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I am struggling with this program that wants to ask the user how many grades they wish to enter, have the user enter each grade, then determine the average of all the grades. I am stuck with getting the average to computer correctly... Can you guys check to see what I am missing in my code?
int main() { //No Local constants int counter = 0; //While Loop counter //Local variables int totalGrades; //Max number of loop executions int runningTotal; //Running total of loop counter int grade; int average; //Average of grades char endProgram; //Pause screen /*************** Begin main Function Executables *****************/ //Clear the screen system ("cls"); //Prompt user for number of grades they want to enter cout << "How many grades would you like to enter? "; cin >> totalGrades; while (counter < totalGrades) //stop when counter equals value of totalGrades { runningTotal = counter + grade; cout << "Please enter the next grade ---> "; cin >> grade; counter = counter + 1; // increase counter by 1 } //end while loop average = runningTotal / totalGrades; //compute average cout << average << " is the average of the grades entered." << endl; //Pause to read output cout << "\n\n"; //skip 2 lines system("pause"); //Indicate to OS successful termination of program return 0; }//end main


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Who wants a "winning!" tattoo? After getting booed at Radio City Music Hall on Friday, Charlie Sheen wasn't half-bad in his second New York show on Sunday, The Hollywood Reporter wrote. This time around the man who called himself "a giant and leaky bag of mayhem" interacted with the audience and received standing ovations at the beginning and end of the show.
Sheen also offered to pay for the whole crowd to get "winning!" tattoos, TMZ wrote in its live-tweets of the show.
About Friday's show, Sheen said, "I don't even think I was here Friday night."
The unemployed actor apologized for calling former "Two and a Half Men" co-star Jon Cryer a troll and said he's "a rock star," and said he would return to the sit-com if he could.
On the non-winning side, Sheen recycled some of his lines on Sunday, according to The Hollywood Reporter, telling the audience he discovered the Internet and crack cocaine in the same weekend, thanks to former vice president Al Gore.
Selected Reading: The Hollywood Reporter, TMZ

subset: commoncrawl


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Gushathon: No words good enough
Medeski Martin and Wood
Starr Hill Music Hall
December 1
Medeski Martin and Wood are phenomenal. Period. No discussion needed. You can argue lame points to the contrary, but I will just look at you like you've been smoking a crack pipe and be on my way. It isn't every day that one gets a chance to see a musician or musical group that will go down in the annals of history. MMW is one of those groups.
Beyond being influential to a new breed of players, they have also rescued the careers of a few musicians thought to be past their prime (just ask John Scofield). These days it is hard to see a band of their caliber in a venue that holds less than 2,000 bodies. Starr Hill booked them. Charlottesville, do you know how luck you are?
Seeing MMW is a gamble. I have seen them three times before the Starr Hill show. On two of those occasions the band decided to play purely experimental sets. In the live arena, they tend to take their songs to the furthest extreme of abstract. MMW come from the world of jazz. The live setting is meant for that kind of exploration.
If Miles Davis or John Coltrane are among your favorite jazz artists, then don't forget that a large portion of both their catalogues is not easy to listen to. The ability to take your craft to its furthest extreme and still be able to come back to the root is what makes a great artist. This is something that MMW can do better than 99 percent of their peers.
So, when they do decide to drop what I call "the funk'd-up-psychedelic-brazilia-bop" on dat azz, it's impossible for anyone to deny the groove.
Just like a dream come true, keybordist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin, and bassist Chris Wood put together a set that was a perfect balance of the abstract and the concrete. They controlled the crowd as if they possessed some cosmic universal remote, blessing the crowd with selections from their most popular albums: "Shack Man," "Combustication" and "The Uninvisible." Chris Wood moved from stand-up to electric bass controlling the low-end theories.
John Medeski swiveled around his cornucopia of keyboards. Billy Martin well good ol' Illy B just laid it down on the trap set. It just doesn't get much better than that.
When the creator said let there be MMW, there was the groove. And the groove was good. Amen.


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By Topic
- Let's Get Back on Track for High-Speed Rail
- Gridlock Sam: Too Big to Fall
- Gridlock Sam: Freedom Fees
- Gridlock Sam: Stand Proud America — Regain your World Prominence in Public Works
- [THE DIG] Putting Americans To Work.. Or Not
- Gridlock Sam: The Tea Party's Bridge to Beyond Nowhere
- Stop bellyaching cities! Follow L.A.'s example on building for the future
- 3-D pedestrian hologram exposed
- WWID or What Would Ike Do?
- [Op-Ed] What is 'Rural livability'?
2nd Avenue Subway 2008 election About Blueprint America Arizona Barack Obama Beyond the Motor City California Colorado commute Denver Detroit Ed Rendell Gridlock Sam high speed rail highways infrastructure John McCain livability Los Angeles mass transit New Deal New York New York City NOW on PBS Ohio Pennsylvania Ray LaHood recession Rep. Jim Oberstar Rick Karr shrinking cities stimulus The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer The No. 13 Line Transportation Transportation Bill Transportation Desk Washington DC Water Youngstown


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Passenger Compartment
Opel Original Accessories are always the right choice - whether you want living with your Opel to be more comfortable, more exciting, or simply want to get more out of your trip.
Opel FlexConnect is an all-purpose modular system. Simply connect the desired accessory to the adapter and enjoy your trip.
Note: Requires the FlexConnect Adapter (part number: 13442005).
|Catalog Number
|17 46 027
|Part Number


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California has so many laws – more than 800 new ones passed last year alone – it's worth looking at any opportunity to relax the controls. State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, has sponsored Senate Bill 635, which would extend from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. the mandatory time bars and restaurants must stop serving alcohol. A city or county would have to approve an establishment's keeping the later hours. And, to gives its OK, the municipality would have to gain the permission of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
"Many cities in California have dynamic social activities that are vital to their economies, but they lack the flexibility to expand their businesses," Sen. Leno said in a statement. "This legislation would allow destination cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego to start local conversations about the possibility of expanding night life and the benefits it could provide the community by boosting jobs, tourism and local tax revenue."
New York City's bars, clubs and restaurants can serve booze until 4 a.m. So it might be a selling point if night spots in California's popular tourist and convention locales could do the same, although we wonder how much of a bump local economies and tax revenue would result. People might spend about the same amount of money during a night out, but just spend more of it later.
Another factor to consider is that America's work habits have changed greatly in recent decades. Most people used to work at 9-5 jobs in factories or offices. Afterward, they might go out for entertainment. The interconnected work world now is 24/7. For someone in Orange County doing business with counterparts in China, for example, 3 a.m. might amount to a normal end of the workday.
The Los Angeles Times reported, "Senate Republican leader Robert Huff of Diamond Bar said Leno's proposal raises a lot of questions, including its effect on drunken driving rates, and needs more study." However, according to Sen. Leno, drunken driving rates are not higher in cities with later drinking hours, including New York, Miami and Las Vegas.
We also talked to Mothers Against Drunk Driving California. "Our position on the actual bill is neutral," Program Manager Silas Miers told us. He added that the California chapter also supports the national organization's position on uniform closing times for states. MADD's national office in Washington, D.C., sent us its position, "MADD advocates setting uniform statewide cut-off limits on the sale of alcoholic beverages in order to end the practice of 'barhopping' to find establishments with later closing hours for 'one last drink' with the likelihood of impaired driving as a result."
So, if SB635 is passed, it should not be implemented only for a few bars and restaurants, but for many or all of those in a particular area. We encourage the Legislature to pass SB635, then look for other restrictions it could ease on our lives.


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Wind site offers look at what we cannot see
April 16, 2012 - Art Smith
It's tough sometimes to visualize what one cannot see. Wind is one example. We see it by seeing the effects it has, blown leaves, waving flags, waves in the river. Two software engineers have taken billions of bits of data about wind and turned them into a beautiful example of how to take complex information and turn it into a stunning representation.
Showing all the wind movement nationwide, in real time, the map at http://hint.fm/wind/index.html is incredibly easy to understand and remarkable to watch.
It shows the strong wind currents in the nation's mid section, flowing down from Canada and north from the Gulf of Mexico. If you have ever wonder why the Great Plains are dotted by wind farms and the Ohio Valley is not, the map explains it very well. We simply do not have as much wind as the other parts of the country.
There are a lot of websites that help people understand complex subjects by showing users visual representations of the data. This simple black and white page by Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg is a great example of how we can use the web to understand what is going on around us.
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Started by Professor Safety & Emergency Services, February 10, 2017, 07:09:51 pm
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Quote from: AirAux on March 16, 2017, 12:57:47 pmWe had a safety meeting at work the other day and the Boss asked me what steps I would take if the shop was on fire. Obviously "[darn] big ones" was not the answer he wanted....
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on March 19, 2017, 08:33:05 pmQuote from: AirAux on March 16, 2017, 12:57:47 pmWe had a safety meeting at work the other day and the Boss asked me what steps I would take if the shop was on fire. Obviously "[darn] big ones" was not the answer he wanted.... Our Director of Safety always brings up a great philosophy: You put 5 people into a meeting, and there are 7 different opinions. Everyone walks in with either an opinion or no opinion. As the discussion progresses, some people change their opinion; some people become more confused, probably angry.
Quote from: Luis R. Ramos on March 19, 2017, 10:06:04 pmWho brings the extra two opinions?
Quote from: SarDragon on March 19, 2017, 11:54:31 pmUsually, the pedants.
Quote from: Eclipse on March 29, 2017, 08:41:25 pmhttp://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-japan-trainsAn interesting article about the Safety culture in Japan on their rail system. "Known in Japanese as shisa kanko, pointing-and-calling works on the principle of associating one's tasks with physical movements and vocalizations to prevent errors by "raising the consciousness levels of workers"--according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan. Rather than rely on a worker's eyes or habit alone, each step in a given task is reinforced physically and audibly to ensure the step is both complete and accurate."This requires at least some modicum of positive attention to complete, moving the act from "habit" to " action".
Quote from: NIN on April 02, 2017, 07:02:55 pmWatch the JMs on an airborne operation. Everything they do when the door is open is essentially "pointing and calling."In my other job, we use visual cues backing up an audible cadence/checklist. Put your finger on, or point to everything, as you are doing it when you call it out. I'll be standing in the boarding area with my student and I'll verbalize the inspection sequence as I put my hand on everything in the sequence. Is in a specific order (head to toe, front then back) and if I am interrupted/distracted, my hand is the last place I verbalized so I can resume without missing anything. Even after that is the mnemonic "SHAGG-R" (shoes, helmet, altimeter, goggles, gloves, radio). Go all the way thru gear inspection twice on the ground, once in the plane. Again, I touch and verbalize it all, partly for me, partly for my student to learn it. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Quote from: Anthony@CAP on April 02, 2017, 07:52:08 pmThe real question is how would we go about doing that as Civil Air Patrol, and which of our operations would be best suited for it?
Quote from: SarDragon on April 03, 2017, 12:40:58 amWhen I was in the Navy, I learned to do pre-flights that way - read it out loud from the checklist, then point to it on the plane and do the item.
Quote from: PHall on April 03, 2017, 01:55:34 amQuote from: SarDragon on April 03, 2017, 12:40:58 amWhen I was in the Navy, I learned to do pre-flights that way - read it out loud from the checklist, then point to it on the plane and do the item.The only time I had to point out stuff during a pre-flight was when I was getting a check ride from a lazy evaluator.The good ones could tell what you were doing by just watching what you were doing.Of course on stuff like the exterior and interior checks you talked your way through it by saying what you were looking for.
Quote from: PHall on April 02, 2017, 07:48:56 pmThe procedures used by the JM's when the door is open were developed because of the high noise levels inside the aircraft.And parachute procedures are pretty much doing it by Rote memorization. Pretty good idea when you're in a very noisy, high stress environment and mistakes can be deadly. So Rote memorization and lots and lots of reps to make it second nature.
Quote from: NIN on April 03, 2017, 06:11:57 pm...But when the load toad turns the doors over to the JMs, there's a whole series of things the JM does to ensure that the aircraft is properly configured for safe exits: they literally point at the pip pin in the door to confirm its there and installed. After confirming the jump step is down, they check the entirety of the door perimeter for sharp edges or protrusions by pointing and following their hand around. It is definitely a "point-and-call" kind of thing. They're not doing it for communications, they're doing it to ensure that everything along the linear area (i.e the door frame) is looked at and nothing is missed.
Quote from: Live2Learn on April 03, 2017, 08:15:36 pmHaving a second person [...] is helpful too - at least it is usually helpful .
Quote from: NIN on April 03, 2017, 08:36:37 pmQuote from: Live2Learn on April 03, 2017, 08:15:36 pmHaving a second person [...] is helpful too - at least it is usually helpful .Sometimes the 2nd person isn't helpful at all
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The master plan for Chrome OS was to move everybody into the cloud — away from complex file systems and desktops — and towards the Web browser as the operating system. Having failed to build much momentum, Google's giving the OS a more traditional desktop experience — one that takes cues from Windows and OS X.
Google Operating System reports that the latest developer channel release of Chrome OS brings a "desktop, taskbar, apps on the desktop, wallpapers and overlapping windows" to the We browser-based Chrome OS.
Dubbed "Aura," the new interface is a "hardware-accelerated user interface framework that offers rich visuals, large-scale animated transitions and effects." It's available for Samsung and Acer Chromebooks, but not Google's own Cr-48 genericbook.
The addition of a desktop and overlapping windows is interesting because it goes against the fundamental blueprint of Chrome OS. The original vision was that because 90 percent of people immediately go online as soon as their computer starts up, why not just boot directly to the Web browser? All of your data lives in the cloud — accessible from any computer. That was Chrome OS.
VentureBeat says that Google's making a shift because the original vision wasn't familiar to consumers. Tablets and smartphones are paving the way for a "post-PC" world, but we're still too conditioned to leave the desktop behind. People still look for their wallpapers and desktop. I loved the Chromebook concept. Shame the hardware is nothing more netbook junk.
Keep an eye on Chrome OS news in the coming weeks. Sony's rumored to be working on a Chromebook of its own and other PC makers are said to be putting powerful Ivy Bridge processors into new models to replace the slow Atom processors in the first run of Chromebooks.
Like they say, if you fail at first, pick yourself up and try again.


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Tigers Travel to Morehead State for Key OVC Series
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee State travels to Morehead, Ky. for a crucial three-game Ohio Valley Conference series. With six games to go on the schedule, TSU is three games out of the final qualifying spot for the OVC Championships. Austin Peay currently holds the final spot at 7-13 as they head to face Eastern Illinois who is third with a 14-4 OVC mark, and 34-13 overall.
MSU sits half a game behind APSU and half a game in front of Belmont, who is at second place Jacksonville State (17-4, 33-12). The Bruins and the Tigers close out the regular season next weekend for a three game set.
TSU and the Eagles will square off for a double header on Saturday afternoon at 1:00pm ET. The final game of the series is at 1:00pm ET on Sunday. All three games can be heard on tsutigers.com.
The Tigers (16-34, 4-16) are looking to get off a nine game skid and look to win 20 games for just the third time in program history. Last week, TSU surrendered four earned runs as they fell to the top two teams in the OVC West. SIUE escaped Tiger Field with a pair of wins, 4-2, 2-1, before Eastern Illinois edged out the Tigers, 1-0, 2-0.
Senior Olivia Gamache fanned 11 batters over the four games and became the fourth pitcher in TSU history to amass 200 strikeouts in a career with the final punch out of game two against SIUE. The Exeter, R.I. native closed out her career at Tiger Field with a strikeout against the final batter from EIU.
Shea Morris and Hannah St. Clair teamed up with Gamache to hold opponents to a .222 batting average and a 1.00 ERA on the weekend
Lindsey Burgess and Courtney Gearlds are tied for a team high .273 batting average. Burgess is tops the Tigers in hits (41), doubles (8) and home runs (5). Gearlds leads TSU with three triples, 11 hit-by-pitch and 13 stolen bases. Kate Morris has driven in a team high 23 runs, while Jayna Hanawahine has crossed home plate 21 times and Kiarra Freeman has 21 walks.
In the circle, Shea Morris has appeared in a OVC leading 39 games and also leads the conference with five saves. Morris is 9-12 with a 2.84 ERA and has struck out 133 batters in 152.2 innings. Gamache is 4-12 with a 3.61 ERA and has a single-season personal best, 80 strikeouts.
Morehead State (11-30-1, 6-8)
2013 Record: 24-25
Conference: Ohio Valley
2013 Finish: 10-14/4th East
Series Record: 11-56
Last Time Played: 3-30-13, W 8-6
Last Win: 3-30-13, 8-6
Morehead State comes into the series hitting .217 as a team, averaging 2.9 runs, 1.7 extra base hits and 0.5 stolen bases per game. MSU is led by Katie Raile who is hitting at a .280 clip and has 22 RBI. Tressa Watson (.240) supplies the pop with a team high five home runs and is tied with Dana Hutchins (.232) in doubles (8). The majority of the pitching duties is handled by Tanna Seuferer and Megan Tymorek. Seuferer is 6-13 with a save in 24 appearances. The junior has started 20 games and has a 5.15 ERA in 102.0 innings of work, striking out 43 and walking 38. Tymorek is 5-13 with a 5.84 ERA in 18 starts and 27 appearances. The freshman has fanned 62 opposed to 26 base-on-balls in 109.0 innings.


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Spin foam models are models for space time built from discrete chunks of quantized geometry. In the asymptotic regime the classical geometry is regained.
In the last year we have seen rapid developments in our understanding of this geometry at the level of the entire partition function. In particular it was found that the geometries that contribute to the partition function in the asymptotic regime satisfy accidental curvature constraints.
I will discuss the classic results and role of asymptotics, the recent results and their impact on the interpretation of these models.


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Editor's note: There are few things more manly than the independent craftsman. The Art of Manliness would like to support the independent craftsmen out there by featuring from time to time a man who's trying to make a living working with his hands. Today we spotlight Jazeps Tenis, who started Inkleaf Leather Co., maker of leather covers for Moleskine and Rhodia notebooks. He has generously not only shared his thoughts on the philosophy of craftsmanship and the story of how he decided to become a craftsman himself, but is also giving away one of his handmade leather notebook covers to a lucky AoM reader. See below for details on the giveaway.
The Craftsman's Humility
The path to joy begins in humility. The arrogant man may mistake power or influence for joy, but he is a builder of invisible empires, an illusion which is upheld only by a persistent act of the will. The man who works with his hands, however, hasn't any room for conceit. The materials with which he works are unsympathetic towards his inflated self-image. It responds only to skill born upon many hours of practice. This is the craftsman's humility.
Not only does this humility produce the foundation for joy and satisfaction in one's work, but it also teaches us about the temporal nature of things. We begin to appreciate that what we create, even if made to last for a long time, will not last for all time. It is in some respects a reminder of our own mortality. This perspective on the material elements of life focuses us on the personal.
We create and pour our hearts into these things because they are a reflection of us. With everything the craftsman creates, he says, "Here I am." If a flaw is noticed, is it fixed or hidden? Is proper care given to the details of the work, or is it hastily put together? All of these elements reveal something of the man that made them. They tell a piece of his story. They give him occasion to take pride in what he does, and from that pride comes satisfaction.
The act of working with the hands also makes us more present to ourselves and the world around us. Imagine a reality devoid of sensation. One which had neither sight, nor smell, nor sound, nor taste, nor touch. Now imagine that these sensations not only had been but now were not, but had never been at all. How would you know if you existed? There would be no basis for thought, no means of relating one thing to another. The very notion of existence would be irrelevant. Why is this important? Because we perceive through the mind what we experience through the body.
When our work is unnecessarily abstracted, we become divorced from it and from ourselves. The connections we maintain with our physical selves keep us bound to reality. It is therefore perhaps understandable that with work related depression also comes a lack of sense of self. These ideas of course apply to more than the craftsman. For example, the man in the gym engages with the weights so that he might feel a sense of self in his muscles. Were there no sensation either of tension during the act, nor growth afterwards, it would feel like a futile action.
I had often been told growing up that the surest path to a satisfying life (or at least a secure one) was through a college education. There was an unspoken assertion that to work with one's hands implied a lack of ability in using one's mind. While the mind is a wonderful thing, it has always struck me as misguided to separate it from, much less elevate it above, the body. The ideal ought to be cohesion. The craftsman draws upon the abstract capabilities of the mind in pursuit of the concrete realization of his craft. It fuels his creativity and aids him in solving problems. Without it he is an automaton. With it, he is an artisan.
The motives of the craftsman are also one of the primary causes of his joy. There is a Japanese concept called wabi sabi. It means beauty in imperfection. It means not just accepting, but cherishing what is and what will be. The act of recognizing this beauty is a joy unique to the craftsman. When you remove the craftsman from the equation, beauty and perfection look like mass production. You have consistency from one product to the next, but the concerns which motivate their creation are very different. Whereas the business man creates a product in order to maximize profit and is often divorced from its creation, the craftsman has the pleasure of creating something so that it might be excellent in its own right. It is not a means to an end, but an end in itself. The slight variations from one project to the next do not represent a failure on the part of the craftsman, but instead reveal that with each new project the pursuit of perfection begins anew.
My Path to Becoming a Craftsman
My journey to becoming a craftsman began on the heels of a job loss. I had been working as a video editor for a small production company. I took the job right after college and though I began it with great enthusiasm, the tediousness of the work began to dull me inwardly. It was essentially the same project over and over again with different PR people whose perfectly framed words couldn't hide an underlying uneasiness and lack of genuine conviction. Not to mention that sitting at the desk all day had adverse effects on my health and exacerbated an existing condition which though not life-threatening, had been quite severe.
At a certain point, due to a lack of work, my hours were reduced. I was barely getting by and very much doubted they would return. Several months later, the job was gone entirely. Having evaluated the previous years, I knew first of all that I didn't want a desk job again. I don't think humans were made to sit all day. Second, I knew that I wanted some degree of autonomy. I had read that at the start of the 20th century that 9 out of 10 men owned their own shop or business. A man ought to be able to chart his course and follow it. Lastly, I knew that I wanted to do something meaningful. I'm sure someone, somewhere convinced themselves that the editing of PR people that I did was valuable, but I've never been able to see it. My work always felt detached from my convictions. We can only fragment ourselves so much before we are irreparably broken.
As my fiancée, Steffi, and I considered what we would do next, we reflected on how we had both always enjoyed working with our hands. Had we been born 150 years ago, we might well have been farmers. The notion of leather working came to us one day while discussing our books. We threw ourselves into learning the trade, spending thousands of dollars and often working 16 hour days. We were both delighted. It felt real and substantial. Our work mattered. Just knowing that we were creating something which someone else would use, something which might very well come to be dear to them over time, it made all the difference in the world.
As our skills improved, we began selling our products and doing custom work. Up until this point, the leather working had largely been a hobby. Our journal covers started out not because we were looking to create a niche, but simply because I wanted to put some leather on my Moleskine's. In August of 2010, we decided to try our hand at doing leather full-time and started Inkleaf Leather Co. We saw an opportunity to reach a broader audience online and that brings us to where we are now, working with our hands and enjoying every minute of it.
The Inkleaf Co. Leather Notebook Cover Giveaway
We've been talking a lot about the manliness of pocket notebooks here on AoM lately. If you're fond of the Moleskine or Rhodia variety, then enter to win one of Inkleaf's leather notebook covers. They come in a variety of sizes and colors and are hand cut, hand tooled, hand dyed, hand stitched and hand finished. These leather covers protect your notebook and look handsome. Mmmm, and they smell like leather.
How to Enter the Giveaway
Leave a comment telling us what you use your pocket notebook for.
We'll randomly select one comment and that man will win a handmade leather notebook cover from Inkleaf Leather Co.
The deadline to enter is Monday, October 18, 2010 at 10:00 CST.


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Final Straw: Tranzmission Prison Project presents on LGBTQQIA realities in prison
From The Final Straw
Streaming at AshevilleFM through May 25 2014, then podcasting later at radio4all.net and airing on KOWA-LPFM in Olympia, WA, KWTF in Bodega Bay, CA, KXCF in Marshall, CA, and WCRS-LP Columbus Community Radio 98.3 and 102.1 FM
This week's episode features a presentation by members of Tranzmission Prison Project, an Asheville-based group. TPP is described on their tumblr as "Prison abolitionists against Queer & Trans* incarceration ". This is a recording of group members presenting their LGBTQQIA Prisoner Realities workshop recently at Warren Wilson College.
Trigger warning: This episode discusses sexual assault, solitary confinement and other torturous punishments.
For more info on this project, check out:


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- Tech Trader Daily
OLED Drops, CREE Surges: Canaccord, Goldman Discuss Opportunities (Update)
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There have been some interesting moves today in the worlds of display and lighting technologies.
Canaccord Genuity's Jonathan Dorsheimer offers updates on several companies in lighting and display, including Universal Display (OLED), Cree (CREE), Aixtron SE (AIXG), GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT), Veeco Instruments (VECO), and Rubicon Technology (RBCN).
Dorsheimer raises his price targets on GTAT and Rubicon, raises Cree shares to Buy from Hold, and cuts Both Aixtron and Universal to Sell from Hold, based on concerns about rising competition in their markets.
As regards Universal, Dorsheimer expects Samsung Electronics (00930KS), currently a customer, will begin to use its own technology in 2018, and that all the potential cash flows through 2017 can't justify the stock price:
Our research concludes that both Samsung and LG have development programs to manufacture and supply their own phosphorescent materials and we have reason to believe that they will begin introducing them for their own consumption post-2017 when UDC's key patents begin to expire. Our call is longer term in nature. While UDC could benefit in the very near term from green host and emitter sales, we would use any strength as an opportunity to exit the shares. While OLED TVs have been generating a lot of buzz in the press, yields remain poor, prices are very high (even with recent reductions) and the cost roadmap of both LG and Samsung hinge on a combination of cost downs for front and back end of the manufacturing efforts. We believe the front end cost downs include a number of material and IP license/royalty reductions, which we view negatively for UDC.
Dorsheimer cuts his price target to $19 from $30 for Universal stock, and he lays out how he adds up the potential cash flows of sales into the smartphone display market, the tablet computer market, and the television market:
Looking forward we will assume the green volume discounts/utilization learning curve of 66% will play out by 2014. We also assume that 100% of devices will contain both red and green emitter and green host (up from 40% in Q2/13). It is worth noting that we have confirmed that phosphorescent green host and emitter materials are not being used or expected to be used in Samsung's TVs. That said, we thought it useful to point out the potential as an upwards bound scenario. We believe that most of the volume discounts have played out with red. We are assuming that manufacturers should still be able to make a few percentage points of improvement in materials utilization each quarter going forward in both red and green. Under this scenario, pairing it with our colleagues' smartphone forecasts and assuming OLED market share will reach 45% by 2017 (up from 19% in 2012), we calculate total peak material sales to the mobile market of $237M in 2017 with cumulative materials revenues going forward of $912M. Using a much more bullish forecast of 90% penetration by 2017 we arrive at a peak year of $474M and cumulative sales of $1.5B […] Up until now the tablet market has been negligible in terms of OLED penetration, due in part to Samsung's utilization for mobile and the economics of how area scales. For example, the OLED Association points out that a tablet is 275% more area than a mobile screen but only generates 150% more absolute dollars. But to take away the obvious pushback out of the equation we will do the same analysis above for tablets beginning in 2014. While the area per screen is much larger, the end market is smaller, resulting in about half of the market opportunity of smartphones. We calculate between $380 and $700M in cumulative materials revenues to 2018, depending on the adoption rate […] Lastly, we will look at TVs. Most people get excited about the TV opportunity as it is an unpenetrated large market (200M+ units annually) and the physical area of each screen is much larger compared to the mobile space. We have highlighted the technical challenges and capital intensity of building capacity for OLED TVs previously, which is why we will only consider the premium/large area segment as the addressable market. DisplaySearch estimates that approximately 10% of total TV shipments are in the 50"+ category. Using these figures we arrive at $727M in cumulative materials sales to 2018 in a base case of 20% penetration of the premium market (3.2% of the entire TV market). We arrive at $1.4B in cumulative material sales in a base case of 45% penetration of the premium segment (7% of the entire TV market). Again, we are assuming 100% red and green emitter and 100% of host in these numbers, even though in reality our recent research confirms that green phosphorescent materials will not be used in TVs.
After making some allowances for 6% operating profit margin, and gross margin of 80% on "emitter" sales and 50% on "host" sales, Dorsheimer comes up with the conclusion cash flows don't support the stock price:
Under these assumptions we calculate between $775M and $1.3B in discounted cumulative cash flows. These figures compare to the firm's current enterprise value of $1.23B – meaning a somewhat generous base case computes a fair value 37% below current market value and a very generous bull case which is only 5% above the current market value.
As for Cree, it is "leading the pack" in lighting LEDs, and he sees the company gaining some margin expansion with the latest round of product:
We conclude that Cree's second generation 60W-eq bulb at Home Depot has a better cost structure, raising its gross margins to somewhere in the mid-teens from the mid- to high-single-digits previously, which should aid overall Lighting Systems GMs. Our meetings with the supply chain in Asia suggest that Cree is also working on a third-generation design in which the cost can be further reduced – raising margins further, lowering the ASP and working to drive greater adoption. Despite the existence of multiple tier-1 LED manufacturers and scores of lower-tier suppliers, most of our meetings and conversations in Asia centered on Cree: our opinion on its cost, its technology, its strategy, etc. Despite formidable competition, we believe Cree is clearly leading the pack worldwide in the SSL revolution.
Cree shares also got a lift today from Goldman Sachs's Brian Lee reiterated a Buy rating and a $72 price target, writing that results for the fiscal Q1 ending this month should be "solid," and that margins should see a recovery:
We expect Cree to report a solid F1Q14 (September) buoyed by top-line
growth in lighting and a corresponding 400-500bp recovery in lighting gross margins. While we acknowledge heightened margin volatility in the near term, we believe a combination of improved consumer bulb product design (e.g., cost-downs) and a better mix of indoor products in commercial are likely to prove last quarter's margin miss was transitory, as opposed to structural, in nature. Plus, we believe increased utilization and volume momentum in the chip/component segment are driving an additional margin tailwind, which appears to be underappreciated in consensus numbers. Separately, our inventory work and channel checks suggest continued traction at Home Depot in F1Q14, where we estimate 50% qoq revenue growth. We note this is ahead of what is likely a growing distribution reach as HD exclusivity in consumer expires in early 2014 – in line with timing of US incandescent phase-outs (40/60W) and expected availability of rebates for Cree bulbs.
Cree shares today closed up $9.57, or 16%, at $69.76, while shares of Universal Display fell $1.17, or 4%, to close at $30.86, after falling as low as $28.72.


text:
Every library contains at least a few hidden treasures- things which are not immediately noticeable, which you just chance on in the course of browsing the stacks, but which, once noticed, immediately demand attention because they are truly extraordinary. One such item in HUC's library in LA is the Tiklal Qadmonim, an old-style Yemenite prayer book which contains the ancient and unique Yemenite Jewish liturgy. This book is remarkable not only for its academic value-which is considerable- but for its sheer beauty and for the experience it will provide you with when you sit down to look at it. It is a manuscript (our copy is one of several facsimiles, not the original, though it preserves the character of the original very well; when you look at it you feel you are looking at an actual manuscript), in the beautiful handwriting of the scribe Shalom ben Yihya Qorah. The title page is decorated with gorgeous, bright colors, reds, yellows, greens.
The script is typical of Yemenite Hebrew manuscripts, pleasingly exotic to an American Jewish eye. To pore over this book's pages is to connect to another world, to experience firsthand why Judaism considers the written word sacred. The world this book comes from was one where scholars did not merely study printed texts dryly and clinically, detached from their creation and origin. On the contrary, they engaged as much in the creation of the texts they studied as in reading and analyzing them; they bought paper and ink and pens, and devoted hours to copying by hand the texts they wanted to study, drawing on their sense of aesthetics to make sure that the form of the written text was as beautiful as its content. They personalized their engagements with the texts, telling us their names, the date they finished copying the text and often whom they acquired the text from, where it came from and for whom they wrote it
I mentioned before that the academic value of this book is considerable. Here is some (but by no means all) of what I meant by that: The Tiklal contains much more than the usual weekday, Sabbath and festival prayers. It was written to serve as a guide to day-to-day Jewish observance as practiced by the Yemenite Jewish community, which, as is known, has preserved many ancient customs which other communities have long since abandoned. This means that this volume contains texts rarely found elsewhere. It begins with an introduction, in Judeo-Arabic, to the liturgy, and includes a Judeo-Arabic translation of the Amidah. For each holiday, there is a brief overview of the day's ritual observances and how they are carried out, in addition to the prayers specific to each day.
The Tiklal contains the text of the Passover Haggadah with an extensive Judeo-Arabic commentary, along with little-known (outside the Yemenite community) Kinot, Selihot and Hosha'not written by such figures as Saadia Gaon, R. Yehuda HaLevi, R. Avraham ibn Ezra and R. Shlomo ibn Gabirol.
The Megillat Esther, Megillat Eikha and Megillat Antiochus (a later rabbinic text outlining the Hanukkah story and studied on Hanukkah) are reproduced in full, with Rav Saadia Gaon's Arabic translation of each.
Included also are texts even less commonly found in prayerbooks: a sample ketubah, a few types of sampleget, and a sample shtar mekhira(bill of sale for use in everyday transactions among Jews). There is even an entire section on the calendar and 'ibbur (the calculation of leap years).
So come by the library sometime and see a text that was completed on Thursday, the 19th of Elul 5698 (September 15, 1938) by Shalom ben Yihya Qorah, and let yourself be inspired and transported to its world.
Henry Wudl


text:
News & Notes: Game 46
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 (7:05 p.m.) – Coca-Cola Field
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com
TV: Time Warner Cable SportsNet HD 713
Buffalo Bisons (20-26, 5th(-8.5), North)
RHP Brian Sweeney (1-2, 6.35)
Charlotte Knights (20-23, 3rd(-3.5), South)
RHP Lucas Harrell (3-2, 4.04)
TODAY'S GAME: Tonight, the Bisons take on the Charlotte Knights in the final game of a four-game series from Coca-Cola Field (7:05 p.m.). The Bisons have the 2-1 series edge and can win their first series of the 2011 season with another victory tonight. After Wednesday's league-wide off day, the Bisons will welcome the Gwinnett Braves for a four-game series.
FOR THE SERIES: The Bisons have not collected a series win since a two-game sweep in Rochester on the final two games of the 2010 season, September 5-6. The last time the Herd won a four-game set at Coca-Cola Field was a four-game sweep of Columbus, August 5-8, 2010. Buffalo's last four-game series win on the road was June 4-7, 2010 in Norfolk.
TODAY'S STARTER: RHP BRIAN SWEENEY is coming off his best outing with the team. The veteran righty allowed just one run on four hits in seven innings on May 19 in Indianapolis. Sweeney is now 1-2 with 6.35ERA in his first three starts since being signed by the Mets on May 6.
VS. THE KNIGHTS: The Bisons have won two straight over the Knights and have a 2-1 lead in the season series. A victory tonight would give Buffalo a home series win over Charlotte for the third time in four years. The only year in that stretch the Bisons didn't defend Coca-Cola Field was in 2009 when they were swept by the Knights.
OUR PAL, VAL: OF VALENTINO PASCUCCI has 20RBI in 19 games this month, the second most in the International League (CHA, Dayan Viciedo, 23). Pascucci has driven in eight in his last five games and enters tonight on a six-game hit streak over which he has averaged .421 (8-19) with two doubles, a home run and two runs scored. His .413 on-base percentage is just three plate appearances shy of qualifying 2nd-best in the IL.
BISONS BITS: The Bisons are the only team in the International League that has yet to allow a passed ball…OF KIRK NIEUWENHUIS ranks 1st in the IL in games (46), 2nd in on-base percentage (.410), T2nd in walks (29) and T3rd in doubles (15)…The Bisons have left a runner on base in 14 consecutive innings and 19 of 22 against the Knights.
METS UPDATE: The Mets (22-24) were off yesterday. New York will begin a three-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field tonight (8:05 p.m.). Former Bisons LHP JON NIESE will start, looking to improve on a personal two-game winning streak. The Mets are 6.5 games out of first place in the N.L. East division.


text:
Dobré zprávy obrazem
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Do you go gaga for all-things vintage? Well, you'll definitely love these vintage-inspired pill boxes ($20 to $24), then. Not only are they cute to look at, but within each of the six designs lies a 100 percent natural lip balm made by British-based aromatherapist Andrea Garland. Choose between clear, rich red, or hot pink; refills available for $8 a pop. From the classic to kitschy, they're just the thing you'll need to channel your inner Mad Men style.
Source: Thinkstock


text:
Welcome to the offices of Robert Monett, M.D., Anna Steinberg, M.D., Matthew Marchal, M.D., Katina Robertson Murray, M.D., Aparna Mark, M.D. and Farida Ahmadi, PA-C. Emory at Downtown Decatur Primary Care is here to meet your healthcare needs. Our practice, formerly known as Family Medicine of Decatur, is located in downtown Decatur, Georgia, and has been in operation since 1996.
Our physicians offer adult and pediatric care, sports physicals, immunizations, wellness exams and acute care visits from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Our practice is part of Emory Decatur Hospital's network of healthcare services. This means that our patients are able to promptly obtain a full range of diagnostic tests, including X-rays, CT scans, MRI and ultrasound at any of our facilities that are most convenient. When urgent medical care by a specialist is necessary, we are able to facilitate appointments and referrals for our patients to one of the more than 800 physicians on staff.
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text:
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PANAMA CITY, Panama — The lawyer for a Panamanian man who watched two companions die while surviving at sea for 28 days in their small disabled boat says he's suing a U.S. cruise line because one of its ships failed to help.
Attorney Edna Ramos says the lawsuit alleging negligence by Princess Cruise Lines has been filed in a Florida state court on behalf of Adrian Vazquez.
Teenager rescued after 28 days adrift at sea in small boat
Vazquez and companions Fernando Osorio and Elvis Oropeza drifted at sea with a broken motor for 16 days before seeing a cruise ship approach on March 10. Although the men called for help, the ship did not stop.
Princess Cruises has said passengers never told the ship's captain they saw a boat.Princess Cruises: Captain unaware of disabled boat
Osorio and Oropeza died later. Vazquez was rescued on March 22 near Ecuador's Galapagos Islands.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
AMASRA brazenly flaunts its charms to new arrivals. Approached from any direction, the town suddenly appears below you, swarming up onto a rocky headland sheltering two bays. A narrow stone bridge links the main town to the island of Boztepe further out, while the headland shelters the east-facing Büyük Liman (Big Harbour) on one side and the west-facing Küçük Liman (Little Harbour) on the other. As the beaches at both are at best average, it's best to regard Amasra as a base for forays to better beaches further east.
Amasra's historical pedigree and colourful atmosphere make it worth at least an overnight stop. During the day it is a quiet place, full of shady corners to sit and contemplate. By night it's much livelier, and the old walls are lit up attractively, but it doesn't lose its small-town charm.
Brief history
Mentioned as Sesamus in the Iliad, Amasra was colonized by Miletus in the sixth century BC. The name derived from Queen Amastris, a lady of the court of Alexander the Great, who, after the death of her husband, acted as regent for her young son, only to be repaid with murder at his hands. Avid letter-writer Pliny the Younger was appointed Rome's special commissioner to this region in 110 AD. After the ninth century, following a barbarian attack, the town declined in importance, though the Byzantines maintained a garrison here. The Genoese took over when Byzantine strength declined, and held the city until the Ottomans assumed control in 1460.
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text: Foxconn Technology Group is one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers. It makes hardware for a prestigious list of clients, including Apple, HP, Dell, Nokia and Nintendo. Yet its workers have compared it to a prison. Some say they're forced to work illegal overtime and night shifts, have been subjected to "corporal violence" and exposed to hazardous materials, and have their privacy invaded by management. And employees say they are still underpaid despite the promise of an across-the-board 30 percent raise earlier this year. Capping the list of woes at the Taiwanese manufacturer, Reuters reported earlier this month that a 23-year-old employee of Foxconn had jumped to his death. It was the 13th reported Foxconn employee suicide of the year. Foxconn has tried to manage perceptions where it can, if not actually confront the oddly tragic trend within the company. On Sept. 4, on assignment with Bloomberg Businessweek, photographer Thomas Lee joined other journalists on a tour of Foxconn City. Lee observed underused facilities, an eerily quiet workforce, an ever-ambitious chairman and the flow of migrants to long hours on the production lines. (Gizmodo's Joel Johnson recently made his own visit to Foxconn's dorms while on assignment for Wired.) Above: Employees pass a security station before entering or leaving Foxconn City. "The security guard is younger than many of the workers, who actually walked in and out without being stopped," says Lee. "Most of the time he gave directions to people, which was helpful. Each employee has an ID card for scanning on entry and exit, so they are tracked in that manner." Photo: © Thomas LeeThe facility known as Foxconn City has an estimated workforce of 420,000 employees, a number equivalent to the population of Oakland, California. Its official name is Lounghua Business Park. Located in the southern province of Szechuan, it is Foxconn's oldest and largest factory complex. In the first five months of this year, 12 Foxconn employees took their own lives at the industrial park. By May, under the scrutiny of the global media, Foxconn and its enigmatic chairman Terry Gou began taking practical steps to address the unprecedented spate of worker suicides: Workers' dormitory buildings were skirted with suicide nets, crisis hotlines were established, and wages increased — although in some locations barely to a living wage. The company also staged solidarity rallies for workers. Part of the Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industries, Foxconn ranks 112th among Global Fortune 500 Companies and employs nearly 1 million people within China. Dominant in a growing market, Foxconn forecasts its workforce will be 1.3 million by 2011. Foxconn manufactures some of the most sought-after electronic parts in the industry for a long list of corporate clients. Three of those clients — Apple, Dell and HP — began inquiries into the working conditions at Foxconn in May. Above: A production-line employee. "Most employees are migrants from rural communities," says photographer Thomas Lee, "coming to work in an economic zone, which is now a manufacturing hub, so there's going to be a disconnection. It must feel a lot like study abroad; not being in one's home puts a strain on an individual. Are they clinically depressed? I don't think so. Some of them like the challenge; they want to make it." "I am originally from Taiwan so I speak fluent Mandarin. I spoke with a few female employees. They said their wages were fair and that they have fantastic facilities. They also all believe the media doesn't have the full story. There is a chance though that a memo went out telling the workforce that people from the media were on site." Photo: © Thomas LeeOpponents of the Foxconn management regime say there is a link between stressful work conditions and the suicides. "They blame the suicides simply on psychological, mental or even individual issues," says Hu Douxing, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Technology in an interview with Al Jazeera. "But they [Foxconn] don't want to begin dealing with what the management is doing — workplace bullying and other problems." The suicide rate for China stands at 12 for every 100,000 people per year. With a workforce of 420,000 and 13 suicides this calendar year, the suicide rate at Foxconn is approximately one-quarter the national average. (It should also be noted that four other suicide attempts were made at Foxconn in 2010. The four employees survived with injuries.) Above: Locker and security check point in the stairwell of a production facility in Foxconn City. "The constant monitoring was unnerving, but everything was well-organized," says photographer Thomas Lee. "There were obvious safety precautions in place and plenty of protective clothing. The place was like a hospital. The sterile environment only added to the unease at times." Photo: © Thomas LeeThe working conditions at Foxconn are similar to production line work environments in other Chinese factories. Photographer Thomas Lee observed that Foxconn has safer and cleaner facilities than those he's familiar with from other factories. Production line work has always been monotonous in China, and Foxconn is no different. Still, the suicides have brought to global attention the need for legitimate scrutiny of the treatment of workers in Chinese manufacturing plants. On Oct. 12, the Hong Kong–based Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (.pdf) reported that "Researchers found that Foxconn continued to violate the law in terms of overtime payment and working hours." SACOM alleged employees weren't informed of pay raises, that overtime was expected but uncompensated, and that student interns employed as cheap labor accounted for 50 percent of the workforce in some departments. In a three-page statement, Foxconn "categorically rejected" SACOM's accusations (.pdf) of low pay, overtime abuse and hazardous work spaces. According to Foxconn, interns account for 7.6 percent of the workforce. The company says that figure has never risen above 15 percent, even during the summer when it employs many student interns. Foxconn and SACOM have staked out their positions. While Foxconn claims to adhere to all workplace laws, SACOM doesn't consider the laws the gauge by which corporations should measure themselves, but rather that corporations such as Foxconn should set their own higher standards. "China is a fast-growing economy; minimum legal standards as a safety net cannot guarantee decent living conditions in the cities," reported SACOM. On such a global scale, responsibility is a contested virtue. Along the supply chain are workers, supervisors, executive management, shareholders, clients and, last but not least, consumers. Lee's experience, shown here, is one more account to add to the pile of conflicting narratives about the reality for Foxconn's employees. Suggested reading: "The Fate of a Generation of Workers: Foxconn Undercover" (Engagdet) "The Stark Reality of iPod's Chinese Factories" (Daily Mail) Five-part special report: "Silicon Sweatshops" (Global Post) Above: A supervisor monitors Foxconn workers. "There was a bunch of supervisors who watched closely," says Lee. "They would walk up and down the production line watching workers. They also paid close attention to what we shot. There was a videographer on the tour and they watched his LCD screen closely." Photo: © Thomas LeeA production line worker. "We must talk about the consumer," says photographer Thomas Lee. "Dell products, the Sony PlayStation, the Nintendo Wii, Apple's iPod and iPad; these are the most popular electronic products and they're all made at Foxconn. Consumption of these is why Foxconn grew so large and I think it is why it lost its way. We can't simply point fingers at Foxconn." Photo: © Thomas LeeFoxconn employees' lockers. "[Outside of work] the workers spend a lot of time alone," says photographer Thomas Lee. "In the new dormitories, opened since the suicides, there are eight workers to a room, with a shared bathroom, a balcony and internet broadband. The rooms are air-conditioned." Photo: © Thomas LeeThe Foxconn security staff is briefed in public. "They did the security briefing in the open air," says photographer Thomas Lee. "It was a public show for the workers." Photo: © Thomas LeeTrainees walk to classes under a poster of Terry Gou, chairman and president of Hon Hai and Foxconn, at the IT School/IE Academy in Foxconn City. "It's like student orientation," says photographer Thomas Lee. "They get [information on] dos and don'ts, phone numbers, facilities. Foxconn may be evil, but they do have an Olympic sized pool and an internet cafe! They also have some of the highest wages for work of its type, which has caused problems for neighboring factories and cities." Photo: © Thomas LeeTrainees walk on the balcony of Foxconn's IT School/IE Academy. "Foxconn doesn't need to worry about acquiring new workers," says photographer Thomas Lee, "Even during the spate of suicides there were huge numbers for their recruitment. Hundreds line up to sign up and they keep coming." Photo: © Thomas LeeEmployees browse the Foxconn bookstore. "I didn't see anyone chatting," says photographer Thomas Lee. "Most of the books are on business and economics, finance and engineering; books on how to be successful, the typical seven-step manuals. There are also biographies of Terry Gou, Foxconn CEO and spiritual leader for the workforce." "They all look for tips on how to be successful. Things at Foxconn are very competitive. Employees wonder, 'How do I go from being a production worker to a supervisor to a manger?' Everyone is conjuring his or her own agenda." Photo: © Thomas LeeAn employee sits on the floor in the computer cafe among very low cubicle partitions. Photo: © Thomas LeeAn employee plays free X-Box games at the Cyberfox internet cafe. "The internet cafe was telling," says photographer Thomas Lee. "It was being used but usually you expect chatting, talk about movies or games; they're supposed to be a relaxed place but the human interactions were missing. This became a theme for all my images." Photo: © Thomas LeeAn Olympic-size pool sits idle behind safety fencing near the new male dormitory in Foxconn City. "The Foxconn spin [on the empty pool] was that it was an overcast day and that the workers didn't feel like using it," says photographer Thomas Lee. "But it was a Saturday. I just think people rarely use it. They walk around it as if it were a pond. Both times I passed by, it was empty." "This is indicative of the narrative Foxconn uses – they want to say that they provide recreation facilities for the workers, but the pool is unwelcoming. It seems to me like it's a narrow view of — and shallow attempt to — care. Foxconn puts the ball in the workers' hands. The vacant pool reinforces the overall sense on the campus of management." Photo: © Thomas LeeRecently installed suicide nets encircle buildings inside Foxconn City. Photo: © Thomas LeeYellow safety netting surrounds the production facilities. "I didn't expect these new nets to be so blatant," says Lee. "Yellow was a deliberate choice so they stand out. I think the authority there wanted to say, 'Hey look we've done something in response to the suicides, so now it's on you [the worker] to not screw up.'" Photo: © Thomas LeeTwo operators await calls at the Foxconn Care Center hotline desk. "The caption on the wall behind says 'Love Care Respect,'" says Lee. "It is a typical Chinese delivery you can trace back to early Communism. The design of the adult and child hand touching is almost like Michelangelo's 'God Creates Man.'" "The hotline had space for six operators, but only four were there when I visited. The women weren't talking to anyone. There were three private rooms in which one can see a certified counselor. There were "seven steps to well-being" pamphlets available. While I was there, there was no counseling and there was no one waiting. They were not working, but they look ready!" Photo: © Thomas LeeChairman Terry Gou addresses journalists at the product-testing facility. "Terry took the writers to his office and told them all about the future of Foxconn," says Lee. "He's going inland, building factory complexes and taking the work to the workers. He'll build the complexes like suburbs with condos; the workers will no longer be migrants. He thinks this will solve the problem of dissatisfaction and of suicides. He pored over the plans. He went over schedule by three hours." "He's a tycoon and doesn't have a good reputation, but he was very cooperative, [As a journalist] you can't complain when the 'spiritual leader' gives over so much time." Photo: © Thomas LeeEmployees smoke near the main gate at the end of the day shift. "Smoking's a time when you make dirty jokes, bitch about your boss, flirt, you know, but it's not like that at Foxconn," says photographer Thomas Lee. "They hide in the bushes behind this container. They're in the shadows and they smoke alone. There is no teasing or interaction. This is near the new east gate, right on the outskirts of the complex. During my whole day there I had no interaction with workers." Photo: © Thomas LeeCrowds stream in and out of Foxconn City. "This was the only interaction I saw between two workers," says photographer Thomas Lee, "right at the end of the day and the end of their shift. It's a couple who are dating; he had his arm around her shoulder. I heard him say, 'Oh, the journalists are here again,' but they never stopped." "If I could go back to Foxconn City, I'd like to make more images to draw out the non-interaction across the whole site. I'd do more still lifes and landscapes. I'd look at the fire station and other elements I missed. I'd really bring out the sense of detachment." Photo: © Thomas Lee


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Frequently Asked Questions
What time of day is a snow emergency declared?
Timing, intensity, duration and weather forecasts of the snowfall will affect when the decision to declare is made. However, if Minneapolis has NOT declared a Snow Emergency by 6 p.m. on a given day, residents don't have to keep checking back with the hotline or local news on that day. The City of Minneapolis will not declare a Snow Emergency after 6 p.m.
However, if the decision to declare a snow emergency is not made by 6:00 p.m., Minneapolis Public Works crews will continue to plow but delay declaring Snow Emergency because there's not enough time to get effective notification out to the public. Check back the following day to find out if a Snow Emergency will be declared due to continued accumulations of snow.
For more information see: Stay Informed.
Last updated Sep 27, 2011


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Updated 2016
- There's a great mix of history and modernism in Seoul. Take it all in.
- If you want to get out of the city, then hop on the metro and head to the mountains. Plenty of great opportunities for hiking just a short ride outside the city.
- Take a cooking class and learn to cook such Korean staples as kimchi bulgogi.
- Learn taekwondo, Korea's most popular form of martial arts. If you're not that adventurous, then be sure to take in a match.
- If you're looking to stay a while and make a bit of money, then look into teaching ESL. Seoul (and all of South Korea) is one of the most popular places to teach English and actually make some good money doing it.
- If you're a drinker, you've come to the right place. The Koreans can drink with the best of them.
Read: A Not-So-Calm Day in South Korea.
Why you should add Seoul to your RTW travel list
- Don't let the modern buildings fool you: Seoul is an ancient city
- Eat awesome Korean food and other cuisines with the locals
- If you need out of the city, it's easy to get to the surrounding mountains
- See old temples such as Chogyesa, Pongwosa and Hwagyesa
- Celebrate New Year, twice a year, in January and February
Read: Supermarkets, Kimchi & Tea: Seoul, South Korea.
Why you should not add Seoul to your RTW travel list
- Seoul can overwhelming and confusing for visitors. It's easy to get lost, and even the locals have a tough time giving you the right directions.


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CRESTVIEW � Following surprise and shock from Pope Benedict XVI's announcement of his resignation, local Catholics are relying on their faith to see their church through a period of transition.
CRESTVIEW � Following surprise and shock from Pope Benedict XVI's announcement of his resignation, local Catholics are relying on their faith to see their church through a period of transition.
"I think the first reaction was shock, amazement and 'is this true?'" the Rev. John Cayer, pastor of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Crestview, said of his parishioners' reaction to the news. The pontiff on Monday said he would resign Feb. 28 due to declining health. "Then after that initial shock, I think they appeal to their faith, in which they appeal to the eternal shepherd instead of the earthly shepherd.
"I implored them to trust in this entire process that Pope Benedict has started, and that God will guide them through this, as he has the last 2,000 years."
Crestview High School senior Alma Masters, 17, said she believes plenty of prayer preceded what must have been a difficult decision for the pontiff.
"My reaction, actually, was he's a very wise man for doing it," Alma said. "Because if you don't think you can fulfill the role anymore, it's better to step down rather than sticking it out and something going bad. I'm sure he definitely prayed about it a lot and put a lot of thought into it."
"I'm just glad he did the right thing," Lynette Rogers, a Crestview mother of two, said. "If he felt he was not able to do his job, I think he made the right decision. Hopefully, they (church leaders) will realize we need to maybe pick a younger pope."
Nellie Golden, of Crestview, said she believes the church will continue on the path the pope has set, but understands his decision to step down.
"He is quite old, so I can understand that he is not able to do his duty any more," she said. "There are a lot of cardinals who are available to assume the duties of pope."
The process of selecting a new pope will begin soon, and will provide continuity within the faith, Cayer said.
"You have the College of Cardinals coming together in what we call the Conclave; they vote and the majority rules. It's the participation of man and God in the process, and we have to ultimately trust in the process," he said.
"Hopefully it won't change anything in the way things run in the church," Rogers said.
"I think some would like to sensationalize it because it has such a global impact, so no doubt it's going to affect the church on every level," Cayer said. "But for the faithful, Jesus said, 'Do not fear.' He cares for all his creation and he will care for his church."
Cayer said he received an email from a friend stating Internet gambling sites were accepting bets on whom the College of Cardinals will select for the next pope. As wagers come in, some cardinals' names rise above others as their odds improve, he said.
"It's amazing," Cayer said. "They have all the cardinals listed. Even amongst the gamblers, they seem to know who's who."
Cayer said he advised his congregation to be prayerful as the process takes its course.
"I think the best approach to this whole process is to remain rooted in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to guide his church," he said. "Once we do that, it will cast out any fear."
Almasaid she and her family � including her parents Richard and Maria, brothers Jason and Derrick, and sister Yvonne � have kept the pope and their church in their prayers.
"We definitely include him in our prayers because he's the high figure in our belief," Alma said. "I hope he's doing well and that he made the right decision."
As for Benedict's successor, Cayer joked, "I put my application in and am waiting for them to receive it.
"The Holy Spirit can land on anyone."
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.


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text: James Masters is not trying to be the best but if it happens along the way so be it. Personally he write for himself and he enjoy it as a great hobby but he is not trying to make a career out of writing anything its all for fun. Like on the fan fiction stories written long before this flamers will be ignored don't like the stories do not read them.


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This is a fabulous apt in the centre of marbella, just 2nd line beach overlooking the park. With 2 bedrooms and bathrooms it is perfect for families as the complex has 3 swimming pools one of which is a children's pool. Has Wifi and IP TV with all languages, excellent for winter breaks and no need to drive.
Views to: Pool.
Walking distance to: Beach, Marbella Town Centre, Shops, Supermarket and Restaurants.
Sleeps maximum 4 persons.
View the photos on a separate page
We look after you! On arrival we meet you to give you the keys and shows you around the property. There will be a welcome food pack to be enjoyed
Extra services: Baby-sitting, child minding, extra maid service and catering by arrangement. We organise airport transport: by taxi, car rental, minibus, we also offer a wide range of day trips and tee times for you golfholiday. Internet mobile for rent (limited units) and portable air-condition for rent (limited units), (this is for the properties which do not have these facilities).
Prices are in Euros per property (not per person) and based on a weekly rates depending on the season chosen. Special prices could be available for 3-4 weeks. Please contact us for further information.
Booking policy: No restrictions with regard to the day or time of your arrival to & departure from the property, however if we have another client arriving or departing on the same day we would have to ask for your collaboration as we have to prepare the properties for the next client. Rates for extra days, short & longer lets available on request.
Payments accepted: Banktransfer, PayPal, Credit card (Visa/American express) and cash.
Booking terms and conditions
Some of the properties will admit pets, depending on the property and the pet. Consultation is necessary.
This property is rented by owner and managed by: Wendy Dagnall (Pacos Pros S.L) Tel: +34 656 57 90 12
This property is registered as tourist accommodation with the Andalucian tourist board under the number: CTC-2016098864
Marbella Sun Trips: Day trips & tours from Estepona, Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas Costa, Torremolinos, Benalmádena, Málaga, Algarrobo, Almuñecar, Caleta de Vélez, Nerja, Rincón de la Victoria, Salobreña, Torre del Mar, Torrox.
Holiday and vacation rentals in Marbella, Costa Del Sol, Spain.
Helena Persson, Marbella Sun Trips
Wendy Dagnall, Pacos Pros S.L:
© 2001-2020


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MOSCOW, April 1 (UPI) -- Georgian claims that Russia's snap military drills in the Black Sea were destabilizing reflects its own regional aggressions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The Georgian government last week said Russian military action in the Black Sea was "at odds with the interests of stability."
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops and military assets to the Black Sea. State-run news agency RIA Novosti said the drills were meant to ensure regional stability ahead of next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi, on Russia's Black Sea coast.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Georgia's reaction was a "public inflation of a Russian threat to cover its own confrontational policy," RIA Novosti reports.
Georgia and Russian went to war in 2008 over the separatist republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Putin's unannounced drills followed a decision from Georgia last week to refuse a draft non-aggression document regarding the republics.
More than 30 warships, 250 combat vehicles and up to 7,000 troops participated in the exercise last week.


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I've been away from the blog for a bit. The letter I'm providing here is from six days ago, but it's still worthy of noting for the below reasons.
I provided an introductory blog on why the Catholic Church has been, is now and should be taken seriously as a georeligious/geopolitical force [ Georeligious Power: A Paris Revolution. A Polish Revolution. An American Revolution? ]. Then, I posted this follow-up article [ The President Caves to Georeligious Powers on Obamacare ]. Consider this present blog the third in a series, the three of which cover the four recent moves on the tournament chessboard that America has become for the "seasoned" Catholic Church and the "rather brazen" newcomer, the Obama administration.
I encourage all to read this, regardless of interest or disinterest in the issues of religious freedom, freedom in general, religion in general, healthcare, sexual freedom, sex in general, privacy, civil disobedience or whether government should act as protector or director of freedoms. Why? Simply because it's invasive to all (non-American citizens as well) at some level. In other words, if it's not in your face already, it will be.
At the very least, it adds to the correction of any misconception that the Catholic Church has no influence in today's world. It does, and even when not understood on a common-citizen level, it's understood almost unanimously on national and international levels. The Church has been, is and will continue to be a major player on our world's "chessboard." And, they're not going away. President Obama may be jousting with them at the moment, but he knows it as well.
If you're a person of any conviction, ranging from no conviction at all (a conviction in itself) to a monk in a monastery, this present match concerns your life at a much higher level. Are you a person who wants to be left alone without anyone telling you what you can or can't do with your life (outside of crimes against property, person, government, etc.)? Or, are you a person who is fine with ceding some, many or all of your freedoms to the government as a director and even enforcer of freedoms custom-fitted for all citizens by a majority vote of citizens?
In a constitutional republic, which is still what we live in within America, the government protects all freedoms without creating / directing / enforcing them upon a minority. When you're an equal people, there can be no minority. It's only within a democracy, where majority rules over the lives of a minority, that you will find our inherent equality-by-nature of whites, Blacks, women, men, religious, atheist or otherwise trumped by a custom-fitted nature for all.
In this specific match between the Church and President Obama, the president is not acting as an equal-by-nature protector of a constitutional republic where religious freedoms (including those of no convictions) are defended equally. He's not even acting as a protector of sexual freedoms when trying to establish one policy that applies to all, regardless of one's beliefs, religious or otherwise. He is acting from out of a form of social democracy where he very clearly seeks to direct "the many" of all citizens along "the one" same path — ultimately, with no variance allowed.
Whether you're in the majority or minority (where you'll least like it), you'll be affected. If you think you'll wind up in the majority for every issue close to your heart, think again.
This is a letter from the recently promoted Timothy Cardinal Dolan, formerly Archbishop of New York, to all of the bishops of the Catholic Church, dated March 2, 2012. I've given the link at the bottom for a copy of the entire letter, with his signature included. For this blog, I've condensed the letter to its most directly stated points, and I've highlighted in bold the "boldest" of bold statements from the new Cardinal. Then, I've underlined the words and statements, in my view, to taken most seriously. If nothing else, please view the highlights.
As a side note, if there's one thing, for me, that has led to the present and growing disconnect between parish-level Catholics and the Church heirarchy, it's that the Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals (who do most of the letter-writing and "attempted" communicating that finds its way to the street-level parishioners) have no sense whatsoever (meaning, none) of "street language," so to speak. They tend to talk and write like they're still in the first century Church of Peter or Paul.
I've purposely excised as much as possible of that in my below condensation simply because I believe that communication is a bridge between one and another (including those at a street level like me). I truly want an inclusive "all" to understand the Cardinal's argument. Take a peek at the original document, and you'll see what I'm getting at. In all fairness, though, the Cardinal addressed the letter to fellow Cardinals, but I still say they need to talk "to" the people instead of "down to" them to encourage a much needed healing of the widening disconnect. –SB
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) March 2, 2012:
I have written you to express my gratitude for our unity in faith and action as we move forward to protect our religious freedom from unprecedented intrusion from a government bureau, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
. . . we as a body have had opportunities during our past plenary assemblies to manifest our strong unity in defense of religious freedom.
Since January 20, when the final, restrictive HHS Rule was first announced, we have become certain of two things: religious freedom is under attack, and we will not cease our struggle to protect it.
Benedict XVI . . . "Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion."
Bishop Stephen Blaire and Bishop William Lori, with so many others, have admirably kept us focused on this one priority of protecting religious freedom. We have made it clear in no uncertain terms to the government that we are not at peace with its invasive attempt to curtail the religious freedom we cherish as Catholics and Americans. We did not ask for this fight, but we will not run from it.
. . . each of us would prefer to spend our energy engaged in and promoting the works of mercy to which the Church is dedicated: healing the sick, teaching our youth, and helping the poor. . . . each of the ministries entrusted to us by Jesus is now in jeopardy due to this bureaucratic intrusion into the internal life of the church. . . . we were doing those extensive and noble works rather well without these radical new constrictive and forbidding mandates.
Our Church has a long tradition of effective partnership with government and the wider community in the service of the sick, our children, our elders, and the poor at home and abroad, and we sure hope to continue it.
. . . this is not a "Catholic" fight alone. . . . to quote . . . a nurse who emailed me, "I'm not so much mad about all this as a Catholic, but as an American." . . . Governor Mike Huckabee, observed, "In this matter, we're all Catholics."
. . . We are grateful to know so many of our fellow Americans . . . stand together in this important moment in our country. They know that this is not just about sterilization, abortifacients, and chemical contraception. It's about religious freedom, the sacred right of any Church to define its own teaching and ministry.
When the President announced on January 20th that the choking mandates from HHS would remain, not only we bishops and our Catholic faithful, but people of every faith, or none at all, rallied in protest. The worry that we had expressed — that such government control was contrary to our deepest political values — was eloquently articulated by constitutional scholars and leaders of every creed.
On February 10th, the President announced that the insurance providers would have to pay the bill, instead of the Church's schools, hospitals, clinics, or vast network of charitable outreach having to do so. He considered this "concession" adequate. Did this help? . . . while withholding final judgment, we would certainly give the President's proposal close scrutiny. . . . we did — and as you know, we are as worried as ever.
For one, there was not even a nod to the deeper concerns about trespassing upon religious freedom, or of modifying the HHS' attempt to define the how and who of our ministry.
Two, since a big part of our ministries are "self-insured," we still ask how this protects us. We'll still have to pay and, in addition to that, we'll still have to maintain in our policies practices which our Church has consistently taught are grave wrongs in which we cannot participate.
And what about forcing individual believers to pay for what violates their religious freedom and conscience? We can't abandon the hard working person of faith who has a right to religious freedom.
And three, there was still no resolution about the handcuffs placed upon renowned Catholic charitable agencies, both national and international, and their exclusion from contracts just because they will not refer victims of human trafficking, immigrants and refugees, and the hungry of the world, for abortions, sterilization, or contraception. In many ways, the announcement of February 10 solved little and complicated a lot. We now have more questions than answers, more confusion than clarity.
What to do now?
For one . . . we will continue our strong efforts of advocacy and education. In the coming weeks the Conference will continue to provide you, among other things, with catechetical resources on the significance of religious freedom to the Church and the Church's teaching on it from a doctrinal and moral perspective. We are developing liturgical aids to encourage prayer in our efforts and plans on how we can continue to voice our public and strong opposition to this infringement on our freedom. And the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, that has served the Conference so well in its short lifespan, will continue its extraordinary work in service to this important cause.
Two, we will ardently continue to seek a rescinding of the suffocating mandates that require us to violate our moral convictions, or at least insist upon a much wider latitude to the exemptions so that churches can be free of the new, rigidly narrow definition of church, minister and ministry that would prevent us from helping those in need, educating children and healing the sick, no matter their religion.
In this regard, the President invited us to "work out the wrinkles." We have accepted that invitation. Unfortunately, this seems to be stalled: the White House Press Secretary, for instance, informed the nation that the mandates are a fait accompli (and, embarrassingly for him, commented that we bishops have always opposed Health Care anyway, a charge that is scurrilous and insulting, not to mention flat out wrong. . . .)
The White House already notified Congress that the dreaded mandates are now published in the Federal Registry "without change." The Secretary of HHS is widely quoted as saying, "Religious insurance companies don't really design the plans they sell based on their own religious tenets." That doesn't bode well for their getting a truly acceptable "accommodation."
At a recent meeting between staff of the bishops' conference and the White House staff, our staff members asked directly whether the broader concerns of religious freedom—that is, revisiting the straight-jacketing mandates, or broadening the maligned exemption—are all off the table. They were informed that they are. So much for "working out the wrinkles."
Instead, they advised the bishops' conference that we should listen to the "enlightened" voices of accommodation, such as the recent, hardly surprising yet terribly unfortunate editorial in America [prominent Jesuit publication]. The White House seems to think we bishops simply do not know or understand Catholic teaching and so, taking a cue from its own definition of religious freedom, now has nominated its own handpicked official Catholic teachers.
We will continue to accept invitations to meet with and to voice our concerns to anyone of any party, for this is hardly partisan, who is willing to correct the infringements on religious freedom that we are now under. But as we do so, we cannot rely on off the record promises of fixes without deadlines and without assurances of proposals that will concretely address the concerns in a manner that does not conflict with our principles and teaching.
Congress might provide more hope, since thoughtful elected officials have proposed legislation to protect what should be so obvious: religious freedom. Meanwhile, in our recent debate in the senate, our opponents sought to obscure what is really a religious freedom issue by maintaining that abortion inducing drugs and the like are a "woman's health issue." We will not let this deception stand.
Our commitment to seeking legislative remedies remains strong. And it is about remedies to the assault on religious freedom. Period.
(By the way, the Church hardly needs to be lectured about health care for women. Thanks mostly to our Sisters, the Church is the largest private provider of health care for women and their babies in the country.)
Bishop William Lori, Chairman of our Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, stated it well in a recent press release: "We will build on this base of support as we pursue legislation in the House of Representatives, urge the Administration to change its course on this issue, and explore our legal rights under the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act."
In the recent Hosanna-Tabor ruling, the Supreme Court unanimously defended the right of a Church to define its own ministry and services, a dramatic rebuff to the administration, apparently unheeded by the White House. Thus, our bishops' conference, many individual religious entities, and other people of good will are working with some top-notch law firms who feel so strongly about this that they will represent us pro-bono. In the upcoming days, you will hear much more about this encouraging and welcome development.
Given this climate, we have to prepare for tough times. Some, like America magazine, want us to cave-in and stop fighting, saying this is simply a policy issue; some want us to close everything down rather than comply (In an excellent article, Cardinal Francis George wrote that the administration apparently wants us to "give up for Lent" our schools, hospitals, and charitable ministries); some, like Bishop Robert Lynch wisely noted, wonder whether we might have to engage in civil disobedience and risk steep fines; some worry that we'll have to face a decision between two ethically repugnant choices: subsidizing immoral services or no longer offering insurance coverage, a road none of us wants to travel.
. . . we know so very well that religious freedom is our heritage, our legacy and our firm belief, both as loyal Catholics and Americans. There have been many threats to religious freedom over the decades and years, but these often came from without.
This one sadly comes from within.
As our ancestors did with previous threats, we will tirelessly defend the timeless and enduring truth of religious freedom.
Timothy Cardinal Dolan
Archbishop of New York
President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)


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I've been writing about my trip to Paris recently, and because I have a copy sitting around, I picked up Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, his memoir of living in Paris as part of the American expatriate circle of writers in the 1920s.
I'm not all the way through it, but I happened to wander over to the Wikipedia page (linked above), where I learned it was published after his death, and been edited by his fourth wife. Apparently Hemingway returned to the memoir shortly before his death, and it included a lengthy apology to Hadley, his first wife (which got cut).
Not only that, "literary critic J. Gerald Kennedy of Louisiana State University pointed out the artificially heroic nature of Hemingway's self-portrait in A Moveable Feast. He contrasted it with the sexual ambiguity and fascination with androgyny found in Hemingway's unfinished novel, The Garden of Eden."
Not only that, I found another lengthy piece about the memoir that appeared in the Huffington Post, which was written because Hemingway's grandson was going to published a "restored edition." It goes even further down the rabbit hole about the sad, sordid family history, and how the various wives and children of wives might have affected the books' edits.
Wow. I'm not even going to weigh in on that. Instead, I got about fifty pages in, and found this:
The goatherd came up the street blowing his pipes and a woman who lived on the floor above us came out to the sidewalk with a big pot. The goatherd chose one of the heavy-bagged, black milk-goats and milked her into the pot while his dog pushed the others onto the sidewalk. The goats looked around, turning their necks like sightseers.
Goats! Cruising around Paris! Sure, it was 80-plus years ago, but still. When I was in Paris, I saw a lot of cars and tour buses. But no goats.