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Superintendent Heath Morrison says one of his top priorities for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is making sure students who graduate have the skills they need for a successful adult life.
If teachers are willing to speak candidly at his "listening and learning" forums, I bet he'll get an earful about this. For quite some time, I've been hearing frustration with practices that some view as boosting graduation numbers at the expense of setting serious standards, things like giving no grade lower than 50 percent, regardless of how bad the student's work is or even whether it's done. (In response to several recent reader questions, CMS says the district does not award principal bonuses based on graduation rates.)
I recently heard from a high school teacher who has concerns about the ethics and legality of the push to get some kids across the finish line. He asked that his name not be published, but he forwarded me an exchange of emails with a counselor who was asking that he create makeup work for two seniors at risk of failing to graduate.
The teacher replied that one student had 32 absences and was repeatedly removed from class because he is "consistently disruptive."
Monday, August 13, 2012
CMS diplomas: Earned or given?
48 comments:
- Anonymous said...
Amen and Amen!
- August 13, 2012 at 10:16 AM
- Anonymous said...
The 50 percent rule is about to become district policy. Ask about it. - August 13, 2012 at 10:49 AM
- DMorrisPE said...
Teachers are not responsible for the assimilation of knowledge by the students. They are responsible for developing and carrying out a lesson plan for ALL of the students, not customized for EACH student. In too many cases, I suspect, the "lights are on, but nobody's home" and you can see it in the student's eyes. College is NOT for everyone, and it is not a "right" - it is an opportunity for those who are capable and eager to seek out knowledge. The others need to be taught how to earn a living using the skills they have or can acquire.
I was appalled, when we moved here in 1988, to hear the Governor make a statement to the effect that, with the recently enacted upgrades to the graduation requirements, North Carolina could now guarantee that every High School graduate would have at least a ninth-grade education!
I realize that the No Child Left Behind programs are designed to ensure that all children get the help needed to be successful in their learning, but some kids reject any and all help. I think that those "unreachables" need to be excluded from further efforts by "the system" so that resouces can be better utilized on those individuals making an effort. - August 13, 2012 at 10:57 AM
- Anonymous said...
Segregate the rable from those that want to learn. Teach those that are teachable and put the rest out in "working" schools where they learn the finer points of picking up trash, sorting recyclables, pulling weeds, trimming shrubs, sewer maintenance, peeling potatoes, etc.
- August 13, 2012 at 11:14 AM
- Anonymous said...
No Data
No Peace - August 13, 2012 at 11:15 AM
- Anonymous said...
The new Project LIFT district within CMS should boost his numbers. Heath has not say these reverbarations are from donwtown as a result of the school closings. This road that CMS is on now is a dumby down affect. CMS provides no incentive or motivational goals for our brightest students.
- August 13, 2012 at 11:31 AM
- Anonymous said...
We were hit with the "if the child is not passing, you must develop a PEP (Personal Education Plan). This for EACH student who is failing your class.
Now, lets just say that I teach 3 classes a day. A day and B day schedule. And I have roughly 35-40 students in my class (oh, please don't believe that we have rules about classroom size). So I have responsibilities for at least 210 young minds. And from that 210, if any of them is failing, I have to do a lot of paperwork per students and perform herculean feats to get each one to pass.
I call parents. I give the assignment over and over again. I offer to stay after and tutor.I make sure to the best of my ability that the student doesn't have any special needs or a learning disability. I schedule a conference with the parents. I go to my administration, the guidance counselor, etc. I use every technique and trick in the book.
And 9 times out of 10 neither the student nor the parents gives a darn about a PEP or being accountable.
I'm held accountable for the student not doing his/her work. I'm accountable and they refuse to be. And yet it's a reflection on me. THEN we come along with "well, you still have to give them at least a 50" and they get socially promoted anyway. 50% credit for work not even attempted?
Can you see where teachers would be tempted to just give the kid a passing grade to let them pass so that they don't have to do the burdensome paperwork and time involved? Time that is precious and could be used for the other students who ARE doing the work and want to learn?
Or that teachers find that they can protest a student being advanced to the next grade and find out that it doesn't matter because the administration will pass them? Or that the slack parents who didn't give a darn earlier will appeal to the zone superintendent or higher and get the student passed anyway.
We don't want to fail students. We want them to succeed. We who truly love teaching want to teach. We will do those herculean tasks in an effort to get students to learn. But when you bash the teachers for failure rates and we know that the core of the problem is that students will not accept responsibility and be accountable, can you blame us for throwing up our hands and giving up?
We need to go back to letting those who won't do anything fail. We learn from failure. I know I have failed at some things, and it always taught me a lesson.
Maybe if some students realize that they CAN and WILL fail if they make no effort, it would be a real wake up call! - August 13, 2012 at 12:03 PM
- Anonymous said...
Everything the teacher discussed with you for high school applies exponentially for middle school. Pressure from area supers, principals, EC, AVID, parents, and especially counselors, leads to the "Head'em up, move'em out" syndrome. Add that to the free 50% grade average and core teachers will do just about anything to avoid a PEP.
- August 13, 2012 at 12:07 PM
- Anonymous said...
As a teacher, I could have written this exact post. Thank you for stating the truth.
- August 13, 2012 at 12:08 PM
- BolynMcClung said...
Earlier this spring I was comparing the A A/B honor rolls of middle schools. The range among schools was between 8% and 53% of student population. That's big.
When I discussed this with a school board member I was reminded that parents wanting their kids to get into name universities will put extreme pressure on principals and teachers to bump grades up. That probably accounts for some of the higher percentages.
So is there difference between grade inflation for graduation and for getting to a better college?
Bolyn McClung
Pineville - August 13, 2012 at 12:12 PM
- Anonymous said...
If you do not pass your grade - you go to a "special school" where you can get extra focus. How is that not fair? At least have "speacial classes" where you can put all the poor students. This is life and it needs to be taught as such. Success is earned.
- August 13, 2012 at 12:13 PM
- Anonymous said...
Bolyn - middle school parents pressuring for higher grades? Those are some dedicated parents. How many colleges ask for middle school transcripts?
- August 13, 2012 at 12:15 PM
- Anonymous said...
Memo to Dr. M...read Anon 12:03. Here is the problem. As a volunteer I have seen this over and over and over again. There is no overwhelming racist problem that CMS teachers need special PD exercises to root out. What teachers need is permission to fail kids whatever color they are. It's called tough love not racism. Let them hit bottom. Let reality sink in to kids and parents alike. School's primary responsibility is to prepare them for the real world.
- August 13, 2012 at 12:17 PM
- Anonymous said...
I teach in a CMS middle school. The pressure to move them through is as stated for high school. Same deal as high school. 50% credit, extra credit, jump through hoops to get anything out of the students when they don't want to work. Then deal with parents and administration who go over your head anyway.
We're preparing those students for high school and they are moving on not ready to handle the last 4 years of public school. - August 13, 2012 at 12:22 PM
- Anonymous said...
Ask the question again in a different way.
How many in CMS administration received a bonus over the last 4 years? - August 13, 2012 at 12:26 PM
- Unknown said...
I left CMS in 2004 upset with edicts from the central office on how to teach students when I knew what they were insisting that educators do was pedagogically incorrect for children - ideas that were driven by a flawed No Child Left Behind driven by high stakes testing. Instead of thinking of what is best for the child, education had turned to be focused on what was best for the school system in order to "look good" for statistics founded not by professional educators but by politicians with no formal training in educating our kids. I had hoped that things would change after 8 years. I can see that it clearly has not - in fact it has steadily gotten worse. Reading Ann's article has sadly solidified my decision to leave the classroom.
- August 13, 2012 at 12:34 PM
- Bill Stevens said...
Bravo 12:03, 12:17, and 12:22!
What this school system needs is a mechanism for teachers to report these imbecile adminstrators and the students they think they are doing a favor for and moving them all to "special schools".
Teacher sin our school system need a complaint board so they will not fear retribution by these adminstrators.
I see no better case for dismantling CMS. - August 13, 2012 at 12:41 PM
- Jeff Wise said...
I think it starts well before high school. If students are struggling in elementary school it will only persist through later grades. Why not consider letting elementary students learn at their own pace? If a child needs 15 months to master 2nd grade math, then give them 15 months. If a 6-year old can read at the 3rd grade level, put them in a 3rd grade reading class.
I understand that restructures elementary classes and that it's a sea-change in social development, but wouldn't we find the majority of students would still hit middle school around the same age anyhow?
Once they get to 6th grade start customizing their education to their strengths and let the students do instead of sit and listen. Less paper and book learning and more project, hands-on learning.
Then see how many remain engaged in high school. It won't fix every problem student, but it'd sure make a difference.
To get from good to great, CMS is going to have to change processes one way or another, there simply is no path to get to great with the current processes. You can have the right people on the bus, but you might as well call them all Sisyphus. It's all about finding the right hedgehog concept and in a district this big and far flung, that's going to be a challenge. - August 13, 2012 at 12:47 PM
- Wiley Coyote said...
I've been hearing frustration with practices that some view as boosting graduation numbers at the expense of setting serious standards, things like giving no grade lower than 50 percent, regardless of how bad the student's work is or even whether it's done.
You left out dropping the required credits from 28 to 24. Why not just go on down to 20?
In 2013, graduation rates could get a bump when the credits required for a CMS diploma drop from 28 to 24. The state requires 20, but most districts add to that.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/13/2687048/cms-more-students-can-graduate.html#storylink=cpy - August 13, 2012 at 1:10 PM
- Wiley Coyote said...
It used to drive us nuts when our son would forget to turn in an assigment (even though he had done it) or the few times he just didn't do one that we did not know about it until progress reports came home.
I would tell him all he had to do was put his name on a sheet of paper, turn it in and get 50 points instead of a zero.
He finally got the point after a few zeros and restriction as a result.
Personally, I believe all kids should be graded on what they turn in. My son deserved every zero he got because it was his mistake for not doing the work or not turning in the work he did do when he was supposed to. - August 13, 2012 at 1:22 PM
- Anonymous said...
Bolyn , I think in about 4-5 years its very possible any college would question any grades from CMS transcripts. Same could be said for Fulton County in Atlanta were some other CMS downtown folks have gone to work. The data compiled and historic lying that comes out of downtown CMS is/should always be under question. This is not new to anyone in the region.
- August 13, 2012 at 1:29 PM
- Anonymous said...
I was instructed by Dr. K. Gwaltney, when she was my principal, to "pass" a student that had 36 absences and a virtually 0% in my class.The way I was told to pass him was to waive his absences if he worked 8 hours on campus after the last day of school helping the custodians, and if he passed the state exam, which he did. I also did this under protest, and required HER to sign off on it, for my documentation. She of course is in one of our wonderful learning centers now, telling other principals to tell other teachers to do the same thing, I am sure.
- August 13, 2012 at 1:34 PM
- Anonymous said...
I teach middle school in a different county, and entered teaching about six years ago as a lateral entry teacher. When I first started, I was amazed that students were passed on who clearly could not do the required work. Administrators told me we have to take into account factors such as the likelihood of the student dropping out of school if held back, the physical size of the student and retention's effect on social development, and behavior issues. Are we doing students (or their teachers in the grade that they clearly are not ready for) any favors?
- August 13, 2012 at 1:38 PM
- Bill Stevens said...
Recall too that last year, 1200 of the 1600 CMS graduates that applied to CPCC were required to take one or more remedial courses before they could start earning college credit.
And Wiley you are right too about CMS's graduation rate will probably jump next year because the credits to gradute will go down. I am sure LIFT will take all the credit that can.
Lastly, while it is not well known, you can essentially skip CMS after the age of 16, go to CPCC and get your CMS high school diploma. I thought all you could get was a GED or maybe an NC high school diploma but a coworker had their son do it so they would not be in a CMS high school any longer than possible. - August 13, 2012 at 1:51 PM
- Bill Stevens said...
1:29, you are correct but I think it is already happening. But I think it is happening with most all urban districts already.
Somehow what we know for a fact and what Dr. Morrison says that CMS is "good" already, does not jive. - August 13, 2012 at 1:54 PM
- John said...
Ann, while I understand the need to backup what you are reporting, I'm afraid you've likely published more than enough of the email exchange verbatim to make it very easy for CMS to identify and retaliate against your source.
- August 13, 2012 at 2:04 PM
- John said...
Caryn Long,
No Child Left Behind isn't the problem... NCLB was an attempt, successful or not, at trying to fix the problems that already long existed in public education... social promotion.
There have to be objective standards to measure both student and teacher performance. We all have them in our jobs. It's part of real life. The problem is that schools simply chose to cheat on the standards rather than work to meet them!
Blaming NCLB is like blaming radar guns for speeding! - August 13, 2012 at 2:12 PM
- Anonymous said...
Thanks so much for all this reporting on the realities of schools in Charlotte.
Nothing grows our home values here in Union County like the truth about CMS getting published. - August 13, 2012 at 2:22 PM
- Bill Steven said...
See LTE today by Barry Marshall. It is spot on!
Much government assistance while nobel in its beginning, has become the most addictive drug with no cure and politicans standing on the street "pushing" the addiction for votes. - August 13, 2012 at 2:41 PM
- Anonymous said...
Children shouldn't experience any conseaquences for their behavior until they're old enough to be put in jail.
Let it be a surprise... - August 13, 2012 at 2:48 PM
- Anonymous said...
So Dr M...are you getting the point? It is not the teachers who are racist (not treating everyone equal). I suggest that only admin and up take the Professional Development for racists. Apparently they are the ones who think people of color are incapable of playing on a level playing field. Not the teachers. 1965 is 2 generations ago, almost 50 years. If special training, etc. and exceptions haven't made a difference in all that time, why do you think one more training session will do the trick?
- August 13, 2012 at 3:20 PM
- Anonymous said...
I don't know all the answers to this problem, but I do know that teachers spend far too much time trying to keep order in the classroom, time that they can't spend teaching.
When I was in high school, I remember in Latin class a big football player sassing the teacher. Mr. Lutz went to the next classroom and got that teacher to step into the hall to witness the discipline. He then took the football player out there, had him grab his ankles, and applied the board of education to the seat of learning.
That young man came back into the classroom with tears running down his cheeks. He was very quiet and respectful after that. I'm sure the experience helped his grade, too, because he was actually paying attention.
These days Mr Lutz would probably do time for assaulting that student.
The root of most of the problems in the classroom is discipline. Solve that problem and the rest become much easier to deal with. - August 13, 2012 at 3:25 PM
- Anonymous said...
The communications department nazi patrol is already on the case looking at all those emails to pinpoint this teacher. They however wanted you to pay for the EES emails.
WAKE UP LaTARZA - August 13, 2012 at 5:03 PM
- Anonymous said...
This issue of only being allowed to assign a 50% regardless of quality or quantity of work is a travesty. What I don't understand is why this isn't on the front page of the Observer in screaming headlines! Why isn't this being discussed throughout the community? Most importantly: how on Earth does that stupidity prepare kids for the adult world???
How many companies would be willing to pay an employee 50% of his or her pay even if no work was done??? Yeah....I thought so. - August 13, 2012 at 5:27 PM
- Anonymous said...
LaTarza is a lost cause. She is along for the ride as long as it can last and she can milk the taxpayers just like EES, Denise, and Kojo. And don't try to convince me that CMS is not paying Kojo under the table somehow just like they did for Swann for so long.
- August 13, 2012 at 5:29 PM
- Anonymous said...
First, I hope that the "source" is now safely in another district. Secondly, Anon 12:03 is spot on.
Thirdly, with the hope that the "urban" middle and high schools have many resource officers standing by...teachers are gong to be challenged to teach the students HOW to learn for leaarning sake rather than for grades. We are going to be challenged to be "Edutainers" and find ways to connect our content to THEIR realities. For those students who are "High", Stoned or psychotic due to environmental issues and CHOOSE to cause disruptions, regardless of multiple attempts to bring them aboard....video their actions and call the resource officers. Now raise you hand IF YOU wish to become a teacher. - August 13, 2012 at 5:46 PM
- Christine Mast said...
I'm obviously coming late to this party... why is CMS lowering the graduation credits from 28 to 24?
Only because they can? - August 13, 2012 at 6:01 PM
- Ann Doss Helms said...
12:26, I asked if principals get bonuses based on graduation rates or any other measure of student achievement. The answer was no (except, I believe, principals were eligible along with other staff for some performance-based bonuses through the federal TIF-LEAP pilot, which ends this year).
If I understand it right, the premise of the questions was that CMS was using bonuses to motivate principals to boost their graduation rates. The absence of bonuses doesn't mean principals are not under pressure to boost the rates, and I think most people would say rising rates are a good thing. The question remains: How do they do it? - August 13, 2012 at 6:02 PM
- Ann Doss Helms said...
Christine, we wrote a lot about this in 2009, when the board took this vote. Idea was to avoid denying students a diploma based on number of credits that might not mean a lot. All kids still have to meet the basic requirements. Kids headed for four-year universities will still need to rack up 32 credits (passing all classes all four years) or something pretty close to that. I think you can find grad requirements on CMS web site.
- August 13, 2012 at 6:05 PM
- Anonymous said...
Ann, how about doing a hard-hitting expose on the policy that teachers can only give a 50%? CMS deserves to squirm under hard ball questions.
- August 13, 2012 at 6:06 PM
- Ann Doss Helms said...
6:06, I'm adding it to my to-do list.
- August 13, 2012 at 6:22 PM
- Anonymous said...
Ask about APEX. I understand that it is used as credit recovery. The F still shows up on the transcript, but they get the credit needed to graduate. APEX can be done all at once, with books, one could google the information or have a friend/parent sit next to you or do it for you! It is done at home. This could be good if it measured actual learning, but the way it is?
- August 13, 2012 at 6:26 PM
- Anonymous said...
Here's an "extra Credit" plan. Take any or all if you like assignments that weren't done, and DO THEM! Why are teachers being asked to make even mre work that isn't being done. Just give them the assignment again!
- August 13, 2012 at 6:42 PM
- Bill Stevens said...
High school graduation requirements
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/curriculum/home/graduationrequirements.pdf (Also notice there is a Core track and an Occupational track and CMS does not recognize it.)
NC only requires 22 hours for an NC high school diploma. LEA's have the right to add more requirements as they see fit. As Ann said, this was a big source of contention in this community in 2009 when certain school board members campaigned for lowering the hours for graduation so students would be less likely to drop out if they failed a course, which of course had unofficially been halted anyway. So as we see this phenomenon ever increasing at CMS, City of Charlotte and NC motto, "to seem rather than to be". So instead of graduating a world ready student (theoretically), it was deemed more important to get CMS's graduation rate up so as to look better than other urban districts and get higher consideration for the Broad Awards.
CMS's high school diplomas should come with a big asterisk on them anyway. So much science, history, social studies, etc. has been cut over the years to spend more time cajoling students to read that CMS's high school diploma means almost nothing coming from certain high schools.
Another poster is correct in that it is CMS's ivory tower and adminstrators that need the racist training because they are the ones who have already lowered the expectations of the urban students. Anyone with a little bit of common sense knows that students will perform to the level of expectation. The one caveat to that thinking now is they will only perform to the level that does not get their government checks cut off. And we all know that will not happen. Ha, accountability from the government! What a joke! Administrators do not even fill out the paperwork when a student drops out to pull their drivers license. - August 13, 2012 at 6:46 PM
- Anonymous said...
I have had a middle school parent do her child's work and not understand why I would not grade it. Thank you for posting this. There are policies set without teacher input it seems that require us to question our ethics.
- August 13, 2012 at 7:30 PM
- Anonymous said...
How can it be given?
We are spending over $50,000 for a student to graduate from West Charlotte in 4 years. - August 13, 2012 at 9:21 PM
- Anonymous said...
In the real world this would really be a funny article because we would all know this is rediculous. I find it amazing that this is the actual real world we live in. Diplomas to kids who skip 20% of classes? In what world would that type of attendance allow them to keep their jobs? Entitlement mentality has taken over.
- August 13, 2012 at 10:11 PM
- Bill Stevens said...
9:21, I think there are 2 things to learn from this. Spending more and more money is not the answer though most of the urban leaders believe it is. However, their judgement is clouded because all they know is income redistribution.
Second, the urban culture is not compatible with educational and modern society success. So until the value system is changed, increased success is minimal. As we have seen in most cases, this improvement is a game of numbers and adjustments. Those that have broken out, is because they have decided that their success is up to them as it should be. The current government programs are nothing more than getting more and more "hooked on" this drug stronger than crack cocaine, government entitlement.
In conclusion, this analogy may tell the story. We all believed that those in poverty needed a hand up to help them up this hill of society. The thought was they were willing and just needed the little boost. Most of us grew up technically in poverty but it has become a mindset of excuses due to the elitists and liberal thinkers of the last few decades. So now it seems to be the case of pulling/dragging them up the hill, they simply were not trying and expected it to be brought to them. But much like, you can lead a horse to water but you can not make it drink, our sleazy politicians have made it too lucrative to not be part of the productive class. Thus we have no other mechanism to make the horse "thirsty". So now as we have seen with the public demonstrations upon the school closing issues last year, not only do they fight being carried, they want it only their way. So as a past superintendent Dr. Murphy learned, they were going to insist on their right to do as they wish, students out till 3 or 4 in the mornings of school days and suffer no consequences. - August 13, 2012 at 10:18 PM

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von Braun is made up of several companies with activities geared to Sports-, Performance- and Classic cars. The business development have been possible thanks to many enthusiasts, knowledgeable staff, colleagues in the business and supportive friends and families.
Torbjorn von Braun started already as a teenager, his business with a friend. The driving force was mainly a strong will and a vision to work with the most exciting cars in the world. Without any money in a small corner of the workshop, Torbjörn's father voluntarily donated, they began to create cars that made them famous. During 1980-90 the workshop was considered to be the most exclusive garage in Scandinavia. The focus was exclusive renovations of classic cars, modifications and specially developed racing and prototype vehicles. After years of determined effort it took off to prestigious and well known clients such as Porsche AG in Stuttgart, Mercedes Benz AG Oldtimercenter, and several engine publishers and collectors.
The company is renovating and moving into their own workshops in the barn built in the countryside just outside Kinna in Sweden. When that happens, von Braun want to differentiate themselves clearly from the usual car service workshops. The workshop did not look as garages usually did in the 80s and it quickly became well known. The workshop was bright and clean. It had carpets on the floor shiny sewer grate, and it was possible to go there without shoes even if you had white socks on your feet! Instead of the traditional pin-up pictures on the walls hung the framed motive of exotic cars. Home stereo had a central place and along the windows were plants and curtains. The work was done also in white overalls. Because the paint jobs were an important part of the business the young boys also build a custom paint workshop. They did it without money, but with diligent self-effort and recycled materials.
For ten years, the shelf was filled up with prices of awards from car shows. The company built Sweden's second best-looking car, in 1986. It was also involved in various body and paint work on some of Scandinavia's most beautiful hotrods in the early 90s. Some of the most award-winning classic cars in Scandinavia and Europe in the first half of the 90th century were renovated by the company.
The business moved to new premises in the village of Skene. These premises were built and renovated to yet another level of quality not previously seen in automotive business.
The company celebrates its 10th anniversary. The first employee was hired. His name is Henrik Ludvigsson and he will be a long and important person for the business. In later years he became prototype manager for the company's sports car development.
The company purchases the assets and liabilities and operations of "Les Routiers AB" in Varberg. This was the oldest official and authorized Ferrari service dealer. Former owner was Ulf Boman, active race car driver since the 60's. He drove the Swedish Formula 2 Cup with Formula 1 drivers like Ronnie Pettersson and Reine Wisell. He also competed internationally with his Ferrari 275 GTB, the Ferrari 365 Daytona and his BRM racing car.
The business is growing and enlarges their facilities with a small showroom and larger workshop premises. In total it now covers 1200 square meters.
In 1997, the business became official workshop and also distributor for Ferrari in Sweden. The remains from a bankruptcy of the company "Machina Rossa" was bought. This was a Swedish company, which had specialized in the renovation of Ferrari and other Italian sports cars of the early 1990's.
The business was now also official distributor and service centre for Maserati. At the same time an important part of the company's history begins in parallel by Clas Müller from Stockholm. A sports car that bears the name Bizzarini Europe is in the collection of Clas. On his honeymoon in Italy, he contacts the legend Ing Giotto Bizzarini, once in charge at Ferrari as director of engineering. He also constructed Lamborghini's famous V12 engine and produced historically interesting cars under his own name. Instead of talking history, they start discussing future. The two decide to begin to develop a sports car with lightweight engineering. Together they begin a partnership and begin to construct a sports car based on classic Italian craftsmanship together with the young and talented Swedish designer Tue Beijer.
A "pre-prototipo" was produced by Giotto Bizzarini in Italy , following the guidelines developed in conjunction with Clas Müller.
Plans around the sports car project are further developed in Italy and a carbon fiber monocoque with a Yamaha motorcycle engine and a fiberglass body based on Bizzarini Europe becomes the Prototype no1. Meanwhile, designer Tue Beijer developed a new design model for its own body. The P1 was showed by Giotto and his Swedish team at Turin Design Show. The P1 was also tested for the first time on the race track Varano in Italy .
Ferrari announces that they had intended to appoint von Braun's sales activity being responsible for all of their distribution in Scandinavia. This condition was combined with an investment in a new showroom. An additional 1000 square foot showroom in Skene was built after Ferrari's guidelines. The designer of the Sports Car project Tue Beijer, graduate from the Royal College of Art and has obtained "Pilkington Award" for best design project in 2001 with a BMW motorcycle that he had designed. During the education, he also creates the design for Radical RS3.
von Braun started the racing series Ferrari Challenge Scandinavia, together with two Danish friends. With a start field of 20 cars he wins the first race, and is competing for several years thereafter.
The sales business is becoming the importer and distributor for Pagani Automobili in Scandinavia. At the same time Clas and his team has finished the prototype No. 2 in Italy with a new body design by Tue Beijer. The Sports Car project was corporatised while everything is moved to Sweden. A new enhanced and highly skilled team was recruited for the project. After extensive testing, the project faces to new heights. Dr. Peter H. Bull who is an expert in structural engineering with research experience in damage tolerance of composite materials condemns the monocoque, which had been manufactured in Italy . He is commissioned to collaborate with the designers to develop the world's strongest carbon fiber monocoque for open sports cars. In the tests with the new strong monocoque identifies deficiencies in the front and rear suspension designs, also manufactured in Italy . Jonas Jarlmark, Tech Lic. Vehicle Dynamics with experience in F1 and also chassis engineer for Richard Rydell has been commissioned to develop an optimum design for the car's front and rear together with Öhlins Racing. The new complete chassis was tested and optimized until 2008.
The business is celebrating its 20th anniversary
Based on the assumptions that the newly developed chassis gave so begins Tue Beijer draw a completely new design approach to the body with DNA to be taken from the previous two prototypes. The sales business liberates themselves from Ferrari and Maserati, and von Braun work after that as an independent specialist. Wiesmann Sport Auto in Germany appoints von Braun Sports Cars to its importer to Scandinavia for its sports cars. The representation is not so long, as the national homologations from Germany were not approved in Sweden .
The business will open its first branch along with 500 guests. The establishment takes place in Sweden's capital Stockholm. At the same time the business is modernizing it´s workshop facility in Skene and also establishes a workshop for repairing aluminium bodies. A business that sells used parts from dismantled damaged super cars started. Negotiations between Clas Müller and Torbjörn von Braun launched an in-depth cooperation in the sports car development.
Volkswagen Group Sweden hands over the official import of Lamborghini to von Braun Sports Cars. Sports Car project is being developed further full-time over the next two years and involves a team of 15 people, led by Clas Müller and Tue Beijer. A full-scale clay model is milled around the new body design at Cliff Design in Gothenburg.
The sales operation establishes a new Lamborghini Showroom in Stockholm and builds a new specialized workshop for Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin.
The business celebrates its 25th anniversary. Torbjorn von Braun gets along with Clas Müller, Tue Beijer and Eric Lagergren one of four principal owners of the engineering company, which develops the new super sports car. 22 owners are participating in a private placement and creates ample opportunity to complete the project on the super sports car. The name of the sports car is decided to be von Braun with the model name VB1.
The sales activities are hurt by an extensive embezzlement, which initiates a negative trend. The economic situation and market development in Europe and mainly in the automotive sector reinforces the negative trend.
After two years of difficult challenges Torbjorn von Braun decides to liquidate the old sales business. It starts a job with simplifying the structure and a renewed and more international business model around the motor trade, and operation of workshops. The development of the super sports car continues as before.
Von Braun's new idea about international business on trading and after-market for sports, performance and classic cars begin. Through the strengthening of collaboration between colleagues and partners around the world, the aim is to stimulate and facilitate a competitive and cross-border trade to the customer's advantage.


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It does seem there's been a lot of good COVID news lately, if that's not an oxymoron. Kids aged 5 to 11 are now getting vaccinated, and since September, infections nationwide have been going down. But - and it seems there is always a but with COVID - several states are now seeing surges in new infections. Hospitals are filling up, particularly in southwestern states. So what is going on? We've got two reporters here to help us answer that question - NPR's Will Stone and John Daley, the health reporter at Colorado Public Radio. Welcome to you both.
WILL STONE, BYLINE: Good to be here.
JOHN DALEY, BYLINE: Thanks. Hi there.
KELLY: I want to start a big picture, so, Will, I guess that means you. I mean, it's true, right? It does feel as though things had been looking up, at least in many parts of the country.
STONE: Yeah. Well, that's because they were. This summer was bad, of course. Delta hit the U.S. hard. At one point, we had 100,000 people in the hospital for COVID. But for about two months, cases had been on a steady decline. And a lot of that was driven by big improvements in the South. So that decline in the national numbers, you know, wasn't really capturing some growing problems in other places, especially in the West. And as we got further into fall, we basically stalled out at about 70,000 cases of the day nationwide. And now cases are just starting to go up again. I spoke to Dr. George Rutherford about this. He's an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco.
GEORGE RUTHERFORD: We still have large swaths of the country underimmunized. Even among states that are relatively well-vaccinated, like Colorado and New Mexico and Minnesota and Vermont, we're seeing sustained transmission.
STONE: Now, it's not looking bad everywhere. The number of people in the hospital for COVID is under half of what it was at the end of the summer. But when you look at new cases, more than 20 states are trending in the wrong direction.
KELLY: We just heard Dr. Rutherford in his list there mention Colorado. So John Daley, you're in Denver. Let me bring you in. What is happening where you are?
DALEY: Well, you know, by virtually every measure, things are not looking good - really as dire situation as Colorado has seen in a year. Cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all been rising since late summer. And, you know, that's pretty much statewide. And the pace seems to be accelerating. The state has really high levels of transmission driven by the delta variant. The state's epidemiologist is warning that the pandemic is likely to worsen in Colorado in the coming months, with hospitalizations topping last year's high of more than 1,800. And she says that the modeling shows that those hospitalizations could exceed hospital capacity in December.
KELLY: How is the vaccination rate in Colorado?
DALEY: You know, decent. About 62% of the state's population is now fully vaccinated. That's in the top 20 among states, but that still leaves a lot of vulnerable people. Right now, 80% of hospitalized coronavirus patients in Colorado are unvaccinated.
KELLY: Right. Well, for those who are vaccinated, the governor there wants to make it easier for them to get booster shots. He's now saying - what? - pretty much anybody 18 or older can get them in Colorado.
DALEY: Yeah, that's right. Governor Jared Polis - he's a Democrat. Yesterday, he expressed frustration with federal agencies, who he said had bungled the messaging on the booster. The federal guidelines now limit boosters to those older than 65 or considered at high-risk. But Polis said it's already unofficial state policy in Colorado to not turn people away who think they should get boosters. And Polis said he would make it official with an executive order that says...
JARED POLIS: Colorado is a high-risk institution, and everyone is eligible in Colorado on the argument that you are part of a high-risk environment by nature of being in Colorado.
DALEY: And he signed that order today. Polis said that the move made sense both from a legal framework and a communications strategy. It's not clear what the federal regulators will make of this, but the FDA is now considering a request from Pfizer to start giving boosters basically to anyone over the age of 18 who wants one.
KELLY: Right, which if they do, that would be, you know, for people all over. I mean, that speaks to prevention, hopefully driving down new cases. What about this immense pressure right now it sounds like hospitals there are under?
DALEY: Well, this week, the state reactivated a key emergency measure - crisis standards of care for staffing. Now, this is not rationing of care, but what it does is it gives hospitals more leeway to deal with staff shortages and illness and workload, burnout, those things. It also allows for workers to be moved around and, in some cases, to care for a sicker level of patient than they normally would. And it also gives hospitals and doctors emergency protection from liability. This is welcome news for frontline providers like Dr. Lily Cervantes. She's a hospitalist at Denver Health.
LILY CERVANTES: It's a message to the state that we're taking this seriously because our health care workforce is burned out.
KELLY: So she's speaking to health care workers. What about for patients? What would that mean for them, John?
DALEY: I spoke with another doctor, Denver Health pulmonologist Anuj Mehta. He says hospital patients may experience slower or delayed care.
ANUJ MEHTA: You may wait a lot longer for a nurse to come to you when you're, like, in the emergency room or on the hospital floor. One nurse may be taking care of a lot more patients.
DALEY: And Dr. Mehta fears that if the current spike in cases doesn't improve, the state may have to activate the full crisis standards of care, essentially a rationing of care.
KELLY: So a snapshot there of what is happening in one state, in Colorado. Will Stone, as you listen to that, compared to what's happening elsewhere in the West - because there are several neighboring states in tough shape, too.
STONE: That's right. Basically, it's looking bad all throughout the Mountain West, from Idaho to Wyoming, stretching north, even into the Upper Midwest. Also, the Southwest is really struggling. New Mexico activated its crisis standards of care plan weeks ago. Arizona is seeing rising cases. And then there's Utah. I spoke to Dr. Kencee Graves. She's with the University of Utah Hospital. She says they've been stuck at these very high COVID numbers for weeks, and in some ways, it's actually worse than last winter.
KENCEE GRAVES: Now we are in this really high plateau of a surge where we have a lot of people with COVID-19 in our state, a lot of people with COVID-19 in our hospital and fewer resources to be able to take care of them.
STONE: And she says they had to close down their surge ICU because they couldn't staff it anymore. And recently, it's been taking three to five hours to find an ICU bed for a patient. And part of the reason is, like much of the country, hospitals there have all these other very sick non-COVID patients who also need care.
KELLY: Can I just stop you for a second? Because the hope at this point in the pandemic was really that as the number of vaccinations continues to grow, the U.S. wouldn't deal with a big winter surge again. Has that hope faded, vanished?
STONE: So that optimism hasn't totally vanished, but none of the experts I talked to feel confident about that. Nick Reich says we have about 60% of Americans vaccinated. He does COVID modelling at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
NICK REICH: Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised by anything right now. I wouldn't be surprised if we kept at a slow burn trajectory over the winter. I wouldn't be surprised if we continued to decline, if the childhood vaccinations really were able to help continue to push the curve down, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw continued growth.
STONE: Reich says, remember, this delta variant is just a lot harder to contain, and it's - we have the winter ahead of us with holiday season, people traveling, so...
KELLY: Right.
STONE: ...It's a time to be careful.
KELLY: All right. NPR's Will Stone and Colorado Public Radio's John Daley, thank you.
STONE: Thank you.
DALEY: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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JPMorgan Chase and the Department of Justice have tentatively agreed to a $13 billion civil settlement to resolve several investigations into the bank's mortgage securities business, according to a U.S. official familiar with the negotiations.
Mortgage-backed securities and related derivatives were a key cause of the financial crisis, saddling financial institutions with losses as the housing market cratered. If completed, the settlement would be substantially larger than any law enforcement officials have secured from a single institution in connection with the crisis.
The settlement includes $9 billion in fines and penalties and $4 billion in 'consumer relief,' including home loan modifications, the official said.
A federal criminal investigation based in Sacramento continues, and the deal does not include a non-prosecution agreement that JPMorgan Chase (JPM) had originally insisted be part of the deal, the official said.
As the criminal case develops, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to assist in an investigation that is pursuing possible charges against individuals, the official told CNN.
JP Morgan Chase declined to comment to CNN.
The tentative deal includes a $4 billion settlement regarding allegations by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that JP Morgan Chase misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when it sold them home loans, many of which soured.
Related: JPMorgan fined $920 million in 'London Whale' trading loss
Fannie and Freddie sustained massive losses on mortgage-backed securities as the housing market imploded, and required a bailout of over $187 billion. The firms, which have been overseen by the FHFA since their 2008 rescue, have since returned to profitability, paying $136 billion in dividends to the Treasury Department.
The settlement also would resolve a smaller separate case brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman sued JP Morgan Chase in October over alleged deceptive practices in sales of mortgage bonds by Bear Stearns, which was acquired by JP Morgan Chase.
The $13 billion deal is $2 billion higher than the most recent offer by JPM, and came at the end of talks that included personal negotiations between Attorney General Eric Holder and JPM Chief Jamie Dimon, CNN is told.
Related: JPMorgan's Dimon meets Holder for settlement talks
Dimon visited the Justice Dept in late September for a meeting in Holder's conference room, the official said, and last week the two men spoke by phone to discuss the final sticking point: Dimon's insistence that the deal include a non-prosecution agreement.
Holder told Dimon it was a "non-starter" according to the official. In a call Friday at around 6pm, Holder and Dimon made the final deal after Dimon dropped the non-prosecution condition.
The $13 billion civil settlement covers conduct from 2005-2007 and includes investigations of the mortgage businesses of Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns, which were both acquired by JPM.
Related: 5 years after Lehman: Where are key players now?
Lawyers for both sides, led by Tony West, associate attorney general, and Stephen Cutler, JPM's general counsel, are expected to work through the weekend to finalize details of the agreement, which will be announced in the coming days.
The settlement is the latest in a series of legal headaches for JPMorgan, America's largest bank by assets.
The firm has paid over $1 billion in fines in connection with last year's "London Whale" trading debacle, and $80 million more over allegedly unfair credit card billing practices.
In July, the bank agreed to pay $410 million to settle charges that it manipulated electricity prices in California and the Midwest. It is also facing scrutiny over its hiring practices in China and its alleged involvement in the Libor rate-fixing scandal.
Related: JPMorgan posts loss on big legal costs, but ...
JPMorgan posted a loss for the third quarter based on its massive legal expenses. Dimon called the loss "painful" and warned that litigation costs could continue to be a drag on earnings for several quarters.
The bank said at the time that it was holding $23 billion in reserves for potential litigation expenses, but that its legal costs could be nearly $6 billion above that figure in a worst-case scenario.
One point of contention during settlement negotiations has been whether JPMorgan ought to be responsible for misconduct at Bear Stearns and WaMu that occurred before it absorbed them.
Commenting last year on litigation related to Bear, Dimon argued that the firm had been acquired during the turmoil of 2008 as "a favor" to the Federal Reserve.
Related: J.P. Morgan's current woes may be the least of its problems
Analysts at Oppenheimer argued in a recent research note that JPMorgan was being targeted unfairly and out of proportion with its role in the crisis.
"[O]ne reason why JPM was strong enough to absorb Bear and WAMU is precisely because its involvement in the mortgage mess was relatively small," the analysts wrote. "JPM's exposure got large because it helped the government by taking Bear and WAMU."
Others are less sympathetic, noting JPMorgan's initial enthusiasm over these deals and the revenues they've generated since.


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The Idealist
By Nina Munk
By Nina Munk
By Nina Munk
By Nina Munk
By Nina Munk
Read by Susan Nezami
By Nina Munk
Read by Susan Nezami
Category: African World History | Business
Category: African World History | Business
Category: African World History | Business | Audiobooks
Oct 07, 2014 | ISBN 9780767929424
Sep 10, 2013 | ISBN 9780385537742
Sep 10, 2013 | ISBN 9780739366479
467 Minutes
Buy the Audiobook Download:
Future Perfect
Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops
Selected Poems of Herman Melville
Travels of Marco Polo
The Fall of Yugoslavia
What the Dormouse Said
The Thomas Paine Reader
The Portable Machiavelli
Recipient of Foreign Policy's 2013 Albie Award
Bloomberg "Best Books of 2013"
Forbes "Best Books of 2013"
The Spectator "Best Books of 2013"
Canada's National Business Book Award Finalist
ISI's Henry and Anne Paolucci Book Award Nominee
"Munk draws a nuanced portrait of Sachs and his Millennium Villages Project . . . worth taking the time to read it. It's a valuable—and, at times, heartbreaking—cautionary tale." —Bill Gates
"A sharply rendered and deeply disillusioned account of [Jeffrey Sachs'] personal quest to end poverty. . . . With impressive persistence, unflagging empathy and journalistic derring-do, Ms. Munk returns over a five-year period to Dertu and one other village to document the project's progress. . . . Heartbreaking." —The Wall Street Journal
"One of the most readable and evocative accounts of foreign aid ever written, The Idealist shows that virtually nothing about such aid is ever easy. . . . A masterful tale of good intentions gone wrong." —William Easterly, Barron's
"A stark reminder that the war against poverty is not yet won. A must-read." —Dambisa Moyo, author of Dead Aid
"Writing accessibly about development economics is a high-wire act, but Munk accomplishes it brilliantly. She shadows Sachs as he cajoles world leaders to fund his Millennium projects, and also visits those places to tell the whole story. The final chapter, in which Munk interviews a chastened Sachs (usually an oxymoron), is particularly devastating." —Foreign Policy
"A fascinating portrait of an innovative thinker as well as a fair-minded examination of his methods. It's also a testament to the enduring value of old-fashioned, shoe-leather reporting—it should be read not just in policy circles but also at J-schools." —Vanity Fair
"Magnificent. . . . An absolute must-read for anyone who is interested in doing good for those in need." —The Christian Science Monitor
"Munk tracks a messianic economist's quixotic attempts to show that he can end African poverty. In one village his team gets farmers to grow maize instead of traditional matoke; there are no buyers for the bumper crop, and rats end up eating much of it. Munk describes a growing gulf between good intentions and hard reality with nuance and sensitivity." —Forbes
"An engaging, eye-opening read." —The Guardian
"A highly readable examination of Jeffrey Sachs's Millennium Villages Project in Africa"
—Financial Times
"The Idealist tracks the messianic economist Jeffrey Sachs's doomed attempt to solve African poverty by establishing a network of model villages where his pet theories could be tested before being escalated. The author, Nina Munk, who spent six years interviewing Sachs and visiting the Millenium Villages, is a delicate, careful writer. She not only reminds us that there are good, solid reasons why certain areas of the world remain desperately poor, she raises troubling questions about the credibility of an economist embraced by rock singers and film stars." —The Spectator
"A fine writer with a gift for deploying spare, vivid detail, Munk overcomes the burden of what could be duller-than-dirt subject matter—the politics of foreign aid; the ins and outs of Uganda's matoke market; NGO infighting over anti-malaria efforts—into a lively and at times, quite funny book." —Fortune
"A deep and important book. . . . The Idealist tells the stories behind the numbers and its evidence is as compelling and as important as anything in the data." —The Lancet
"Munk is a sly, relentless reporter with a gift for wedding her observations to a fluent, even graceful, writing style" —The Globe & Mail
"This book is stark proof that approach just does not work. . . . The world needs to pay attention to these lessons and stop wasting resources." —Bloomberg
"Nina Munk's brilliant book on [Jeffrey] Sachs' anti-poverty efforts, chronicles how his dream fell far short of reality" —Reason
"Written over six years, with exhaustive on-the-ground reporting from two African communities that are part of MVP village clusters, [Nina] Munk's book is a readable and fast-paced chronicle of the real-world consequences of elite intellectual arrogance….Munk's authoritative telling of Sach's story is most valuable as an exhortation to intellectual humility, and a compulsively readable portrait of a man without any." —Commentary
"A fascinating and essential exploration of what goes wrong when unchecked audacity and clinical precision encounter the frailties, ambiguities, and unpredictabilities of human beings, societies and histories." —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Not only an important book, but a truly enjoyable read. She does not boast, but the reader cannot avoid the impression that her intrepid years in Sachsland have demanded all the inner steel of the most hardened explorer or war correspondent." —The Weekly Standard
"Students of economic policy and altruistic do-gooders alike will find Munk's work to be a measured, immersive study of a remarkable but all-too-human man who let his vision get the best of him." —Publishers Weekly
"Trenchant and thought-provoking." —Kirkus Reviews
"A fine contrarian polemic full to brimming with excellent reporting." —The Globe & Mail
"Heart-rending. . . . The catalogue of bright ideas that go awry would be funny if it weren't so tragic." —National Post
"A testament to the enduring value of old-fashioned, shoe-leather reporting—it should be read not just in policy circles but also at J-schools." —Vanity Fair Daily
"A devastating portrait of hubris and its consequences." —Pacific Standard
"A fascinating and essential exploration of what goes wrong when unchecked audacity and clinical precision encounter the frailties, ambiguities, and unpredictabilities of human beings, societies and histories." —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Nina Munk has written a fascinating book about a fascinating man—and even more important, about a set of ideas that are intriguing and important." —Fareed Zakaria, editor-at-large of Time magazine and author of New York Times Bestseller The Post-American World
"Jeffrey Sachs is a global phenomenon: no one thinks as big, makes a more passionate case for foreign aid, and works as hard to make the dream of ending global poverty a reality. This terrific book gives you a ringside seat on Sachs's tireless global quest to get donors, governments, international agencies, private firms, and poor farmers to buy into his vision of economic development. Nina Munk's portrayal goes beyond the man and his dream; it is a clear-headed depiction of the challenges the world's poorest face as they struggle to improve their lives." —Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University and author of The Globalization Paradox
"A riveting narrative that must be read to understand why the over $700 billion pumped into Africa by the West since 1960 has achieved so little. This powerful book will shake up the foreign aid development community." —George Ayittey, President of the Free Africa Foundation, and author of Africa Unchained
"A powerful exposé of hubris run amok, drawing on touching accounts of real-life heroes fighting poverty on the front line." —Robert Calderisi, author of The Trouble with Africa
"The Idealist confirms that in the quest to end extreme poverty in Africa, the truly wise and resonant voices are those of the Africans themselves." —Roger Thurow, author of The Last Hunger Season
"Nina Munk's incisive, moving and elegantly written report takes us to Africa to see first-hand that the poor don't need one more central planner with the prescription for prosperity. What the poor need is what really made the rich rich – the legal devices to join their continent's vast, dispersed natural and human resources into valuable combinations through their own collective action." —Hernando de Soto, President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, and author of The Mystery of Capital
21 Books You've Been Meaning to Read
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An analysis by Breitbart News has found that the number of individuals on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of 24 states and the District of Columbia.
In November, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that a record 47,102,780 individuals receive food stamps.
According to US. Census Bureau data, that figure exceeds the combined populations of: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Since January 2009, the number of individuals on food stamps has skyrocketed from 31.9 million to the current record high 47.1 million. By comparison, in 1969 just 2.8 million Americans received food stamps.
Also benefiting from the rapid rise in food stamps are companies like JP Morgan who administer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. A recent report by the Government Accountability Institute found that since 2004, JP Morgan's 24 state EBT contracts have totaled at least $560,492,596.02.
Last year, the food stamp program (officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) cost taxpayers $72 billion, more than double the $30 billion spent four years ago.
The meteoric rise in the number of individuals receiving food stamps has spawned a thriving illegal online market for those seeking to turn their benefits into cash.
Today, one out of every seven Americans now receives food stamps.


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Markerless Baseball Analysis
"We've always believed in assessment-based individualized training. […] We decided to go with Simi's markerless motion capture technology to serve as the cornerstone piece for our assessment process. What really stood out to us from the markerless standpoint was the efficiency. The efficiency of markerless motion capture allows us to capture a ton of different pitchers on the same day. […] Markerless has done wonders for us. […] It's helped us to learn more about each individual's movement strategies. […] It's really helped us to remove the guesswork. […] Through the help of Simi it has been a phenomenal process."
Austin Meine, Director of Pitching at
Premier Pitching and Performance, St. Louis
Markerless Motion Capture for (pro) athlete testing
"I've used marker-based motion capture systems for human movement analysis for over 10 years and recently switched to the markerless system from Simi Reality Motion Systems. I couldn't be happier! The preparation time is significantly reduced because I no longer need to apply markers to the participant or worry about them falling off during testing. Moreover, I can now extract whole-body kinematics and kinetics without applying a full marker set, providing me with a more in-depth movement analysis without increasing testing time. Additionally, post-processing time is reduced and I can quickly and easily perform desired calculations and generate reports."
Dr. Emily Lawrence, PhD, Director of Biomechanics at
Sports Academy, Newbury Park
Human Movement Science PhD at university
"With an 8-camera Simi Motion 3D system it was possible to analyze human movement in different settings and populations. I assessed balance performance and the related use of the postural control mechanisms in children, older adults and younger adults when standing on different (unstable) surfaces. Furthermore, the Simi system has been used to analyze reaching movements or gait. It was great that marker-based video analysis could be synchronized with other equipment such as force plates and EMG. I appreciate the quick support and the willingness to think along concerning the choice for a certain software module (e.g. Simi motion 2D/3D, Simi Shape 3D or hybrid tracking) depending on the study design.
In addition to marker-based motion capture, markerless motion capture has caught our attention. Markerless motion capture allows full-body 3D motion capture using simple video recordings without the need to attach markers and without the necessity of lab conditions. This allows a high degree of automatization and recordings in an unobstrusive manner in a natural environment. Therefore, I believe that markerless technology is the future of motion capture."
Maud van den Bogaart, joint degree PhD student at Hasselt University (Belgium) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Simi Aktisys for Running Analysis in PT-clinic
"The Simi Aktisys 2D system has transformed the way we evaluate running gait in our outpatient physical therapy clinic. The Simi system allows us to document joint angles at key points in the running gait cycle and quantify this information.
In addition, the high speed 2-camera system captures compensatory movement patterns which the patient can see in real time and via PDF reports. Our customers have been very pleased with the useful information they received as a consequence of the accurate, objective data and visual findings. As physical therapists, we are now able to utilize the Simi Aktisys 2D system to evaluate the true cause of running injury and dysfunction."
John Fiore, PT, Founder and Owner of
Sapphire Physical Therapy, Missoula, Montana
Simi Aktisys for Physiotherapy and Chiropractic
"Our team of physical therapists, chiropractors and movement specialists uses SIMI Aktisys software on a daily basis to identify and objectively evaluate faulty movement patterns for our patients.
SIMI allows us a real-time analysis of an individual's movement from any perspective. We can observe quantifiable data, such as joint angles and left to right asymmetries and view the video also in slow motion over and over.
One of the many great benefits about this software is that it can be applied to our large variety of patients, be it professional athletes, runners or patients suffering from degenerative diseases and other age related issues.
With SIMI we have added valuable diagnostic tools that we can use in conjunction with our previous methods to provide patients with the best chance of getting healthy and staying healthy."
Scott Blatt, DC, ATC and Founder and Owner of
Body Logic Sports Therapy, Westlake Village, California
Simi Aktisys for Sports Physical Therapy and Performance Diagnostics
"In my experience, the Simi Aktisys software is the best real-time, high speed motion analysis system out there. The product can be used for a variety of individuals, ranging from recreational runners to high level athletes. Aktisys allows us to quantify and visually assess an athlete in motion, which is something that cannot be done accurately without a system like Simi. With the objective data we obtain from the software, we are able to design a plan of care that is both efficient and specific to the individual's needs. Without it, we would just be guessing."
Pete Lingas, PT, DPT, OCS, SCS and Founder of
Institute for Precision in Movement, Redlands, California
Take a look at their image film:
Simi Aktisys for Children's Rehabilitation
"We are a physical therapy department for a non-profit pediatric facility. The Simi Aktisys has helped us analyze the gait pattern in a number of children with a variety of different diagnoses and ages. We have been able to use the Simi Aktisys to capture a child's gait on video and measure the different phases of the gait cycle in real time and compare them to a 'normal gait pattern'. This has helped us focus our physical therapy treatment in helping correct these gait abnormalities and helping a child walk with the best gait mechanics possible."
Brandon Hamilton, PT, DPT, Lead Physical Therapist
Midland Children's Rehabilitation Center, Texas
Simi Motion 3D for performance optimization in Biathlete
"With Simi Motion 3D in biathlete shooting measurement we are able to quantify and better understand the complex human-weapon relationship for shooting diagnostics. With understanding the complex interactions in shooting it is possible to improve shooting performance with specific training methods. We are able to identify positive or negative influences of body positioning on shooting performance. Simi Motion 3D by this now is a fix part of shooting analysis in biathletes and will be an important part in hunting gold medals for the next 10 years."
"The software is awesome! Meanwhile the system is a mandatory part of our performance diagnostics with German Biathletes and we have gained many new insights. The whole Simi system is running very stably, and we want to thank Simi support for always fixing our small problems so quickly."
Dr. Nico Espig, Dr. Dirk Siebert,
Leipzig University, Faculty of Sport Science
Simi Motion in Parkinson Research
"Our studies examining the neural mechanisms of gait and postural control in people with Parkinson's disease use an 8-camera SIMI Reality Motion System. The analysis of high-speed video images, synchronized with force plates and 10-channel wireless EMG provides us with important insight into the spatial and temporal sequence of events that lead to freezing of gait and start hesitation in people with Parkinson's disease. These data have been presented at the International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders in June 2014."
Dr. Colum MacKinnon
University of Minnesota, Department of Neurology
Simi Motion for Physical Therapy
"Our practice frequently uses the Simi Motion analysis in evaluation of gait and movement dysfunction in our clients with neurologic injuries and degenerative diseases. It is easy and quick to implement and the real-time analysis provides us and our clients with immediate feedback. It is an essential tool in our evaluation for rehabilitation and also to optimize performance for wellness in chronic disease."
Julie Hershberg PT, DPT, NCS and Owner of
[re+active] physical therapy and wellness, Los Angeles
Simi Motion for shoe research and testing
Heeluxe is a small research lab in Santa Barbara, USA. Heeluxe is active in the field of shoe research and testing. Many of today's shoes and footwear you can find in stores have been examined on their effectiveness and quality by Heeluxe. Especially new laws bring shoe companies to scientifically validate what is promised and find out about any negative effects of footwear on biomechanics.
Watch the video about Heeluxe' work with Simi Motion:
Shoe Development
This video shows how Dr. Geoffrey A. Gray from Heeluxe used latest biomechanical methods to validate the shoe development goals of Teva with the help of Simi.
Simi Motion for Sport Performance Analysis
"We are a small human performance laboratory that routinely performs biomechanical studies in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings, including athletic venues, weight rooms and the lab. Since we needed a versatile and yet powerful system, we chose SIMI Motion in 2004 and have been using it ever since. We have been very pleased with its capabilities and have always greatly appreciated the prompt, courteous and competent product support over the years. Thank you for your versatile and powerful product."
Glenn Street, PhD
St. Cloud State University, Human Performance Lab
Simi Motion in Neuroscience
"We use the Simi software program to analyze dynamics of prey capture in the cuttlefish. The system has been great to use and allowed us to gather all the data we need. Once trained, its easily accessible for all levels of researchers and students – the program has been heavily used by undergraduates for data analysis. One concern when buying equipment/purchasing software is the level of support you get once the product has been paid for – on this front Simi has been amazing! All questions are answered quickly and Benedikt is always willing to travel or give online support when extra help is needed. I highly recommend this product!"
Dr. Olivia Mullins, Post-doctoral researcher in Neuroscience
UC San Diego, Department of Neuroscience
Simi Aktisys in rehabilitation research and practice
"Shortly after I began my training as a clinical biomechanics PhD student I realized the 'gap' between the biomechanics lab and the PT clinic in terms of technology. I knew that in order for clinical practice to advance, an affordable and efficient application of innovative technology designed specifically for clinicians was required. The SIMI Aktisys2D system is that technology. Along with my SIMI system, I've been able to purchase a Delsys Trigno wireless EMG system, and the two have integrated nicely into my part-time PT practice. I get to enjoy improved objectivity in my assessments, while my patients benefit from various forms of specific movement feedback essential to movement re-education. Also, the SIMI technicians are eager to hear my feedback as they're constantly looking for ways to improve the clinical usability of this system."
Lee Atkins, PT
Texas Tech University, Health Sciences Center, School of Allied Health Sciences
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences
Simi Aktisys and Simi Motion in a Movement Laboratory
"At AKI, we were searching for a system that allowed us to objectively measure human movement in order to better guide our physical therapy related interventions. The Simi system was our first choice due to the extremely insightful, knowledgeable and always available technicians, the ease of use of the system and the ability to integrate the Simi software with other tools such as EMG and force plates. Now that we have the Simi system, I am finding that the data our movement laboratory can provide is extremely unique in its ability to help diagnose musculoskeletal dysfunction and rehabilitate the client by specifically identifying relevant biomechanical impairments related to their pain experience or performance deficit. Thank you, Simi!"
Dr. Tom Walters, DPT, OCS, CSCS, Adjunct Assistant Professor at Westmont College and Partner and Doctor of Physical Therapy at
The ArthroKinetic Institute, Santa Barbara
Simi Aktisys and Simi Motion in the Finnish Research Institute for Olympic Sports
"We selected a Simi system when renewing our motion analysis system. We were looking for a versatile system for sports with quick and high-quality analysis and feedback options. The Simi system fits us perfectly, enabling us to work efficiently with various sports and different demands (indoor/outdoor, with/without markers, etc.). The automatic marker tracking by using either Simi Motion or the real-time tracking in the new Simi Aktisys software is of particular benefit to us and has been greatly appreciated by the athletes and coaches, our national team javelin throwers for example. The Simi system delivers quick feedback about performance during the training session - this used to take hours or even days before."
Sami Kuitunen, PhD, Chief Specialist of Sport Biomechanics at
KIHU - Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Jyväskylä, Finland
Simi Aktisys und Simi Motion for Athletic Performance in Pro Sports
"The Simi team have been great to work with - you have been a huge help to P3 for a year now and we are very lucky to have you working with us. I feel very comfortable coming to you all with questions or concerns, so be prepared to face some as I spend more time with the program! It is a great tool to have - it has been a great, exciting challenge so far... I'm looking forward to digging into it even more!"
Eric Leidersdorf, Lead Biomechanist at
P3 Peak Performance Project, Santa Barbara
Simi Aktisys und Simi Motion in a Sports Performance Center
Our customer DPT Sports Performance Center in San Diego uses Simi Aktisys and Simi Motion for evaluation of recreational and professional athletes. See the video about their work:
Simi Aktisys for Gait Analysis
Watch this video about Grün 25, a German physical therapy clinic. The physical therapists use Simi Aktisys in daily therapy for gait analysis. Grün 25 works with patients for evaluation of neurological, orthopedic and sports medical questions.


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- Session being reset on an incorrect form submission on the checkout page, which will then invalidate your session (and cause CSRF exceptions if you try to resubmit the form)
- SSL warnings when viewing /checkout as the static asset is being served over http (the browser first requests the image over https, but the application then redirects to actually serve the image over http)
- NullPointerExceptions in SessionFixationProtectionCookie when requesting static assets
The main cause of this is that there is no explicit mapping defined for the static assets, and thus the application treats them as though they should be served over http, based on this snipping in applicationContext-security (in site and combined):
Code: Select all
<!-- All URLs not explicitly specified as https will be served under http -->
<sec:intercept-url pattern="/" requires-channel="http"/>
<sec:intercept-url pattern="/**" requires-channel="http"/>
The fix is to ensure that static assets are treated just like any other static resource. So in applicationContext-security.xml in site and applicationContext-security-combined.xml add the following lines underneath where the other asset paths are defined (like /img/** and /robots.txt):
Code: Select all
<sec:http pattern="/**/${asset.server.url.prefix.internal}/**" security="none" />
This will prevent any static assets from going through Spring Security, and correctly serve the assets over http or https depending on what the browser is requesting. This has been updated on the Heat Clinic and it is recommended that you add this to your application ASAP.
For more information, you can view the Jira ticket at http://jira.broadleafcommerce.org/browse/BLC-798


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Final Competition Workshop Slated for Dec. 8, Washington, DC
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Justice have scheduled the last of five competition workshops for Dec. 8, Washington, DC
November 16, 2010
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Justice have scheduled the last of five competition workshops for Dec. 8, Washington, DC.
The workshop will examine the issue of margins at various levels of the agricultural supply chain. The workshop will be held in the Jefferson Auditorium at USDA, which is accessible through a designated entrance on Independence Avenue between 12th and 14th Streets, S.W.
The fifth workshop is designed to promote dialogue and foster learning with regards to competition and regulatory issues in agriculture.
The workshops are the first joint Department of Justice/USDA workshops ever to be held to discuss competition and regulatory issues in the agriculture industry.
The general public and media interested in attending the Washington workshop should register at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/marginsworkshop.
Opening remarks will be delivered by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Christine Varney. Panels will discuss supply chain dynamics, food retailing and margins in the beef, pork, poultry and dairy industries. Each panel will feature producers and industry representatives and academics with research expertise in related fields.
There will also be time for public testimony.
For further information, including submitted public comments, transcripts and videos for past workshops, please visit the Antitrust Division's agriculture workshop Web site at www.justice.gov/atr/public/workshops/ag2010/index.htm or contact [email protected].
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The publication of each new edition of the Global Education Monitoring Report is the occasion for taking stock on progress made - or not - and generating renewed interest for moving the new education goal in the Sustainable Development Agenda forward. Official launchings and related events are held in different parts of the world throughout the year. They draw attention to important issues and help to get the message across to different audiences.
If you have any enquiries about the following events or if you'd like to attend one, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Friday, February 15th is a big night for Psych, USA Network's pineapple-loving homage to '80s pop culture. Starting at midnight, fans will don their Psych slippers, heat up a pineapple upside-down cake, and settle in for a marathon of 7 fan-selected episodes. And as a surprise addition to the day's festivities, USA is launching The S#cial Sector, sequel to the show's Emmy-nominated transmedia experience Hashtag Killer.
The S#cial Sector will exist as an online interactive Psych episode elapsing over the course of eight weeks, much like its predecessor. Directed by Kirsten Nelson (who plays Chief of Police Karen Vick on the show), the narrative follows Shawn and Gus as they investigate a deadly reality television show known as "The S#cial Sector" that takes the elimination process literally. Unbeknownst to the show's contestants, getting taken out of the competition means getting taken out. It's up to the show's fans, interacting with Shawn and Gus on "The Fan Theory Board" as digital assistants, to figure out why the contestants are being killed off, and how to pull the plug on the deadly reality show before it's curtains for the show's cast.
As one of Hashtag Killer's 452,000 players, I was deeply impressed at the team's ability to capture the show's tone, and transfer it to a smaller, more interactive screen. Struggling to keep up with Shawn and Gus' witty repartee on the SocialSamba platform that drove players' interactions with the show's characters reinforced my excitement at hunting down the show's seemingly endless pop culture references and easter eggs, and working through the meta-puzzles introduced me to the show's vibrant fan communities as discussion spilled over from the show's official social platform to more traditional social networks like Twitter and Tumblr.
This spillover was particularly fitting for Hashtag Killer, as the transmedia experience can trace its origins to social media. As USA Network's SVP of Digital Jesse Redniss related to Brian Solis, Hashtag Killer originated as a direct result of Dulé Hill's overly enthusiastic penchant for using hashtags on Twitter: after tagging a tweet with the hashtag #VampireKiller, Redniss tweeted back, "Dulé, you gotta cool it with the hashtags, we're just gonna start calling you Hashtag Killer."
USA Network is reassembling the Hashtag Killer team for The S#cial Sector, partnering with Ralph, Social Samba, and 30 Ninjas to create the transmedia landscape for the eight week experience. With the creative agency Ralph added to the mix, the team is taking things a step further. In Hashtag Killer, players enjoyed the illusion of conversation while chatting with the show's characters on Social Samba's online platform, collecting clues through online mini-games, and competing for the dubious pleasure of serving as one of the the serial killer's victims. Individual players' comments and theories were occasionally integrated into the broader narrative through in-game shout-outs from Shawn and Gus to add to the illusion of agency, but Hashtag Killer still felt like a well-scripted performance. Audience participation will take a more prominent role in The S#cial Sector as players will be encouraged to share videos of their theories about the case with the help of the Theatrics, a collaborative storytelling platform used to create the collective fan experience Beckinfield.
While you can start playing The S#cial Sector (and Hashtag Killer) at any time as a standalone experience, there's a special thrill to playing the single-player game at the same time as the fan community at large, so stop over at SocialSector.USANetwork.com before slipping into your Psych snuggie for tomorrow's Slumber Party. But take a lesson from Dulé Hill: think about leaving out the extra # in the game's name if you're planning on talking about it on Twitter, unless you want to be a Hashtag Killer.


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Cruz Defeats Dewhurst, Will Face Sadler in Fall
Defying all early expectations and upending long-standing conventional wisdom in Texas Republican politics, former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz handily won the Republican runoff for an open U.S. Senate seat Tuesday night.
He moves on to the general election against former state Rep. Paul Sadler, who defeated retired educator Grady Yarbrough in the Democratic runoff.
Cruz defeated Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst after a lengthy, contentious political battle in which Cruz painted a longtime statewide elected official backed by Gov. Rick Perry as a moderate.
"Tonight is a victory for the grass roots," Cruz said Tuesday night. "It is a testament to Republican women, to Tea Party leaders and to grass-roots conservatives."
In a short concession speech, Dewhurst said he was proud of the race he had run.
"We got beat up a little bit, but we never gave up," Dewhurst said. "And we stand tall in knowing that we never compromised any of our values."
In a statement, Sadler made clear that he will fight for Dewhurst's supporters ahead of the Nov. 6 general election.
"Tonight, I stand alone as the only nominee of a major political party in Texas because the Texas Republican Party has been hijacked by the Tea Party," Sadler said in a statement.
The fight for the GOP nomination to replace U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison drew strong national interest and more than $45 million in spending, making it the nation's most expensive nonpresidential race of the election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
From the start, the race appeared to be Dewhurst's to lose, as he had held statewide office for more than a decade and had millions of dollars in personal wealth at his disposal to outspend any opponents. But many influential activists aligned with the Tea Party were unimpressed with Dewhurst's record and could not shake the feeling that he would crumble to pressure from moderates once in Congress.
Cruz also benefited from protracted legal fighting over last year's congressional and legislative redistricting maps that pushed the Texas primary from March to May and the subsequent runoff to July. The longer primary gave Cruz more time to introduce himself to the state's Republican voters.
Though Dewhurst and Cruz agreed on practically every major issue, the race still managed to draw passions on both sides as the race turned largely on the candidates' temperaments and records.
Cruz, a Cuban-American, Harvard-educated lawyer who worked on George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign and later for the Bush administration, centered his Senate campaign on his five-plus years as Texas Solicitor General under Attorney General Greg Abbott. In fiery speeches, he cited his work on cases dealing with states' rights, gun control and religious freedom as a "proven record" of "fighting for the U.S. Constitution." Conservative stars including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., endorsed Cruz's campaign.
Dewhurst, who has served as lieutenant governor since 2003, pointed to a long list of conservative legislation passed under his watch, as well as his experience as a businessman and service in the Air Force and CIA.
Cruz relentlessly criticized Dewhurst as "timid" and a "moderate," accusing him of raising state spending and blaming him for conservative measures not becoming law.
Texas Republican leaders including Perry and more than half of the Texas Senate endorsed Dewhurst and accused Cruz of distorting Dewhurst's legislative record and, simultaneously, their own records as well.
Dewhurst attacked Cruz for some of the clients he has taken on as a private lawyer and painting him as a "Wasington insider." He described millions spent by the Club for Growth and other anti-tax groups to boost Cruz's campaign as out-of-state meddling from people who didn't care about Texas. None of the attacks seemed to blunt momentum for Cruz.
On the Democratic side, Sadler adopted some of Dewhurst's criticism of Cruz on Tuesday night, describing the Republican nominee as "untested, untried and unknown to the vast majority of Texans."
Yarbrough, who has never held elected office, said he would support Sadler in November. The perennial candidate surprised many by making it into the Democratic runoff. Though he invested much of his personal savings into his campaign, he said he didn't regret entering the race.
"I enjoyed it quite a bit, tremendously," Yarbrough said. "You never know how elections are going to go. Sometimes they go the way you think they're going to go and sometimes they don't."
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