text:
As USA TODAY Sports' Mike Garafolo reports, if NFL officials are back on the field this week, Ed Hochuli will deserve some credit for the quick turnaround.
Garafolo writes that Hochuli has been maintaining a weekly conference call with officials during the lockout.
Three weeks into the NFL season, the league's regular officials have been reduced to this, making rulings to one another on mostly hypothetical situations. They're given a test -- this week's was No. 18 -- and then review the answers on the conference call. It's all part of Hochuli's plan to make sure he and his colleagues remain sharp and prepared for the moment an agreement is reached between their union and the league, and for when the lockout is subsequently lifted.
To summarize, Hochuli has been gathering officials on his own to prepare them for games they aren't assured of officiating. This brings to mind the natural question: Can you imagine how long those phone calls must have been?
There are books of the Old Testament shorter than Hochuli's explanation of an offsides call. Remember his epic 59-second explanation of the overtime rules at last year's NFC championship game? Or the 63-word, Magna Carta-inspired dissertation on why Percy Harvin's fumble was a fumble? I bet he opened the call and took a half-hour just to discuss the nuances of phone etiquette.
"While on the phone with others, there are special rules to obey. I shall discuss them now. The first of these rules is to put the phone on mute if you're not talking at that specific moment. No one wants to hear you sipping on your Slurpee, Triplette."
And another 20 minutes to explain the rules of the call:
"The format of this exam will have two parts. The first is a four-answer multiple choice with selections placed in random orders determined by me while I was doing cardio this morning. You must answer in the form of a question, so please say 'who is' or 'what is' before your response. The second part is an oral essay. If the first official I call on does not get the answer right, I shall call on someone else. If no one gets it right, we will go into sudden death, which is the respective names of my left and right forearms."
I bet they were on the phone for nine hours.


text:
|2,100 sq. ft.
|Property type
|Minimum Stay
|7 nights
Emerald warm waters, white sand, quiet beaches and amazing sunsets. That covers it all.
View the gulf from every room! Welcome to our quiet, prestigious 3 bedroom 3 bath home, just a few steps from the emerald gulf waters. You don't want to be closer to the beach than this!
3 verandas, screened and also open. Great for entertaining or just relaxing. Designer-decorated and very spacious and fun to live in. The Master bedroom is upstairs and 2 other bedrooms are downstairs. There are 3 full baths. Privacy is enjoyed by all.
We had a great stay at Unexpected Blessings ll. Very close to the beach, great upper deck and the house is equipped with everything you would ever need. The upper deck was an additional room to the house! We had 8 people and the deck had plenty of room for everyone. We ate our meals outside and on windy chilly days we lounged on the deck instead of going to the beach. We have rented many beach houses and this was the most well equipped. Kitchen had everything and more then needed. Beach towels, abundance of beach chairs, umbrellas and sand toys was wonderful. I've never had these things available in a house before. Thank you!!!
Myself, one neice and 5 sisters just returned from 8 nights in AMI. We stayed at Unexpected Blessings II for the first time. We loved the house, and the proximity to the ocean. We had all the comforts of home, plus the bonus of beach chairs, umbrellas and such at our disposal. The owners couldnt have been nicer! The layout is great for a large family with 3 baths and two living areas, not counting all the outdoor spaces. Very clean with comfortable furniture.
We had a fantastic stay in your vacation home. It is close to the ocean and we enjoyed many breakfast and dinners on the deck. My husband, who doesn't enjoy the ocean that much, asked me about returning this fall.
Hope to be back soon. Thanks, Arla
This house was very spacious, clean, extremely well located and had everything you'd need for a stay at the beach. The owners were very easy to work with and let us have a late check out to extend our stay a few extra hours. The Island is a fun family-oriented vacation destination with loads of restaurants and beautiful white-sand beaches just out the front door. We spent our time relaxing in the sun, walking on the beach, boogie-boarding, eating out and enjoying family time together.
We, family of 5, just returned from our stay at Unexpected Blessings. We had an awesome week; the weather couldn't have been better and the home had everything we needed! This rental home was just like home for us. We cooked out several nights; enjoying the deck and the view. Our son spent hours paddling around in the kayak. We liked the split floor plan. The kitchen was the best stocked kitchen for a rental home that we have experienced. We didn't have to make a single unexpected trip to the grocery. We didn't want for a pot, pan, dish, bowl, etc.... The home owners are generous in that they truly make their rental a home away from home. The house was clean, linens nice, and again location terrific. We will be back!
We spent four nights here in July and found everything clean, friendly, accessible, and fully set up for an emblematic Florida vacation, or I should say Anna Maria Island vacation. That's always the conflict: Should we tell others how great this place is, or change the subject and hope no one else finds out about it? This home is very big, with numerous discrete but connnected living areas; modern appliances; many, many things in the garage to use at the beach; good technology (internet; good cell phone signal strength; even a printer); good ocean views; great beach proximity. Washer and dryer work well. We were just 3 people. House could take many more. With the ocean right there, the lack of a pool is not a negative. We would come back here again without question. Owner is very responsive and professional to do set up and payment.
Nearby is St. Armand Circle, dine at wonderful restaurants, enjoy the arts, gift shops, and outlet shopping. There are many outings, just a short ride from your vacation home. Sarasota and Tampa airports are 30-50 minutes away. There is golfing, fishing, boating, kayaking, snorkeling, diving, and much more. Or just walk the beautiful beaches hunting for shells. Professional baseball is minutes away with Pittsburg Pirates, Devil Rays & Yankees. Nearby, Orlando boasts Disney, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Sea World & Universal. Our guests come from all over the world and many from Florida. Most repeat with us year after year. I think you will see why!
Other Activities: shell hunting, kayaking, gift shops, discount outlet mall
|Refundable damage deposit
|Cleaning Fee
|$225 + Tax
|Tax Rate

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Mayer Brown has experience in many specific matters. Search the entire list.
Mayer Brown has more than 250 lawyers ranked by Chambers worldwide and more than 150 Peer Review Rated lawyers in Martindale Hubbell.
On 19 March 2013, the Legislative Council Panel on Manpower reviewed and discussed a briefing paper submitted by the Labour and Welfare Bureau of the Labour Department in November 2011. The paper detailed the results of a special topic enquiry into the status, numbers, legal employment protections and benefits entitlements of short duration and short working hours employees ("SDWH employees"). These are employees who work for short durations or shorter working hours and whose employment status, therefore, does not qualify as falling within the definition of 'continuous contract'. The enquiry came about following calls for a review of SDWH employees' status whose employment situation is generally regarded as less secure and less protected than those employees engaged under a continuous contract.
Points of note from the special topic enquiry:
Next steps:
With calls to relax the 4-18 requirement under the Employment Ordinance, it remains to be seen whether the Administration will propose any such amendments following the results of this special topic enquiry. As always the interests of both the employees and employers will be taken into account and views sought accordingly. Watch this space for further updates and developments.
For inquiries related to this Legal Update, please contact Hong Tran,
Mayer Brown is a global legal services provider comprising legal practices that are separate entities (the "Mayer Brown Practices"). The Mayer Brown Practices are: Mayer Brown LLP and Mayer Brown Europe-Brussels LLP, both limited liability partnerships established in Illinois USA; Mayer Brown International LLP, a limited liability partnership incorporated in England and Wales (authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and registered in England and Wales number OC 303359); Mayer Brown, a SELAS established in France; Mayer Brown Mexico, S.C., a sociedad civil formed under the laws of the State of Durango, Mexico; Mayer Brown JSM, a Hong Kong partnership and its associated legal practices in Asia; and Tauil & Chequer Advogados, a Brazilian law partnership with which Mayer Brown is associated. Mayer Brown Consulting (Singapore) Pte. Ltd and its subsidiary, which are affiliated with Mayer Brown, provide customs and trade advisory and consultancy services, not legal services. "Mayer Brown" and the Mayer Brown logo are the trademarks of the Mayer Brown Practices in their respective jurisdictions.
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text:
Hi Guys
Any oldtimer got a manual for one of these flash units??? (I'm an oldtimer too!!)
Otherwise has anyone still got or uses one of these units???? I just need a bit of information on whether the power settings are active in "auto" and how you read the auto ranges???


text:
Mocha Lady Fingers
From my story "Gold Star"
5 large eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
½ cup cake flour
¼ tsp salt
The Process
Prepare two cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.
Pre-heat the oven to 350˚F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks and ½ cup of the granulated sugar at medium speed until the yolks are pale and thick, about three minutes.
Add the espresso powder and cocoa powder and mix until completely absorbed, about 2 minutes.
Add the cake flour and mix on low briefly, just until the flour has been absorbed. (Err on the side of under mixing, and finish mixing by hand with a rubber scraper.) Mixture will be very thick. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.
Thoroughly clean the stand mixer bowl and whisk attachment. Add the egg whites to the bowl and beat the whites on medium high speed. When they have started to become frothy, slowly add the remaining ½ cup of granulated sugar and continue beating until the whites have reached stiff peak stage, about eight or nine minutes.
Fold the whites into the yolk mixture in two or three stages.
Cookies are shaped by either being piped through a pastry bag fitted with a wide, plain tip, or by carefully spooning the batter into small rounds onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake on the top shelf of the preheated oven for 14 to 15 minutes. Transfer on the parchment to racks and allow to cool thoroughly.


text:
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text:
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You are here > Home > Baseball Newsstand
Baseball Newsstand
— All the News That's Fit to Link
Monday, January 22, 2018
Top 100 MLB Prospects 2018 | BaseballAmerica.com
Jim Furtado Posted: January 22, 2018 at 09:08 AM | 40 comment(s)
Beats: prospects, prospects rankings, top 100
Top 100 Prospects: Start Of A Ranking Revolution | BaseballAmerica.com
Worth revisiting because today is the day.
Jim Furtado Posted: January 22, 2018 at 08:48 AM | 8 comment(s)
Beats: prospect rankings, prospects, prospects reports, top 100
OTP 22 January 2018: What the Baseball Hall of Fame can teach us about elections
Read More...
Mellow Mouse, Benevolent Space Tyrant Posted: January 22, 2018 at 08:44 AM | 4563 comment(s)
Beats: hall of fame, politics
Fangraphs: Lars Anderson Discovers Australia
Following on the heels of his foray into Japan, Lars Anderson is now playing in Australia.
villageidiom Posted: January 22, 2018 at 08:37 AM | 11 comment(s)
Beats: australia, australian baseball, lars anderson
Rosenthal roundtable: Five MLB players weigh in on the pace-of-play rules and the need for change – The Athletic
Enforce the 12 second rule. I want the game done in 2.5 hours.
Read More...
Jim Furtado Posted: January 22, 2018 at 08:32 AM | 146 comment(s)
Beats: pay site, rules
Tim Benz: Contend this year? Don't buy what Pirates are selling | TribLIVE
Read More...
Jim Furtado Posted: January 22, 2018 at 08:26 AM | 5 comment(s)
Beats: pirates
Grichuk to Jays for Leone
Haven't seen this mentioned around here.
Walt Davis Posted: January 22, 2018 at 12:54 AM | 15 comment(s)
Beats: blue jays, cardlinals, dominic leone, randal grichuk
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Gordo: Cardinals' rush to trade Grichuk seems puzzling
salvomania Posted: January 21, 2018 at 04:56 PM | 0 comment(s)
Beats: blue jays, cardinals, randal grichuk
Saturday, January 20, 2018
A Newly Discovered Wasp Is Named After the True Hit King Ichiro
The newly crowned Diolcogaster ichiroi had been sitting in relative anonymity in the Canadian National Collection of Insects, which contains over 17 million specimens. The specimen was collected about 30 miles from Lake Okeechobee and 145 miles from Marlins Park where last Ichiro played.
From entomologist Jose Fernandez-Triana's scientific paper officially naming the wasp: "At the time the research for this paper was being conducted, Ichiro was still playing for a Florida team and thus naming ...Read More...
Gonfalon Bubble Posted: January 20, 2018 at 01:47 PM | 22 comment(s)
Beats: ichiro suzuki
Inside Baseball | Scott Boras Weighs In On Slow Market
Boras has an expensive computer. OK, then, I'm convinced.
Read More...
Jim Furtado Posted: January 20, 2018 at 07:50 AM | 25 comment(s)
Beats: economics, scott boras
Friday, January 19, 2018
NBC Sports Philadelphia: Morphine found in Roy Halladay's system before fatal plane crash
Not quite José Fernández-level impairment but…
Read More...
Stormy JE wanted to milk the soft power dividend Posted: January 19, 2018 at 07:56 PM | 32 comment(s)
Beats: deaths in baseball, drugs, roy halladay
Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-19-2018
Chicago Eagle, January 19, 1918:
Read More...
Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: January 19, 2018 at 10:08 AM | 15 comment(s)
Beats: dugout, history
BenFred: Everybody can find a story about Musial's magic | Ben Frederickson | stltoday.com
Jim Furtado Posted: January 19, 2018 at 09:34 AM | 3 comment(s)
Beats: cardinals, history, stan musial
15 big league prospects to watch in 2018
Honeywell is a great prospect because of his command on most of his repertoire. The screwball is an option for him but it's a pitch he throws less than a handful of times each game.
Jim Furtado Posted: January 19, 2018 at 09:17 AM | 1 comment(s)
Beats: prospects
Why is J.D. Martinez's big bat still available
Why should the Red Sox bid against themselves? If there was another team out there willing to bid higher, he would have signed already. Certainly a higher bid could eventually materialize but until that actually happens…
Jim Furtado Posted: January 19, 2018 at 09:11 AM | 48 comment(s)
Beats: free agents, j.d. martinez, red sox
The 2017-18 Offseason: Trend or Anomaly? - MLB Trade Rumors
There is a lot of misinformation and baseless conjecture out there from people trying to figure out the current market. This includes MLB personnel. Last night I was more than surprised to hear MLB Radio Network's @CaseyStern saying MLB is blatantly colluding to keep free agent salaries down. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't completely surprised; he says a lot of stupid stuff. To hear an announcer, who is essentially employed by MLB, making the case for collusion so strongly did keep me listening ...Read More...
Jim Furtado Posted: January 19, 2018 at 06:39 AM | 12 comment(s)
Beats: economics
Thursday, January 18, 2018
MLB's plan on how they can make baseball games at least 10 minutes shorter
From Jeff Passan:
Read More...
Greg Pope Posted: January 18, 2018 at 10:06 PM | 40 comment(s)
Beats: time of game
Pitch clock likely coming to MLB in 2018 after union rejects latest pace-of-play plan
Calling all Traditionalists and Innovators: Fight!
Srul Itza Posted: January 18, 2018 at 06:58 PM | 0 comment(s)
Beats: commissioner, history, mlbpa
Bill James on Baseball, Facts, and the Rules of the Game
Russ Roberts is the John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He hosts a podcast called Econtalk. He had Bill James as a guest.
Dreadful Foie Gras Posted: January 18, 2018 at 12:28 PM | 0 comment(s)
Beats: bill james, podcast
Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-18-2018
Tacoma Times, January 18, 1918:
So, to recap: About a month ago, the Cubs sent ...Read More...
Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: January 18, 2018 at 10:56 AM | 13 comment(s)
Beats: dugout, history
The Current MLB Free Agent Market - Perception vs Reality? | Jays From The Couch
A very interesting take on 2018 free agency.
Read More...
Jim Furtado Posted: January 18, 2018 at 08:36 AM | 12 comment(s)
Beats: economics, free agents
Francisco Mejia leads top catching prospects
Jim Furtado Posted: January 18, 2018 at 08:29 AM | 26 comment(s)
Beats: prospects
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Christian Yelich can only blame himself for Jeter entanglement | New York Post
And the money he's getting is in the same currency. It's not like Jeter converted payment into Monopoly money.
Jim Furtado Posted: January 17, 2018 at 03:33 PM | 62 comment(s)
Beats: christian yelich, marlins
Comparing a Player Outside His Era | Articles | Bill James Online
Very interesting stuff from two of the very best analysts ever.
I've always been marginally interested in the HOF debate. One of the biggest reasons is it's pretty impossible to compare players across eras. I didn't always believe this to be true. My feeling changed when I was working on my own WAR system, xWins, about 20 years ago. The differences in data and contexts are two HUGE problems which I do not believe can be sufficiently accounted for in the analysis.
On there other hand, if you ...Read More...
Jim Furtado Posted: January 17, 2018 at 03:07 PM | 43 comment(s)
Beats: evaluating players, history
Rubbing Mud: The Evidence of Price Fixing We Have So Far - Baseball Prospectus
Time to get out the Reynolds Wrap.
Read More...
Jim Furtado Posted: January 17, 2018 at 11:44 AM | 24 comment(s)
Beats: economics, free agents
2018 Top 10 left-handed pitching prospects
Jim Furtado Posted: January 17, 2018 at 11:14 AM | 14 comment(s)
Beats: prospects
Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-17-2018
Richmond (Indiana) Palladium, January 17, 1918:
Read More...
Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: January 17, 2018 at 10:17 AM | 9 comment(s)
Beats: dugout, history
Debating the Mets' Signing of Adrian Gonzalez With Myself
goodfundies Posted: January 17, 2018 at 12:33 AM | 4 comment(s)
Beats: adrian gonzalez, mets, the simpsons
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Bill James on Baseball, Facts, and the Rules
I expect this interview to go well beyond baseball. Econtalk tackles a lot of different topics but frequently dwells in the "meta" realm of those topics. Russ, the host, is a huge Red Sox fan as well as a great interviewer.
isaacc7 Posted: January 16, 2018 at 10:28 PM | 1 comment(s)
Beats: bill james, podcast
Padres won't feature brown uniforms until 2020, at the earliest - The San Diego Union-Tribune
Jim Furtado Posted: January 16, 2018 at 08:24 PM | 10 comment(s)
Beats: padres, uniforms
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Paul McHale
The form and image of Paul McHale's artwork establishes a text from which a viewer may contemplate meanings of sacred and secular, of transient and transcendent, and of signifier and signified. Delayed stories emerge and subtract the daily encounters to ferment tales of another place that are still here in the world. One finds hand writing on many of his paintings subtly just below the surface of the paint, which hint or sometimes explicitly demarcate what is going on in the thoughts of the characters. The use of images often seen in childhood create both a world young, familiar and distant.
Villanova University, BA in Philosophy, 1999
Group Shows
Broadway Gallery, New York, NY: Clothesline Show, January 2010
Saint Philips Church, Harlem, NY: Breath on Me, October 1 - December 1, 2009
ApexArt, New York, NY: The Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe, July 7 - August 11, 2007
Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA: Across and Between: February 9 - March 7, 2007
Saint Philips Church, Harlem, NY: Sanctuary and Undercroft, October 1 - 31 2006
Art Gotham: The Square Foot Show, New York, NY September 30 - October 3, 2005
Visual Aids: Postcards from the Edge, New York, NY 2004 & 2005
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Employee Art Show 2003 & 2005
Borders Books Cafe, Wynnewood, PA, 2002
Newman Gallery Award, Philadelphia, 2007
St. Philips Church, Harlem NY: November, 2009


text:
Pfizer said to plan raising AstraZeneca bid for second time
New York/Geneva/London: Pfizer Inc. is planning to sweeten its bid for UK rival AstraZeneca Plc for a second time, sources said. Pfizer and its advisers are crafting a new offer that would increase the value modestly above the current £50-a-share (about $84) level while bumping the cash portion, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Pfizer will probably wait until after UK government hearings to raise its bid, they said.
Pfizer is putting together a sweetened offer before it considers whether to make a hostile takeover attempt by bringing its proposal directly to AstraZeneca's shareholders, the people said. Pfizer would prefer a friendly deal since its unsolicited overture already has attracted political scrutiny in the US and UK. AstraZeneca rejected Pfizer's second proposal on 2 May, valued at £62.6 billion ($106 billion) and made up of 32% cash and the rest in stock.
Ian Read, Pfizer's chief executive officer, and Pascal Soriot, his counterpart at AstraZeneca, will testify at two separate parliamentary committees this week, as the UK government seeks guarantees that Pfizer will preserve jobs and medical research in Britain.
Pfizer is concerned it's beginning to lose momentum on the deal, said two of the people, and will be talking further to investors and listening to what comes out of the hearings as it evaluates its next steps.
Representatives for Pfizer and AstraZeneca declined to comment.
Tax rates
Pfizer has said it would move its legal residence to the UK, gaining a lower tax rate, while the company's operational headquarters would remain in New York. In doing so, Pfizer would join more than a dozen other companies that have said they are making or considering such transactions since 2012.
Read has said the tax benefits, the chance to avoid US taxes on $70 billion in cash built up overseas and AstraZeneca's promising cancer medicines are among the reasons Pfizer is pursuing the deal.
The tax issue has sparked criticism from US lawmakers, including Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chairman of the senate finance committee that oversees tax legislation. Wyden said he may take up a proposal that would make it harder for US companies to shift their legal addresses to avoid taxes.
Cancer drug
A deal with AstraZeneca would help Pfizer add early-stage drugs that use the body's own immune cells to recognize and attack tumours. Atop the list is MEDI4736, AstraZeneca's immuno-oncology drug expected to compete with experimental therapies from drugmakers including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Merck and Co. and Roche Holding AG.
British lawmakers earlier this month mobilized against Pfizer's attempt, demanding business secretary Vince Cable secure assurances on jobs and research investment. Part of Pfizer's pitch to British officials is that AstraZeneca is a global company and has substantial operations and people outside the country, said one of the people.
About 40% of AstraZeneca's revenue in 2013 came from North America, and more than 30% from outside of Europe, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
AstraZeneca chairman Leif Johansson said the drugmaker will return to growth as an independent company and listed the reasons for rejecting the Pfizer offer in a video this month. Among them: The bid significantly undervalued the company, he said.
Job assurances
Pfizer has pledged to keep at least one-fifth of the combined companies' research and development workers and substantial manufacturing plants in the UK for at least five years after a deal.
In the US, the governors of Maryland and Delaware have asked for similar assurances, raising concerns that Pfizer would reduce about 5,700 AstraZeneca jobs in their states as part of a cost-cutting effort after the acquisition. Read wrote to the governor's on Sunday saying it was too soon in the effort to gain AstraZeneca to discuss potential effects on jobs.
An acquisition of AstraZeneca would add to the $127 billion of mergers among pharmaceutical companies this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. An industry-wide recalibration that has been building since 2011 reached a peak last month with a flurry of activity by GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Novartis AG and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. Bloomberg
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Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s, appearing in films such as Little Darlings (1980), My Bodyguard (1980), Tex (1982), Rumble Fish (1983), The Outsiders (1983), Drugstore Cowboy (1989), Singles (1992), Beautiful Girls (1996), There's Something About Mary (1998), Wild Things (1998), Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), Crash (2005),You, Me and Dupree (2006), and Armored (2009). In 2013, he will appear in the comedy film The Art of the Steal as an art thief alongside Kurt Russell.


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U.S. Political, Economic and Social Evolution
- By Bahram Maskanian
In order to evolve out of and remove our current Republican and Democrat (Republicrats) tyrannical and criminal imperialistic political, economic and social shackles, first we need to get an accurate perspective, that: in reality Republicans and Democrats are the two wings of the very same brutal bird of prey, preying on humanity for the past couple of centuries.
The said brutal bird of prey consists of one tenth of one percent (0.01%) of the United States and the European populations. The said (0.01%) of the European and American Monarchy wants all there is for free, including all of our persons and our labor for nothing and would do all that it can in secrecy, to plunder and get what it wants.
The European Union of Nation-Less Corporations and the United States of Nation-Less Corporations have successfully dumb down millions of people and destroyed any and all social upward mobility chances, replacing it with a dismal downward slavery and misery.
We, the people, have all one thing in common, we are the (99.99%) ninety nine point nine, nine percent of the U.S. population, victimized and constantly plundered and held back by the one tenth of one percent (0.01%) criminal, greedy, narcissistic bastards, owners and operators of the Nation-less Corporations. We, the people, will no longer tolerate the massive corruption of the 0.01% percent.
Why Nation-Less Corporation and not Multi Nationals:
Multi-National is a euphemistic and highly misleading phrase, implying that a Multi-National Corporation, operating in multiple of countries, is responsive and loyal to multiple of nations. We all know nothing could be further from the truth.
All potential candidates for public office should sign a binding pledge to support the following:
A potential and ideal Presidential candidate and all people's representatives should be an ethical, caring, loving, analytical thinker, honorable, independent, knowledgeable, compassionate, pragmatic, visionary person, a unifying strong, uncompromising leader and administrator, a woman / man of reason and common sense, capable of speaking honestly, correctly and eloquently to inspire, enlighten, educate and lead the American people to a cooperative path of peace, equality and prosperity for all.
We, The American People, Demand And Want:
The kind of President, Vice-President and Congress / people's representative who love and respect their fellow citizens.
A President, Vice-President and Congress who would never do anything to harm anyone in order to gain power and popularity among the greedy criminal elites.
President and Congress who would STOP: the Ghettoization of the United States culture, public education, and society.
A President and Congress who would STOP: the WalMartization of the United States economy and job market.
A President and Congress who would CHANGE: The United States of Nation-Less Corporations, to the United States of America.
A President and Congress who would live-by and honor the simple life saving policy of: "Do unto others, as we wish to be done on to us."
A President and Congress who would do the honorable act by passing a long over due gender equality law, mandating that an equal number of female and male senators and representatives to be elected to serve in U.S. Congress. Making it mandatory to elect 1 female and 1 male senator from each state, and for every 200,000 citizens, 1 female and 1 male representative to be elected for U.S. House of Representatives. In short the 500 members of U.S. Congress should consist of 250 female and 250 male senators and representatives, only then we can proudly boast about human rights and gender equality in the United States.
A President and Congress who would STOP: the ongoing ravages and slaughter of Globalization. All large economies such as China, India and others have big enough markets of their own and they do not need to be drowning ours here in the United States with their slave labor made products.
A President and Congress who would build a strong cooperative manufacturing base economy right here in the U.S.
A President and Congress who would STOP: the ongoing devastations of Global Warming and Global Warring, through developing a strong renewable energy policy and directives for the whole country.
A President and Congress who would STOP: the Arms Race madness, which American government started in 1950s. And STOP: spending over $820 billion a year, in total-including: wars, 870 military bases around the world, nuclear weapons stockpiles, defense commodities: munitions, bombs, etc., and any other tools design to destroy and murder as many human beings as possible, military and armaments aid to brutal tyrannical regimes, and other military related accounts, which in reality are enriching a group of greedy, murdering, criminal, warmongering and fascist nation-less corporation's goons and their share holders.
The United States became the first country in the world to use nuclear weapons, when U.S. bombed the two major Japanese cities of: Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. It is the United States moral and humanitarian obligation to STOP: this insane nuclear weapons race built up and stockpiling and put an end to this madness once and for all.
A President and Congress who would STOP: the Arms Race Scheme, and begin an Art, Culture, Goodwill, Science and Education Race instead.
A President and Congress who would STOP: and permanently CLOSE the revolving doors between the Nation-less Corporations and the United States Government, stopping the on going executive exchange program between the two.
A President and Congress who would STOP: and permanently CLOSE all illegal covert and overt operations, design for meddling in other countries internal affairs and regime changes.
A President and Congress who would STOP: ALL Lobbyists, and recognize Lobbyists and Lobbyist's conducts as what they really are: a highly treasonous act, carried out by the criminal sellout politicians and nation-less corporate goons.
A President and Congress who would honor, promote and follow the true democratic values and principles, leading by examples of true democratic rule of law, racial harmony and true gender equality here at home. Only then others will be inspired to follow our leads.
Non-Violent Social Uprising
Any non-violent social uprising movement requires a plan of action, a platform, a list of constructive demands to be implemented. The 99.09% movement in order to succeed, relieving the country out of the current criminal elitist billionaires and their Republican and Democrat (Republicrats) tyrannical parliamentary dictatorship regime, and evolve into a true democracy, democratic rule of law, democratic values and principles, the following Ballot Initiatives must be put on the ballot for the 2012 election for all Americans to vote on choosing their democratic governing system.
And if I may borrow a phrase from President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: "We shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".
Referendum is the one and only non-violent means of constructive and positive reform, to facilitate a new birth of freedom, and evolving out of our current parliamentary dictatorship. There is no other way.
Definition of Referendum:
Referendum is the submission of a proposed political, economic, and or public measure for direct popular vote by the citizens of the country. Referendum is the process of submitting an actual statute for public approval to become the law of the land, requiring direct majority popular vote.
Referendum is the process of putting the control of lawmaking and legislating highly sensitive and very important decrees, or legislations; such as: conflict authorization, war declarations, enacting tax laws, ratifying constitution and so on, directly into the hands of the public, the owners of the country, the people.
Referendum is an absolute inalienable right of the people given by Mother Nature to decide and determine their own political destiny and economic path, the future of the country, issues far too important, complicated and crucial to be decided by hand full of corrupt members of parliament and government officials.
Referendum is an absolute inalienable right of the people to choose anew and change the direction of their country, the process of bypassing all government branches all together to mandate a new beginning, such as a new constitution voted on directly, by the owners of the country, the people.
Referendum - Ballot Initiatives
Only through a Referendum, and or Ballot Initiatives, we can prepare the country for a long lasting and a prosperous evolution, thus setting the stage for establishing true democratic values, principles and rule of law. The 2012 Presidential election must include the following Ballot Initiatives:
1 - Mandate A Single Payer Universal Health-Care (Medicare for All): exactly the same health-care system that all government employees and members of congress have already setup for themselves, paid for by the taxpayers.
2 - Mandate Gender Equality Laws: that all elected and appointed government employees and members of congress must consists of equal number of qualified women and men.
3 - Mandate establishing two (2) Terms Limits For United States Congress (Senate & House of Representatives) and Supreme Court Judges.
4 - Repeal and Abolition of the Electoral College, The Electoral College Scheme was established in Article 2, Section 1 of the United States Constitution. The 538 Electoral College Elite, the "ELECTORS", or "SELECTORS", who get to select the President and the Vice President of the United States, on the fourth of November, every 4 years, regardless of popular votes outcome.
5 - Repeal of all laws mandating the use of Vote Counting Machines, thus eradicating the use of easily rig-able vote counting, reading and registering machines of all kinds. Establishing the simple, but honest use of Paper Ballots, just like other democratic nations do, all over the world.
6 - Mandate establishing the FCC Fairness Doctrine as the law of the land. And mandating the ownership of all major TV and Radio Networks and Newspapers shares to be owned by the local people of the region / state, and the employees of the said news organization only.
7 - Mandate Publicly Financed Campaign Laws for all government offices including the directive for free and equal airtime to be used for debates among candidates, provided FREE OF CHARGE by all major TV and Radio networks as a sign of their gratitude, in return for the FCC licenses and the $65 billion worth of free airwaves they enjoy having each year. Also limiting all federal election cycle's campaigning and all other related activities to maximum of three (3) months, starting August 15 of the same election calendar year until November of the same year.
8 - Mandate a citizen contract with candidates running for any public office anywhere. All candidates running for state, or federal office must provide a written sworn affidavit, signed and notarized platform of their promises and plan of actions. Any deviation from the said written sworn affidavit, or neglect to fulfill their promises would be a ground for perjury lawsuit and dismissal.
9 - Mandate a legal requirement for those already elected to serve the public in any public office, who wish to run for yet another public office before finishing their terms in office that, in order to become eligible as candidates, those public office holders MUST permanently resign their current office first.
10 - Restore and reinstate the federal law against usury. Usury laws enables the U.S. federal and local governments to prohibit and stop the kind of outrageous predatory business practices, which have become the general means of robbing people in the name of doing business, by the pickpocket bankers in this country.
Definition of Usury:
Usury is loan sharking, or predatory lending. Usury is a criminal greedy illegal action and practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest. Usury is a criminal exploitation of the middle class and the working class, trapping and robbing them of their earnings and property.
11 - Repeal and Abolition of the people crushing Globalization hammers of: NAFTA and CAFTA, and ALL other Government handouts, tax-breaks and subsidies of all kinds, to the Nation-less Corporations. Ending welfare for criminal billionaires.
12 - Repeal and Abolition of the minimum wage laws and mandating and establishing a Living Wage Law.
13 - Mandate and legalize the cultivation of the most amazing plant / crop on Earth. Plant that grows organically, would never need any deadly chemical fertilizers, a plant that could give humanity 100s of vital organic products, we desperately need: ranging from safe biodegradable plastic, strong tensile fiber for durable high quality textiles, oil for food and fuel, high quality paper products, construction materials and much more. Hemp is an unmatched Trillion-Dollar Plant. Hemp is the plant we must legalize to be cultivated, as all other nations all over the world have done.
14 - Mandate to provide 75% tax-breaks, or subsidy programs to cover the cost of outfitting all homes, apartment buildings, schools, government buildings and open desert areas with solar panels, energy producing equipment and smart electricity transmitting grid lines.
15 - Mandate a 35 cents tax on: gasoline, motor oil, ethanol and diesel fuel, to be used for restoring and rebuilding light-rail trains public transport and for high-speed railroad construction and maintenance.
16 - Mandate a 35 cents mandatory deposit for all plastic, glass and aluminum cans, bottles and plastic containers. U.S. taxpayers should not be paying for cleaning up after many nation-less chain coffee shops and fast foods disposable cups, mandate a 25 cents tax on disposable paper, plastic and styrofoam cups to be used to recycle and for cleaning up the disposed rubbish out of our environment.
17 - Mandate a 35 cents tax on all plastic bags given out to consumers, to be used to cleanup cities, rivers and the ocean waters of billions of tons of plastic garbage and debris. Also including a mandate for 25 cents tax on disposable paper, plastic, aluminum and styrofoam food delivery containers.
18 - Mandate a true, honest and honorable investigation into the tragic events of the September 11, 2001, by a panel of unbiased and independent investigators, scientists, aerospace engineers, architects and metallurgist experts.
19 - Repeal and Abolition of the illegal and unconstitutional Patriot Act.
20 - Mandate that all WAR Declaration Legislations, after passage through congress must be reported by the mass media in their entirety and put before the American people for the FINAL APPROVAL vote by at least a minimum vote of 65% in a national referendum at the ballot box.
21 - Mandate that all Taxes, after passage through congress must be reported in detail by the mass media and put before the American people for the FINAL APPROVAL by at least a minimum vote of 65% of the people in a national referendum at the ballot box.
22 - Repeal and Abolition of the corporate "PERSONHOOD" law, which attributes personhood to the lifeless creatures of states: Corporations. Holding publicly and privately owned Corporations and their corporate (goons) executives legally, financially and criminally liable for their criminal policies and conducts here in the U.S. and abroad.
23 - Mandate that the president, as well as all federally elected politicians must be fully knowledgeable and aware of the true U.S. war orchestrating events, also known as false-flag operations, and the true machinations, which took control of the printing of money and eventually created the Federal Reserve.
24 - Mandate full disclosure of all U.S. intelligence operations, FEMA actions, and Homeland Security operations to a team of citizen-based overseers in order to curtail and stop repressive and illegal actions by the "Secret Security State" upon citizens.
25 - Mandate the integration of the Department of Homeland Security within the Justice Department, which by the U.S. Constitution is responsible for the United States internal (homeland) justice, safety and security.
26 - Mandate prohibiting the sell of cell-phones to young people under the age of 19 years old. Cell-phone radiation is highly carcinogenic for the adults with fully developed thick skulls and far more dangerous and hazardous for young people thin developing brain and skull. Also must make it mandatory that all nation-less cell-phone manufacturers must to affix an easy to read and visible warning label on the box and the cell-phone itself.
27 - Mandate and make all products recycling mandatory by their manufacturers. For example: when your Apple computer stop working, or your Timberland boot is worn-out, simply drop them off at the nearest store, or their recycling locations, or if the recycling item is a big one, such as a car the manufacturer must come by and pick it up free of charge. All manufactures foreign and domestic are making billions of dollars for dumping their products on our markets, must be held responsible for recycling and cleaning up their own rubbish.
28 - Mandate 100% recycling and reusing law to be implemented by the 2014, stopping all trash pickups all over the country. Compostable decaying organic and any other naturally grown foods and other materials should be used to compost for fertilizing homeowners backyards and those living in apartment buildings must make arrangements to do the same on their land. All garbage shoots in apartment buildings must be closed and removed.
29 - Mandate an import tariffs for all products made overseas, thus protect the American blue and white-collar workers, the middle class standards of living, fair living wages, social stability and equality. Nation-less corporations, who are not happy with the said tariffs laws, will be forced to stop the unconscionable act of out-sourcing and begin in-sourcing instead.
30 - Abolish the illegal and unconstitutional individual income tax and the sixteenth amendment, which was never ratified by two third of the states and the American people.
31 - Repeal and Abolish all nation-less corporate tax breaks and mandate a 1% income tax for every $100,000 of annual commercial gross income. All commercial and business entities, foreign and domestic, public, or private, operating within U.S must comply. All commercial entities with an annual income of $100,000, or less will be exempt from commercial / business income tax.
Commercial / Business Income Tax-Schedule: The income tax for $200,000 a year will be 1%. The income tax for $200,000 a year will be 1.5%. The income tax for $500,000 a year will be 4.5%. Incomes over $500,000 a year income shall be taxed 1% for every additional $250,000. Therefore the income tax for $1,000,000 a year will be 8.5%. Incomes over $2,000,000 shall be taxed 1% for every additional $500,000; thereby the income tax for $2,000,000 annual income will be 10.5%. Incomes over $5,000,000 shall be taxed 1% for every additional $1,000,000; thereby the income tax for $10,000,000 annual income will be 18.5%. Incomes over $10,000,000 shall be taxed 1% for every additional $2,000,000; thereby the income tax for $20,000,000 annual income will be 23.5%. Incomes over $20,000,000 shall be taxed 1% for every additional $5,000,000; thereby the income tax for $50,000,000 annual income will be 29.5%. Incomes over $100,000,000 shall be taxed 1% for every additional $10,000,000; thereby the income tax for $100,000,000 annual income will be 34.5%. Incomes over $200,000,000 shall be taxed 1% for every additional $20,000,000; thereby the income tax for $200,000,000 annual income will be 39.5%. - All other high income commercial and business entities with incomes over $200,000,000.00 will be taxed 42%.
32 - Repeal and Abolish The Federal Reserve Act of December 23, 1913, enacted by U.S. Congress. Federal Reserve is an unconstitutional privately owned banking union, a consortium of pickpocket bankers with the total control over peoples lives, income, economic growth and development and the United States money printing machines, with zero oversight, accountable to no one. All monetary policies, currency control, print, bank regulation and oversight should be done by the Treasury Department.
33 - Repeal and Abolish ALL Lobbyist Laws. Mandate and recognize Lobbyists and Lobbyist's conducts as what they really are: a highly treasonous act, carried out by the criminal sellout politicians and nation-less corporate goons.
34 - Repeal and Abolish ALL Laws Authorizing The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the President and any other government agency and or department the power to suspend U.S. Constitution and declare WAR and Marshal Law.
35 - Mandate laws guaranteeing and protecting Internet Network Neutrality.
36 - Mandate laws guaranteeing and protecting all individual Retirement Pensions through creating a National Retirement Fund, control by the people not Wall Street.
37 - Mandate laws guaranteeing and protecting citizen's rights to call into question the integrity and validity of Congress, Congressman / woman, the President, Vic president and any and all other selected and or elected public officials and impeach any of them through civil action. Also Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
38 - Congressional Reform Act of 2012 - No Tenure & No Pension. Mandate laws guaranteeing Congress past, present and future must participate in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund must be move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress must participate with the American people and Social Security may not be used for any other purpose.
All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are null and void effective January 01, 2012. We, the American people did not make this contract. Congress members: Congressmen / women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned CITIZEN legislators, therefore, all current Congressmen / women should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
Ratifying the United States Constitution is an easy task provided there is enough public pressure applied. Case and point is the 26th amendment: "Granting the right to vote for 18 years old Americans." It took only 3 months and 8 days to be ratified, because people demanded it. - That was in 1971, before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, seven (7) of them took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land, all because of public pressure.
Ratifying the United States Constitution requires two third (2/3) of the States approval in order to go into effect among the States, as a federal law of the land. BUT, if the above Ballot Initiatives are placed on all fifty states ballots, or more than the required two third (2/3) of the states, after passage by two third (2/3) of the states, or more, U.S. Constitution will be emended successfully and the nation will have what we all fought for and suffer through soon after the 2012 election conclusion.
The approval of the above positive, vital and constructive Ballot Initiatives are absolutely necessary in order to have a chance of establishing a true democracy, a grass-root all encompassing democracy in the United States, replacing the criminal elitist Republican and Democrat (Republicrats) tyrannical regime, and begin a new exciting journey in American history.
We must facilitate the passing of the above Ballot Initiatives into laws of the land and take the power back from the corrupt elite, or nothing will ever change, and the police state shackles shall continue to get tighter and tighter.
"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will." - Frederick Douglass
As a Persian-American man, I have already lived through and felt the anguish and the pain of losing my birth country, family and my loved ones, due to the American orchestrated and financed 1953 coup d'état in Iran, followed again by the Islamic coup d'état of 1979 in Iran, staged and financed by the U.S., causing unimaginable mayhem, wars, millions murdered, maimed and displaced, destruction, plunder of the Iranian wealth, natural and human resources (brain drainage) for over 100 years. I do not wish that on anyone, and would not want to see any other people / nations to go through what I, and the Iranian / Persian people have suffered and continue to suffer through.


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What are examples of greed and selfishness in The Maltese Falcon?
- print Print
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There are many examples of greed and selfishness in The Maltese Falcon. Probably the most greedy and selfish characters are Brigid O'Shaughnessy and Caspar Gutman. Brigid tells Spade in Chapter 9 that she was hired by Gutman to get the falcon away from its owner General Kemidov in Marmora but that she decided to keep it instead of delivering it to Gutman. Later when she had regained possession of the statuette in San Francisco and has agreed to give it to Gutman, she still can't part with it but gives it to Captain Jacobi to take to Spade. In the final chapter we learn that she murdered Miles Archer in order to rid herself of Floyd Thursby and not have to share the falcon with him.
Gutman's greed has motivated him to search for the falcon for seventeen years. His greed is what sets the whole story in motion, since he is the only character who initially knows anything about the history of the statuette or its true value. Even when he finds out that he has gotten a fake copy of the bird in Chapter 19, he decides to contiinue his quest for the real one. He tells Cairo:
"For seventeen years I have wanted that little item and have been trying to get it. If I must spend another year on the quest--well, sir--that will be an additional expenditure in time of only"--his lips moved silently as he calculated--"five and fifteen-seventeenths per cent."
Greed and selfishness lead directly or indirectly to the deaths of Miles Archer, Floyd Thursby, Captain Jacobi, and Caspar Gutman. Wilmer Cook will undoubtedly be executed for murdering Thursby, Jacobi and Gutman. Brigid may get off with twenty years in San Quentin--or she may hang.


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JB Hi Fi – A Technology Enthusiast's Paradise
JB Hi Fi is an online Australian store that specializes in offering electronic gadgets, devices, and musical instruments to its customers, in addition to entertainment items such as TV shows, movies, CDs and DVDs. Other items offered at JB Hi Fi include Plasma, LED and LCD TVs, Home Audio and Theatre Systems, computers and tablets, cameras, as well as musical instruments, including guitars, drums, and piano. Games and consoles can also be found at this website, which is a much loved destination for technology enthusiasts. One is astounded to see so many sophisticated gadgets all in one place, and the feeling of visiting such a store which offers all is phenomenal.
Regular discounts are offered ranging up to and sometimes even greater than 20% on special items. Furthermore, shipping charges inside Australia are almost negligible when compared to international shipping. Some items come with a free delivery offer. JB Hi Fi has a clearly defined refund policy: You are entitled to a replacement or refund for a "major failure" if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality. You are also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a "major failure". Other policies apply if you wish to return an item with which you are not satisfied.
Delivery Policies
Warehouses and local stores of JB Hi Fi are spread all over Australia, and can be found in almost all of the major cities. This means that delivery of goods is generally fast. International orders are taken, but they may take a longer time to process. If the item you have ordered is in stock, then it is dispatched with 24 hours of your order placement. Metro courier delivery takes about 2-5 business days, but for regional areas the delivery time is usually 3-7 days. Many items are offered with a free delivery service on the JB Hi Fi website, while other items have the shipping fees displayed next to them.
Payment Methods
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SfC Home > Physical Science > Physics > Friction >
Explanation of the factors involved in decreasing or increasing the amount of sliding friction between hard surfaces by Ron Kurtus - Succeed in Understanding Physics. Key words: Physical Science, coefficient of friction, normal force, lubrication, rolling friction, molecular forces, roller bearings, different materials, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions
Changing Sliding Friction on Hard Surfaces
by Ron Kurtus (16 February 2008)
The factors that determine the amount of sliding friction between two hard surfaces are the coefficient of friction and the normal force pushing the surfaces together. By "hard surfaces" we mean those that are deformed only a negligible amount when pushed together. You can increase or decrease the amount of resistive force of sliding friction by changing the coefficient of sliding friction, by replacing it with another type of friction or by changing the normal force.
Questions you may have include:
- How do you change the coefficient of friction?
- How do you replace the type of friction?
- How can you change the normal force?
This lesson will answer those questions. Useful tool: Units Conversion
Changing coefficient of friction
One way to increase or decrease the force of friction from sliding two hard surfaces together is to change the coefficient of friction between the surfaces. The coefficient of friction is a number between 0 (zero) and ∞ (infinity) and is a result of the molecular adherence between the two materials. The relationship between the surface roughness of the materials also a factor, although small.
Standard friction equation
The relationship between friction and its coefficient can be seen from the standard friction equation
Fr = μN
- Fr is the resistive force of friction
- μ is the coefficient of friction for the two surfaces (Greek letter "mu")
- N is the normal or perpendicular force pushing the two objects together
- μN is μ times N
Note that with the standard sliding friction between hard surfaces, the area of the surfaces is not a factor. In other words, large areas sliding against each other will have the same friction as small areas, provided the coefficients and normal forces are the same.
Changing roughness
One method to increase the coefficient of friction is to make the surfaces rough or less smooth. A shoe sole that contains a pattern of grooves or ripples will provide much more friction when walking on slippery ice than would a worn-out, smooth sole.
Polishing the surfaces that come into contact will reduce the coefficient of friction between the surfaces and thus reduce the amount of friction encountered. But note that if you polish the surfaces to be extremely smooth and flat, molecular effects may take place.
Molecular effects
When you slide two extremely flat and highly polished metal surfaces together, molecular attraction adds to the coefficient of friction. In other words, the coefficient decreases as you reduce roughness up to a certain point where it then increases due to the molecular effects.
Area now a factor
Once molecular effects come into play, the area of the surfaces in contact are a factor in the friction. Thus, the greater the area, the greater the friction caused by molecular effects.
Sticky materials
Some materials have a high coefficient of friction, not because their surface is rough, but because the material is "sticky" and molecular attraction adds to the common coefficient of friction. Rubber is a good example of molecular attraction adding to the standard coefficient of friction caused by surface roughness.
Different materials
Another method to increase friction by increasing the coefficient is by using different materials that have a higher value for the coefficient of friction. Materials used in automobile brake pads do a much better job today than the materials used in the early days of automobiles.
Using material combinations that have a lower coefficient of friction between them is another way to reduce friction.
Coefficient of Friction
Static Friction
Kinetic Friction
Steel on steel (dry)
Teflon on steel
Coating a material with Teflon will greatly reduce the friction
Replacing type of friction
Although reducing the coefficient of friction is a method to decrease the force of friction, it has its limitations. For example, you can only polish a material so much until the coefficient actually increases due to molecular effects. A better way to reduce the coefficient of sliding friction is to eliminate it altogether by replacing it with rolling friction and/or fluid friction.
Rolling friction
Instead of sliding surfaces together, you can add rollers between the surfaces, thus changing over to rolling friction.
When making the Great Pyramids, the ancient Egyptians had great difficulty sliding the huge granite slabs to the pyramid site. So they reduced the friction by rolling the slabs on logs.
Fluid friction
By adding a thin layer of oil or even water between two objects, you convert the sliding friction to fluid friction. This lubrication is used in many applications to reduce wear and to make the sliding much easier.
Coefficient of Friction
Static Friction
Kinetic Friction
Steel on steel (dry)
Steel on steel (greasy)
Adding grease as a lubricant reduces the coefficient of friction
Sometimes increases friction
In some situations, adding a lubricant actually increases the friction, due to molecular effects. For example, a coin will slide down a plastic ramp. But if you wet the ramp, the coin will stick in one place. You might think the water would be a lubricant, but for small objects, its molecular force is stronger than the gravitational pull on the object.
Another example is trying to use a heavy, thick oil or grease as a lubricant. The friction may be much great than if you used a light oil or even no lubricant at all.
Combining rolling and fluid frictions
The axles in a bicycle, automobile and other devices used to rotate in a hub, sliding metal against metal. Soon a lubricant was added to reduce the friction. But then a set of ball bearings was inserted between the axle and hub to change the friction to rolling friction. The ball bearings, along with lubricating oil, greatly reduce the friction in rotating a wheel.
Ball bearings reduce axle friction
Changing normal force
The normal force, N, is the perpendicular force pushing the surfaces together. By increasing N, you increase the resistive force of friction. Decreasing N, lowers the friction.
Note that changing friction by changing the normal force also applies to situations where you have included lubrication or rolling friction.
The force clamping automobile brake pads to the brake disk determines the friction used to slow down the car. Of course, releasing the brakes causes N to become zero, resulting in no friction force.
When you step on the brakes in your car, the brake calipers clamp onto metal disks that are part of your disc brake system. The friction between the caliper and the disk is sufficient to slow down and stop your wheels. That is where the tires take over. Their friction on the road then stops your car from moving.
If the normal force is the weight of objects you are sliding across the floor, adding or subtracting weight will increase or decrease the sliding friction. But also, if you are pulling an object with a rope, pulling at an upward angle will reduce the normal force.
Reducing normal force by pulling at an upward angle
Coefficient of friction and the normal force pushing the surfaces together are the factors that determine the amount of sliding friction between two hard surfaces. You can increase or decrease the amount of resistive force of sliding friction by changing the coefficient of sliding friction, by replacing it with another type of friction or by changing the normal force.
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Resources and references
Friction Concepts - HyperPhysics
Friction - Wolfram Research Science World
Friction Resources - Extensive list
The following books are available from Amazon.com.
Complete Idiot's Guide To Physics by Johnnie T. Dennis; Alpha (2003) $18.95
What Is Friction? (Ages 4-8) by Lisa Trumbauer; Children's Press (CT) (2004) $4.95
Tribology: Friction and Wear of Engineering Materials by I. M. Hutchings; CRC Press (1992) $68.88
Physics of Sliding Friction (NATO Science Series E:) by B.N. Persson, E. Tosatti; Springer Pub. (1996) $358.00
Questions and comments
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Changing Sliding Friction on Hard Surfaces


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'My sexy shoot with Terry Richardson. I had so much fun on this shoot with Terry! 'We were doing a noir-inspired shoot for the London Sunday Times way back in 2010. Mary Phillips did my glam. Hard to believe this was six whole years ago!!!'
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Breeding Away from MMVD in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
The health of many breeds was slammed in the documentary "Pedigree Dogs Exposed", and one breed that received a barrage of criticism was the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (CKCS or Cavs).
Heart issues are a problem in Cavs, and it can be fatal. The hearts of all mammals are made of a series of chambers and valves. It is a very synchronised organ and everything needs to work 'just so'. During one particular condition, myxomatous mitral valve degeneration (MMVD), one of the heart valves ceases to function properly. Overtime, this puts pressure on the rest of the heart, and this leads to chronic heart failure. How individual dogs react to MMVD varies a great deal, and so prognosis after diagnosis is quite variable. The disease often progresses slowly. (If you more detail see this ACVIM factsheet.)
To understand the gravity of this problem, 37% of Cavs that die before 10 years of age do so due to MMVD. (From Swedish insurance data 1995-2006.)
Knowing that there was a problem, the Danish Kennel Club (DKCA) chose to act.
The DKCA Breeding Scheme
The DKCA brought in a mandated breeding scheme in 2002-2011, leading to 997 Cavs being examined in those years. Examination include asculation (stethoscope listening) and echocardiography ("echo", sonograph of heart using ultrasounds) to evaluate the presence of murmurs in any indviidual cav. (Murmurs are predictors of MMVD progression, and have a genetic component.) Each dog was evaluated 1-4 times. There was a total of 1471 exams over the 9 years.
From my understanding, the DKCA required that Cavs be examined after 18 months of age to be approved for breeding. This approval would last until the dog is four years old and, to be bred after four years of age, they had to be re-examined and approved a second time.
To be approved, the dog had to have a MVP grade of two or less, and a mitral regurgitation murmur grade of three or less. If a dog had higher scores, they were excluded from breeding. After 2007, the criteria changed to become slightly more strict. It's interesting when reviewing the data in this study that the largest number of unapproved dogs occurred in 2007, presumably as a result of this 'tightening' of regulations. While this must have been disappointing at the time, it's a good way for the DKCA to encourage continual improvement without causing a huge reduction in genetic diversity.
The status of each dog examined became published and freely available on the DKCA website.
The DKCA would only register puppies from parents that had fulfilled the cardiac health criteria.
How good was the scheme?
This article, published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, evaluated the study. Here, comparisons were made between scores of the beginning of the scheme to the end. They also categorised dogs as either approved by the breeding scheme (both dogs tested before mating), or unapproved (one or both parents unknown cardiac status before breeding).
Over the course of the study, they concluded that Cavs were at a 73% decreased risk of developing MMVD.
"A mandatory breeding scheme based on auscultation and echocardiography findings significantly decreased the prevalence of MMVD over the 8- to 10-year period. Such a breeding scheme is therefore recommended for CKCS."
As a personal comment, I wanted to note that of the 1380 exams that met the criteria of this study, only 78 animals were excluded from breeding.
What would be better?
Being able to DNA test for MMVD would be brilliant, but even though we know this condition is highly heritable, DNA markers have not been established. DNA testing is not conceivable in the near future.
"Breeding restrictions or recommendations aimed at decreasing the prevalence of MMVd in CKCS have been developed in breeding clubs in different countries. The high heritability of the disease indicates that section against the disease could be successful."
This study was retrospective, and only included animals over 18 months of age at their first examination, and excluded animals that were pregnant or lactating. Nine years is a long time, and there could have possibly be variations in scoring over time (despite this studying using clinical observers). A study with a greater sample size with less exclusions and more consistent scoring would always be better, but not necessarily highly achievable.
Interestingly, sometimes dogs can test better if there are changes in the dog. So, a dog's heart may appear to have a murmur on one occasion, but if the dog changes body condition, heart rate, or both, then the second time the dog is asculated, it may not get the same reading. Therefore, testing dogs on numerous occasions would probably be best for consistency (but a difficult task in reality).
What does this mean for puppy buyers?
If you are wanting to add a Cav to your family, when talking to Australian breeders, the recommendations were made that breeders should be:
- Having their breeding CKCS's hearts examined annually, preferably by a specialist.
- Not breeding from dogs that show a heart murmur at five years of age or younger.
- Not breed any dog until they are 2.5 years old, especially if the parent(s) of the dog have murmur(s).
I asked a couple of Cavalier breeders on their recommendations, and have included them below as a starting guide for puppy buyers.
From Liz at Wandalier Cavaliers:
I think that it's important to stress that [MVD] does appear to be random. That the level of deterioration, and the age of onset can vary greatly. But basically the later the onset, the better the prognosis. But you can have one dog with a heart murmur, and all the litter mates are fine. There's also still no known mode of inheritance.
And from Barbara at Karhisar Cavaliers:
An important thing for those wanting to buy cavalier puppies is asking the right questions when contacting breeders. Sire and dam should both hold a minimum of current, clear heart & eye certificates from cardiologist and ophthalmologist. Breeders who are doing the official testing will be only too happy to name the relevant specialists and provide copies of the sire and dam's health clearances.
When looking for parents who have certification, keep in mind that both parents should be cleared. In this study, there was only a significant reduction in risk for offspring if both parents were approved by the breeding scheme. Half the parents being approved is not good enough.
Where to for Cav breeding schemes from here?
While the results from this Danish scheme seem good, and a similar scheme in British showed promise as well, there was another in Sweden that didn't have a significant effect. So, we can conclude that breeding schemes probably have a role in improving breed health, but exactly what the perfect breeding scheme may be is a bit of an unknown.
However, it is likely that mandatory breeding schemes are likely to be the only ones with oomph to bring about change. Schemes that aren't mandatory haven't yielded great results.
It's important to note that not all heart murmurs are associated with heart disease. 6-10% of Cavs have ejection murmurs, and we shouldn't exclude those from breeding as this would reduce genetic diversity.
So basically there needs to be further evaluation on ongoing breeding schemes to balance costs and benefits.
Birkegård, A., Reimann, M., Martinussen, T., Häggström, J., Pedersen, H., & Olsen, L. (2016). Breeding Restrictions Decrease the Prevalence of Myxomatous Mitral Valve Disease in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels over an 8- to 10-Year Period Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 30 (1), 63-68 DOI: 10.1111/jvim.13663
On an unrelated note, Some Thoughts About Dogs was proudly one of the Top 50 Dog Training Blog.


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Planning For Inclement Weather
In my quiet time today, I was thinking about the last few months of my life and what a complete and total chaotic experience it's been. Never have I encountered such uncertainty and threat to my stability. I've grown stronger and expanded more in this current, but ever-changing terrain I've been attempting to navigate, than I have in my last 51 years combined. My life has reminded me of the evolving plans I encounter at my son's school when there's a likely inclement weather event. Tentative plans are in place, yet there's the knowledge that at any time, unpredictable storms could, and often do, make the roads impassable that I've chosen for my pilgrimage, requiring flexibility, and determining an alternate timeline, route, or even dismissal of plans all together.
Nothing But Strict Observation
Today, as I sat quietly looking out into the back yard, I watched as the wind was blowing the trees. Leaves were falling, beams of sunlight would streak through, shining in their radiant beauty, only to disappear a few moments later behind cloud cover. I had the strangest sense of understanding and parallel as I watched nature unfold, ushering in some darker clouds, blowing winds, and threat of potential rain. There was nothing but strict observation on my part, and the understanding that there is no controlling the weather. It didn't succumb to my plans or desires, it simply is, and unpredictably so. If I choose to react negatively to the threat of bad weather it will not, in fact, change the course of the weather. It will simply change the trajectory of my day, by creating negativity and unnecessary emotional turmoil, regarding something completely out of my control. My only decision is how I want to proceed, based on what is being presented to me at the time, and the recognition those plans may need adjusting as more information is made available.
The Unexpected Storms Of Life
Just as with the ever-changing weather, our lives are constantly in flux. The best laid plans are often thwarted by the unexpected storms of life, that require our astute observation and consideration to work around, with the plasticity needed to alter course when necessary. It's easy to be overwhelmed, frustrated, or even angered by not only the uncertainty, but the consequences that these life storms create. I have wondered so often of late why such intense events happen in our lives, yet I've been shown time and again that a period of clearing always precedes growth.
Extracting Trees Of Turmoil
I thought about the intensity of a tornado and the damage it leaves in its wake. It barrels through the landscape, stripping away exterior facades, imploding buildings, and pulling up firmly rooted, adult trees and tossing them like a child's toy. Many times the very things that vex us, hold us back, and continually devastate our lives unbeknownst to us, are much like those adult trees. They're our personal trees of turmoil. They are narratives, patterns, false beliefs, past hurts, and other areas festering below the surface, firmly and deeply rooted, often for decades, that require an impetus great enough to strip away all the exterior facades keeping them buried, and strong enough to extract them forcefully by the roots, to insure no further regrowth. A gentle wind would have no bearing on such. It often takes tremendous life storms that rock our world, strip us of all we think we have and need, and leave us laid bare before we understand. It's these tumultuous events and upheaval that brings us to the place we not only recognize, but learn to accept, it is in the excavating and extracting of our trees of turmoil that we bring about the needed, healthy clearing that precipitates growth and forward movement.
Still Standing And Tranquilly So
I'm sitting here eerily calm today, just as if I were in the eye of one of the hurricanes I've been through while living in Florida. Having just experienced some devastating winds that threatened to pull my life apart, I'm yet still standing and tranquilly so. Strangely, calm is reigning, even though there's damage and debris from the round of life storms that have just rolled through. There is pain, as any extraction leaves a sensitive, gaping hole, that only time and appropriate tending will heal. Yet, there's a recognition and understanding that there are more bands of potentially harsh weather coming at some point. Knowing that, I'm somehow still serene, not fearful, nor am I cowering. I'm simply watching the weather and weighing the available information, understanding if adverse effects are encountered, there's always clean up and restoration that comes afterwards. There is that brief moment of taking cover as the storm passes over, yet there is no reason to remain permanently in hiding.
A New Plane Of Existence
This is a new plane of existence for me. I'm calm and accepting, rather than reactive, even as I'm tending my wounds and clearing the debris. The past would have dealt me the usual hand of cards, stacked with pain, remorse, self-doubt, isolation, fear, and a newly donned protective posture. A battening down of the hatches, if you will, protecting against the next band of heavy winds and battering that are sure to ensue at some future point. Only this time, there is no battening down. There is no closing up or protective posture. There is no self-debasing, painful inner discourse, or trepidation about what future potential storms may bring to bear. There is simply a survey of the landscape, an assessment of the past damage done and the necessary intervention to address and clear it, along with the directional tweaking of potential paths leading forward, as tomorrow is a new day.
No Longer Afraid Of Getting A Little Wet
I'm just about to walk out the door to visit my mom. A recent injury has left her in a rehab facility. I'm taking her some needed supplies, but outside a storm is brewing, the wind is blowing, and it has just started to rain. I could choose to not go out. I could cower in my home, fearful I might again be affected, but my mom would be so disappointed and I would be less having not seen her. Instead, I think I'll venture out into the storm, but I'll take my umbrella, for I'm no longer afraid of getting a little wet!
Love and Light,
Laura Lum Corby