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In a statement for your 2009 exhibition "TV Show" at 179 Canal, you described television as a dying medium, suggesting that the work in the show was a kind of eulogy for TV. Television is a recurring theme in your work, but you've used it in various ways, both as a material and as a subject, often taking the most familiar types of programs—the news, for instance—and altering the way we see it. What is it about television that appeals to you? Are you interested in defamiliarizing something we take for granted, forcing the viewer to reconsider its place in everyday life? Is this work reflecting a sense of nostalgia for television's past? If it's a dying medium, what do you think has replaced it?
TV is no longer the all-powerful medium it used to be. It's dead in the same way radio is dead, whereby it only occupies a peripheral position in our lives. Internet is the new place, because it encompasses words, images, videos, audio, as well as the viewer's participation. The internet packs more information; in that sense it's more HD than TV and that's what people go for, the better, more fulfilling, more entertaining medium.
I was interested in TV broadcasts initially because I thought it was funny to bring live TV into the museum or the gallery. In my TV work I encourage the use of any entertaining program. However, screening an episode of Spongebob (a personal favorite) doesn't work the same, in an exhibition context, than say the news or any program with live content. That's because the viewer's common assumption is that if a video is shown, it must be pre-recorded. But I am not at all interested in working with pre-recorded TV shows. I want to deal with the flux of what is produced at that very moment. These are pieces that are permanently up-to-date. I think the pop paradigm has shifted. We are no longer dealing with iconic pop culture, in the sense of Warhol—who was an orthodox Christian by the way. Images have become subliminal, transient: these are the images I am interested in. [Even a pop idol like Lady Gaga, one wouldn't have a clear picture of her.]
I have no interest in nostalgia. To deal with the TV, before it completely vanishes was perfect timing, because it allowed me to treat the TV as is. Before, when video art dealt with television broadcasts, because TV was the most powerful medium around, the artwork was read as conflating with the medium. That's inherent to the position of TV in society, not the nature of the work. Now that TV is about to die, we can contemplate TV for what it is, as an incredibly crafted language. It did things that nothing else can nor will ever do again.
As for using the TV sets as a material, I do so because they are a familiar way of viewing images.
Your exhibition at 47 Canal, "I See Catastrophes Ahead," takes the form of a rebus, in which each of the five pieces in the gallery represents a part of the titular sentence. As the press release notes, "Every digitized image, sound, video, smell, taste and object is associated with [key]words. In an internet search, typing a word opens the door to an infinite universe of possibilities." The rebus is a centuries-old form of translating words into images, and yet you're employing it here to reflect the impact of recent technology—the Internet search—on the way we conceive of language. Do you see a connection between the two? There's something about a rebus that is curiously reflective of the way the Internet works: when you type the word "cat," for instance, into Google, you get a whole list of unrelated suggested search terms. Was this something that you were thinking about specifically when you made this work?
I was specifically focusing on Google Image Searches. Google Image search makes connections between images and words. A rebus operates similarly. Like you say, searching for the word cat brings up a near endless flow of images of cats. The rebus reader operates the other way; he or she sees an image and has to attach a word to it, in the process sometimes making wrong associations. The rebus reader is a bit like the Internet algorithms, attaching words to images.
The Internet, at its inception, was silent and drab; now it's an exciting place, with plenty of videos, sounds, and images. There is a tendency for the Internet to "flesh up," to develop substance on top of the underlying text backbone. Now objects are thrown in the mix. With an Internet search one can cull and print (via 3D printing) objects.
So, via an Internet search, a word can conjure up many quasi-physical or physical incarnations, be it images, sounds, videos or now objects. I was specifically interested in the triad word – image – object in making the works for "I See Catastrophes Ahead". Each piece in the show is an in-between stage, part image, part object, and part word.
Even though much of your work draws on the immaterial—television broadcasts, digital video, the Internet—it often takes the form of installations, sculptures, and other interventions into physical space. Moreover, when you use technology, you often call attention to it physically—I'm thinking in particular of the way that you incorporate the wires, tubes, and machines that power your 47 Canal show into the work itself; the Mac Mini that controls the projections, for instance, is encased within one of the sculptures, plainly on view. Are you actively trying to create a material experience of these things?
I guess I have a structuralist perspective: I am interested in the structure of the medium I deal with. I find the structuralist tactics visceral: it deals with embodiment of the medium. Ernie Gehr said: "A moving picture is a real thing and as a real thing it is not imitation. It does not reflect on life, it embodies the life of the mind." I bring in even more physicality to an image—moving or not—to exaggerate the underlying affective relationship we have with it.
Your use of technology ranges from the highly sophisticated—for instance, you've employed technology developed recently by scientists at Carnegie Mellon in your work—to the relatively rudimentary, as in the hologram sculptures, which use light and mirrors to give the impression of an object floating in space. Are you specifically interested in merging high- and low-tech methods in your work, or do you simply use whichever techniques you think are most appropriate for individual pieces?
Dan Graham says that my show at 47 Canal is a bit like going back to being a 12 year old who builds his own radios sets. I use technology that is familiar to people: I used CRT TV when it was the most popular, flat screen now, because they are the most familiar ways of showing images. For my show at 47 Canal, I use cutting edge technology of different eras: holograms of the Victorian times, nano projectors and arduinos, for instance, of today.
You have degrees in both mathematics and visual art. Does your background in mathematics inform your work as an artist? If so, how?
Mathematics is a language, a unique one.
How long have you been working creatively with technology? How did you start?
My mother says that because I was a premature baby, the doctors put me in an incubator. When the incubator broke, I fixed it.
Describe your experience with the tools you use. How did you start using them?
Where did you go to school? What did you study?
I studied Mathematics in France, then Sound Art and then Fine Arts in the UK. In art school, I set for myself the goal of using new "techniques" for each project I would make. I feel I still operate with the same motto.
What traditional media do you use, if any? Do you think your work with traditional media relates to your work with technology?
My work deals mostly with our relationship to technology, or more specifically to images and the machines that produce them. That's because it's an environment we create for ourselves and that in turn we (as humans) respond to. This relationship is one of the vehicles for our mutations.
As for my practice, I am after results. I would use anything as long it produces what I am after. I used drawings for my show at 179 Canal. Drawing is still a great place to explore.
Are you involved in other creative or social activities (i.e. music, writing, activism, community organizing)?
I have curated exhibitions. I am not as good a writer as I would like to be, but I still intend to write: to write about my work and the work of the people I know or that interest me. That's because artists have a privileged position to discuss their peers' works. I think artists should make use of this position to defend not only their personal voice, but also of the one of their peers. It's all about bonding and bonding makes for better art works.
What do you do for a living or what occupations have you held previously? Do you think this work relates to your art practice in a significant way?
I run a one-person company called "Bonjour Computer, LLC". I help people with their computers; or rather I help them in dealing with their frustration with technology. It's akin to being a pet psychologist. It fits my practice and offers the double advantage of a decent pay as well as flexible hours. [Plus, most of my clients come to my exhibitions.]
Who are your key artistic influences?
I have diverse influences, starting from dialogues with people around me. Each piece I make is informed by several people or works. For my last show at 47 Canal I was thinking of American "Pictures Generation" artists (Matt Mullican, John Miller), Belgium surrealism (Marcel Broodthaers, Magritte), as well as Google Image Searches and rebuses.
For me, Mullican deals with a collective unconscious, a residual of collective pop culture lodged in his subconscious, that, via a system of personal symbolism, he merges with a collective unconscious. Broodthaers and Magritte brought the "word" to surrealism. Both these sources are, at least for me, a more abstract form of surrealism and share similarities. I thought the two could be bridged.
Have you collaborated with anyone in the art community on a project? With whom, and on what?
I like collaborations and exchanges. For instance, I have been interested for a while in Christophe Hanna / LA REDACTION's book Valérie par Valérie. Hanna is an incredible writer; sadly his work has not been translated to English yet. Hanna's book deals with the constant fabrication of a public identity—it's more a document than a narrative. In an (maybe failed) attempt to assimilate the book, I gave a conference at the New Museum as part of the New Silent series organized by Rhizome, about the construct of my own public identity. For the project I enlisted Philipp Furtenbach, a founding member of AO&, a collective of itinerant chefs, whose focus is on the social fabric of small communities. With Philiipp we set a regimen of stringent meetings and questions, that he asked me every week ("How do you picture yourself in the future?" was one of these questions for instance). The meetings and questions were directly derived from Hanna's book. I met with Philipp on a weekly basis for 7 or 8 months. The questions served as the basis of the reflection for the conference.
Do you actively study art history?
I develop specific interest for certain artists and I would read about them. I have a focused interest. There is so much information out there, that I find it distracting.
Do you read art criticism, philosophy, or critical theory? If so, which authors inspire you?
I recently read some Willem Flusser; I enjoyed it. Also Paul Ryan, Cybernetics of the Sacred, is an amazing read. It's one thing I struggle with being in New York, finding time to read. I'd like to read more science fiction. My friend Josh Kline has good recommendations.
Are there any issues around the production of, or the display/exhibition of new media art that you are concerned about?
My nature is to be carefree. With time and experience I am starting to realize that new media work or at least mine is based on illusion and that strict display conditions have to be respected for the work to function. For instance, the room needs to be lit a certain way, the sound be set at a certain volume or the video be projected a certain size. If the conditions are not met, my work does not function. It's pretty basic stuff, but people still do not know how to deal with technological works. So I am learning how to be more specific and direct when I install shows. I do not deal with the archival aspect of my work yet.

subset: commoncrawl


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Nowadays, our raids frequently carry as little as 3 tanks to as many as 5. Keeping track of who's heaing who can be a bit of a doozy. Even the tiniest confusion or overlap can be wipe a raid. Here's a quick tip make assigning heals easier.
Old and Busted
In older raids, we'd have only 1 main tank and maybe a handful of off tanks. Jobs back then were pretty static. A set number of healers would overheal the main tank while the rest of the healer benchwarmers and waterboys would keep tabs on the off tanks. It worked fine then because the encounters weren't that complicated to deal with. But oh how times have changed.
New Hotness
I'm introducing a new concept of mine that I came up with a few months ago. It started when my Guild began working on Hydross. As you know, Hydross requires 2 different tanks to jump and hold aggro on him. It doesn't make sense to say heal the main tank. There's only one real main tank. Even then, that main tank might be rotated off to different roles or different mobs depending on things like resistance fights and such. For some fights, it's impossible and even inconvenient to declare a single main tank. A great example is a fight such as Al'ar where you end up using as many as 4 tanks simultaneously. When you're fighting Leotheras, half the time you're healing a warlock who by most definitions would not be considered your Guild's main tank.
Chances are your Guild's already doing it. I'm simply putting a name to it.
The Active Tank
I defined the active tank as the player that's currently holding aggro on the main boss right now. It could be any player or any class on the the boss at any time. It's usually determined by the target of target window.
An example of healing assignments for Al'ar on Phase 2:
- Pete the Paladin is healing Tim who is grabbing all the birds
- Reginald and Riley, the 2 Resto Shamans, will be healing the raid
- Penelope, Price, and Dominic (2 Priests and a Druid) will be healing the active tank which could either be Tyler, Thomas, or Tootoo
If you're the healing leader, you're going to recognize what a pain in the ass it is to tell your healers:
"Heal Tyler, Tootoo or Thomas, whoever happens to have aggro on Al'ar at the moment."
It's easier to tell your Priests to cover the active tank. By saying that, your healers should recognize that their job is to heal whoever has aggro on the boss.
I'm always on the lookout for different labels and methods to make healing assignments easier on a raid. Are there other ways that you use or that your Guild uses to simply healing assignments more?


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Advanced Search
How not to communicate with a Web server.
One of the servers being upgraded was the last in a line of six servers making a COM call that originated on the Web server. The Web server's COM object would make a call to a COM proxy on itself, which would point it through a firewall to the first application server in the chain. That server would, in turn, call a proxy on itself that would point to another server and so on, until the last server was reached and the call would fail.
I could see that the object was being activated on the last server, but the application Event Log showed an error that the COM object could not be instantiated. I was pretty sure that the problem was permission related and that it was somewhere between the fifth and sixth servers.
After checking that permissions were in order, I wrote a simple Visual Basic program that would just make a call to verify communications between the two servers. I packaged it in a COM object and ran a test. I quietly hoped that it would fail, thus verifying that the problem was between servers five and six. But the test was successful, and I got more confused and hungry.
So, while eating my cold vending machine meatball sandwich (the mic- rowave was broken and only had the ability to make warm water if you had 15 minutes to spare), I came up with a strategy: First, I'd set up identical local users on each box, then configure roles in COM+ on each server to ascertain if I was having domain-related permissions problems. My efforts were in vain, though, as that test was also unsuccessful.
Now, five hours had passed. I was considering backing out of the upgrade and taking an antacid. (That meatball sandwich had hit me pretty hard.) I decided to take one more shot at it and telephoned the networking chap on call that night. The chap turned out to be a woman, and she wasn't amused by my "If-I'm-up-everyone-should-be-up" crack.
After allowing several minutes for her to wake up, I asked if she'd take a look at the switches and check for communication errors. A half-hour later she called back. She couldn't see any errors on the switches, but there was an error logged on the inside firewall indicating that server No. 6 was trying to communicate with a Web server.
Now I was both completely bewildered and nauseous (continuing effects of the cold meatball sandwich). The only opening in the firewall was between the Web server and the first application server, because they were the only ones that communicated directly. After some serious (and demoralizing) begging on my part, I convinced her to open a second hole in the firewall for server No. 6. I tested the application again and was completely blown away when the COM call went through with no problem. I completed the upgrade and went home to get some much-needed sleep, still extremely perplexed about the resolution.
Networking Unplugged http://mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=369
Katie Barred the Door http://mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=371
Crash, Reboot, Repeat http://mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=372
The Honeymoon's Over http://mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=373
The Excedrin Exchange Upgrade http://mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=374
A Powerful Solution http://mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=375
The next morning, I called Microsoft for an explanation. Once I was referred to the right department, a helpful technician informed me that, indeed, the sixth server did need to converse with the Web server. He explained that IIS intrinsics were set to On (which they are by default), and that was causing the last server in a chain of COM calls to verify the existence of the call's originator—in this case, the Web server. When I asked how I could disable this pesky setting, he e-mailed a VBS script that allows you to shut off intrinsics for all components, or just certain ones. Since that happened, I've always insisted that the firewalls in Quality Assurance be configured with the same settings as production, lest I spend another sleepless night debugging an obscure Microsoft feature and eating foul meatball sandwiches.
About the Author
Raymond Garvey, MCSE, MCDBA, is currently a senior systems engineer at a financial institution. He has 14 years of experience in IT
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Attack on Titan Omnibus 6 - Hajime Isayama
Tax included.
Captured by Rod Reiss, the rightful king, Krista and Eren finally have their memories back.
What exactly happened to Eren, and what was the crime his father committed?
Meanwhile, the Survey Corps desperately hunts for Eren, while at the same time seeking to legitimize their military coup. As the situation inside the walls comes to a head, the mysteries of the world of the Titans seem on the cusp of being solved at last!


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In any event, whether you are registered for the Meeting or just happen to be floating round DC, you are welcome to meet not just us but a rainbow spectrum of intellectual property bloggers from across the world at the Meet the Bloggers reception, on Monday 7 May, between 8pm and 10pm. The venue is the Hill Country Barbecue Market, 410 7th Street NW, Washington DC. The hosts are Marty Schwimmer (Trademark Blog), John L. Welch (TTABlog), Ron Coleman (Likelihood of Confusion) and Erik Pelton (ErikPelton.com). Admission is free; brilliant invite/RSVP is here.
A popular and well-attended feature of INTA is the annual LinkedIn Groups meeting, tirelessly organised by Alfred Strahlberg. There's a capacity crowd for this big breakfast event, which takes place on Tuesday 8 May. IPKat team member Jeremy is involved in it, as are many of his friends. For the record, the programme looks something like this:
1777 F STREET NW (1ST FLOOR), WASHINGTON DC 20006, MAY 8, 2012, 7:30-10:00 AM [you can find it if you click here]
Breakfast and registration: 07:30 - 08:10 AM
Introduction: 08:10-08:15 AM
Moderator: Marion Wanamaker, Former Director of Trademarks, Hearst Corp.
Alfred Strahlberg, Strahlberg & Partners, Chair of LinkedIn & INTA groups
Carla Calcagno, Calcagno Law, Washington, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law School; Anne Hiaring Hocking, Partner, Hiaring + Smith, San Rafael (CA)
US perspective: 08:15-08:30 AM
Moderator: Anne Hiaring Hocking, Hiaring + Smith
Overview of TTAB procedure and case law, also with respect to designations of the United States under the Madrid Protocol
Carla Calcagno, Calcagno Law
CTM System: 08:30-09:30 AM
Moderators: Anne Hiaring Hocking, Hiaring + Smith & Alfred Strahlberg, Strahlberg & Partners
Crowding of the Register: Is it really an issue?
Panel discussion led by Jeremy Phillips, IPKat, with panelists Karin Cederlund, (Sandart), Uli Foerstl, (Olswang LLP), Tove Graulund (Graulund IP) and Àron Làszlò (SBG & K Law Office)
Review of case law of ECJ, General Court and Boards of Appeal, also taking into account pharmaceutical trade marks
Dr. Alexander von Mühlendahl, Bardehle Pagenberg
Use of cancellation actions at OHIM
Barbara Cookson, Filemot
Madrid system: 09:30-10:00 AM
Moderators: Alfred Strahlberg & Valentina Sergeyeva, Strahlberg & Partners
Madrid & Hague systems - Latest Developments
Alan Datri, Senior Counselor, Sector Trademarks, Designs & Geographical Indications, WIPO
India & Madrid Protocol
Raja Selvam, Selvam & Selvam, Advocates
Colombia & Madrid Protocol
Maria F. Castellanos, Brigard & Castro
Update on Madrid Protocol and SE Asian Countries
Gregory Marimuthu, Gateway IP Services Sdn Bhd
Sponsors: the following sponsors are thanked for their support:
Andra Musatescu Law & Industrial Property Offices, Borden Ladner Gervais, Calcagno Law, Clarion Solicitors, Epstein Drangel LLP, Filemot (Marco database), Harrison IP, Hiaring + Smith, Phillips & Leigh, Traplovà Hakr Kubàt, Società Italiana Brevetti S.p.A., ST&P Ltd (Latvia), Strahlberg & Partners and Symbus Law Group, LLC.
This is an accredited Affiliate Meeting in connection with the 2012 INTA Annual Meeting. It is not however held under the auspices of the International Trademark Association (INTA), the Pharmaceutical Trade Marks Group (PTMG), the European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA) or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).The IPKat is delighted to see some small firms among the big ones --a reflection on the egalitarian impact of the social media, which detaches people from their context and vests them with some significance and dignity by virtue of who they are, not who employs them.
Finally, a warning to readers of not just this blog but many others: a lot of blogmeisters and contributors will be tied up with meetings, receptions and all sorts of other urgent necessities over the next week or so. We all hope to keep our blogs running smoothly, but the pressure of time, the dislocation of being in unfamiliar time zones and the combined effect of jetlag, stress, exhaustion and free alcohol may well take their toll.


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I see too many questions asked in here where the answer could be different depending on what database technology (Access, Oracle, SQLServer, MySQL, PostgreSQL) is in use.
Please say what database system you are using when you ask a question!
Additionally, if youre asking about code, or including code, say what language that code is too. Mentioning what driver technology youre using to connect your database might also be needed. All in, as with any question; providing more information is better than less.


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Tiffany Threadgould, of RePlayGround, has a last-minute green crafting idea for you, this time from the New York Hall of Science. Hang on to the tabs from your soda pop cans and put them to good use as a jewelry finding for an upcycled bracelet.
But that's not the only idea Tiffany has to share. Next week she'll be hosting crafting classes at NYSCI with an emphasis on using a lot of the waste that's generated during the holidays.
Dec. 28: Create our own recycled rockband with tissue box guitars
Dec 29: Scrap paper picture frames from greeting cards and magazines
Dec. 30: Soda tab bracelets
You can get the complete scoop of the event here:
Join Make: Community Today


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President Joe Biden surveyed the devastation of hurricane-ravaged Florida on Wednesday, promising to marshal the power of the federal government to help rebuild as he comforted local residents alongside Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 foe.
Biden praised DeSantis' handling of the storm recovery as both men — who have battled over pandemic protocols and migration as the governor mulls a presidential bid — put aside politics for a few days. The state is struggling to recover from the wreckage of Hurricane Ian, which tore through southwestern Florida last week and left dozens dead.
"Today we have one job and only one job, and that's to make sure the people in Florida get everything they need to fully, thoroughly recover," Biden said in a community that bore the brunt of Ian's assault. He warned that the rebuilding effort will take months or years.
"It's going to take a hell of a long time, hopefully without any snags in the way," he said as DeSantis stood behind him, hands folded as he squinted into the glaring sunlight. "Later, after the television cameras have moved on, we're still going to be here with you."
The days after Ian's landfall in Florida have prompted a temporary détente between Biden and DeSantis, who had spoken on the phone at least three times to coordinate recovery efforts. They spent part of Wednesday meeting with area residents and, for Biden, absorbing the full scope of Ian's devastation.
After Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived earlier at Fisherman's Wharf — where homes and businesses lay in ruins amid debris and muck — DeSantis offered his hand to the president for a shake. Next to them as they spoke was a boat that the storm had lifted into a cafe
The solidarity, however fleeting, continued Wednesday afternoon when DeSantis formally welcomed Biden to his state and praised the collaboration with officials on the ground and the federal government in Washington.
"We are cutting through the red tape and that's from local government, state government, all the way up to the president. We appreciate the team effort," DeSantis said.
Biden said DeSantis had done a "good job" when asked by reporters to assess the governor's handling of the recovery efforts.
"We have very different political philosophies … but we worked hand in glove," Biden said. "On things related to dealing with this crisis, we've been completely lockstep. There's been no difference."
The breadth of the devastation that Biden witnessed was immense. The presidential motorcade drove by wind-shorn trees, some uprooted, others with branches pulled backwards by the storm. Fields off the highway were still flooded, forming stagnant lagoons.
Signs for stores and restaurants were blown out; ruined mattresses were piled in neighborhood streets, a building was tipped to the side like a chess piece. An armada of workers and repair trucks struggled with recovery.
Hurricane Ian has resulted in at least 98 people confirmed dead, including 89 in Florida, and many people still wait for power to be restored. Ian's 150 mph winds and punishing storm surge last week took out power for 2.6 million in Florida. Many people still are unable to get food and water, although DeSantis said power has been restored to more than 97% of the state.
With the midterm elections just a month away, the crisis was bringing together political rivals in common cause at least for a time.
Biden and DeSantis have had a multitude of differences in recent years over how to fight COVID-19, immigration policy and more. In recent weeks, they tussled over the governor's decision to put migrants on planes or buses to Democratic strongholds, a practice that Biden has called "reckless."
Along with DeSantis, Sen. Rick Scott has also been one of Biden's most prominent Republican critics. He, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and other state and local officials joined the president and governor. Rubio, like DeSantis, is up for reelection in November.
Jeff Rioux, a general contractor in Fort Myers and a registered Republican, said as he mopped up floors and tore out soaked drywall from his flooded house that he welcomed Biden's visit.
"The world does need to see what happened here. It's going get some help down here," Rioux said of the national attention. "At some point you've got to put politics aside. People are hurting down here. It's not right or left, it's America at the end of the day."
Biden resorted to profanity at one point, but only in an apparently jocular comment picked up by a microphone and causing much comment on social media.
As Fort Myers Beach Mayor Ray Murphy thanked Biden for coming, the president said at one point in the brief conversation, "No one f—— with a Biden," and appeared to offer the mayor some advice.
"That's exactly right, that's exactly right," Murphy said, laughing. "All right, good to see you."
Before the storm hit, the president had intended to visit the Florida cities of Orlando and Fort Lauderdale to stress his efforts to strengthen Social Security and Medicaid. Biden has accused Scott of wanting to end both programs by proposing that federal laws should expire every five years, although the Florida senator has said he wants to preserve the programs.
The hurricane changed the purpose and tone of Biden's first trip to Florida this year, which was in an area devastated by winds and surging water. Boats, including huge yachts, were capsized and hurled inland.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters on Air Force One that the cost of rebuilding will be significant: "It will certainly be in the billions and perhaps one of the more costly disasters that we've seen in many years."
The White House message of bipartisan unity in a time of crisis marked a difference from Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, who at times threatened to withhold aid from the states of Democrats who criticized him, including Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York.
Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bobby Caina Calvan and Curt Anderson in Fort Myers, Zeke Miller in Washington and Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed.
Copyright © 2022 The Associated Press
Copyright © 2022 Capitol Hill Blue


text: I am a reporter for Black Press Media's Kelowna Capital News and West K News. Hailing from Ladner, B.C., I have been passionate about sports, especially baseball, since I was young. In 2018, I graduated from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops with a Bachelor of Journalism degree, all while playing on the baseball team for five years. During my studies, I realized that writing about sports every day would be a dream come true, leading me to pursue the journalism program. Between 2017-19, I served as the Media Relations Assistant for the Vancouver Canadians, a Toronto Blue Jays affiliate. Here at Kelowna Capital News and West K News, I mainly cover Kelowna's sports beat, and I strive to be the first to break a story.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — It's been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records weren't just broken, they were deep-fried.
Temperatures in the lower 48 states were 8.6 degrees above normal for March and 6 degrees higher than average for the first three months of the year, according to calculations by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That far exceeds the old records.
The magnitude of how unusual the year has been in the U.S. has alarmed some meteorologists who have warned about global warming. One climate scientist said it's the weather equivalent of a baseball player on steroids, with old records obliterated.
"Everybody has this uneasy feeling. This is weird. This is not good," said Jerry Meehl, a climate scientist who specializes in extreme weather at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "It's a guilty pleasure. You're out enjoying this nice March weather, but you know it's not a good thing."
It's not just March.
"It's been ongoing for several months," said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Ashville, N.C.
Meteorologists say an unusual confluence of several weather patterns, including La Nina, was the direct cause of the warm start to 2012. While individual events can't be blamed on global warming, Couch said this is like the extremes that are supposed to get more frequent because of manmade climate change from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
It's important to note that this unusual winter heat is mostly a North America phenomenon. Much of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere has been cold, said NOAA meteorologist Martin Hoerling.
The first quarter of 2012 broke the January-March record by 1.4 degrees. Usually records are broken by just one- or two-tenths of a degree. U.S. temperature records date to 1895.
The atypical heat goes back even further. The U.S. winter of 2010-2011 was slightly cooler than normal and one of the snowiest in recent years, but after that things started heating up. The summer of 2011 was the second warmest summer on record.
The winter that just ended, which in some places was called the year without winter, was the fourth warmest on record. Since last April, it's been the hottest 12-month stretch on record, Crouch said.
But the month where the warmth turned especially weird was March.
Normally, March averages 42.5 degrees across the country. This year, the average was 51.1, which is closer to the average for April. Only one other time — in January 2006 — was the country as a whole that much hotter than normal for an entire month.
The "icebox of America," International Falls, Minn., saw temperatures in the 70s for five days in March, and there were only three days of below zero temperatures all month.
In March, at least 7,775 weather stations across the nation broke daily high temperature records and another 7,517 broke records for night-time heat. Combined, that's more high temperature records broken in one month than ever before, Crouch said.
"When you look at what's happened in March this year, it's beyond unbelievable," said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver.
NOAA climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi compared the increase in weather extremes to baseball players on steroids: You can't say an individual homer is because of steroids, but they are hit more often and the long-held records for home runs fall.
They seem to be falling far more often because of global warming, said NASA top climate scientist James Hansen. In a paper he submitted to the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and posted on a physics research archive, Hansen shows that heat extremes aren't just increasing but happening far more often than scientists thought.
What used to be a 1-in-400 hot temperature record is now a 1 in 10 occurrence, essentially 40 times more likely, said Hansen. The warmth in March is an ideal illustration of this, said Hansen, who also has become an activist in fighting fossil fuels.
Weaver, who reviewed the Hansen paper and called it "one of the most stunning examples of evidence of global warming."
National Climatic Data Center: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
James Hansen's study on climate extremes: http://bit.ly/HQzxeq
Seth Borenstein be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears


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Posted: under Entertainment, Megan Fox.
Tags: actress, Beverly Hills 90210, bisexual, Brian Austin Green, Britain, films, Harper's Bazaar, love, lover, Megan Fox, movie, sex, Transformers
Megan Fox The 'Transformers' actress – who is regarded as one of the world's sexiest women – insists she has only been intimate with long-term partner Brian Austin Green and her first boyfriend as she can only have sex with people she loves. Megan Fox has previously claimed that she is bisexual – so I guess having sex with women doesn't count? She says that she is nothing like her sex siren image and is happy living a quiet life with former 'Beverly Hills 90210' star Brian and his eight-year-old son, Kassius. The 23-year-old screen beauty told Britain's Harper's Bazaar magazine: "I am a stepmother to the fullest extent. I have looked after Kassius since he was three and he has no memory of life without me. Megan and Brian, 36, split briefly last year but soon rekindled their romance. How nice for them I hope it lasts.
Click here to see naked pictures and videos of Megan.
Comments (0) Mar 03 2010


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Catastrophe: Risk and Response (Oxford University Press 2004) (forthcoming).He also published (or is about to publish) the following scholarly articles:
The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law (Harvard University Press 2003) (with William M. Landes).
Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy (Harvard University Press 2003).
Economic Analysis of Law, 6th ed. (Aspen Law & Business 2003).
"The Effect of U.S. Tort Law, and of Tort-Law Reform, on the Reinsurance Industry," (unpublished, September 2004).He also published the following shorter articles:
"Judicial Behavior and Performance: An Economic Approach," Florida State University Law Review (forthcoming).
"The Law and Economics of Contract Interpretation," (unpublished, October 2004).
"The Federal Trade Commission: A Retrospective," Antitrust Law Journal (forthcoming).
"Legal Pragmatism," in The Range of Pragmatism and the Limits of Philosophy 144, Richard Shusterman, ed. (2004).
"Intellectual Property: The Law-and-Economics Approach," Journal of Economic Perspectives (forthcoming).
"Guido Calabresi's The Costs of Accidents: A Reassessment," Maryland Law Review (forthcoming).
"Brandeis and Holmes, Business and Economics, Then and Now," Review of Law and Economics (forthcoming).
"The Evolution of Economic Thinking about Legislation and Its Interpretation by Courts," Theory and Practice of Legislation: Essays in Legisprudence (forthcoming).
"The Law and Economics Movement: From Bentham to Becker," (unpublished, December 2003).
"Torture, Interrogation, and Terrorism," in Torture: A Collection 291, Sanford Levinson, ed. (2004).
"Law and Economics in Common-Law, Civil-Law, and Developing Nations," 17 Ratio Juris 66 (2004).
"Federalism and the Enforcement of Antitrust Laws by State Attorneys General," in Competition Laws in Conflict: Antitrust Jurisdiction in the Global Economy 252, Richard A. Epstein and Michael S. Greve, eds. (2004).
"Censorship and Free Speech: First Amendment Issues in the Visual Arts," (unpublished, September 2003) (with T. J. Chiang).
"The Political Economy of Intellectual Property Law," ( AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies 2004) (with William M. Landes).
"The 2000 Presidential Election: A Statistical and Legal Analysis," 12 Supreme Court Economic Review 1 (2004).
"The Impeachment and Trial of William Clinton," (unpublished, August 2003).
"Fair Use and Statutory Reform in the Wake of Eldred," California Law Review (forthcoming) (coauthored with William F. Patry).
"How Long Should a Copyright Last?" 50 Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. 1 (2003).
"Legal Pragmatism," 35 Metaphilosophy 147 (2004).
"Pragmatic Liberalism versus Classical Liberalism," 71 University of Chicago Law Review 659 (2004).
"The Constitutionality of the Copyright Term Extension Act: Economics, Politics, Law, and Judicial Technique in Eldred v. Ashcroft," Supreme Court Review 143 (2004).
"An Empirical Analysis of the Patent Court," 71 University of Chicago Law Review 111 (2004) (with William M. Landes).
"The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change," Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Summer 2003 Supplement, p. S87 (with Tomas J. Philipson).
"Misappropriation: A Dirge," 40 Houston Law Review 621 (2003).
"Cognitive Theory as the Ground of for Political Theory in Plato, Popper, Dewey, and Hayek," Advances in Austrian Economics (forthcoming).
"John Dewey and the Intersection of Democracy and Law," in Dewey, Pragmatism, and Economic Methodology 167, Elias L. Khalil, ed. (2004).
"Animal Rights: Legal, Philosophical, and Pragmatic Perspectives," in Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions 51, Martha C. Nussbaum and Cass R. Sunstein, eds. (2004).
"Reply: The Institutional Dimension of Statutory and Constitutional Interpretation," 101 Michigan Law Review 952 (2003).
"Norms and Values in the Economic Approach to Law," Economic Analysis of Law: A European Perspective, Aristides N. Hatzis, ed. (forthcoming).
"Transaction Costs and Antitrust Concerns in the Licensing of Intellectual Property," Les Nouvelles: Journal of the Licensing Executives Society (forthcoming).In addition, a LEXIS search reveals that in 2003-04, there have been 171 opinions written by Posner in his position as a Seventh Circuit judge. (I've heard that he ruffled some feathers when he first joined that court and asked to hear double the number of cases assigned to other judges.) He also wrote 4 concurrences and 5 dissents.
"Against Law Reviews," Legal Affairs (November/December 2004)
"Eldred and Fair Use," The Economists' Voice, September 2004, http://www.bepress.com/ev/vol1/iss1/art3.
Review of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Leslie S. Klinger ed. (2004) New Republic (October 11, 2004).
Guest Blogger, "Lessig Blog," Aug. 23–29, 2004, http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/2004_08.shtml.
"The 9/11 Report: A Dissent," Review of Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, New York Times Book Review 1(Aug. 29, 2004).
"Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy: A Response to Ilya Somin," Critical Review (forthcoming).
"Constitutional Law from a Pragmatic Perspective", review of David M. Beatty, The Ultimate Rule of Law (2004) University of Toronto Law Journal (forthcoming).
"The People's Court" (Review of Larry D. Kramer, The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review [2004]), New Republic, July 19, 2004, p. 32..
"Citing the Decisions of Foreign and International Courts," Legal Affairs (forthcoming).
"Foreword," in Aspasia Tsaoussis-Hatzis, The Greek Divorce Law Reform of 1983 and Its Impact on Homemakers: A Social and Economic Analysis ix (2003).
"Richard Posner Replies [to Evan Gerstmann]," New Republic 5 (February 16, 2004).
"Community and Conscription," Rethinking Commodification: Readings in Law and Culture (forthcoming).
"Smooth Sailing," Legal Affairs 40 (Jan./Feb. 2004).
"Civil Liberties and National Security: The Pragmatic Approach" (unpublished, December 2003).
"Democracy and Judiciary: A Comment on Aulis Aarnio, The Court System and Democracy," Ratio Juris (forthcoming).
"Wedding Bell Blues," Review of Evan Gerstmann, Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution [2004], New Republic 33 (Dec. 22, 2003).
"Pragmatic Liberalism Defended," University of Chicago Law Review (forthcoming).
"The End Is Near," Review of Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake (2003), New Republic 31 (Sept. 22, 2003).
"Law and Economics in Common Law and Civil Law Nations," 7 Associations: Journal for Legal and Social Theory 77 (2003).
"Hayek, the Mind, and Spontaneous Order: A Critique," Transactional Viewpoints 1 (Summer 2003).
"Our Technological Future?" New Republic (forthcoming).
"Desperate Times, Desperate Measures," Review of Daniel Farber, Lincolns Constitution, New York Times Book Review 20 (August 24, 2003).
"Richard A. Posner Replies," [to William A. Galston], New Republic 5 (July 28 & Aug. 4, 2003).
"An Army of the Willing: Why Conscription Does Not Serve Community," New Republic 27 (May 19, 2003).
Review of Daniel Farber, Lincoln's Constitution (March 2003, unpublished).
"The Anti-Hero," Review of Bruce Allen Murphy, Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas (2003), New Republic 27 (February 24, 2003).
And he does all of his own writing. Here's what Fortune Magazine said in a 2000 article:
Unlike most judges, moreover, Posner drafts all his own opinions. Though his clerks describe him as a relaxed family man who likes to dally at lunch and keeps unremarkable hours, Posner magically assumes the productivity of J.S. Bach when he sits down at the keyboard. "He has the ability to write final prose in his first draft," says Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig, who clerked for Posner in 1989. "He could go home in the evening and produce two 30-page, single-spaced opinions, with citations, in one evening. They were good enough to be published without any editing."Amazing. No, astounding. No, there aren't adjectives strong enough to describe it.


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Mark Ackerman Named ACM Fellow
Prof. Mark Ackerman, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction and a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and in the School of Information, has been elected a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) "for contributions to human computer interaction, with an emphasis on finding and sharing expertise."
Professor Ackerman's research discoveries have been in human-computer interaction, primarily in the sub-field of computer-supported cooperative work. He has made fundamental contributions in the areas of knowledge-sharing, expertise finding, organizational memory, collaborative information access, and socio-technical analysis.
Professor Ackerman is best known for his research on how people share expertise and knowledge within organizations and other social groups. He developed and evaluated Answer Garden, one of the first computer-based systems for locating and sharing expertise. Prof. Ackerman's Answer Garden papers are widely regarded as landmark works in CSCW, and as a whole, have been cited over 1000 times. Since the work incorporated social networks into expertise sharing, it has been acknowledged as foreshadowing later developments in social computing.
At Michigan, Prof. Ackerman leads the SocialWorlds Research Group, which focuses on the interplay of the social world with computational systems. Current projects are in the areas of social computing, information access, pervasive computing, health, privacy, and e-communities.
Prof. Ackerman received his PhD in Information Technologies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.He joined the faculty at Michigan in 2001; prior to that he was a faculty member at the University of California, Irvine, and a research scientist at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science (now CSAIL). Before becoming an academic, Prof. Ackerman led the development of the first home banking system, had three Billboard Top-10 games for the Atari 2600, and worked on the X Window System's first user-interface widget set. He was awarded an NSF CAREER Award in 2001. He is a member of the CHI Academy (HCI Fellow).
ACM press release: ACM Names Fellows for Computing Advances that Are Transforming Science and Society
About the ACM Fellows Program
The ACM Fellows Program was established in 1993 to recognize and honor outstanding ACM members for their achievements in computer science and information technology and for their significant contributions to the mission of the ACM. The ACM Fellows serve as distinguished colleagues to whom the ACM and its members look for guidance and leadership as the world of information technology evolves.


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If you live abroad or do not want to buy something for yourself but just want to pay for clothing for someone in need, you can purchase a gift card (denominated in SHEKELS) and it will be used to cover the costs of items sent to women and girls displaced by the war.
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Put "Mikol Halev EEE" in the comments. (US Tax ID 84-5138602)
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Perfect for overweight or less active cats, Natural Balance Fat Cats Low Calorie Dry Cat Food is designed to help your furry friend achieve and maintain a healthy weight. A blend of natural fiber and high quality protein help to keep your cat nutritionally balanced with fewer calories than found in other dry foods. Though this food has far less calories than other dry foods, Natural Balance Fat Cats Low Calorie Dry Cat Food still packs a punch and leaves your cat feeling full and satisfied!
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The Summer of Wellbeing, Part I
"Wellbeing" is about more than health; it's a state of balance in your mind, body, and spirit. In order to achieve a state of wellbeing (which some might also describe as happiness or personal harmony), you have to look at, well, your whole being. Think of wellbeing as a bridge that requires the support of all its beams: if you only focus on your physical health and neglect your emotional needs, the bridge will collapse. Likewise, if you focus on relieving personal stress without strengthening your connection to your community or environment, you won't be able to achieve the sense of balance you are striving for.
Sound like a big job? Then let's start with the basics: the body.
The importance of movement
It's no secret that our bodies need physical activity in order to stay healthy, but you may not have considered the flipside: staying sedentary for long periods of time (eight hours in front of the computer at work, or an evening on the couch watching television) is actually dangerous. A Mayo Clinic researcher found that sitting down for long periods of time can have a seriously negative effect on the body's cholesterol levels and insulin effectiveness, and it can also cause the leg muscles to lose their ability to remove harmful lipo-proteins from the blood. This is scary news for those of us who have desk jobs and love to spend evenings catching up on Mad Men reruns--how can we work with our schedules and our habits to create the conditions for better physical health?
Start paying attention to your body
The first step in achieving long-lasting wellbeing is to simply be aware of yourself. That's it. The practice of mindfulness is thousands of years old, and for good reason--the more we pay attention to our habits and thoughts, the more likely we are to make healthy decisions for ourselves. So kick-start this Summer of Wellbeing with the simple practice of watching your body move throughout the day. How many hours do you sit? Do you take the stairs or the elevator? When does your body feel restless, fidgety, or tired? It might help to keep a journal the first week to track the movements of your body, or you may want to do a body scan to bring even more awareness to specific parts of your body.
After a few days, reflect on what you have noticed. Are you sitting for hours in front of a computer each day, or are you on your feet? What parts of your body feel sore or in need of stretching? At what points during the day did you see an opportunity to break out of old habits and begin new ones?
Move your body more
It's okay to start small: walk down the hall to say hello to your neighbor instead of emailing, do chair yoga at your desk at work, or take your dog one extra block during his evening walk. As you practice paying attention to your body, you'll notice more and more opportunities to keep your body moving during the day, and you'll be aware of which of those opportunities you take, and which ones you avoid.
Once you become more aware of the way you move your body every day, take our Fitness Assessment to determine where your physical-activity strengths and weaknesses are. Then read about what experts recommend for fitness and begin to incorporate the right kind of movement into your life. Try to incorporate a balance of aerobic activity and mindful movement, such as yoga or qigong, each week. (Don't forget: the more you move, the better chances you have of fighting off type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer.)
Be gentle with yourself
Cultivating wellbeing is not an overnight project--it's a process that requires some motivation, mindfulness, and a lot of friendliness toward yourself. You may want to start out with ambitious goals that require big changes. But you don't need to try so hard (and risk running out of steam). Take small steps and appreciate the rewards. If you miss a few days, just start up again, without beating yourself up. Remember that you are on the path to wellbeing, and every part of that journey should contribute to your sense of harmony. Enjoy the trip!
This article is the first in a series. You can continue to the next article, "Feeding Your Body" if you wish.


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It was reported on the BBC this morning that fewer than two in five students think they are getting value for money from their courses. This is based on a survey of 14000 students. The students want more teaching time. They want more contact with the teachers in return for their £9250 a year.
What is going wrong? One response was quite alarmingly complacent. The spokesman said that things were getting "better" as 38% of students were satisfied with the value for money vs 35% last year. This is a statement that seems to miss the point about the 62% who are dissatisfied.
This reminded me of my son's recent experience at York University and his reaction to what he was offered and how the institution related to him. He liked his teachers, he wanted more input from them. He received about 5 hours a week input. But he felt the university was more preoccupied with new buildings and a massive plan to expand the capacity of the university. Today the Universities Minister Sam Gyimah, warned universities about generating courses just to put bums on seats
My son also noticed the very high salaries paid to the top management who remained invisible to students and he felt did not contribute much. (The vice chancellor received £293,000 last year, so it needs 32 students fees cover this alone).
So what is wrong? Why are so many students dissatisfied or frustrated? I wonder if the government and the new professional management has created a whole new breed of value extractors who have lost sight of the purpose of the universities. The focus seems to have shifted from quality research and education to expanding the numbers and generating income to fund the expansion.
I believe the future value of our universities is the research they do and education they provide to students. Both of these are a public good that benefits the whole of society. This is their purpose. The fact the students report dissatisfaction with the education should be a major cause for alarm. The students have pointed to one thing that would raise quality and that is more contact time.
My daughter had a different experience at Cambridge. The students at Oxford and Cambridge are more satisfied as they get double and treble the contact time offered by other universities. This is largely funded by Alumnae grants and donations. But again their higher satisfaction indicates that contact time matters.
My definition of value is based on what value the universities add by what they do, the research and education. This is very different from the value definition provided by ministers and the universities. This is just about the price that students can charge for themselves when they leave. The value is about the higher earnings that the students will enjoy in later life. Interestingly, the Institute for Fiscal studies is going to produce a report on how different courses and universities deliver on this.
This distinction is important. A value-adding brand or organisation starts by focusing on its purpose which should be based on what it can do to help its customers (in this case teach them well). A value extracting approach just looks at the numbers and says what is the least I need to put in to get the highest price and quickest return.
The problem for the value extractor is that the customers tend to rumble what they are up to and look elsewhere. There were 4% fewer applicants for university places in 2017. In contrast, a value adder attracts more customers and keeps the ones they have. They create long-term value.
I hope our universities are paying attention, we need them to work for our country.