a bit harsh how people were trashing her. It's pretty, waaay close, as everyone's copying something. I mean, like, it did get to number one. It's not really my style of music.
DiS: Do you think it's similar to the way people dismissed you for not being Peaches?
Uffie: It was way more hardcore for Kesha, people are really attacking. I dunno, I'm just not paying that much attention to it.
DiS: Some of your songs are like battle songs, I wonder what response songs you've ever had?
Uffie: None. Do you think maybe I should challenge Kesha to one? (laughs) No, no-one's really responded, maybe they don't really care. No-one wants to fight with me. That's ok with me.
Uffie on Kate Nash, L'il Wayne and Girl Power
DiS: You've mentioned in a few interviews "girl power" and was wondering whether you were a big Spice Girls fan?
Uffie: Totally. When I was 8 I was. I knew all the dances. It's sort of a feminist thing, like in American girls can be so bitchy and catty toward each other, and instead of typing shit about each other, support each other, do you know what I mean? I think it'd be really nice if people did stuff like that, rather than calling people sluts and shit like that. I'm kind of anti- that.
DiS: Why do you think there's been such a rise of female solo artists over the past few years?
Uffie: Right now, it's fantastic. I love like Kate Nash, and it's cool and artists doing their thing. It's not like Britney Spears, and I love Britney but they're not these perfect popstar, blonde chicks - it's really cool!
DiS: Do you think there's a rise in people creating characters, possibly because of the way we use the web?
Uffie: Now's the time to do it, if you're going to do it. Music at the moment is also all about personality, than talent. Obviously, you have to have the some talent, you can't sound like shit. It's almost like having a great personality matters more now. I feel like this whole persona...
DiS: ...like, the line 'I'm an entertainer not a lyricist'
Uffie: Exactly! Because people think I think I should care more about my lyrics but I never said I was a great rapper or anything like that. It's all about the whole persona. I'm not like, L'il Wayne, who's an amazing lyricist. It's not about that for me. People, like, get angry with me, what I do and because I'm not claiming to take myself seriously. It's not like I've ever said I'm the best, then I could understand. If I did claim that then fair enough they could say 'no you're not' but I didn't say anything.
Uffie on Being a 'Serious' Musician
DiS: Do you feel like you're still developing, I mean, this is only your first record?
Uffie: Totally. I was a bit nervous with this record because I started to take things seriously. And then I can be judged because, you're, like, trying. Before it was totally fun and then with this, I did begin to explore myself as an artist. It was a really different experience, so I'm a bit nervous about the release because of kind of, care.
DiS: Kind of?
Uffie: A big kind of.
DiS: So, the title of the record?
Uffie: It's just because it rhymes! [laughs]. Actually, there's a track on the album called 'Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans' and I liked the way it sounds. It's young, rock'n'roll, it reminds me of leather and denim, the fashion and the imagery, it kind of summed up the album. Like, Sex Dreams, have everyone plays up the sexuality part of my music. It kind of, like, fits.
DiS: In terms of your earlier lyrics, some of them are about things which happen to you personally, sort of me-me-me. Did you feel you a need to touch on more universal topics and themes?
Uffie: There's one song, called an 'Illusion of Love' which features Matt Safer, and it's, about like, y'know, our twisted generation. It's full title is the illusion of love is better than none, about how we'd rather have this illusion of love than being alone. It's about the night-life now and the people we meet and how its not really real, so its kind of an abstract of that.
DiS: Next album, moving forward, do you think this shift might continue?
Uffie: I'd love to write songs that are stories, about things that aren't true. It's only recently occurred to me that I can make shit up. It's hard to write when my songs are so personal. You kind of have to censor yourself as it's all about you...
DiS: I think our readers would be surprised by the idea of you censoring yourself...
Uffie: It's for my parents! I'd love to got a bit more crazy with things that aren't true.
Uffie on Uffie
DiS: How much of the crudeness is you and how much of it is the exaggerated Uffie character?
Uffie: Ha. I'm an exhibitionist. I only think about this stuff after. Like, maybe I shouldn't have worn that dress or done that but I'm kind of in the moment, I don't think about stuff, I probably should now but... (smirks)
DiS: What's it been like having a child, has it made a big difference to your life?
Uffie: Massive. Its done me good stuff, I got to take a year off, and I was in the studio everyday, whereas before I would have been out all night. Its kind of nice having to be home and like, having to wake up in the morning, and like, I've started going to the gym everyday and more healthy stuff. It's a totally new life, it's great, I feel like I have more substance. You kind of live in this bubble of me and my baby, so its made me different kind of person. Obviously I'm finding an amazing nanny for when I'm on the road but I'll be with her in the week and play clubs on Friday and Saturday. Its not like I have to work all-day everyday, so I'll probably see her more than most parents see their kids. She'll have a fun childhood, hanging out with Pharell, y'know (laughs).
DiS: Speaking of the live show, how did you approach performing this album?
Uffie: Its really changed. Whereas before it'd be and a DJ and I'd be getting really drunk, and trying to make it onstage every night, whereas now I'm putting a lot into it. I've got this amazing new DJ called DJ Kode, he was like DMC champion when he was 17. I've got another guy who plays keys and drumpad and we worked with a choreographer and light guy and it's much more 'rehearsed'. People are gonna pay to see, so it has to be a proper show.
DiS: You get glimpses from the stage but do you have much of an idea of who your audience is?
Uffie: It's so diverse. I remember I once had this show in Chicago and it was goths and hip hop kids stood beside eachother. I get like, letters from school teachers and then thirteen year olds asking me how to walk in high heels. I don't really have a certain type of group but that's what I like, it's sort of random people.
DiS: A bit like a punk crowd?
Uffie: I guess I'm a punk in spirit. I'm not that well educated it. Like, I've covered Siouxie and the Banshees, and I'm really get into it. For the show, we wanna do like 'Anarchy in the UK' and covering that kind of stuff live as the show has quite a punk feel.
Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans is out now via Ed Banger.


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Concours d'art oratoire
Canadian Parents for French's Concours d'art oratoire is Canada's largest, annual French‑language public‑speaking competition, involving close to 100,000 students every year, and thousands of dollars worth of prizes. The aims of this public-speaking contest are to stimulate the interest of students learning French, to improve their oral skills, and to give them experience speaking in public. This event is organized by Canadian Parents for French, who has worked together with parents and schools since 1983 to organize school, district and provincial‑level competitions.
Across Canada, thousands of students compete at the school and district levels, and last year, there were almost 300 winners.
Visit our web site to find out more about Concours d'art oratoire!


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Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a rod-shaped bacterium that can cause disseminated disease but is most frequently associated with pulmonary infections. The bacilli are transmitted by the airborne route and, depending on host factors, may lead to latent tuberculosis infection (sometimes abbreviated LTBI) or tuberculosis disease (TB). Both conditions can usually be treated successfully with medications.
In many other countries, tuberculosis is much more common than in the United States, and it is an increasingly serious public health problem.
Risk for Travelers
To become infected, a person usually has to spend a relatively long time in a closed environment where the air was contaminated by a person with untreated tuberculosis who was coughing and who had numerous M. tuberculosis organisms (or tubercle bacilli) in secretions from the lungs or voice box (larynx). Infection is generally transmitted through the air; therefore, there is virtually no danger of its being spread by dishes, linens, and items that are touched, or by most food products. However, it can be transmitted through unpasteurized milk or milk products obtained from infected cattle.
Travelers who anticipate possible prolonged exposure to tuberculosis (e.g., those who could be expected to come in contact routinely with hospital, prison, or homeless shelter populations) should be advised to have a tuberculin skin test before leaving the United States. If the reaction is negative, they should have a repeat test approximately 12 weeks after returning. Because persons with HIV infection are more likely to have an impaired response to the tuberculin skin test, travelers who are HIV positive should be advised to inform their physicians about their HIV infection status. Except for travelers with impaired immunity, travelers who already have a positive tuberculin reaction are unlikely to be reinfected.
Travelers who anticipate repeated travel with possible prolonged exposure or an extended stay over a period of years in an endemic country should be advised to have two-step baseline testing and, if the reaction is negative, annual screening, including a tuberculin skin test.
CDC and state and local health departments have published the results of six investigations of possible tuberculosis transmission on commercial aircraft. In these six instances, a passenger or a member of a flight crew traveled on commercial airplanes while infectious with tuberculosis. In all six instances, the airlines were unaware that the passengers or crew members were infected with tuberculosis. In two of the instances, CDC concluded that tuberculosis was probably transmitted to others on the airplane. The findings suggested that the risk of tuberculosis transmission from an infectious person to others on an airplane was greater on long flights (8 hours or more). The risk of exposure to tuberculosis was higher for passengers and flight crew members sitting or working near an infectious person because they might inhale droplets containing M. tuberculosis bacteria.
Based on these studies and findings, WHO issued recommendations to prevent the transmission of tuberculosis in aircraft and to guide potential investigations. The risk of tuberculosis transmission on an airplane does not appear to be greater than in any other enclosed space. To prevent the possibility of exposure to tuberculosis on airplanes, CDC and WHO recommend that persons known to have infectious tuberculosis travel by private transportation (that is, not by commercial airplanes or other commercial carriers), if travel is required. CDC and WHO have issued guidelines for notifying passengers who might have been exposed to tuberculosis aboard airplanes. Passengers concerned about possible exposure to tuberculosis should be advised to see their primary health-care provider for a tuberculosis skin test.
Based on WHO recommendations, the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is used in most developing countries to reduce the severe consequences of tuberculosis in infants and children. However, BCG vaccine has variable efficacy in preventing the adult forms of tuberculosis and interferes with testing for latent tuberculosis infection. Therefore, it not routinely recommended for use in the United States.
Travelers should be advised to avoid exposure to known tuberculosis patients in crowded environments (e.g., hospitals, prisons, or homeless shelters). Travelers who will be working in hospitals or health-care settings where tuberculosis patients are likely to be encountered should be advised to consult infection control or occupational health experts about procedures for obtaining personal respiratory protective devices (e.g., N-95 respirators), along with appropriate fitting and training. Additionally, tuberculosis patients should be educated and trained to cover coughs and sneezes with their hands or tissues to reduce spread. Otherwise, no specific preventive measures can be taken or are routinely recommended for travelers.
Persons who are infected or who become infected with M. tuberculosis can be treated to prevent progression to tuberculosis disease. Updated American Thoracic Society (ATS)/CDC recommendations for treatment of latent tuberculosis infection recommend 9 months of isoniazid as the preferred treatment and suggest that 4 months of rifampin is a reasonable alternative. Travelers who suspect that they have been exposed to tuberculosis should be advised to inform their physicians of the possible exposure and receive appropriate medical evaluation. CDC and ATS have published updated guidelines for targeted tuberculin skin testing and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection. Recent data from the WHO suggest that resistance is relatively common in some parts of the world. Travelers who have tuberculin skin test conversion associated with international travel should consult experts in infectious diseases or pulmonary medicine.
American Thoracic Society/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Targeted Tuberculin Testing and Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis Infection. Am J Respir & Critical Care Med . 2000;161:S221-47.
American Thoracic Society/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Update: Adverse Event Data and Revised American Thoracic Society/CDC Recommendations Against the Use of Rifampin and Pyrazinamide for Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis Infection—United States, 2003. MMWR Morbid Mortal Wkly Rep . 2003;52:735-9.
- Michael Iademarco


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Humane Nation, Inc.
The Facts About Chaining or Tethering Dogs
1. What is meant by "chaining" or "tethering" dogs?
These terms refer to the practice of fastening a dog to a stationary object or stake, usually in the owner's backyard, as a means of keeping the animal under control. These terms do not refer to the periods when an animal is walked on a leash.
2. Is there a problem with continuous chaining or tethering?
Yes, the practice is both inhumane and a threat to the safety of the confined dog, other animals, and humans.
3. Why is tethering dogs inhumane?
Dogs are naturally social beings who thrive on interaction with human beings and other animals. A dog kept chained in one spot for hours, days, months, or even years suffers immense psychological damage. An otherwise friendly and docile dog, when kept continuously chained, becomes neurotic, unhappy, anxious, and often aggressive.
In many cases, the necks of chained dogs become raw and covered with sores, the result of improperly fitted collars and the dogs' constant yanking and straining to escape confinement. Dogs have even been found with collars embedded in their necks, the result of years of neglect at the end of a chain. In one case, a veterinarian had to euthanize a dog whose collar, an electrical cord, was so embedded in the animal's neck that it was difficult to see the plug.
4. Who says tethering dogs is inhumane?
In addition to The Humane Society of the United States and numerous animal experts, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a statement in the July 2, 1996, Federal Register against tethering:
Our experience in enforcing the Animal Welfare Act has led us to conclude that continuous confinement of dogs by a tether is inhumane. A tether significantly restricts a dog's movement. A tether can also become tangled around or hooked on the dog's shelter structure or other objects, further restricting the dog's movement and potentially causing injury."
5. How does tethering or chaining dogs pose a danger to humans?
Dogs tethered for long periods can become highly aggressive. Dogs feel naturally protective of their territory; when confronted with a perceived threat, they respond according to their fight-or-flight instinct. A chained dog, unable to take flight, often feels forced to fight, attacking any unfamiliar animal or person who unwittingly wanders into his or her territory.
Numerous attacks on people by tethered dogs have been documented. For example, a study published in the September 15, 2000, issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association reported that 17% of dogs involved in fatal attacks on humans between 1979 and 1998 were restrained on their owners' property at the time of the attack. Tragically, the victims of such attacks are often children who are unaware of the chained dog's presence until it is too late. Furthermore, a tethered dog who finally does get loose from his chains may remain aggressive, and is likely to chase and attack unsuspecting passersby and pets.
6. Why is tethering dangerous to dogs?
In addition to the psychological damage wrought by continuous chaining, dogs forced to live on a chain make easy targets for other animals, humans, and biting insects. A chained animal may suffer harassment and teasing from insensitive humans, stinging bites from insects, and, in the worst cases, attacks by other animals. Chained dogs are also easy targets for thieves looking to steal animals for sale to research institutions or to be used as training fodder for organized animal fights. Finally, dogs' tethers can become entangled with other objects, which can choke or strangle the dogs to death.
7. Are these dogs dangerous to other animals?
In some instances, yes. Any other animal that comes into their area of confinement is in jeopardy. Cats, rabbits, smaller dogs, and others may enter the area when the tethered dog is asleep and then be fiercely attacked when the dog awakens.
8. Are tethered dogs otherwise treated well?
Rarely does a chained or tethered dog receive sufficient care. Tethered dogs suffer from sporadic feedings, overturned water bowls, inadequate veterinary care, and extreme temperatures. During snow storms, these dogs often have no access to shelter. During periods of extreme heat, they may not receive adequate water or protection from the sun. What's more, because their often neurotic behavior makes them difficult to approach, chained dogs are rarely given even minimal affection. Tethered dogs may become "part of the scenery" and can be easily ignored by their owners.
9. Are the areas in which tethered dogs are confined usually comfortable?
No, because the dogs have to eat, sleep, urinate, and defecate in a single confined area. Owners who chains their dogs are also less likely to clean the area. Although there may have once been grass in an area of confinement, it is usually so beaten down by the dog's pacing that the ground consists of nothing but dirt or mud.
10. But how else can people confine dogs?
The HSUS recommends that all dogs be kept indoors at night, taken on regular walks, and otherwise provided with adequate attention, food, water, and veterinary care. If an animal must be housed outside at certain times, he should be placed in a suitable pen with adequate square footage and shelter from the elements.
11. Should chaining or tethering ever be allowed?
To become well-adjusted companion animals, dogs should interact regularly with people and other animals, and should receive regular exercise. It is an owner's responsibility to properly restrain her dog, just as it is the owner's responsibility to provide adequate attention and socialization. Placing an animal on a restraint to get fresh air can be acceptable if it is done for a short period. However, keeping an animal tethered for long periods is never acceptable.
12. If a dog is chained or tethered for a period of time, can it be done humanely?
Animals who must be kept on a tether should be secured in such a way that the tether cannot become entangled with other objects. Collars used to attach an animal should be comfortable and properly fitted; choke chains should never be used. Restraints should allow the animal to move about and lie down comfortably. Animals should never be tethered during natural disasters such as floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, or blizzards.
13. If a dog is chained or tethered for a period of time, can it be done humanely?
Animals who must be kept on a tether should be secured in such a way that the tether cannot become entangled with other objects. Collars used to attach an animal should be comfortable and properly fitted; choke chains should never be used. Restraints should allow the animal to move about and lie down comfortably. Animals should never be tethered during natural disasters such as floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, or blizzards.
14. What about attaching a dog's leash to a "pulley run"?
Attaching a dog's leash to a long line—such as a clothesline or a manufactured device known as a pulley run—and letting the animal have a larger area in which to explore is preferable to tethering the dog to a stationary object. However, most of the same problems associated with tethering still apply, including attacks on or by other animals, lack of socialization, and safety.
15. What can be done to correct the problem of chained dogs?
More and more communities are passing laws that regulate the practice of tethering animals. New Orleans LA, Tuscon AZ, Okaloosa FL, Carthage MO, Lawton, OK and other cities ban all chaining. The state of Connecticut, along with Wichita KS, Denver CO, Austin TX, Norfolk VA, West Palm Beach FL, and others allow dogs to be chained only for a limited number of hours a day. Little Rock AR, along with other cities, ban fixed-point chaining but do allow pulley runs.
16. Why should a community outlaw the continuous chaining or tethering of dogs?
Animal control and humane agencies receive calls every day from citizens concerned about animals in these cruel situations. Animal control officers, paid at taxpayer expense, spend many hours trying to educate pet owners about the dangers and cruelty involved in this practice. Regulations against chaining also give officers a tool to crack down on illegal dog fighting, since many fighting dogs are kept on chains.
A chained animal is caught in a vicious cycle; frustrated by long periods of boredom and social isolation, he becomes a neurotic shell of his former self—further deterring human interaction and kindness. In the end, the helpless dog can only suffer the frustration of watching the world go by in isolation—a cruel fate for what is by nature a highly social animal. Any city, county, or state that bans this practice is a safer, more humane community.
Humane Nation supports this information provided by https://pacc911.org/chained-dogs.


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Hashes are a bit like fingerprints for data.
A given hash uniquely represents a file, or any arbitrary collection of data. At least in theory. This is a 128-bit MD5 hash you're looking at above, so it can represent at most 2128 unique items, or 340 trillion trillion trillion. In reality the usable space is substantially less; you can start seeing significant collisions once you've filled half the square root of the space, but the square root of an impossibly large number is still impossibly large.
Back in 2005, I wondered about the difference between a checksum and a hash. You can think of a checksum as a person's full name: Eubediah Q. Horsefeathers. It's a shortcut to uniqueness that's fast and simple, but easy to forge, because security isn't really the point of naming. You don't walk up to someone and demand their fingerprints to prove they are who they say they are. Names are just convenient disambiguators, a way of quickly determining who you're talking to for social reasons, not absolute proof of identity. There can certainly be multiple people in the world with the same name, and it wouldn't be too much trouble to legally change your name to match someone else's. But changing your fingerprint to match Eubediah's is another matter entirely; that should be impossible except in the movies.
Secure hashes are designed to be tamper-proof
A properly designed secure hash function changes its output radically with tiny single bit changes to the input data, even if those changes are malicious and intended to cheat the hash. Unfortunately, not all hashes were designed properly, and some, like MD5, are outright broken and should probably be reverted to checksums.
As we will explain below, the algorithm of Wang and Yu can be used to create files of arbitrary length that have identical MD5 hashes, and that differ only in 128 bytes somewhere in the middle of the file. Several people have used this technique to create pairs of interesting files with identical MD5 hashes:
- Magnus Daum and Stefan Lucks have created two PostScript files with identical MD5 hash, of which one is a letter of recommendation, and the other is a security clearance.
- Eduardo Diaz has described a scheme by which two programs could be packed into two archives with identical MD5 hash. A special "extractor" program turn one archive into a "good" program and the other into an "evil" one.
- In 2007, Marc Stevens, Arjen K. Lenstra, and Benne de Weger used an improved version of Wang and Yu's attack known as the chosen prefix collision method to produce two executable files with the same MD5 hash, but different behaviors. Unlike the old method, where the two files could only differ in a few carefully chosen bits, the chosen prefix method allows two completely arbitrary files to have the same MD5 hash, by appending a few thousand bytes at the end of each file.
- Didier Stevens used the evilize program (below) to create two different programs with the same Authenticode digital signature. Authenticode is Microsoft's code signing mechanism, and although it uses SHA1 by default, it still supports MD5.
If you could mimic another person's fingerprint or DNA at will, you could do some seriously evil stuff. MD5 is clearly compromised, and SHA-1 is not looking too great these days.
The good news is that hashing algorithms (assuming you didn't roll your own, God forbid) were designed by professional mathematicians and cryptographers who knew what they were doing. Just pick a hash of a newer vintage than MD5 (1991) and SHA-1 (1995), and you'll be fine – at least as far as collisions and uniqueness are concerned. But keep reading.
Secure hashes are designed to be slow
Speed of a checksum calculation is important, as checksums are generally working on data as it is being transmitted. If the checksum takes too long, it can affect your transfer speeds. If the checksum incurs significant CPU overhead, that means transferring data will also slow down or overload your PC. For example, imagine the sort of checksums that are used on video standards like DisplayPort, which can peak at 17.28 Gbit/sec.
But hashes aren't designed for speed. In fact, quite the opposite: hashes, when used for security, need to be slow. The faster you can calculate the hash, the more viable it is to use brute force to mount attacks. Unfortunately, "slow" in 1990 and 2000 terms may not be enough. The hashing algorithm designers may have anticipated predicted increases in CPU power via Moore's Law, but they almost certainly did not see the radical increases in GPU computing power coming.
How radical? Well, compare the results of CPU powered hashcat with the GPU powered oclHashcat when calculating MD5 hashes:
Radeon 7970 8213.6 M c/s 6-core AMD CPU 52.9 M c/s
The GPU on a single modern video card produces over 150 times the number of hash calculations per second compared to a modern CPU. If Moore's Law anticipates a doubling of computing power every 18 months, that's like peeking 10 years into the future. Pretty amazing stuff, isn't it?
Hashes and passwords
Let's talk about passwords, since hashing and passwords are intimately related. Unless you're storing passwords incorrectly, you always store a user's password as a salted hash, never as plain text. Right? Right? This means if your database containing all those hashes is compromised or leaked, the users are still protected – nobody can figure out what their password actually is based on the hash stored in the database. Yes, there are of course dictionary attacks that can be surprisingly effective, but we can't protect users dead-set on using "monkey1" for their password from themselves. And anyway, the real solution to users choosing crappy passwords is not to make users remember ever more complicated and longer passwords, but to do away with passwords altogether.
This has one unfortunate ramification for password hashes: very few of them were designed with such massive and commonly available GPU horsepower in mind. Here are my results on my current PC, which has two ATI Radeon 7970 cards generating nearly 16000 M c/s with MD5. I used oclHashcat-lite with the full range of a common US keyboard – that is, including uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and all possible symbols:
all 6 character password MD5s | 47 seconds |
all 7 character password MD5s | 1 hour, 14 minutes |
all 8 character password MD5s | ~465 days |
all 9 character password MD5s | fuggedaboudit |
The process scales nearly perfectly as you add GPUs, so you can cut the time in half by putting four video cards in one machine. It may sound crazy, but enthusiasts have been doing it since 2008. And you could cut it in half again by building another PC with four more video cards, splitting the attack space. (Keep going if you're either crazy, or working for the NSA.) Now we're down to a semi-reasonable 117 days to generate all 8 character MD5s. But perhaps this is a worst-case scenario, as a lot of passwords have no special characters. How about if we try the same thing using just uppercase, lowercase, and numbers?
all 6 character password MD5s | 3 seconds |
all 7 character password MD5s | 4 minutes |
all 8 character password MD5s | 4 hours |
all 9 character password MD5s | 10 days |
all 10 character password MD5s | ~625 days |
all 11 character password MD5s | fuggedaboudit |
If you're curious about the worst case scenario, a 12 character all lowercase password is attainable in about 75 days on this PC. Try it yourself; here's the script I used:
set BIN=oclHashcat-lite64 set OPTS=--gpu-accel 200 --gpu-watchdog 0 --outfile-watch 0 --restore-timer 0 --pw-min 6 --pw-max 6 --custom-charset1 ?l?d?s?u %BIN% %OPTS% --hash-type 0 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ?1?1?1?1?1?1?1?1?1?1?1?1?1
Just modify the pw-min
, pw-max
and the custom-charset
as appropriate. Or, if you're too lazy to try it yourself, browse through the existing oclHashcat benchmarks others have run. This will also give you some idea how computationally expensive various known hashes are on GPUs relative to each other, such as:
MD5 | 23070.7 M/s |
SHA-1 | 7973.8 M/s |
SHA-256 | 3110.2 M/s |
SHA-512 | 267.1 M/s |
NTLM | 44035.3 M/s |
DES | 185.1 M/s |
WPA/WPA2 | 348.0 k/s |
What about rainbow tables?
Rainbow tables are huge pre-computed lists of hashes, trading off table lookups to massive amounts of disk space (and potentially memory) for raw calculation speed. They are now utterly and completely obsolete. Nobody who knows what they're doing would bother. They'd be wasting their time. I'll let Coda Hale explain:
Rainbow tables, despite their recent popularity as a subject of blog posts, have not aged gracefully. Implementations of password crackers can leverage the massive amount of parallelism available in GPUs, peaking at billions of candidate passwords a second. You can literally test all lowercase, alphabetic passwords which are ≤7 characters in less than 2 seconds. And you can now rent the hardware which makes this possible to the tune of less than $3/hour. For about $300/hour, you could crack around 500,000,000,000 candidate passwords a second.
Given this massive shift in the economics of cryptographic attacks, it simply doesn't make sense for anyone to waste terabytes of disk space in the hope that their victim didn't use a salt. It's a lot easier to just crack the passwords. Even a "good" hashing scheme of
SHA256(salt + password)
is still completely vulnerable to these cheap and effective attacks.
But when I store passwords I use salts so none of this applies to me!
Hey, awesome, you're smart enough to not just use a hash, but also to salt the hash. Congratulations.
$saltedpassword = sha1(SALT . $password);
I know what you're thinking. "I can hide the salt, so the attacker won't know it!" You can certainly try. You could put the salt somewhere else, like in a different database, or put it in a configuration file, or in some hypothetically secure hardware that has additional layers of protection. In the event that an attacker obtains your database with the password hashes, but somehow has no access to or knowledge of the salt it's theoretically possible.
This will provide the illusion of security more than any actual security. Since you need both the salt and the choice of hash algorithm to generate the hash, and to check the hash, it's unlikely an attacker would have one but not the other. If you've been compromised to the point that an attacker has your password database, it's reasonable to assume they either have or can get your secret, hidden salt.
The first rule of security is to always assume and plan for the worst. Should you use a salt, ideally a random salt for each user? Sure, it's definitely a good practice, and at the very least it lets you disambiguate two users who have the same password. But these days, salts alone can no longer save you from a person willing to spend a few thousand dollars on video card hardware, and if you think they can, you're in trouble.
I'm too busy to read all this.
If you are a user:
Make sure all your passwords are 12 characters or more, ideally a lot more. I recommend adopting pass phrases, which are not only a lot easier to remember than passwords (if not type) but also ridiculously secure against brute forcing purely due to their length.
If you are a developer:
Use bcrypt or PBKDF2 exclusively to hash anything you need to be secure. These new hashes were specifically designed to be difficult to implement on GPUs. Do not use any other form of hash. Almost every other popular hashing scheme is vulnerable to brute forcing by arrays of commodity GPUs, which only get faster and more parallel and easier to program for every year.
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"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15.
Happy Birthday to my husband of 52 years. You are an encouragement to me as I watch you choose to daily walk in peace and wisdom. You are "Enjoying The Journey," with your funny sense of humor… your insatiable desire to study and absorb more of God's Word… making your choices with integrity, love, and concern for others… and your time in prayer for our family. Your special God-given uniqueness has been an inspiration to me through the years; but most of all the gift of Evangelism God placed within you, and your driving desire to win "one more soul" to our Lord Jesus. I love you more than ever! Happy Birthday…. Zonelle Thompson
Papa, Happy Birthday! Thank you for standing by me in this difficult time. You are the best Papa any girl could hope for. I'm grateful for our special bond. Love you so much! -Carissa Smith
Thank you so much for always being there for me. I love you!- Maddie Smith
Dad, you are not only the worlds best preacher but you are an amazing dad! I hope you have a wonderful birthday. I love you with all my heart. -Dwinelle Smith
Happy Birthday to the greatest man on the face of the earth. Your son in-law Jeff Smith
Papa, you are my superhero. You have literally saved my life two times. How many grandsons can say that about their grandfather? Your character and committment to Jesusu our Lord and Savior has been an inspiration to many, especially me! I love you!!- Chad Smith
Papa D, When I was growing up I can remember going in my room turning on the karaoke machine, opening up my bible and I would preach to all my teddy bears. They would repent and receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I can specifically recall telling my parents how Papa D is my hero. When I was growing up, I wanted to be just like my papa. Well, nothing has changed since then. You are still my hero!! Happy Birthday Papa, I love you so very much. I admire how in everything you do, you always follow the Holy Spirit. Thank you Papa for being a great example to your grandson. – Cody Boy
Happy Birthday Papa! I am so blessed to have you in my life. I am grateful for your example and encouragment in my relationship with the Lord. Thank you for scaring the hell out of me.- Corey Shane
Papa, no matter where you are, you always have a way of letting all of your grand children know how much you love us. Thank you for being a man who never settles for the things of this world and always displaying your love and commitment for the Lord for all to see. Through you and my family, I found what it truly means to love the Lord with all my heart sould and mind. I found a love and hunger to serve the Lord and to never settle for anything less. I know my calling to be in ministry stems from our family and I praise God everyday for his favor in blessing me in this specific family. You truly lead our family by example and I praise God for blessing me with such a Godly grandpa who has raised such a loving son to do the same. Your choice to serve the Lord has affected your offspring and God will forever reign in our family. I have so many wonderful memories with you and Mimi. I love and admire you both, more than you will ever know! "Do you have any idea how much I love you?" ………"Well, tell me!" ……..I love you Papa, more than you can ever understand! – Alexa Gerbrands
Papa Dwight, I truly pray that you will have a blessed birthday! You are a blessing in my life and I am thankful to have you in my life. I always enjoy the time that I get to spend with you and praise God for blessing me with such a wonderful, Christ-loving family. Have a wonderful day with Mimi. I love you!!! – Jaco Gerbrands
Dad, It is my hope and prayers that the days ahead will be filled with energy, inspiration, new ideas, fervor and fire, as you continue to reach the World with the Uncompromising Power of the Gospel, as you have been faithful to do for most of your life. We celebrate your life and love you so very much. Happy Birthday – Dwight Thompson, Jr
Have a wonderful and blessed day! I pray this is your best year ever!- Gina Thompson
Papa, you truly are unlike any other man I've ever been around. You speak the Word boldly not lacking anything. You love your family with great compassion and teach humility by your actions, s the kind of humility that is only found in The Lord. You are the best example and leader of our family, the men you've helped raise look to you with high regard and do our best to learn from you. I love you papa, I can't thank you enough for the impact you've had on my life, more than you realize. teach humility by your actions, the kind of humility that is only found in The Lord. You are the best example and leader of our family, the men you've helped.I love you papa, I can't thank you enough for the impact you've had on my life, more than you realize. – Dalton Thompson
Happy Birthday Papa Dwight! You have been such a blessing to Austin and I. Love you so much! Cheers to another great year! – Savannah Thompson
The gospel of Jesus Christ has been passionately proclaimed from generation to generation within this Thompson family and that has not been merely labeled as a job, but an honor. Keeping Christ centered in our home has been exemplified through my father which was instilled to him from his father, my Papa D.
Ever since I was a young child I always enjoyed being around my Papa. He always made me feel special and always made it a point to let me know how much Jesus loves me and has a great plan for my life. It was Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, all the time with an occasional Texas, Cowboys, Lonesome Dove, and coffee reference here and there. Because of him, I have always found a deep love in my "Texas" roots. Even though I was born and raised in Southern California, I have adapted to more of a country boy lifestyle, I learned that one needs to be proud of his heritage (there is spiritual significance in that).
I love opportunities to converse with him because he always has something wise to say. He usually is in deep thought about something most of the time, or maybe he's frustrated in the fact that the Dallas Cowboys can't get it together, so when he opens his mouth to share what's on his heart, you hang on every word.
He is the same man on Sunday morning than he is every other day of the week, minus the sweat he has from preaching his heart out. Papa has always been a man of character, a firm believer in respecting our Thompson name, and especially honoring our Lord with everything we say and do. I have learned so many things from my grandpa (I could write all day long) but the another gem I can think of is how things are just things, he says, "you never see a hertz hauling a u-haul van." So, give freely, don't hold on the things to the point they overcome you. Be wise with your earthly possessions but pursue righteousness above all else and the Holy Spirit will lead and guide your every decision.
This year is an exciting year for Papa as he celebrates 50 years of ministry. I can't believe it because he looks so good. He must of been two when he started in the ministry. I know it is all because of Jesus. I love that my grandpa says, "if you ever seen any good in me, it wasn't me, it was because of Jesus."
Well Papa, you should know that we all love you so very much and admire your devotion in serving the Lord all these years. Keep those boots on cowboy because I believe you are about to embark on the greatest journey of your life. I love you!
-Austin Rex
Thank you Papa for being such an amazing father and grandfather. "Grandchildren are the crown of old men, And the glory of sons is their fathers." Proverbs 17:6
You will never know the impact you have had on millions of lives and also, your family. We love you!


text:
Handsome Boy Modeling School
Handsome Boy Modeling School was a teaming of quirky super-producers Prince Paul (best-known for his work with De la Soul and Stetsasonic) and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura (fresh off his underground success with Kool Keith's Dr. Octagon album). Taking their name from an episode of the cult Chris Elliott sitcom Get a Life (which was sampled several times on their album), Paul and Dan adopted the über-stylish alter egos of Chest Rockwell and Nathaniel Merriweather, respectively. Their debut album, So...How's Your Girl?, was a loose concept record packed with guest stars: rappers Del tha Funkee Homosapien, J-Live, and El-P; members of Cibo Matto, Brand Nubian, and the Beastie Boys; star turntablists like DJ Shadow, DJ Quest, and Kid Koala; electronica artists like Moloko's Roisin Murphy and Atari Teenage Riot's Alec Empire; and even Saturday Night Live's Father Guido Sarducci. So...How's Your Girl? was released on Tommy Boy in the fall of 1999 to mostly favorable reviews, and the opening track, "Rock n' Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This)," was licensed for a TV ad campaign. Nakamura subsequently moved on to a host of other highly conceptual projects, including Deltron 3030, Gorillaz, and Lovage. The duo returned to record-store shelves in 2004 with White People, their first album for Elektra.


text:
So Democrats rank democracy itself as the preeminent issue this year, but they know that many voters expect democracy to deliver things for them. Representative Hakeem Jeffries asserts that Republicans have nothing to offer. He says that is the reason they've worked so hard for years to demonize Nancy Pelosi.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES: They have no concrete vision for the future other than doing what they always do, which is to cut taxes for the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected, and everybody else gets screwed.
INSKEEP: We called Jeffries to hear Democrats' closing argument as Americans vote. His location suggested how hard an election it can be for Democrats. He was helping to defend congressional seats in a blue state, Oregon. His party has been hoping to run on achievements, like infrastructure spending and gun safety. They also run as supporters of abortion rights. But these concerns compete for attention with inflation, as we've been hearing from voters, like those who spoke with NPR in Georgia.
VELVET SHEETS: We never run out of milk, right? We always keep milk in the refrigerator. And it just seems like it just keeps getting higher and higher and higher.
DARRYL SHEETS: Our 401(k)s are down by 25 to 35%. There's, you know, one party controlling what's going on politically. You have to assign that to somebody.
INSKEEP: So we asked Jeffries about it.
JEFFRIES: We had a once-in-a-century public health crisis that caused the economy to have to shut down. We worked hard to bring it back in a way that allowed for everyday Americans to regain their jobs, to remain in their homes and to see a pathway back to pursuing the American dream in the most robust fashion possible. We have more work to do, and our track record of accomplishment is one that I cite not simply to say reward us, but to say trust us.
INSKEEP: I guess we should be fair here and note that inflation has been global, and a lot of the work of dealing with inflation falls to the Federal Reserve. And still, people expect something of the leaders that they elect. So what is something concrete you can do in the coming year if you have the majority?
JEFFRIES: I expect that we will be in the majority, that all of us come together to put back into place the child tax credit, which resulted in providing additional support for the expenses that the American people confront in a way that benefits working families, middle-class families and low-income families. That's something that can be done. It's also important for us to deal with the high cost of child care and make child care more accessible and affordable for everyday Americans. And I think it's also critical that we address the housing crisis that exists. We have a plan that would, at minimum, invest $150 billion in the creation and preservation of affordable housing.
INSKEEP: You would certainly be addressing things that bother people in their day-to-day lives - the price of housing, the price of raising kids, the price of day care. But if you subsidize those areas and you don't do it very carefully, don't those tend to be inflationary things to do?
JEFFRIES: I think what the American people want us to do is to make sure that in their day-to-day lives, we are addressing the rising costs that they are confronting.
INSKEEP: We should pause to say the causes of inflation are complicated. A Federal Reserve study in 2016 found federal spending had little effect on inflation. An economic stimulus package in 2021 was so huge that it did provoke warnings that it would worsen inflation. This year, Democrats passed a mix of taxes, climate and energy measures, which they labeled the Inflation Reduction Act, although congressional analysts found its inflation effects would be limited. Jeffries says he wants to keep trying and that the other party has nothing better.
JEFFRIES: My Republican colleagues are too busy talking about things without proposing any real plan to address the concerns of everyday Americans. Extreme MAGA Republicans want to impose a nationwide ban on abortion and criminalize reproductive freedom. They actually want to take away Social Security and Medicare after five years. And they also, apparently, don't really believe in democracy anymore.
INSKEEP: Let's talk about a couple of those things. When you talked about Social Security and Medicare - of course, Senator Rick Scott of Florida has put out a proposal to sunset those laws and reconsider them, in effect, in some way.
RICK SCOTT: People relying on Medicare - we have to have Medicare. But I also believe that we ought to start telling people how we're going to fix it because we know that it's not being fully funded. The same thing with Social Security.
INSKEEP: Rick Scott was speaking on this program earlier this year. Many Republicans disowned Scott's plan, although others have talked about changes to retirement programs. Jeffries contends Democrats will preserve many benefits, although he left open for now the question of how to pay for them.
Are you going to fund some of those priorities that you mentioned, which would mean, I guess, higher taxes on someone as opposed to borrowing money?
JEFFRIES: Well, we have continued to actually fund every single thing that we've done.
INSKEEP: Jeffries insists his party will also support voting rights. And if Democrats should keep their majority, they would retain the power to continue investigations of Donald Trump's bid to stay in office after his 2020 election defeat.
JEFFRIES: Democracy is just not an esoteric thing. It is good for freedom. It is good for a thriving economy.
INSKEEP: One other thing, Representative Jeffries. Do you sense that Democratic voters are ready for new leaders?
JEFFRIES: I think Democratic voters want us to continue to get the job done in Washington, D.C., to continue to put people over politics, continue to fight for lower costs, better paying jobs and safer communities. And that's exactly what we will do.
INSKEEP: I guess I should make explicit the reason I asked that. The president is going to be 80. The speaker of the House is 82. Her top deputies are also in their 80s. Do you think that there are Democratic voters who might be looking for someone from a different generation?
JEFFRIES: I think Democratic voters understand that every single thing that we care about right now is on the ballot. Reproductive freedom is on the ballot. Health care is on the ballot. Social Security and Medicare - on the ballot. Voting rights - on the ballot. And certainly democracy itself is on the ballot. And the voters that I've encountered, traveling throughout the country, all want to make sure that we hold the House, hold the Senate and can continue America's march toward a more perfect union.
INSKEEP: Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, it's a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much.
JEFFRIES: Great to talk to you. Thank you.
INSKEEP: That's a closing argument from Democrats as Election Day nears. We expect to hear from Republican Senator Rick Scott tomorrow.
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