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__ Father of Ethernet, founder of 3Com, in-demand author, pundit, and conference host, Bob Metcalfe is overcommitted and then some. But never too busy to make sure the good guys - himself included - win. __
"I've screwed up and I've overcommitted and it's typical of me."
Bob Metcalfe is in a foul mood. He's taking a break from a 17-city speaking tour that has included stops in Kuala Lumpur, Miami, and Munich. It's a drizzly day on Kelmscott Farm in Lincolnville, Maine, where Metcalfe lives with his wife, two children, and 250 rare Cotswold sheep, Nigerian dwarf goats, and Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs. Metcalfe has a cold, and his rumbly, resonant cough registers at about 6.0 on the Richter scale.
"I'm supposed to be writing a book and I'm late and my publisher's pissed at me," he continues, noting his deadline is two months past. He is also contractually bound to produce 685 words a week for his InfoWorld column, "From the Ether," and he's in the midst of helping MIT relaunch Technology Review, the university's 100-year-old "magazine of innovation."
Want more? He is also consumed with planning two of the biggest-name annual tech conferences in the world - Vortex and Agenda 99. The former, a springtime confab, focuses on the convergence of the Net, telecom, and equipment industries. The latter is an October affair with a typically unmodest Metcalfean goal: to chart the high tech industry's path for the coming year. An idea of the pull exerted by the IDG-sponsored, invitation-only event (staged this year at the Scottsdale, Arizona, resort The Phoenician) is suggested by the speakers Metcalfe rounded up: FCC chair William Kennard; Arizona Senator John McCain, oft-mentioned as a possible 2000 GOP presidential candidate; Joel Klein, head of the Justice Department's antitrust offensive against Microsoft; '96 Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes; Oracle's Larry Ellison; and Intel's Andy Grove.
Adding to the overload is the fact Metcalfe turned 52 this year. "That," calculates the engineer turned entrepreneur turned tech journalist, "leaves me just 13 years before retirement to win the Pulitzer prize." The remark is made in passing, but, whether the quest is absurd or not, he's dead serious.
Ignore for the moment the long odds of winning such an honor - the pinnacle of achievement in American letters and daily journalism. How did the inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com tack so sharply away from the world of hands-on tech innovation and corporate combat? Talk to enough of Metcalfe's pals in industry and academe, and you'll run into several who think the writing life is, well, not the optimal use of Metcalfe's talents. "I think he's capable of a lot more," says one.
Others, though, say that Metcalfe is simply a man who thrives on trying new things. Mitch Kapor, who was building Lotus around the same time Metcalfe was building 3Com, and has now reinvented himself as a venture capitalist, is of this camp.
"Sometimes we all want a change," Kapor says. "He gets to put together conferences like Agenda, which are critical to the culture of the computer industry. And with his column, he has a powerful platform to speak on important issues.... I think the media could use more people like Bob - he's one of the few who's not afraid to take on big-picture issues, and he brings a solid technical understanding to them. For Bob, this is like the second act."
Metcalfe, who comes across as a man who has never known defeat, took up writing in 1990 after losing a boardroom skirmish at 3Com. The board of directors chose Eric Benhamou, a soft-spoken engineer nine years Metcalfe's junior, to run the networking company he had founded in his Palo Alto apartment in 1979.
"Benhamou is a nerd who can't give a presentation," says Metcalfe, still irritated eight years after the fact. "He's not horrible, but he's not charismatic." But Metcalfe acknowledges that it was Benhamou, not he, who won 3Com entry into the Fortune 500 and grew it into a US$5 billion powerhouse. "I've learned watching him that you don't have to be charismatic to be a great CEO. To this day, he doesn't have a charismatic bone in his body."
Metcalfe, by contrast, is a cauldron of charisma. He is tough and charming, a persuader who knows how to listen, a provocateur who miraculously avoids making too many enemies. That combination of qualities made Ethernet a networking standard (today, it connects more than 100 million computers) and enabled Metcalfe to raise the first million dollars to launch 3Com.
After losing out to Benhamou in the contest to succeed Bill Krause as 3Com CEO, Metcalfe left the company and eventually sold his stake in the firm. He departed Silicon Valley and bought the 150-acre farm in Maine, along with a gussied-up lobster boat called Enthusiasm, a cabin and 50 acres on Green's Island in Penobscot Bay, and a six-story town house in Boston's Back Bay.
His glory days - as an MIT whiz kid working on the Arpanet, as a researcher at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center developing Ethernet, as the hard-charging young founder of 3Com - are long behind him. Now he sweats over a weekly column deadline. Each piece takes him about six hours to write, usually in hotel rooms, usually late at night. "I consider what I write to be literature," he says. "I choose the words carefully."
In his crisp, conversational pieces for InfoWorld, he introduces new companies with innovative ideas. He skewers Microsoft and the Baby Bells for what he sees as monopolistic practices. And he makes predictions - like his famous pronouncement that the Internet would "go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse." When that prediction failed to come true, Metcalfe engaged in some highly theatrical public penance: In front of an audience, he put that particular column into a blender, poured in some water, and proceeded to eat the resulting frappe with a spoon.
"His shenanigans, like eating his own column, are marvelous shenanigans," says Michael Dertouzos, director of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science and a longtime friend. "He knows how to project himself. People think that anyone who's good in theatrics is shallow. But he isn't. This guy's deep."
And busy. Always busy. In addition to everything else, there is a one-year stint as president of MIT's alumni association, parties at his Back Bay brownstone, and R&R with his wife, Robyn, and his children, Max, 9, and Julia, 11.
He also devotes a fair amount of time and energy to polishing the legend of Robert Melancton Metcalfe.
__ "He's not horrible, but he's not charismatic," Metcalfe says of the man who beat him out for the 3Com CEO slot. Metcalfe, by contrast, is a cauldron of charisma. __
He is an actor at heart - a ham, really - and he sings his song of himself with a dramatic flair. Sitting in the front parlor of his town house, Metcalfe goes through an extensive repertoire of hand gestures, facial expressions, and vocal impersonations, performing for me and my tape recorder.
Listen, for instance, to the story of how, while still a grade-schooler on Long Island, he fixed on the idea of going to MIT to study electrical engineering.
"In fourth grade, I had to write a book report, and I hadn't read a book, and it was the night before." He stops for a second. "Typical of me. I've always been that way. So I went down to my father's shop in the basement, on South Thompson Drive, in Bay Shore, New York.
"In the basement, my father - an aerospace technician - had a shelf of books. There was one book that caught my eye. It was black. An electrical engineering textbook written by an MIT professor or two. A book that I could not possibly understand. And as I recall it, I wrote one of those fake book reports."
He shifts into a nasal, bored caricature of a preadolescent. "'This book had its high points and its low points, but on average I think it was an average book.' One of those lame things, when you don't have anything to say, and you just write stuff like that.
"But I must've known that the book report wasn't going to fly, so I added a gratuitous sentence at the end of the book report calculated to make the teacher like the book report. And the sentence, in my recollection, said" - now, he switches into a deep, stentorian voice - "'And I plan to go to MIT and get a degree in electrical engineering.' I must've thought that my teacher would like that - that I'd been inspired by this book - and give me a good grade."
A schoolboy effort to please or not, Metcalfe did wind up at MIT after graduating second in his class from Bay Shore High School, and he did get a bachelor's in electrical engineering, tacking on an extra degree in management as well.
He worked a series of jobs to pay his expenses - for a time programming Univacs for Raytheon on the graveyard shift - and was captain of MIT's varsity tennis team.
The next installment of the Metcalfe Saga begins with his Harvard grad school days, where he pursued first a master's in applied mathematics, then a doctorate in computer science. Harvard refused to let him, a lowly graduate student, be responsible for connecting the school to the brand-new Arpanet, so Metcalfe took a job with MIT's Project MAC. There, he was responsible for building some of the hardware that would link MIT's minicomputers with the Arpanet. The interface message processor, or IMP, that he built for the project now hangs on the wall of his Boston home's penthouse office.
After building the IMP, Metcalfe wrote a pamphlet called Scenarios for the Arpanet - a tract the author now calls "the first Internet for Dummies." Compiled for a 1972 Arpanet conference, Scenarios was an introduction to the applications accessible on the system and was intended to convince nontechnical types of the network's usefulness. The three-day Arpanet coming-out party, held in the ballroom at the Washington Hilton, was important in shaping Metcalfe's worldview: that there are innovators and there are troglodytes, and the troglodytes are pretty much a lost cause.
Because of his authorship of Scenarios, Metcalfe was asked to demo the Arpanet for a group of AT&T execs attending the confab. The pre-breakup phone monopoly had already begun lobbying against the Internet, fearful that a packet-switched network would eventually eclipse its own circuit-switched system.
"I'm sitting at a terminal," recalls Metcalfe, "this graduate student with a huge red bushy beard, giving a tour of this network to 10 executives from AT&T, all of whom were wearing pinstripe suits ... and in the middle of my demo - for the one time in the whole three days - the system crashed. And I looked up. And they ... were happy ... that it crashed. They were smiling." Metcalfe is still incredulous. "This was my life's work. My crusade. And these guys were happy that it didn't work."
The takeaway? "I saw that there are people who will connive against innovation," he says. "They're hostile to it. And that has shaped my behavior ever since." Metcalfe's is a world of good guys and bad guys, and since that day in 1972, noncompetitive telcos have been planted firmly in the latter category.
Metcalfe is neither shy about bringing up his accomplishments nor meek in staking out his turf. He claims to have written the first memo alerting fellow Arpanet researchers to the network's vulnerability to hackers. He also claims to have invented the term ping, as in, "Let me ping that computer and see if it's running." During three days of interviews, he also manages to mention that he coined the term extranet in addition to ethernet; that he was the first writer to nail Microsoft on its monopolistic practices (back in 1991); and that he invented the "terminal keynote" speech, a 45-minute summing up that ends his tech conferences.
He's equally proud of Metcalfe's Law, so named by friend George Gilder. The maxim, conceived to convince the world to adopt his Ethernet standard, reads thus: The value of a network grows as the square of the number of its users. Or, more plainly stated: The more users who can talk to each other on a network, the more valuable it is. (Metcalfe's Law is central to the idea of "network externalities," a concept that describes the value of networks in light of a variety of economic factors.)
Enamored of the Arpanet, Metcalfe made it the topic of his doctoral dissertation. But something surprising happened. Harvard flunked him. "Not theoretical enough," they said. Graduation invitations had already been sent out, and Metcalfe's parents were set to make the trip to Cambridge from New York. Metcalfe had already accepted a position at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center.
Listening to him, it's hard to tell whether Metcalfe is still really angry with Harvard for rejecting his work or whether, like a method actor, he's trying to re-create the emotions he felt.
"They let me go into this thing and they gunned me," he rages. "I'm even willing to stipulate that it wasn't very good. But I'd still justify my anger at those bastards for letting me fail. Had they been doing better jobs as professors, they never would have allowed that to happen. But I hated Harvard and Harvard hated me. It was a class thing from the start."
__ He claims to have coined the terms ping and extranet in addition to ethernet, and to have been the first writer to nail Microsoft's monopolistic practices. __
After breaking the news to his parents, Metcalfe phoned Bob Taylor, head of the computer science lab at PARC and his new boss. "I just failed my defense," Metcalfe told him. He was stunned by Taylor's response. "Come on anyway," Taylor said. "Finish it up out here."
Just as Metcalfe will never forgive Harvard, he says Taylor will forever remain a hero. "There's nothing Bob Taylor can do wrong."
On stage, Metcalfe is a commanding presence. Standing 6'1", with a wave of thick, now silvery hair, his body language suggests someone who will not easily be budged. He has the physique of a retired football player - big-boned, and just a bit on the beefy side.
Delivering one of his terminal keynotes at Boston's Internet Commerce Expo in March, he grabs the audience the instant he's introduced: "It's OK to react to what I say. Shake your head if you disagree with me," he urges. "Nod if you're with me. Smile, raise your hand, boo, clap, hiss, ask questions."
The people in the audience love him for giving them permission to be something more than warm bodies in uncomfortable chairs. When he slams the telephone establishment for limiting the speed of Internet access - "What we need is not faster dial-up modems, but vicious competition among satellite, DSL, cable modems, power lines, you name it" - his listeners erupt. When he mentions Microsoft, the crowd hisses. Metcalfe then introduces his concept of Freedom of Choice Among Competing Alternatives: FOCACA. "That way I can say that Microsoft has been stepping in it lately." Uproarious laughter.
"He's always been a great speaker," says David Liddle, CEO of Interval Research and a friend of Metcalfe's since the two worked together at Xerox PARC. "He's outgoing, and he has a lot of self-possession and focus. He's someone who's able to bear down and really do his best in a public setting."
Metcalfe is also a great listener: On an MIT panel on innovation, he is visibly attentive to the moderator, the audience, the other speakers. His brow furrows, and his head cocks, and he leans forward slightly, appearing to lock onto the ideas being discussed. His face is never blank. He frowns big, and smiles broad. And when he speaks, he has been listening so hard that every word he utters is well chosen. Asked to define innovation, he offers, "Invention is a flower. Innovation is a weed."
That utterance electrifies the panel. The moderator lights up, and the other panelists - including Michael Dertouzos and John Seely Brown, the current director of Xerox PARC - seem to exert themselves to match Metcalfe's level of discourse, energy, and thoughtfulness. It's like watching Charlie Parker sitting in with a high school jazz band.
"Bob loves to traffic in the world of ideas, and I think that's what he's enjoying most about his current role in the industry," says Pat McGovern, chair of International Data Group and Metcalfe's boss. "He's immensely satisfied by a good intellectual debate."
Installment three of the Legend of Metcalfe involves a pull-out couch in Washington, DC, a bad case of jet lag, and a two-year-old book of conference proceedings.
Metcalfe was working at PARC and also helping train military officers to use Arpanet. When he traveled to Washington, he would stay with Steve Crocker, a friend who was working for the Department of Defense as an Arpanet program manager.
"Steve had a couch in his living room - an important couch," begins Metcalfe. "During one visit in 1972, I opened it and got ready to go to sleep, but I was jet-lagged. I'm thrashing about for something to read. He had some shelves. I stumbled across a book called AFIPS Conference Proceedings, 1970."
Not, you might safely say, your typical bedtime reading. But Metcalfe was riveted by what he found. The American Federation of Information Processing Societies volume contained a paper about a radio-based network of computers called AlohaNet, developed at the University of Hawaii. "As I'm reading it, not only do I understand it, but I disagree with it," he recalls. He identified and fixed some of the bugs in the AlohaNet model. He made his analysis of the AlohaNet part of a revised thesis, which finally earned him his Harvard PhD.
Back at PARC, researchers were working on the Xerox Alto, the first personal computer, and EARS, the first laser printer. But they needed a network to link the PCs with each other and the laser printer, which was capable of spitting out 60 pages a minute at 500-dots-per-inch resolution. Metcalfe was assigned the task of devising a simple, flexible networking scheme that had some tough requirements: The system must allow PCs and laser printers to be installed without requiring that the network be reconfigured or shut down as devices were added.
"The first time I saw Metcalfe was in the basement of PARC," recalls David Boggs, who was working there while a graduate student at nearby Stanford University. "I was assembling a Data General Nova, and this guy shows up with an armload of coaxial cable, sits down with a soldering iron, and starts sending signals down the coax to see what would happen." Metcalfe was hammering out his design, writing a memo a week to his fellow researchers at Xerox's computer science lab, incrementally fleshing out his ideas. He enlisted Boggs to help him design and debug the networking hardware.
With his innate sense of moment, Metcalfe pegs the exact day Ethernet was born: May 22, 1973. That was the day he circulated a memo titled "Alto Ethernet." It contained a rough schematic of how Ethernet would work. "That is the first time ethernet appears as a word, as does the idea of using coax as ether, where the participating stations, like in AlohaNet or Arpanet, would inject their packets of data, they'd travel around at megabits per second, there would be collisions, and retransmissions, and back-off," Metcalfe explains. (Boggs, more pragmatic, offers another date as the genesis of Ethernet: November 11, 1973, the first day the system actually functioned.)
You can get a rough sense of how Ethernet works by attending a party at Metcalfe's Boston home, on Beacon Street. The occasion: A celebration of the relaunch of Technology Review. Metcalfe serves on the magazine's advisory board.
__ "I don't have this house because I invented Ethernet," he says of his six-story Back Bay manse. "I have this house because I sold Ethernet for a decade." __
In the wood-paneled library on the second floor, there's a bar set up and a cluster of people standing on one side of the room, near a magazine rack stocked with InfoWorld and other technology publications. I ask the others what they think about the new Technology Review. Two people start to answer simultaneously. They both stop for a second, and then one of them starts to answer, while the other remains silent. It's natural that as the group grows bigger, and interruptions more frequent, the time someone stays quiet lengthens.
Put that social dynamic on a wire and you've got Ethernet.
"The computer that wishes to transmit a packet of data listens to the channel for quiet," explains Ron Crane, a former Xerox PARC researcher who later joined Metcalfe as 3Com's fourth employee. "If it's quiet, the computer will transmit. And while it's transmitting, it checks continuously to make sure there aren't any collisions happening. If there is one happening, it stops, waits a random amount of time, and tries again. And the key innovation of Ethernet, compared with AlohaNet, was that a computer trying to transmit backs off more - that is, waits a longer period of time - the busier the network gets."
The main reason Ethernet - which in its quarter-century has accelerated from 3 megabits to 1 gigabit per second - prevailed over competing technologies like IBM's Token Ring is because of Metcalfe's toughness and charisma. He invented Ethernet, but he also made sure it became an open standard.
"Bob is able to turn his ideas into actions because he's a very persuasive guy," says Liddle. "While we were at Xerox, he worked doggedly to get people to understand the importance of Ethernet as the direction we should go with all our new products. And after he left [in 1979], he worked really hard to get Intel and Digital to agree to license Ethernet, and he got Xerox to agree that it should be an open networking standard. You don't create a standard like Ethernet without being a persuasive person."
Metcalfe's crusade transcended mere persuasiveness as he won over some of the most powerful figures in the tech world to his vision. "Metcalfe was essential to getting DEC to back Ethernet," says Sam Fuller, then a top manager at the company. "He talked to CEO Ken Olsen and engineering vice president Gordon Bell and talked to practically every engineering manager. He could talk to all levels, and he is an incredible salesman."
Digital, Intel, and Xerox eventually joined in support of Ethernet, lining up against IBM's Token Ring technology and a since-abandoned system developed at General Motors called Token Bus. "Bob was the catalyst to get us all together and to get us to agree upon that standard," says Bell.
It's evidence of the incredibly high expectations Metcalfe has for himself that his one regret from this period was that he "failed to sell IBM on Ethernet" - a task that on its face looks impossible. And it's evidence of his incredibly high self-esteem that he explains that failure away by claiming with a smirk, "That was before I learned how to sell."
In a room, Metcalfe is the person toward whom the crowd gravitates. That gravitational pull, while impeding his ability to flit from one conversation to another, was what attracted venture capitalists to the small consulting company Metcalfe started upon leaving Xerox PARC.
The name, 3Com, stood for "computers, communication, compatibility," and after working with companies like GE, Texas Instruments, and Exxon to help them deploy Ethernet, Metcalfe decided that 3Com needed to become a product company, pushing the hardware and software needed to make the system run. In the fall of 1980, he began showing a business plan to venture capitalists.
"Ethernet, at the time, was controversial," recalls Gib Myers, a general partner at the Mayfield Fund. "But in our business, when you meet a guy like Metcalfe who is clearly a leader and a guru in his field, you just say, 'Let's go with this horse.' He was a technical beacon, but he had the personality and the leadership skills, and you want someone like that when you're backing a small company in a new market."
By February 1981, venture capitalists had given Metcalfe $1.1 million for a third of his young company, and Mayfield brought in a seasoned manager, Bill Krause from Hewlett-Packard, to help run the company (Krause eventually served as 3Com's president, CEO, and chair).
Metcalfe says his proudest accomplishment at the company was as head of sales and marketing. He claims credit for bringing revenue from zero to more than $1 million a month by 1984. And he's careful to point out that it was this aptitude - not his skill as an inventor - that earned him his fortune.
"Flocks of MIT engineers come over here," Metcalfe tells me, leading me up the back staircase at Beacon Street. "I love them, so I invite them. They look at this and say, 'Wow! What a great house! I want to invent something like Ethernet.'" The walls of the narrow stairway are lined with photos and framed documents, like the first stock certificate issued at 3Com, four Ethernet patents, a photo of Metcalfe and Boggs, and articles Metcalfe has written for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
"I have to sit 'em down for an hour and say, 'No, I don't have this house because I invented Ethernet. I have this house because I went to Cleveland and Schenectady and places like that. I sold Ethernet for a decade. That's why I have this house. It had nothing to do with that brainstorm in 1973.'" He pauses for effect, as we arrive at his top-floor office. "And they don't like that story."
Boggs is one engineer who understands well the moral of that tale. He's not poor - he drives a classy gray Mercedes - but he's not the multimillionaire that Metcalfe is. And he's not bitter about Metcalfe's success. First, he readily admits that Ethernet was Metcalfe's idea, and that his role was that of an assistant. Second, Boggs acknowledges the energy invested in all of those sales calls to Cleveland and Schenectady. But Boggs, after a few cups of coffee, does begin to sound wistfully envious of Metcalfe's people skills.
"Ethernet, had I invented it, never would have gone anywhere - it would have remained a research-lab innovation," Boggs says. "Bob's articulate. He's extremely handsome. The combination of those two things, and having a good idea, makes it easy."
__ As a tech sector pundit who has actually done something, Metcalfe has far more influence than he could have had as a CEO. __
3Com struggled throughout much of the '80s, first because of the lingering standards battle, then because of an unfocused product strategy and an unhealthy obsession with archrival Novell.
As part of its campaign to best Novell, 3Com joined with Microsoft and IBM to develop and sell new WAN management software. Describing the climax of what he summarizes as a "horrible" partnership with Redmond, Metcalfe says that "one day Microsoft announced that they would be selling our product to our customers. Our contract didn't say they couldn't. And not only that, our contract said we had to continue paying them the minimum royalties even though we were no longer selling the product, because they were selling it around us to our own customers. So this -" Metcalfe stops talking, and growls a very low, throaty growl. He's trying, it seems, to release the aggravation he still feels over the situation.
"The company eventually had to write off $87 million. Not all because of Microsoft - just most of it. We got screwed." I ask whether that experience has influenced his writing on Microsoft, which he has unequivocally accused of monopolistic practices.
"That's just the argument that Microsoft uses against me," Metcalfe protests. "They screwed my company, and therefore, 'Don't listen to Bob - he just has a grudge.' It's like saying, 'Don't listen to Jews about anti-Semitism. They just have a grudge against Hitler.'"
Metcalfe pauses for a second and looks out the window, down the street. "I'm 52 years old. What is it you get when you live a life? You learn things. Am I supposed to forget them?"
After failing to win the chief executive job at 3Com, Metcalfe accepted a prestigious fellowship at England's Cambridge University. But after only a year, Metcalfe was tired of academic life and returned to the West Coast to take a job as publisher of InfoWorld. "I'd been trying to get a column in InfoWorld, and then-editor Stewart Alsop wouldn't give me one," Metcalfe recalls. "But they did need a publisher, so I did that for two and a half years, with great success. We increased profits by two and a half times, and I got to write a publisher's column. So being publisher was just my way of getting a column in InfoWorld."
"Bob was genuinely curious about the publishing business and how it worked," says Kelly Conlin, president of International Data Group, InfoWorld's parent. "He was a very quick study. In fact, you can really time the resurgence of InfoWorld to Bob's arrival."
Eventually, Metcalfe bowed out of the publisher's role to focus on his writing and become more involved in setting IDG's strategy, as vice president of technology. Today, he serves as a director for IDG.
Some believe that his current role as one of the tech sector's leading pundits - a pundit who has actually done something - affords him more influence than he would have had as chief of 3Com. "He's got a lot more sway as a columnist than he would have as head of one of the three big suppliers of networking equipment," says Bell, the former Digital vice president. "People listen to him, and they respect him. He has an opportunity now to be influential over the direction of technology, rather than the direction of one company's P&L."
And shrugging off the publisher's mantle has also freed Metcalfe to be more aggressive in his ideological crusade of the moment: seeking complete deregulation of the telecommunications sector.
One of his allies in that crusade, former FCC chair Reed Hundt, says Metcalfe is one of the high tech entrepreneurs most committed to shaping public policy.
"He has jumped in up to his armpits in the great policy debate of our time: How can we totally deregulate the communications industry?" says Hundt. "He is demonstrating that a famous entrepreneur can be a darn good policy advocate, which is a very rare metamorphosis in American business. He's a natural-born free thinker, and he brings tremendous clarity of thought and total bona fides as a technologist to the debate."
Metcalfe also brings a knack for not making too many enemies along the way. Despite his frequent thrusts in Microsoft's direction, Bill Gates has regularly spoken at conferences that Metcalfe has organized. Ray Smith, the chair and CEOof Bell Atlantic, gamely showed up at Metcalfe's Camden Conference on Telecommunications last year despite knowing beforehand that Metcalfe would speak out against Bell Atlantic's stranglehold on the local loop.
"It's hard to have Bob as an enemy," says Ralph Ungermann, founder of Ungermann-Bass, an early 3Com rival. "His style is such that he's easy to get along with, even if he's a competitor. He's honest and open. It's never personal with Bob. It's intellectual. It's about ideas."
That's not to say that Metcalfe hasn't ruffled a few feathers. Roy Neel, president and CEO of the United States Telephone Association in Washington, complains about Metcalfe's tunnel vision. Neel - who Metcalfe once derided as a propagandist - says Metcalfe isn't interested in fundamental issues like universal access to telephone service, but is focused narrowly on the speed and cost of Internet access.
"Metcalfe has one objective, and that's to find the bad guys and to pound them, and that distorts the picture," Neel says. "It's not objective journalism." When he's done rebutting Metcalfe's comments on the telecom industry, though, Neel confesses that if Metcalfe held a conference and invited him to speak, he would consider it. "I don't take this stuff personally."
I asked Metcalfe to list the things that make him most happy.
First, he mentioned giving a good speech. "I really like delivering it, and I like the effect it has on people." He also revels in the half-hour after a speech, when audience members cluster around him to offer congratulations, ask questions, and take issue with his ideas.
Second, he said, is raising two children - taking his daughter to baseball practice, and watching his son catch frogs on the farm and chase his daughter with them.
__ "It's not objective journalism," a telco honcho complains of Metcalfe's writing. "He has one objective - to find the bad guys and pound them." __
Then, there is the wooden boat he just had built down in Rockland, Maine. It's a small sailboat, a Haven 12-and-a-half, and it was designed by the late Joel White, son of the writer E. B. White and a graduate of MIT in naval architecture.
Fourth is the farm, which Robyn runs as an educational foundation, busing in children from all over New England to learn about the rare animals she keeps. Kelmscott hosted 13,000 visitors last year on field trips and for events like a Renaissance festival, officially sanctioned Border collie trials, and lambing days.
Finally, Metcalfe mentions an event that shows that a Harvard PhD and a quarter-century as a leading high tech innovator, entrepreneur, and thinker haven't wrung the last of his adolescent high spirits out of him: Big Boys Camp.
Every August, Metcalfe invites 10 or 15 good friends - Boggs and Crane both attended last year - for a weeklong stay at his cabin on Green's Island. No running water, no electricity. "We sail boats and hike and go on various adventures, and swim nude in Penobscot Bay."
Which reminds him of another story - one that isn't yet part of the legend of Robert Melancton Metcalfe. "My son attended Big Boys Camp this summer. When we first arrived, Dave Thomas [the former editor of Down East: The Magazine of Maine] took off all his clothes and dove into the water. All my other friends followed. My son is standing there looking at them, and looking at me. The implication was, 'Prove you're a man, Dad.'
"So instead of just jumping into the water, I climbed to the top of the cabin, took off my clothes, and dove in from there."
Metcalfe has been awarded one prize for his journalism so far, from the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1995, for furthering the public understanding of science. "I hope it's the first of many," he says, unabashedly a man who gauges success by the weight of the medals he has received and the number of readers he attracts.
But the Pulitzer? Is he serious?
I ask Sandy Reed, the editor in chief at InfoWorld. "Bob told me that the first time I met him," she says. "That's a driving force. He doesn't just want to be a writer. He wants to be a great writer."
I send an email to Metcalfe, mentioning that for journalism, only writers at daily newspapers are eligible for Pulitzers (InfoWorld is a weekly).
"Good point on the Pulitzer prize," his response begins. "This has been pointed out to me before.
"I could work my way into the dailies eventually, and I've given myself another 13 years, which should be plenty (;-> ).
"Or, a book, and I'm now practicing for the big one - Ethernet Versus Godzilla.
"Or, I could get lucky carrying my camera around, hoping to catch a fireman carrying a baby out of a burning building."
But luck has never entered into the Legend of Metcalfe in a significant way, and that's why the smart money will ride on options one and two.
"He has always believed that your destiny is in your own hands," says Al Vezza, Metcalfe's old boss at Project MAC. "His idea was, you work hard and you make it. And he made that come true."


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Are you craving cranberries and planning to fly somewhere for the Thanksgiving holiday?
You're not alone. The Air Transport Association of America (ATA) predicts that 24 million travelers, up 3.5 percent over last year, will take a domestic flight during the last two weeks of November.
Don't miss these Travel stories
Lords of the gourd compete for Punkin Chunkin honors
With teams using more than 100 unique apparatuses to launch globular projectiles a half-mile or more, the 27th annual World Championship Punkin Chunkin event is our pick as November's Weird Festival of the Month.
- Airports, airlines work hard to return your lost items
- Expert: Tourist hordes threaten Sistine Chapel's art
- MGM Grand wants Las Vegas guests to Stay Well
- Report: Airlines collecting $36.1B in fees this year
- Lords of the gourd compete for Punkin Chunkin honors
Flights will be full, security will be tight and anyone traveling during the turkey-and-football-filled Thanksgiving weekend will be paying a hefty surcharge to do so.
Last fall, airlines experimented with adding extra fees, starting at $10 each way, for flights on the peak travel days around Thanksgiving. Many passengers balked, but enough people ponied up the cash that now most major airlines feel confident adding peak-day surcharges around Christmas, New Year's Day, spring break and the entire summer season.
"Travelers can consider these peak-travel-day surcharges to be a new holiday tradition," said Jennifer Gaines, contributing editor for Travelocity.com.
Expect to pay more
Travelocity found the highest average domestic airfare to be $474 for a trip starting on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, when surcharges of $10 are levied, and ending on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when surcharges of $30 are now common.
"But if you fly on Thanksgiving Day, the one day when there are no surcharges, and return on the Tuesday after the holiday, the average airfare drops to $287. The reason for that significant price swing has a lot to do with those surcharges," said Gaines.
Savvy travelers can avoid the peak-day surcharges.
"Right now, only American, Continental, Delta, United, and US Airways charge the fee, so you can avoid it by flying a more fee-friendly airline such as Southwest or JetBlue," said Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com.Interactive: Calculating the cost of getting to Grandma's (on this page)
However, the average passenger would have to dig deep into fare rules to spot the surcharges. "It's not like the checked bags fees that you pay for separately when you show up at the airport," said Rick Seaney, president of FareCompare.com. "The surcharges are now baked into the ticket price. Consumers will feel it when they get fare quotes for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and, if (you) happen to be a Super Bowl fan, if you're planning to go to Dallas or Las Vegas in early February 2011."
Don't miss these Travel stories
Lords of the gourd compete for Punkin Chunkin honors
With teams using more than 100 unique apparatuses to launch globular projectiles a half-mile or more, the 27th annual World Championship Punkin Chunkin event is our pick as November's Weird Festival of the Month.
- Airports, airlines work hard to return your lost items
- Expert: Tourist hordes threaten Sistine Chapel's art
- MGM Grand wants Las Vegas guests to Stay Well
- Report: Airlines collecting $36.1B in fees this year
- Lords of the gourd compete for Punkin Chunkin honors
'The new normal'
"Surcharges are the 'new normal' for all areas of travel and leisure, not just air travel," said Rita DiPalma, senior vice president of Brand Magnet, an online loyalty marketing company."The fees may be seen as a trend in the new a la carte, or unbundled, world of travel. In reality, though, surcharges have always existed and are based on supply and demand."
Related: Tactical Thanksgiving: holiday travel game plan
For example, DiPalma points to a major New York City car service, Dial 7, which adds a $5 surcharge for rides between the airport and Manhattan from Dec. 23-25 and a $6 surcharge on Dec. 26.
"New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel has a four-night minimum stay during the holidays. Is that a surcharge? Maybe — maybe not. But if you just want to stay at that hotel two or three nights, it certainly is," said DiPalma.Video: Skies, roads to be stuffed for Thanksgiving (on this page)
Taking a cruise is often more expensive during the holiday season. But adding a surcharge for a special meal or activity, such as the popular circus show on the Norwegian Epic, might actually make the onboard experience more enjoyable, said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of the Cruise Critic website. "Some of the amenities cruise lines are putting on ships these days would be too popular and overrun if they didn't add a surcharge as a way to keep crowds down."
Variable pricing takes root
This Thanksgiving, visitors to one major attraction in San Francisco will encounter a peak holiday surcharge for the first time. The California Academy of Sciences, which opened in 2008 with an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum, 40,000 live animals and its own four-story rainforest, will be adding a $5 peak period surcharge to each ticket on Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the holiday weekend.
Most popular
"The variable pricing structure, in which the cost of admission varies according to seasonal demand, [is] much like airline ticket pricing," said the Academy's Stephanie Stone, and is intended to encourage visitors with flexible schedules to visit during an off-peak day. Visitors who want to visit during the holiday weekend can of course go ahead and pay the $5 surcharge on top of the regular admission ticket price ($29.95 for adults, $24.94 aged 12-17) or "avoid peak-period surcharges by purchasing an Academy membership, which allows members to visit as often as they like, even during peak periods," she added.
The California Academy of Sciences isn't the first attraction to adopt variable pricing. "The Shedd Aquarium [in Chicago] has instituted peak-period pricing in the past," said Stone, "as has the Vancouver [B.C.] Aquarium."Slideshow: Holiday Travel (on this page)
Right now, though, the peak-period surcharge at the California Academy of Sciences is the only one the American Association of Museums is aware of. "Museums are very popular," said spokesman Dewey Blanton. "They get an estimated 850 million annual visits per year. That's more than all professional sporting events and theme parks combined. And we all know standing elbow-to-elbow can lessen the experience. So the California Academy of Science's inventive policy might actually serve to enhance the visitor experience for all."
Harriet Baskas is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com, authors the "Stuck at the Airport" blog and is a columnist for USATODAY.com. You can follow her on Twitter .

subset: commoncrawl


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Tag: source of the name Jew
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Even in a concealment within a concealment, he is there
7th Tishri 9/25/2020
Zevulun ben Yaacov Avinu
Zevulun was the Son of Jacob the Patriarch and Leah the Matriarch. He is one of the 12 Tribes.
7th Tishri 9/25/2020
Rabbi David Ben Abraham Oppenheim
Rabbi David Oppenheim (1664 – 12 September 1736) was the chief rabbi of Prague. His book collection constitutes an important part of the Hebrew section of the Bodleian Library in Oxford
8th Tishri 9/26/2020
Rabbi Shelomo Bekhor Hussein
Rabbi Shelomo Bekhor Hussein (Rashba"h, 1843-1892; sometimes written "Hotzin" due to Modern Hebrew pronunciation norms) was a legal decisor, liturgical poet, journalist, translator, and printing house owner who was one of the outstanding Babylonian rabbis in the second half of the 19th century.
9th Tishri 9/27/2020
Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik
Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik (Hebrew: יצחק זאב הלוי סולובייצ'יק), also known as Velvel Soloveitchik ("Zev" means "wolf" in Hebrew, and "Velvel" is the diminutive of "wolf" in Yiddish) or the Brisker Rov ("rabbi of/from Brisk", (19 October 1886 – 11 October 1959), was an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Brisk yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel.


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Stock Up on Fall Favorites for Less Than $10 Plus 50% off Sitewide.
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Log In needed $1,250 · Fully Furnished House Orlando Florida on Golf CourseReport Ad
Fully Furnished House Orlando Florida on 9 hole Golf Course
Fully furnished 2 Br House with 2 full Bathrooms $ 1,250.00 US a month . and ln LAKES AT LEESBURG Plus pay for the internet if you wish it .Well equipped kitchen with Fridge, Dishwasher , Stove , Coffee maker, Microwave , Pots, pans, dishes, utensils etc. Air-conditioning home , In Leesburg Florida , just 45 minutes from The Magic Kingdom . North West of Orlando Has 2 TV `s and DVD players . One in Living room 58 in. plus master bedroom was a 19 in. . Washer & Dryer in Shed at side of House
Security gated . Swimming pool & Hot Tub , basketball , 9 Hole golf course . Clubhouse . House has BQ .
This is a non smoker House so if you do smoke we expect that you will go and smoke outside.
You can walk to all the malls , just minutes away . The Florida Mall With AMC Movies in Mall . Publix grocery store on entrance to Lakes at Leesburg Florida .
Electric is not included in the rental cost . it`s charged separately as per individual usage according to the electric meter. ALL RENTERS HAVE TO HAVE BACKGROUND CHECK $ 50.00 US dollars each person if staying over 30 Days . FOR Lakes AT LEESBURG Payable to them . Open to August - - Dec-2020 If you want internet it`s $90 a month .BOOK NOW Just booked Jan-Feb-March-2021
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Straight from the aerospace medical division of the FAA came my official airman's medical notification a couple of days ago, and while it's a very good thing that ends a long chapter of frustration, the document is not without thorns.
The good news is that I do have a medical certificate (below), but it carries more restrictions than my previous certificates — I have to carry a letter of authorization with me whenever I fly, for example. Here's what the medical looks like:
But more interesting is the letter of authorization, which invokes the regulations, parts 67.113, 67.213, and 67.313, which are simply identical and parallel subparts covering first-, second-, and third-class medicals, and deal with general medical conditions that aren't generally specified in the rest of the part:
(b) No other organic, functional, or structural disease, defect, or limitation that the Federal Air Surgeon, based on the case history and appropriate, qualified medical judgment relating to the condition involved, finds—
(1) Makes the person unable to safely perform the duties or exercise the privileges of the airman certificate applied for or held; or
(2) May reasonably be expected, for the maximum duration of the airman medical certificate applied for or held, to make the person unable to perform those duties or exercise those privileges.
(c) No medication or other treatment that the Federal Air Surgeon, based on the case history and appropriate, qualified medical judgment relating to the medication or other treatment involved, finds—
(1) Makes the person unable to safely perform the duties or exercise the privileges of the airman certificate applied for or held; or
(2) May reasonably be expected, for the maximum duration of the airman medical certificate applied for or held, to make the person unable to perform those duties or exercise those privileges.
I don't know where the FAA gets the idea that gender issues (or the medications, if any, related to gender issues) would "make a person unable to safely perform the duties of the airman certificate," and I find the suggestion pretty insulting.
The letter (below) also mentions 67.401, which deals with the letter of authorization. The rationale given in this section is largely public safety with language like this: "…capable of performing airman duties without endangering public safety." This stands in contrast to the aforementioned sections, which appeal to the airman's ability to perform duties. To its credit, this section recognizes that holders of 3rd class medical certificates are private pilots:
[The FAA needs to] consider the freedom of an airman, exercising the privileges of a private pilot certificate, to accept reasonable risks to his or her person and property that are not acceptable in the exercise of commercial or airline transport pilot privileges, and, at the same time, considers the need to protect the safety of persons and property in other aircraft and on the ground.
Despite this "freedom" paragraph, my letter makes no mention of the fact I've sought a 3rd class medical (for private pilots versus commercial ones), and I'm curious why a private trans*pilot can't just be left alone, using this paragraph as FAA rationale.
So anyway, we have these twin rationales, a) that people with gender issues may not be able to perform their duties as pilots and b) that people with gender issues may pose a threat to public safety. These two dubious claims lie at the core of the "conclusion" stated in my letter, namely that gender identity disorder is inherently a disqualifying condition that causes trans* pilots to have to go through this nonsense in order to keep flying.
I would certainly agree that people who can't perform their pilot duties and/or who pose a public threat probably should be automatically disqualified, but what I'd like to know is just where those two assertions about trans*people come from. They cannot be based in empirical facts — I've looked through the NTSB accident reports and can find no mention of transgendered pilots as the cause of any incidents or accidents. Where is the hearing or the memo or the commentary that glued these twin falsehoods onto trans* people? I would love to read that rationale.
Notice on page two that an olive branch is held out: next year, if I have no changes in my current medical condition, they'll consider removing the requirement for a letter of authorization. Fair enough, but my question is Just what is my current medical condition? I'm healthy, productive, and capable. I'm already bound to ground myself if I develop a medical condition that hampers my ability to fly, and I would think that such a rule would already apply to trans*pilots (as well as all other pilots). Does the letter mean to say "my current psychological condition," or does it mean to include everything? The second paragraph says, "Because of your history of GID and GRS, operation of an aircraft is prohibited at any time new symptoms or adverse changes occur." The word "history" is instructive here — maybe the FAA means that my history makes me suspect, and not necessarily my current state as a fairly normal pilot. If that's the case, then how long does that "history" stick with me and compel me to carry around this letter when I fly and when I go for my next aviation medical exam?
I feel as if I've been branded as someone we need to watch, someone who might "get sick" again. I'm not sure what that would look like, but the GRS is a done deal, and the GID has gone away. What if I take up cabaret singing? Or take a turn towards butch-dom? Just what are these relapses that the FAA imagines might happen to me? These recurring conditions constitute a third area that I'd like to understand better — did the FAA approve trans*people for flying some time in the past, but their behavior or demeanor led them into an accident, and thus triggered this rule that they have to be watched in case gender issues return? If so, where are those records, those stories that would provide grounding for the current rule? If they don't exist, then does the FAA just make up random nonsense to justify argumentative nonsense arrived at via non-existent data about public safety and pilot abilities? I'm starting to think this is precisely how it works.


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After a month on the lam, former Ed Hardy and FHM model Simone Farrow has been taken into custody on charges of heading a drug ring out her Hollywood apartment. The model, who has also been attempting a pop career under the name Simone Starr™, is accused of internationally trafficking in high grade crystal meth. Farrow is actually quite the renaissance woman— in addition to being a model, singer, drug dealer and all-around genius (her drug delivery system was FedEx and the good old-fashioned post office), she lists her interests on her Facebook page as "Writing Literature and Poetry also Lyrics," "Counselling" and "Spiritual Healing."
Starrrrr claims that her real reason for dodging the law is because someone has taken out a hit on her— a great reason to avoid police protection if I've ever heard one—and has spent the last month living in seedy Gold Coast motels. If that sounds trashy, keep in mind that Farrow is used to modelling for the likes of Ed Hardy— meth, shitty motels and prison are all a big step up.
Model Simone Farrow Accused of Heading International Drug Ring Captured [Yahoo! News]


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Presidential memorabilia collectors: Another piece of history has been dug up for your collection, but this one is a macabre memento.
The original coffin in which suspected Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was buried will go on the block on Dec. 16, with bids starting at $1,000. Auction officials anticipate it will sell for much higher.
"A lot of people have been calling me off the hook, saying they intend to bid on it," Nate Sanders, founder of California-based Nate D. Sanders auction house, told msnbc.com.
Oswald was arrested about an hour after President Kennedy was shot to death in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. He himself was shot two days later, and was never brought to trial.
Oswald was buried in the casket until 1981, when a legal dispute between his widow and brother led to an exhumation.
"We got a call from the funeral home that this was a coffin that Mr. Oswald's brother had disposed of after Lee Harvey was exhumed. I never expected that call, but I got it," Sanders said. His auction house is one of the best-known for JFK assassination memorabilia and other historical collectibles, he said.
BLTWY: A glimpse inside the casket
The Los Angeles auction will also include embalming instruments that were used on Oswald, among other items.
"We have his first death certificate," Sanders said. "I don't think it's ever been seen. It's handwritten, whereas the death certificate that's legendary is typed. We have the table that Oswald's body was on. We have the funeral register. We have anything that came with that day in history."
A section of the seat from the car Kennedy was in when he died will also be auctioned off, the BBC reported.
Conspiracy theories have circulated about who killed Kennedy and why Oswald was shot dead. One theory, that a lookalike Soviet agent stole Oswald's identity to carry out the assassination, led to Oswald's 1981 exhumation. Once it was confirmed the body was in fact his, Oswald was buried again in Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas, this time in a new casket.
His original coffin had extensive water damage, the auction house's website said. It will be accompanied by a letter of authenticity by funeral director Allen Baumgardner, who assisted at the original embalming of Lee Harvey Oswald, the site said.
© 2013 msnbc.com Reprints


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This week, Twitter & LinkedIn benefit from a mobile boom, are wearables dead in the water already?, Did the FCC just hammer the final nail in Net Neutrality's coffin? Netflix raises fees, Amazon goes for HBO— and smartphones, what happens when a hashtag backfires on you, and much more…
See the full post here at Geeks of Doom!
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Geeks Of Doom's The Drill Down is a roundtable-style audio podcast where we discuss the most important issues of the week, in tech and on the web and how they affect us all.
Hosts are Geeks of Doom contributor Andrew Sorcini (Mr. BabyMan), marketing research analyst Dwayne De Freitas, and Box tech consultant Tosin Onafowokan. Occasionally joining them is Startup Digest CTO Christopher Burnor.


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A fictional tale about the Manson Family's connection to the mysterious death of rocker Bobby Fuller, is heading for the big screen.
"Dead Circus," based on the 2002 book by John Kaye, and starring James Marsden as Charles Manson, is set to start filming this summer, reported Deadline. First -time director Adam Davenport adapted the screenplay with Kaye's help.
We're happy for Marsden, whose talents deserve a career better than the one he's had thus far. Here's hoping he crushes this role.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
The real-life Fuller, best known for his hit single "I Fought the Law (and the Law Won)," was found dead in 1966, in his car, his face and chest covered with scars and his lung filled with gasoline. Despite this, his death officially ruled a suicide.
Melissa Leo will play a former Manson Family member who comes forward with clues to what really happened to Fuller, with Michael C. Hall playing one of Fuller's managers.
Here's the synopsis from the publisher's site:
It's 1986. Gene Burk is an ex-cop, fanatical record collector, and private eye. Devastated by the death of his fiancée, Gene becomes obsessed with an unsolved mystery from his days with the LAPD: the late-sixties death of up-and-coming rockabilly star Bobby Fuller. As Gene attempts to reconstruct the circumstances that led to Fuller's demise, he is unexpectedly contacted by a survivor of the Manson Family who needs Gene's help to bury her past. As Gene travels back in history to the moment Manson partied alongside Bobby Fuller and the Beach Boys, John Kaye spins a masterful, disturbing portrait of twenty years in Los Angeles, of the promise of the sixties and the hellish realities of the morning after.


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Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?
Finally, I return home after a bit of bliss. Fun is over -- it's time to get serious by talking about fan fiction. Sort of. You see, fan fiction is one of those areas that people love to hate, hate to love and everything in between. What is it about fan fiction that gets people so upset and so defensive? Is it the personal nature of the craft, the accusatory piggy-backing on other people's characters, or just that so much of it is mind-numbingly terrible? Who knows? Today, we're going to explore a few of the concepts of fan fiction in a very no-nonsense, barely legal way, to give you aspiring authors something to consider while writing your own fan fiction or even original content.
With my post-vacation bliss now completely out of my system, thanks to reading so much terrible fan fiction in preparation, I am happy to share with all of you a story that I've been writing for the last minute and a half. Don't be cruel, now. It's pretty much going to become the greatest story ever told. Enjoy.


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Photographic Ethics standards for the Living Tongues Institute
All photographs and video taken of cultural and tribal people, as well as images of the land—including sacred lands—have been taken with strict permission from those individuals, and from the traditional owners of the land that we have been invited onto. For any images that are deemed suitable for media use, permission has been given for specific usage. In addition the names of individuals, their tribal affiliation, and their land names have been carefully documented and included in captions where appropriate. We understand the photographing of people and their land is an act of trust and is completed with respect and understanding to the laws and traditions of the people involved. The Living Tongues film and photography archive has been designed to be an archive of culture for future generations.
Policy on the Protection of Human Research Subjects
In accordance with the Federal Department of Health and Human Services Basic Policy on the Protection of Human Research Subjects, 45 C.F.R. § 46 (1991), the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages (and the Enduring Voices Project, which is a collaboration between Living Tongues and National Geographic) has adopted the following policy and protocols with respect to the protection of the rights and welfare of human research subjects who participate in the projects conducted by, or under the supervision of, our staff and associates. The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages believes in the importance of protecting the welfare, rights and privacy of the participants in every research project we undertake and has adopted a statement of research ethics that requires informed consent from all participants, implemented safeguards to ensure the confidentiality of information related to project participants, and notification of all project participants of the nature of the risks that such projects may entail. Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages has an established protocol such that all of our projects are subject to an extensive process of internal review as well as meeting stated policies of external funding agencies, as well as collaborating or host institutions. We obtain written and/or oral (filmed) consent from all participants for the use of all elicited research data.
The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages is committed not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, primary language or other characteristics of speech, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation or veteran status.
Institutional Review Board
All research involving human participants—which includes most projects carried out by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages—is subject to a careful review process by our Institutional Review Board, which meets in advance of the undertaking of any project and throughout the course of such project, pursuant to which our Institutional Review Board ensures that:
- (a) the methods used and modes of research provide adequate protection of the welfare, rights and privacy of the project participants at all times throughout the project and
- (b) the project complies with relevant Federal and other institutional standards.
Our Institutional Review Board is presently comprised of Dr. Gregory D.S. Anderson, Ph.D., president of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and adjunct assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Oregon, Eugene; Dr. K. David Harrison, Ph.D., our vice president and assistant professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA; James M. Faulkner, principal of Highland Asset Management, Portland, OR; our Treasurer, Jonathan M. Anderson, Esq. of Torys LLP, New York, NY, our attorney and brother of Dr. Anderson; and Dr. Gregory C. Dillon, MD, a New York psychiatrist.
Our Institutional Review Board has established procedures for each research project undertaken by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages which require that:
- (a) all participants taking part in the project are appropriate for the particular project undertaken;
- (b) any risk to which any participant may be subjected is minimized by using all appropriate measures under the circumstances and is reasonable with respect to anticipated benefits;
- (c) adequate provision is made for confidentiality of data and anonymity of each participant in any published or publicly presented record;
- (d) adequate provision is made for obtaining informed consent from all participants, which consent shall be obtained from such participants in writing and/or on digital video recording;
- (e) all participants have been made aware of the types of risk that they may be exposed to in such research projects, including any potential physical, economic, legal, psychological and social risks;
- (f) all participants have voluntarily given informed consent to participate in a way that honestly informs participants of the purpose and potential risks and benefits of the research;
- (g) all participants have been informed about the steps that are undertaken to protect their privacy and confidentiality;
- (h) all participants have been informed about any benefit to be derived from participation in the research.
- (i) all records will be retained for at least three years after completion of the research project, including, without limitation, informed consent documentation, research proposals, progress reports, and all related correspondence concerning human participants;
- (j) adequate special provisions have been made for participants, if any, who are physically, mentally, economically, or educationally disadvantaged; and
- (k) our selection of participants has been made in compliance with our nondiscrimination policy, including a specific required justification from an investigator whenever the participant population is restricted to one gender or age group.
Prior to approving a project, our Internal Review Board establishes specific procedures for the project to determine:
- (a) if a review of the project by the Internal Review Board is required more frequently than annually or whether third party independent verification is necessary;
- (b) to whom on the Internal Review Board or at the Institute an investigator must report in the event the nature of the research projects has sufficiently changed during the course of the project to require re-approval or suspension of approval, as well as the prompt reporting of the appearance of unanticipated risks to the participants.
Our Internal Review Board further requires that the informed consent delivered by a project participant:
- (a) be the only record linking such participant to the research;
- (b) includes an acknowledgment that such participant has been informed about the risks and potential harms, if any, that would result from a breach of confidentiality with respect to such informed consent;
- (c) whether such participant is willing to allow documentation linking such participant with the research, and that such participant's wishes shall govern; and
- (d) the research presents no more than minimal risk of harm to subjects.
Our Internal Review Board may permit a waiver to the foregoing procedures with respect to certain projects in which the research involves minimal risk, the rights and welfare of the participants are not adversely affected, and the research would not be feasible without such waiver.
Basic Elements of Informed Consent
Informed consent is the agreement obtained from a participant, or from an authorized representative, for such person's participation in a project activity. The agreement, written or oral, entered into by the subject, may include no exculpatory language through which such participant waives, or appears to waive, any of such person's legal rights, or to release any researcher, investigator, sponsor, the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages or its representatives, agents or staff from liability for gross negligence or willful misconduct.
Documented informed consent will consist of a written or filmed oral consent, the form of which has been approved by our Institutional Review Board, and signed by the participant or such person's legally authorized representative. A copy of any written informed consent shall be given to the person signing the form and the participant and be in both English and a foreign language comprehensible to such participant, if such participant does not speak or understand English. Written consent forms may be read to the participant or such person's legally authorized representative, but the investigator shall give either the participant or the representative adequate opportunity to read it before it is signed.
For participants in projects by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, informed consent shall consist of the following basic components:
- (a) a statement that identifies the exercise as a research activity, provides an explanation of the purpose(s) of the research, details the methods to be followed and estimates the duration of the subject's participation;
- (b) a statement describing the extent to which confidentiality of records identifying the subject will be maintained and allowing them the opportunity to scale or control this access as they deem appropriate;
- (c) a description of any reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts to the subject;
- (d) a description of any benefits to the subject or to others that may reasonably be expected from the research;
- (e) a statement that participation is voluntary, refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which the subject is otherwise entitled, and that the subject may discontinue participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which the subject is otherwise entitled;
- (f) an explanation as to whether any compensation will be offered for their participation and the terms of such compensation; and
- (g) a statement regarding compensation and medical treatment with a meaning substantially similar to the following: "I understand the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages does not provide a research participant with compensation or medical treatment in the event I am injured as a result of such participation in the research project."
Certain Definitions
Federal regulations define "minimal risk" as follows:
"The probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated in the research are not greater in and of themselves than those ordinarily encountered in daily life or during the performance of routine physical or psychological examinations or tests." Generally, a
project involves minimal risk if:
- (a) the participant experiences no pain or physical danger or risk thereof;
- (b) the participant experiences no emotional arousal or psychological stress beyond the levels normally to be expected in everyday life;
- (c) the project neither induces nor attempts to induce long-term significant change in the participant's behaviors (including attitudes toward self and others);
- (d) the elicited research data would not embarrass or socially disadvantage the participant, were confidentiality to be violated; and
- (e) if the investigator conceals information about the specific purpose of the project, there is no reason to believe the participant would choose not to participate if s/he had known that information initially.
For purposes hereof the following definitions shall apply:
- (a) physical risk
- Physical discomfort, pain, injury, illness or disease brought about by the methods and procedures of the research.
- (b) legal risk
- Risk of criminal prosecution or civil lawsuit when research methods reveal that the participant has or will engage in conduct for which the participant or others may be criminally or civilly liable.
- (c) psychological risk
- Psychological effects may be experienced during the research situation and/or later, as a result of participation, including, without limitation, anxiety, stress, fear, confusion, embarrassment, depression, guilt, shock, loss of self-esteem or altered behavior.
- (d) social/economic risk
- Alterations in relationships with others that are to the disadvantage of the participant, including embarrassment, loss of respect of others, labeling with negative consequences, or diminishing the participant's opportunities and powers in relation to others.
- Economic risks may include payment by subjects for procedures, loss of wages or income and damage to employability.
- (e) loss of confidentiality
- Confidentiality is presumed and will be maintained unless the investigator obtains the express permission of the participant to do otherwise. Risks include invasion of privacy, as well as the social, economic and legal risks outlined above.


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September 6, 2018, 8:15 AM - 9:00 AM @ Sammons Community Center
Take that morning routine up a notch! Get your heart pumping and the oxygen flowing. Easy to follow, senior aerobic and fitness workout program for active adults and senior adults ages 55 and older. Aerobic exercises help build endurance and stamina. Cool down exercises complete this well-rounded workout. Movements can be performed standing or seated, adaptable for all levels of mobility.
September 6, 2018, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM @ Sammons Community Center
Get Fit! Stay Fit! Join our energized instructor, Sheri Joseph, in this low-impact, core-strengthening program designed to improve balance, flexibility, coordination and range of motion. This long-running fitness program uses light hand weights and elastic bands to strengthen the body and focus on functional fitness. Stretching exercises complete this well-rounded workout. Adaptable for all levels of mobility.
September 6, 2018, 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM @ Sammons Community Center
Namaste! Lift your spirits and lower your stress levels as you achieve the physical and metal benefits of Hatha yoga. Enjoy simple, easy-to-follow movements in a soothing atmosphere. Yoga postures improve every part of the body; stretching and toning muscles and improving flexibility of the spine and joints. Along with improving balance, range of motion and strength, while keeping the mind active and alert. Chair-friendly for those with limited mobility. Led by certified senior yoga instructor Janelle Novosad.
September 6, 2018, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM @ Sammons Community Center
Pushed for time at lunch but still want to get some exercise? Why not bring a sack lunch to enjoy with Lynn and the gang before returning back to work. Enjoy great tunes in a relaxed, fun environment. Learn some popular line dances and impress your friends at one of our bi-weekly country and western dances.
September 6, 2018, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM @ Sammons Community Center
Grab your brushes and join our creative, motivational instructor in this progressive art workshop. This popular class is design to allow students of all level to paint and draw or just improve their skills. Individual instruction based upon skill level. No previous experience necessary. Led by artist Barbara Wilson.
September 6, 2018, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM @ Sammons Community Center
Good fun, good friends, good food! That's how we best describe Bingo Night at the Center, held the first Thursday of each month. Bring a brown bag with a small, new, non-food bingo prize inside and enjoy a fun-filled evening playing bingo and visiting with friends. Enjoy a free, light supper after the games.
September 6, 2018, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM @ Sammons Community Center
Put the day's hectic schedule behind you! Dance your stress away after work in this newly offered evening class. Two left feet? Who cares! Just relax with friends, share a few laughs, learn easy-to-follow, basic steps and let the music lead you. Before you know it you will pick up the easily memorized patterns and will be shuffling across the dance floor.
September 6, 2018, 5:00 PM @ 2nd floor-Council Chambers


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Celtics Coach Brad Stevens '99 Tells ESPN.com of His "Beneficial" DePauw Experience
November 21, 2013
"College makes you grow up," says Brad Stevens, head coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics. "My experience at DePauw was about as beneficial as any experience I've had."
Stevens, a 1999 graduate of DePauw University, is the subject of an ESPN feature that focuses on how his move from a starter to a role player on the Tiger basketball team helped shape him. The article includes comments from DePauw teammates Joe Nixon and Josh Burch as well as his college coach, Bill Fenlon.
"After a rousing career at Zionsville (Ind.) Community High School, when he led the state with 32.3 points a game in sectional play, Stevens received scholarship offers from only one Division 1 program -- Mercer, coached by Bill Hodges, who rode Larry Bird all the way to the national championship game as coach of Indiana State. Stevens chose Division III DePauw instead. There, he surmised, he could excel in the game he loved while preparing in a competitive academic setting for the inevitable life after basketball," writes Jackie MacMullan.
"There were highlights, like his freshman year when he dropped 24 points on Thomas More College. He was second on the team in scoring as a sophomore, but the team posted its first losing season in 15 years. In his junior season the trend continued, and Fenlon knew he needed to make a change. He turned to younger, more talented players on his roster."
Read more at ESPN.com.
Last month, Comcast SportsNet featured Stevens and Fenlon in a piece that aired before the Celtics' season opener. Read more here; an excerpt of the segment is embedded below.
Brad Stevens was also recently featured by the NCAA as part of its Division III 40-in-40 series.
A Management Fellow and economics major at DePauw, Stevens was named the head coach of the Celtics in July, becoming the youngest current head coach in the NBA. He came to the pro game from Butler University, where he guided the Bulldogs to their first two appearances in the NCAA Division I National Championship game in 2010 and 2011.
At DePauw, Stevens played four seasons for Fenlon, earning all conference and academic all conference honors all four years. You can learn more about his college playing career here.
On April 13, 2010, Brad Stevens returned to his alma mater to deliver the Robert C. McDermond Lecture, telling an audience in Kresge Auditorium, "Surround yourself with the right people and focus on the right things and you can achieve well beyond what you thought you could."
Source: ESPN.comBack


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BabyLove Walker Cosifit Nappies 12-17kg 32 Pack
BabyLove nappies are one of the fastest growing nappy brands in Australia. Suitable for boys and girls from 12-17kg, these Walker nappies have a DriWave technology designed to absorb liquid repeatedly, and to keep the nappy surface dry. They also have a soft and breathable cover that reduces dampness to prevent nappy rash. Stock up now and save!
- BabyLove Walker Cosifit Nappies
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- Features patented Cosifit technology which helps prevent red marks and provides advanced leakage protection
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- Ultra-soft material for baby's delicate skin


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How does the time of dawn and dusk vary? What about the Moon, how does that change from night to night? Is the Sun always the same? Gather data to help you explore these questions.
Making a scale model of the solar system
The third installment in our series on the shape of astronomical systems, this article explores galaxies and the universe beyond our solar system.
Make your own pinhole camera for safe observation of the sun, and find out how it works.
Mathematics has always been a powerful tool for studying, measuring and calculating the movements of the planets, and this article gives several examples.
Mathematics has allowed us now to measure lots of things about eclipses and so calculate exactly when they will happen, where they can be seen from, and what they will look like.
The second in a series of articles on visualising and modelling shapes in the history of astronomy.
This article explores ths history of theories about the shape of our planet. It is the first in a series of articles looking at the significance of geometric shapes in the history of astronomy.


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Bavarian Forest
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Check out all the latest happenings at Bavarian Forest ski resorts, from new lifts to terrain expansions, in addition to Bavarian Forest weather forecasts, photo galleries, infographics and current events skiers and mountain travelers should know about. Stay up-to-date on Bavarian Forest ski resort news and events by clicking on articles from the list below or page through to see Bavarian Forest coverage from the entire ski season.
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We have been proud to provide you with free access to snow reports, resort guides and more, and we are beyond grateful for your readership and contributions to our community over the years.
Unfortunately given the changing media landscape, Mountain News Corporation has experienced financial declines in recent years. With additional economic challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic now facing our business, it is not financially viable to continue operating.
Mountain News Corporation and our OnTheSnow and Skiinfo websites will be shutting down. We will explore the possibility of selling, partnering, or contributing assets to another media outlet if there is an opportunity to allow for a consistent or enhanced online experience. For inquiries about Mountain News Corporation, please email firstname.lastname@example.com.
We want to thank our loyal employees for their tireless work over the years to bring great information to all of you. We take comfort knowing that our collective passion for the sport of skiing and snowboarding will certainly live on.
We'll see you on the mountain.
– Mountain News Corporation


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NOTICE: Many events listed here have been canceled or postponed due to the Covid-19 emergency. It is best to call ahead or check with organizer's websites to verify the status of any local event.
The Stryper Story
In The Beginning
Stryper, originally known as Roxx Regime, was formed in Orange County, California by brothers Michael and Robert Sweet and guitarist Oz Fox.
Stryper stands for
Salvation Through Redemption Yielding Peace, Encouragement and Righteousness.
The Isaiah 53:5 under their logo is the bible verse that states "by His stripes we are healed". The band earned their stripes on the Los Angeles metal club circuit and in 1984, after recruiting bass player Tim Gaines, signed with Enigma Records and released their debut mini-album, The Yellow And Black Attack (Y&BA).
Rockin' The World
Their first full-length release, Soldiers Under Command (SUC), sold over half a million units worldwide in the eighties, and stayed on Billboard's Top 200 album chart for over forty weeks. In addition to the hard-rocking tunes that Stryper's core audience has come to expect, the ballad "Honestly" from their platinum selling 1986 release To Hell With The Devil (THWTD) hit the Top-40 charts. The video for "Honestly" rapidly became the number one most-requested video on M-TV. 1988 saw the near-platinum release of In God We Trust (IGWT), as well as renewed success on M-TV, which was bombarded by thousands of phone requests for "Always There For You".
Caught In The Middle
Coming off the acclaim of the 1989 tour supporting IGWT, the band released Against The Law (ATL) which shipped gold in the fall of 1990. Despite its sales success, some fans were confused by Stryper's change in appearance and lyrics. This lead to numerous rumors and questions about the sincerity of Stryper's faith. "We were making a grab for musical freedom," says Robert Sweet, Stryper's drummer. "But we never should have let that been misinterpreted as a change in our beliefs."
In 1991, Enigma Records went bankrupt, and Stryper was left without a record company. This was short-lived, as they were quickly picked up by Hollywood Records. In the summer of 1991 they released Can't Stop The Rock, a "best of" album with two new tracks.
In January of 1992, Michael Sweet left the Stryper to pursue a solo career. Although officially Robert Sweet, Oz Fox and Tim Gaines continued as a three piece for another year, there were no further studio recordings as Stryper once Mike left.
Together As One?
Michael Sweet was the first to re-appear back on the scene, when he secured a record deal with the Christian label Benson Records. (Benson distributed Stryper to the Christian retail stores in the 80's.) This union produced two albums: the self titled Michael Sweet, and Real. In 1998, Mike put out a full length demo by himself titled Truth. This generated label interest, and he was soon signed to Restless Records. The remastered and updated version of Truth was released early in 2001.
Tim Gaines and Robert Sweet joined legendary Christian guitar player Rex Carrol in the band King James. Although King James released two releases to date, Tim and Bob only performed on the first album which was released in 1994 on the Christian label Star Song.
Absent from the limelight for many years was Oz Fox, who last was seen making guest appearances on several Christian releases including JC & The Boyz, Bride, and Ransom. Oz and Tim joined forces once again in 1995 to form Sin Dizzy. Together with Bobby MacNeil on guitar and John Bocanegra on drums, they released He's Not Dead in 1998. Tim left Sin Dizzy in 2000 to continue working musically with his wife, Irene Kelly.
Robert Sweet released his solo release titled Love Trash in 2000, in which he plays all the instruments on the album and features Larry Worley on vocals. (Ex-lead singer of Christian rock band Fear Not.) Robert recently formed Blissed with fellow members David Pearson, Trevor Barr, and Jeff Miller. Their album, Waking Up The Dead, was released in early 2003.
Can't Stop The Rock
On May 21st of 2000, history was made when Stryper hit the stage again for an informal jam at the first annual Stryper expo in New Jersey. December 16th of 2000 marked the first full blown set preformed by Stryper in 9 years, held in Costa Rica. The second annual Stryper expo was held in Azusa, California on May 18th and 19th of 2001. The two day expo featured multiple bands and vendors, with Stryper closing the expo with a concert. Shortly after, Stryper played to one of their largest crowds at Cornerstone at Bushnell, Illinois on July 7th, 2001.
For You
In 2002, ten years after their breakup, Stryper headed into Michael Sweet's studio to cut two new songs, "Something" and "For You", for their second greatest hits compilation, 7-The Best Of Stryper, which was released on March 25th of 2003 by Hollywood Records. That fall, they embarked on a 35 city tour that both fans and critics agreed was one of the hottest tours of 2003. As a result, the prayers of Stryper fans everywhere were answered in May of 2004 with the new live CD recording titled 7 Weeks: Live In America. Unfortunately, this would be the last time that the original band would play together. After the tour, longtime bassist Tim Gaines left Stryper to pursue musical projects with his wife Irene. He left the band with the other members' blessing, though many longtime fans were disappointed with his decision.
Some remember Stryper as the frenetic "yellow and black attack" that stormed the music scene two decades ago, transforming the pop-metal genre from the inside out. Others recall a groundbreaking foursome that resolutely declared an inspiring message of spiritual redemption, becoming a cornerstone on which countless lives were changed.
Today the legendary quartet is back and burning hotter than ever with intensified levels of zeal, resolve and innovation. With three original bandmates (lead vocalist Michael Sweet, drummer Robert Sweet and guitarist Oz Fox) and newcomer Tracy Ferrie on bass, Stryper now releases its first all-new studio effort since 1990's Against the Law project.
Reborn, Stryper's ninth career disc and premier release on Big3 Records, features a cavalcade of high-voltage arrangements that showcase the band's richly melodic vocals, deft instrumentation and powerful themes. In addition, the disc proficiently melds the group's standard intensely tuneful style with edgy hard rock influences. The net effect: An 11-track set demanding reverence, repeated spins and a volume level that is cranked full-on.
Produced by Michael Sweet and Kenny Lewis (who collaborated with Sweet on several solo projects), Reborn debuts entirely new material, with two bonus songsa Stryperized version of "Amazing Grace" re-titled "10,000 Years" and an updated rendition of the group's classic track "In God We Trust" that should rouse both longtime and new fans alike.
So how did the current disc come into existence? It started nearly two years ago when all four original members of Stryper reassembled and embarked on a rewarding 20th anniversary tour. That led to 7 Weeks: Live in America, a 2004 release compiled from reunion performances in major cities around the nation. Shortly thereafter, following an amicable parting with original bassist Tim Gaines, the band picked up Ferrie and played a fall 2004 encore show at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This event triggered a demand for a new record when it came to plans for the future.
"The show at Disney went so well and felt so fresh it was like we were a totally new band," explains frontman Michael Sweet. "It was such an incredible experience for all of us, and we knew something was happening that would go beyond one performance."
Returning home, Sweet and the other bandmates promptly sensed they should consider recording a new album. From there, a central concept ultimately took shape. "The word reborn' communicates so much from a spiritual perspective," Sweet says. "It really speaks to how we feel as a band right now. This is a whole new time for us, and we're excited."
Beyond the core theme of renewal, Reborn embraces subjects like forgiveness ("If I Die"), God's patience ("Wait for You") and true enlightenment ("Open Your Eyes"). One hard-driving song in particular, "When Did I See You Cry," conveys the reality that God can move in anyone's life, whether homeless, addicted to drugs or simply wandering. "The power of God is alive, but we often miss it," Sweet asserts. "We see opportunities to share the gospel, but we are so caught up in other things of life that we get sidetracked."
Stryper has dealt with its share of sidetracks and difficulties over the years. From its origin as Roxx Regime, a garage outfit from Orange County, California, the band persevered as they hammered out a name and a reputation in the gritty Los Angeles club circuit. The hard work paid off in 1984 when the quartet inked a deal with Enigma Records and released debut mini-album The Yellow and Black Attack.
As the first Christian rock band to enjoy any decided success in the mainstream market, Stryper went on to sell more than 8 million records worldwide. The group's RIAA certified platinum 1986 release To Hell with the Devil was selected as one of the "100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music" by CCM Magazine. The project also generated the Billboard Top 40 hit "Honestly," which peaked at ..23.
Two other albums struck RIAA gold: Soldiers Under Command (1985) and In God We Trust (1988), both spending numerous weeks on the Billboard 200 album chart.
One of the most electrifying stage acts from the 1980s, Stryper garnered heavy airplay on MTV and VH1. The band also received notable coverage in Rolling Stone, Time, Spin, Newsweek and numerous other publications, cementing their legacy as the iconoclasts of pop-metal.
Fittingly, Stryper should be in for a deluge of renewed exposure and acclaim. But Michael Sweet would just as soon turn the spotlight on someone else. "The one theme that is woven into every song on our new album is this: Look to Jesus," he says adamantly. "Some people may get tired of hearing this, but we feel God has called us to share the message of Christ's love, mercy and grace. He's always there no matter what, and that's what we will proclaim until we die."
The band is currently on tour in support of the new album. Stryper is managed by Deep South Entertainment.
Categories: Music | Inspirational | Rock
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