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Third Generation BMW 6 Series Coupe is On The Way - VIDEO ENHANCED
By Henny Hemmes
Senior European Editor
[RELATED: First Drive: 2012 BMW 6 Series Convertible 650i]
AMSTERDAM - March 13, 2011: The new BMW 6 Series Coupe is ready to hit European markets this summer. The new Coupe will be unveiled at the Shanghai Motor Show on April 20, the same day as the start of the New York International Auto Show. In Geneva, the show organizers have agreed to find dates that do not interfere with other importants shows worldwide.
It speaks for itself that the 6 Series Coupe shares the looks with the Convertible that was unveiled in Detroit and will arrive in North America in May. We may expect the Coupe to reach American dealerships in the fall.
With a wider stance, the somewhat lower height and shorter overhangs, the 2+2 sports car looks more dynamic. The Hoffmester knick marks the rear side windows and is in line with the other BMW models.
Thanks to the 3 inches wider track compared to the outgoing model, the body of the new 6 Coupe is 1.5 inches wider, providing provide more room for the rear passengers.
Click PLAY to watch the 6 Series Coupe promo video
From its market launch, the '6' will be available with a choice of two engines: as the 650i with the 300 kW/407 hp V-8 engine and as the BMW 640i with the I-6 with 235 kW/320 hp.
The engines have 660 Nm/443 lb.ft. and 450 Nm/332 lb.ft. of torque respectively.
Both power plants will be teamed to the 8-speed sport automatic transmission with Auto start-stop and Eco pro mode.
In the meantime, the upcoming BMW is already testing with the M6. This model will get the 555 hp strong 4.4-liter V-8 Biturbo, the same engine as the X5M and X6M and the upcoming M5.
With a new suspension, electromechanical power steering and integral- active steering, BMW offers also Dynamic Drive control, Dynamic Damper control and Adaptive Drive as options.
The technology under its sleek skin is shared with the Convertible (LINK for first DRIVE)
Also the HUD head-up-display will be one of the features that makes driving in the Coupe comfortable and safe.
Early next year we can expect the four door model of the 6 Series, that will compete with Auto's A7 and Mercedes-Benz' CLS. The M6 is expected in the summer of 2012.
BMW 650i Coupe - The second new 6 Series Model Breaks Cover.
The hearts of sports car aficionados will beat a little faster with the arrival of the new BMW 650i Coupe. The third generation of the top-class Coupe sees BMW adding another chapter to its decades-long tradition in the production of exclusive dream cars. The new BMW 650i Coupe impresses with its stunning design and inspires with even sharper driving dynamics than its predecessor, noticeably optimized comfort levels and extra space. This is the only car in the segment to offer the combination of top-class sporting ability, exclusive touring comfort and a 16.24 cu. ft (460-liter) DIN luggage compartment. Also on board to deliver the BMW 6 Series Coupe�s signature driving experience are a range of innovative driver assistance systems and BMW ConnectedDrive infotainment features. The new car therefore meets the highest expectations of driving pleasure and style in a large, premium 2+2-seater. The 650i Coupe arrives in US showrooms this fall.
Its unmistakable design language gives the new BMW 6 Series Coupe an aura of athletic elegance. The long sweeping hood, short front overhang and set-back passenger compartment team up with a 2.9 inch (74 mm) increase in body length over its predecessor and a 2.95 inch (75 mm) longer wheelbase to create the hallmark proportions of a BMW Coupe. Meanwhile, the extra width of the new car � it is now 1.5 inches (39 mm) wider thanks to its increased track width � makes for an exceptionally powerful stance that emphasizes its impressive roadholding. All of which ensures that observers are struck by the car�s dynamic forward-surging presence and promise of dynamic driving ability the moment they set eyes on it. The faithful reflection of the car�s character in its exterior styling is given particular appeal by the lines running along the full length of the body and its harmoniously sculpted surfaces. The inspiration for these design features was the natural movement of waves. In the same way as water is parted by an object in flowing water, the car body�s shaping lines fan out from the BMW badge on the hood to both sides of the body.
The innovations in the new BMW 6 Series Coupe also extend to lighting technology, in the shape of Adaptive LED Headlights. Their bright white light provides an extremely intense and evenly spread illumination of the road. This technology is unparalleled in the segment and also allows the beam of the headlights to curves of the road.
Other features that set the new car apart from its rivals are the BMW ConnectedDrive driver assistance systems and mobility services. The rear-view camera, Surround View, Parking Assistant, BMW Night Vision with pedestrian recognition, Lane Departure Warning System and Lane Change Warning System are joined on the list of available equipment items by the new generation of the BMW Head-Up-Display. The latest incarnation of the system uses a full spectrum of colors to display the information projected onto the windshield. The standard BMW iDrive control system, is the operating portal for the navigation, communications and infotainment functions. The high definition, trans-reflective technology Control Display is centrally mount high on the sweeping dash and emulates a freestanding flatscreen. Finally, the optional Bang & Olufsen High-End Surround Sound System provides a feast of aural pleasure seldom experienced inside a car.
The all-new third generation 650i Coupe will join the 650i Convertible in the US market this fall as a 2012 model. Retail and option pricing will be announced closer to the on-sale date.
Twin-Turbo V-8 engine with High Precision direct injection.
The 4.4-liter V-8 engine develops a maximum 400 hp between 5,500 and 6,400 rpm, and makes peak torque of 450 lb-ft between 1,750 and 4,500 rpm. This unique �reverse-flow� engine, whose two turbochargers are positioned in the V-area between the cylinder banks, produces an instantaneous and sustained wave of power, making it a delight for the enthusiast driver. The engine can be paired with either BMW�s new 8-speed Sport Automatic gearbox or BMW�s traditional 6-speed manual transmission, quite popular with North American enthusiasts.
The new BMW 650i Coupe completes the sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds (0-100km/h in 4.9 seconds) with either the 6-speed manual or the 8-speed automatic transmission . Top speed is electronically limited to 155 mph. This engine also boasts extraordinary efficiency for a model in its output class. EPA figures will be available closer to the on-sale date in mid 2011.
8-speed Sport Automatic Transmission
The 8-speed Sport Automatic transmission in the new BMW 650i Coupe boasts a perfect combination of speed, flexibility, sportiness, and efficiency. What sets it apart are its minimal torque converter slip and rapid gear changes. An innovative gear set configuration allows this transmission to offer eight gears, maximizing acceleration at any road speed yet allowing the driver to conserve fuel by cruising at low revs. Befitting the Coupe�s sporting character, the driver can choose to select gears manually via shift paddles on the standard Sport leather steering wheel.
In addition to the efficiency of the engine and 8-speed Sport Automatic transmission, an extensive range of BMW EfficientDynamics measures contribute to reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Brake Energy Regeneration, on-demand operation of ancillary components, intelligent lightweight construction and extensive aerodynamic refinement collaborate to ensure maximum efficiency.
Chassis Management and optional Integral Active Steering.
Cutting-edge chassis technology gives the new BMW 650i Coupe the tools to provide both sporty handling and exceptional comfort. The double wishbone front axle and the multi-link rear axle are made predominantly from aluminum. The chassis is geared to the requirements of drivers with sporting intentions, although the dampers also respond sensitively to bumps in the road surface under high lateral acceleration. The optional Active Roll Stabilization combines with the standard Dynamic Damper Control to offer the driver even more precise responses and perfectly flat cornering ability. The electronically controlled shock absorbers adapt to the road surface and the driver�s style to perfectly control the car�s body motions.
The electronically controlled damper system in the new BMW 6 Series Coupe adjusts compression and rebound settings continuously and independently. For example, a stiff chassis setting can be combined with comfortable responses to unevenness in the road surface. The control unit of the damping system processes the data supplied by sensors on the vertical motion of the wheels as well as the ride height of the car. The driving speed and the damper setting chosen by the driver are also taken into account in calculating the damping force required for each individual wheel to even out body movements. This data is fed back to the shock-absorber units at intervals of just 2.5 milliseconds.
The optional Active Roll Stabilization feature reduces body roll in corners and in sudden changes of direction, or transitions. Sensors calculate the amount of body roll based on the driving situation at hand, and this is then counteracted quickly and precisely by hydraulic rotary actuators in the front and rear anti-roll bars. The result is flatter cornering inspiring greater confidence for the driver as well as greater comfort for the passengers during spirited drives. The power steering features standard Servotronic vehicle-speed sensitive assistance, and serves up the familiar BMW recipe of precision, comfort and linear response.
The new BMW 650i Coupe is the first car in its class available with Integral Active Steering. This system combines the Active Steering system for the front axle (available on the previous generation 6 Series Coupe) with a new, steerable rear axle. Precisely harmonized steering angle movements at both axles create a virtual lengthening or shortening of the vehicle�s wheelbase, which fosters greater high-speed stability and enhanced maneuverability for parking and city use.
Brakes, Wheels, and Tires
The lightweight floating-caliper brakes with vented discs are easy to use with precision, and their effectiveness is reinforced by Dynamic Stability Control. DSC brings together technology such as the Anti-lock Braking System, Dynamic Traction Control, Cornering Brake Control, Dynamic Brake Control, the Start-off Assistant, the automatic Brake Drying function and Brake Fade Compensation. Standard equipment also includes 8.5 x19-inch light-alloy wheels, with all-season runflat tires (size 245/40 R19) and a tire pressure monitoring system.
Driving Dynamics Control.With standard Driving Dynamics Control, the dominant virtues of athletic driving sportiness and ride comfort can be chosen by the driver as situations demand. The driver can choose settings of COMFORT, NORMAL, SPORT and SPORT+ modes using the large rocker switch on the center console. Affected parameters include the tuning of the throttle response, power steering boost assistance, shock absorbers, automatic transmission shift characteristics and � if equipped - roll stabilization and Integral Active Steering. In SPORT+ mode, the Dynamic Traction Control mode of the standard Dynamic Stability Control system is activated, raising the thresholds for stability intervention in the most sport-oriented driving circumstances.
Unmatched chassis technology works with the cutting-edge engine to provide the driver with greater dynamic capability and improved ride comfort compared to the previous-generation 6 Series Coupe.
Design: Athletic elegance, natural sportiness
The new BMW 6 Series Coupe again heralds the arrival of an exceptionally sporty and exclusive 2+2-seater in the premium Coupe segment. The new model�s extra length and width over its predecessor model combine with its 0.2 inch (5 mm) lower height to produce a strikingly low-set and powerful design. The new interpretation of the traditional BMW Coupe proportions is embellished by lines and surfaces inspired by the movement of waves. Flowing lines and harmonious curves create a feeling of athletic grace, complemented by extremely classic and eye-catching design features which underline the opulent character and elegant appearance of the two-door BMW.
The expressive front end is dominated by the large and slightly forward-slanting BMW kidney grille. The grille emphasizes the car�s sporting pedigree with a broad, flat design, and creates a visual connection with the engine nestling behind. The kidney grille slats, angled slightly towards the top, lend additional emphasis to the front end�s �shark nose� character. The contour lines of the hood converge towards the kidney grille, forming a V-shape which is continued by the contours of the headlights, kidney and wide air intake to give a road-focused look. High-quality chrome elements and the LED units of the foglamps positioned in front of them guide the eye to the muscular wheel arches.
High-visibility innovation: Adaptive LED Headlights.
The new BMW 6 Series Coupe is equipped with Adaptive Xenon headlights as standard. An accentuating trim element cuts across the top of the hallmark BMW twin round headlights to produce the purposeful look familiar from other BMW models. The optional Adaptive LED Headlights provide a fresh take on this established feature. The Adaptive LED Headlights for low beam and high beam contain LED light rings for the parking lights and daytime running lights, which are flattened on the lower edge and overlapped at their top edge by an accent light � also featuring LEDs. The result is a stunning, distinctively BMW showcase for the innovative light technology. In addition, they also generate the low beam and high beam light from the two light rings. The light sources are horizontal LED ribs positioned in the center of the light rings. The brand�s hallmark twin round headlight look is therefore expressed even more strikingly - not only with the daytime running lights switched on, but also when the headlights are activated in the dark.
However, the Adaptive LED Headlights are about more than just looking good; they also ensure the driver can see well. Their bright white light provides a bright and even illumination of the road ahead. From a color perspective, the light comes much closer to natural daylight than that created by conventional halogen or xenon headlights, lending even reflective objects far greater contrast. The cornering element of the Adaptive LED Headlights is also tailored to the car�s speed, steering angle and yaw rate, allowing the pivot of the headlights to adapt automatically to the line of the corner. Meanwhile, a light source positioned specially in the headlight housing generates the cornering light which, at low speeds, ensures illumination of the road surface in the direction the car is turning. LED technology is also deployed for the direction indicators, each of which consists of eight LED units arranged in a row underneath the light rings. As well as enhancing visibility in the dark, the Adaptive LED Headlights also significantly improve the signaling effect of the car�s lights.
Side view: elegant roofline, powerfully curved surfaces
Tightly curved surfaces and character lines stretching the full length of the body define the side view of the BMW 6 Series Coupe. The forward-slanting BMW kidney grille is particularly clear from this angle. Despite its smooth curves and innovative pedestrian protection measures, the long bonnet still has a flat appearance. Its contour lines fan out wide and extend towards the rear. In combination with the car�s typical Coupe proportions, this creates a particularly elegant, elongated silhouette.
The exterior design has been inspired by waves with clearly defined lines and volume formed around an object in flowing water. This gives the new BMW 6 Series Coupe a naturally powerful and sporty edge. The typical BMW character line starts behind the front wheel arch, takes in the sporty gill feature and extends dynamically along the flank of the car to the rear. In so doing, it stretches the new BMW 6 Series Coupe visually and lends it a dynamic yet elegant allure. The door handles are integrated into the character line. A further character line emerges from the swell of the front wheel arch, drops down between the gill and the door and then levels out towards the rear. Its path replicates a forward-surging wave. The door sill line underneath it and an additional crease give the lower edge of the body a light and sporty appearance.
The roofline of the new BMW 6 Series Coupe also swoops in an elegant, flat progression into the tail. It comes across as especially svelte when viewed from the side, creating a contrast typical of BMW Coupes between the powerful body and light passenger compartment. Doors with frameless windows underline this impression. The chromed side window border emphasizes the signature Hofmeister kink at the foot of the C-pillar.


text: On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 12:15 PM, Alessio Stalla <alessiostalla at gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 8:10 PM, David Kirkman <dkirkman at ucsd.edu> wrote: >> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Alessio Stalla >> <alessiostalla at gmail.com> wrote: >>> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 7:36 PM, David Kirkman <dkirkman at ucsd.edu> wrote: >>>> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 9:55 AM, Alessio Stalla <alessiostalla at gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 5:32 PM, Alessio Stalla <alessiostalla at gmail.com> wrote: >>>>>> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 5:22 PM, Mark Evenson <evenson at panix.com> wrote: >>>>>>> On 3/17/10 5:04 PM, Alessio Stalla wrote: >>>>>>> […] >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I wrote sys::%make-byte-array-output-stream in order to make the >>>>>>>> runtime compiler capable of generating bytecode without using >>>>>>>> temporary files; it wasn't meant to be used by the ABCL user, and as >>>>>>>> such it's not very polished (for example, the type of a >>>>>>>> byte-array-output-stream is simply STREAM). In any case, it's defined >>>>>>>> in the ByteArrayOutputStream Java class, and as you correctly noted, >>>>>>>> it explicitly sets the element type to (unsigned-byte 8). As a quick >>>>>>>> and dirty solution, you could more or less copy-paste that class and >>>>>>>> replace "output" with "input" :) (as well as update Autoload.java to >>>>>>>> make ABCL know of the new primitives). >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> We should probably polish it a bit and release it as an extension. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Well, at least we should quickly whip out the inverse version so David >>>>>>> doesn't have to rely on hacking Stream.java (although I'm not sure when >>>>>>> telling Stream that initAsBinaryStream() means a format of unsigned 8bit >>>>>>> bytes will fail). >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I think we can commit to the interface you've implemented in >>>>>>> ByteArrayOutputStream, as those are the basic necessary operations. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Or maybe I am not seeing what potential problems there would be with >>>>>>> this as a short-term strategy, Alessio? >>>>>> >>>>>> No problem at all in the implementation per se; however, when we'll >>>>>> make it an "official" extension, the interface will change (if >>>>>> anything, symbols won't probably be in sys anymore and they won't be >>>>>> prefixed with %). Since this functionality will have approximately 1 >>>>>> user in the near future :), I think it's ok to commit a quick fix for >>>>>> David. I'm working on it right now. >>>>> >>>>> Committed as r12557. >>>>> >>>>> A. >>>>> >>>> >>>> Thanks for implementing the inverse function so quickly! >>>> >>>> I ended up doing a bit more hacking last night. When I tried to serialize >>>> structures that contain raw java objects, I realized that I need a way to >>>> convert lisp streams into java streams so that I can use the java >>>> serialization system. I ended up writing: >>>> >>>> public static OutputStream >>>> outputStreamFromABCLStream(final LispObject stream) { >>>> >>>> if (stream instanceof org.armedbear.lisp.Stream) { >>>> return new OutputStream() { >>>> public void write(int b) { >>>> ((org.armedbear.lisp.Stream) stream)._writeByte(b); >>>> } >>>> }; >>>> } else { >>>> throw new RuntimeException("argument not an abcl stream"); >>>> } >>>> } >>>> >>>> and another version for InputStream. Should something like these >>>> also go in as primitives? >>> >>> For binary input/output streams only, I think accessing the Java >>> streams wrapped by the Lisp stream is a better solution: no extra >>> objects are allocated and no API mismatch is possible. Unfortunately >>> those are private fields right now, but a couple of getters are not >>> hard to add ;) >>> >>> so, your outputStreamFromABCLStream would become: >>> >>> public static OutputStream >>> outputStreamFromABCLStream(final LispObject stream) { >>> >>> if (stream instanceof org.armedbear.lisp.Stream) { >>> return ((org.armedbear.lisp.Stream) stream).getOutputStream(); >>> } else { >>> throw new RuntimeException("argument not an abcl stream"); >>> } >>> } >>> >>> or, if you don't mind getting a ClassCastException instead, simply >>> >>> public static OutputStream >>> outputStreamFromABCLStream(final LispObject stream) { >>> return ((org.armedbear.lisp.Stream) stream).getOutputStream(); >>> } >>> >>> what do you think? >> >> I think that's a much better solution! I don't mind ClassCastExceptions, my >> code had that structure because it started as something copy/pasted out of >> Stream.java. And I was using _readByte and _writeByte just because I didn't >> want to have to make changes to Stream.java and end up with my own version >> of abcl. > > Ok. I committed the modified Stream with accessors for the underlying > Java streams. > You guys are awesome. But I can't build trunk now. It seems that getInputStream conflicts with methods already defined in TwoWayStream and EchoStream. How about getBinaryInputStream? -david k.

subset: commoncrawl


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One obit, reaching for historic gravitas, compared Jobs to Thomas Edison. On the side of myth, I'd say that's about right. Edison's myth was different: Many of "his" inventions were created by assistants in Edison's labs.
Is it the degree of authoritarianism, even by modern CEO standards? Is it the personal marketing intermingled with the product marketing? I personally don't "get" what has driven the Steve Jobs hagiography. That said, going beyond Adbusters types, I can be non-commercial without trying to commercialize myself by the back door, including thinking that Apple is somehow anti-capitalist.
So, in doing an irreverent take on the cultic reverence for Jobs and his self-marketed image, I offer a mix of one-liners and zingers, at least some of them with serious thought behind the zing.
OH, and do NOT forget your WWJobsD bracelets! Since we're already being told that Jobs would support "Occupy Wall Street" (I kind of doubt it), we will surely be bombarded with his alleged wisdom in the future.
|The iCoffin! Stylish Apple coloring.
Speaking of the funeral, will we have a funeral as hagiographic as that of Ayatollah Khomenei? It wouldn't surprise me, the way I see people talking in semi-salvific terms about Jobs. Speaking of that, will we have Sevener and Twelver Appleholics battling over the location of The Hidden Imam Jobs? People fighting to touch the casket? The hem of Jobs' black burial turtleneck? Hoping for magical healing powers?
I guess we won't, if it's going to be private .. but ... I bet somebody arranges at least one "surrogate funeral," or wake, or something.
And, it's nice to see the cultists doing most my Photoshopping work for me. I still haven't gotten around to Photoshopping Apples being crapped in the punchbowl.
Anyway, if not the iMourn, we could have the iDie, an app that connects you to the Hemlock Society.
And, will Apple release a "Steve Jobs' favorites" music list available for iTunes download? Will we get his Illinois commencement speech and other words of Jobs' wisdom also available for download? Since others compare him to John Lennon, that music list would include "While My iPod Gently Weeps," right? Snark aside, ti would not surprise me one whit if they actually happened.
Will Jobs dial all Apple product users with a final message, "Sent from my iCoffin - Steve Jobs"?
Was the iPhone 4S ... 4 Steve? (More serious "hagiography" - was it rushed out because his demise was known to be imminent, even though it wasn't an iPhone 5? So ... how do you kill the iPhone 5? You kill Steve Jobs!)
Will we see the lakes turn Apple rainbow colors? The skies rain silver Apples? Is the iApocalypse here?
No, but "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs" is! Seriously, I've put this unauthorized bio in my Amazon cart. Deutschman accurately compares Jobs, one reviewer says, to a televangelist.
If he's not a televangelist, did you know Jobs is an iCon? Well, he's an icon to worshipers, but an iCon, pun obviously intended, to an even harder hitting biographer. (That said, this book sounds a bit more iffy.)
Did you know Jobs had no big brother? That's because he WAS Big Brother!
Meanwhile, on with the jokes!
What the iGenius who has everything, including monetarily, should get his iDaughter? Nothing! You deny paternity instead!
What do you call Jobs' business model for Apple? It's iProfit!
That said ... continue on to additional jokes below the fold, written on the day Jobs announced his resignation as Apple CEO. (The one about rising three days later might be apropos.) There's also more seriousness about Foxconn and other Apple reality behind the Apple myth. (And welcome, whoever was visitor 10,000 at about 2 a.m. Eastern time Oct. 7.)
There's no "I" in team ... but there is in iPhone, iPad, and iPod ... and in StIve Jobs.
Will Steve Jobs rise from the dead three days from now? He healed John Hodgman of being a PC guy. Rubbed an iPhone over his eyes and took away his blindness. Let you who is without sin throw the first iPad!
Now, if I have both a Mac and PC at home, am I guilty of "mixing kinds," like Leviticus warns against? Maybe I need to stone myself.
In the name of the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, for ever and ever. Amen.
God is dead. No, worse, Steve Jobs resigns.
Hear about the new Pixar movie starring Steve Jobs? It's called "Liver Let Die." Yeah, I'm sinking real low. I'm going to go to secular hell without an iPad.
Maybe if emails off an iPhone didn't say "sent from my iPhone," I wouldn't think that so many Appleholics weren't, if not snooty personally, hung up on the image of a brand. That said, the latest signature? "Sent from my overcharged credit card."
What's the difference between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates? Bill Gates supposedly sometimes steals software ideas from others and puts out his own crappy imitations. Jobs sometimes puts out his own crappy software, then steals more from your wallet.
How many Apple engineers does it take to test an iPhone 5? One to actually test it, one to ask Jobs if it's OK to test it, and one to test that it looks good in a photo of Jobs holding it.
How many Apple engineers does it take to create an iPhone 5? Seven. Five to create it, one to lose it, and one to call the San Francisco Police Department to do Apple's bidding on a non-criminal case. And, you couldn't track the one you lost by the Apple information tracking software that can't be shut off?
Second version, how many Apple marketers does it take to create an iPhone 5? Just one, to rename an iPhone 4S after Apple stock continues to slip.
Speaking of, here's some great 4Steve Siri-ous humor!
Third version, how many Apple engineers does it take to create an iPhone 5? Five to create it, one to visit Foxconn in China and pretend to be concerned about human rights violations and suicides there, and then, Steve Jobs himself to kill the iPhone app that shows that.
And at this point, we're past snark and into full-bore seriousness.
Jokes aside, there's this Orwellian response:
The developer wrote on its website: "We are currently considering two steps." Option one is to "produce a new version of Phone Story that depicts the violence and abuse of children involved in the electronic manufacturing supply chain in a non-crude and non-objectionable way." A more realistic step will be to "release a version for the Android market and jailbroken iOS devices."Depict child abuse in a "non-objectionable way"? Is that like depicting priests abusing altar boys in a non-objectionable way? Or, depicting it in a faux-Buddhist way, per the BBC's obit on Jobs?
I had no idea, until I read the Beeb's obit, that Jobs was an adult convert to Buddhism. So, to the "fuck you" commenter, same to you. When I read that, I realized we'd entered a whole new level of Steve Jobs hypocrisy.
Beyond that, Appleholics' messianic views of Jobs are no laughing matter. Apple, as I show here, is part of the dark side of the Internet, and is one of the "big three," with Google and Apple, in coming online infowars. And Apple, as part of Silicon Valley, also bears a strong anti-union history. (One Apple store worker is trying to organize a retail union.)
And, for further about the myth behind the reality, here's my sincere, but non-fawning, obituary for Jobs.


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Special to AMFM Magazine – all photos by Claudia Weingart.
"In interviews I am often asked what inspires me – which composers, events, places. Then I have to confess that external events are rarely the cause of a blossoming imagination. If I were dependent on that, I would have to change profession. There is far more fertile ground for imagination and fantasy, far below the trepidations of life, deep down at the roots of the soul, the source of all inspiration". -SVEN HELBIG
Sven Helbig has worked as a producer, composer and arranger with Rammstein, Pet Shop Boys, Snoop Dogg, Polarkreis 18, the Fauré Quartett, opera singer René Pape, German rapper Sido and numerous theater productions. He also directs music videos, stage shows and theatrical multimedia events. He produced the "High-rise Symphony" on Dresden's 800th anniversary during which the orchestra's musicians sat on individual balconies of an old East German apartment building. In 2009 Helbig produced Kinder der Freiheit on behalf of the MDR Symphony Orchestra to mark the 20th anniversary of the German reunification. Helbig's work builds on the tradition of the Gesamtkunstwerk (all-embracing art form).
Please tell me about the idea of the advertising film for POCKET SYMPHONIES.
The film shows a variation of the first Parsifal scene. I love the Parsifal myth for formulating the idea of the a tradition that gets healthy and strong again with the arriving of the new – the young fool. This idea is very attractive to me as a classical composer as there is a tendency in the classical world to see new developments as a danger.
But we have seen so many fantastic traditions of mankind fading away because they have not been able to rebirth themselves. Saving a tradition means feeding the interest in it by nurturing the original idea – but the original idea was not saving, it was creating. When I look at the programming of some orchestras, operas or philharmonic halls, I miss the focus on the creative side.
Is there still a strong resistance and separation between musical styles?
It is a paradox, that the heaviest resistance survived in the artists themselves, the ones, that should have the highest knowledge and interest in music of different styles. For example: it is still a laugh in the classical world, when a conductor like Kristjan Järvi talks about his love for the band Maroon 5.
People that don´t even play instruments have less problems with a colorful mix in their playlists. I can see this, when I look at what kind of music people hear, that write me messages via Facebook. The wide variety is amazing. I have been involved in many contemporary classical projects, where it was easier to find an audience than high quality musicians. This kind of embargo politics is only changing slowly – the more pressure by a curious audience is put on the institutions and the classical players the better
How did growing up on the East side of the Berlin wall affect your music?
The every day life, expectations from the future, the view on history – all this has a massive influence on the artistic reflection. It forms a unique musical dialect. But since music is a universal language, those dialects are translatable. Art deals always with common ingredient: fear, longing, passion, desperation, joy, loss… No matter if it is a Bossa Nova, a Heavy Metal song or a symphony, it may translate even to people far outside the musical source, if the listener wants to. Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys always says, I would have an East German sound. I don´t know, what he is hearing, but I like it a lot, when artists have, what the wine makers call "terroir".
Why do you use synthesized orchestras in the live performance of POCKET SYMPHONIES?
My music has to be played live. But excessive touring with an orchestra is not possible for many reasons – it is expensive and orchestras are not available for long time periods. Nevertheless, the orchestra sound is essential for the POCKET SYMPHONIES and I was looking for a solution. Since I also have a background with electronic music, it came quite natural to look for a live concept in this direction. I developed a method, that enables the quartet and me to play without technical backing like a click track. I follow the quartet with my orchestra sounds like with an instrument. Volume, sound, tempo and electronic effects are flexible and depend on the live situation. It is completely different from playing with a pre-recorded orchestra playback. Besides, I love electronic instruments and effects and think that they can beautifully blend with orchestra music. In my musical world I don´t want to miss one of them.
What is your inspiration?
For me, inspiration is an uninterrupted stream that is independent from certain unique experiences. This collection of endless moments will get activated by strong impressions. The collecting process never stops. To make a living by composing music would be hard if I would have to sit and wait for something special to happen. Of course, there are unique experiences that have a powerful impact on the music. But the basis of creation is breathing in every moment.
It is the same with classical as with any kind of music: some I love from the very beginning, some I have to discover and some doesn`t reach me.
For example: I have a Mozart & Beatles block. My brain always says that it is great and genius music. But I rarely get deeply touched.
But it is actually true – classical music came first. I discovered it by chance flipping through the few channels on my self-built radio back in Eisenhuettenstadt, my hometown. Night after night I was lying awake, listening to Brahms, Mahler or Puccini. The first music, in terms of "Please never stop!", was James Brown. It is still something, that always works for me..
What do you want to tell people through your music?
I'm not the one to tell … I get a lot of reactions to the Pocket Symphonies and so many different interpretations. This is so good with instrumental music. It makes me happy when I hear that somebody uses my music like a small window, through which one can see the own life in another light.
At The 2013 Reeperbahn Festival


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Submission Guidelines
2022 update: We still read paper submissions but are much slowed down.
Here are the submission guidelines for Small Beer Press (books), for our zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, and for artists.
Small Beer Press
- Email queries will be deleted. Really.
- We do not publish nonfiction or poetry collections or chapbooks.
- Please do not submit your work to the editors' personal email addresses, thank you.
- We continue to seek out work by women and writers of color.
We publish 6-10 books per year. We pay a small advance and standard royalties. Our ebook royalty rate is 40% of net receipts. Please be familiar with our books first to avoid wasting your time and ours, thank you.
Please send a query with a synopsis and the first 10-30 pages of the book (not the full manuscript) in standard manuscript format, and an SASE (with a Forever Stamp or an international reply coupon*) by mail to:
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
* If you would like your manuscript returned, please attach enough postage/include enough IRCs to cover it, thank you. If your country no longer uses IRCs, we will reply by email.
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet
We do not accept email, multiple, or simultaneous submissions. Response time is about six months. We read everything, sometimes slow, sometimes fast. Our apologies for reading so slowly. At the moment we are only reading paper submissions. If six months has passed and you contact us we will try and reply with our decision.
We occasionally solicit work but most of what we publish is work that comes in over the transom and we are very happy that we have generally published a couple of new writers in each issue. We continue to seek out work by women and writers of color.
We recommend you read Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet before submitting. You can procure a copy from us or from assorted book shops.
We accept fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and black and white art*. The fiction we publish most of tends toward but is not limited to the speculative. We do not publish gore, sword and sorcery, or pornography. We can discuss these terms if you like. There are places for them all, this is not one of them.
We recommend sending work that has been through at least one round of revision for both our sanities.
Please follow standard ms format: 12 pt Courier, double-spaced, numbered pages, &c. and an SASE with a Forever Stamp for a reply. We will reply to international submissions via email.
We buy first North American serial rights (and occasionally we solicit reprints), nonexclusive electronic rights, and a nonexclusive anthology right. The paper and ebook editions of LCRW come out twice yearly. This website, although we very occasionally publish something on it, is not a paying market.
Fiction: US$0.03/word, $25 minimum. Poetry: $10/poem. Cover art: $100. Paid on publication by check or Paypal. Contributors receive 2 copies of the issue in which their work is published and can buy further copies of that issue at a 40% discount.
Thank you.
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
* Original black and white art should not be sent unless it is disposable. Do not send color (or colour) art unless you are sending enough money with it for us to print a color cover. Jpeg files and anything readable by Photoshop should work. I use the word "should" advisably.
Artist Guidelines
We use a few freelance artists per year. Artists can email (info at smallbeerpress dot com) us their websites or some selections, add us to their mailing list, or mail us (nonreturnable) pieces. We rarely reply to queries or pitches from artists, rather contacting artists as each book/project requires.


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"Come with me if you want to live."
We hope you enjoyed last week's very special Nightmare Before Christmas Trading Card and Lithograph Giveaway! This week we're ramping up the action with our Terminator 2: Judgment Day action figure giveaway! It's the iconic clash of an obsolete, well intentioned killing machine versus the superior, next-generation assassin sent back in time to ensure humanity's imminent day of judgement. Keep reading to see how you can win!
SDCC 2010 Exclusive – Terminator 2 Liquid Metal T-1000 Action Figure
From Terminator 2: Judgment Day comes this San Diego Comic Con Exclusive T-1000 7″ action figure in liquid metal version. A more advanced Terminator, composed of mimetic polyalloy, a liquid metal that allows it to take the shape and appearance of anyone or anything it touches.
In addition to rapid shapeshifting, the T-1000 displays near-perfect mimicry and rapid recovery from damage. This highly articulated figure includes his metallic pistol and interchangeable hands – including one with an elongated metal finger as seen in the film.
Terminator 2 Action Figure – T-800 Final Battle
Not even a CGI Robert Patrick can stop the mighty T-800! Here's The Terminator as he appeared in the epic final battle of T2! You better believe that when a guy willing to rip his own arm off says he'll be back, he means it. This imposing 7″ action figure has an interchangeable head and comes with a grenade launcher accessory.
In order to enter the giveaway you must answer the following question:
"What actor plays the role of John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day?"
In order to enter the contest, you must first answer the trivia question correctly. You can gain more entries with Facebook and Twitter!
- This contest will run from 03/12/13 until 03/18/13
- The winner will be selected randomly and notified via email
- People outside the US may participate, but we can only ship the prize within the US
Always be sure to let us know what you would like to see in future giveaways. We love to hear your feedback and it is very likely that you could see it be the prize next week!


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Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Research Summary
According to the World Health Organization, suicide rates for men over the age of 70 are higher than in any other group of people. In 2015, almost 8,000 older adults committed suicide in the U.S., and the proportion of suicides is higher among older adults than younger people. When older adults try to commit suicide, they are more likely to be successful compared to younger adults. This is why suicide prevention strategies are especially important for older men and women.
Hospital emergency departments (EDs) are caring for an increasing number of people with mental health concerns, including thoughts or actions related to suicide attempts. For example, nearly half of the older adults who committed suicide had visited an ED in the year before their death. However, when healthcare providers see older adults in the ED, some may be too quick to assume that the warning signs for suicide are just a natural part of aging. As a result, many older adults may not get the help they need to address suicidal thoughts. These facts prompted a team of researchers to study older adults seen in EDs and the related risks for committing suicide. Their study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Continue reading


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Impermanence, also known as "anica" in Buddhism, has been the greatest enemy to the modern human mind since its development 40,000 years ago. All of our accolades, creations, relationships and experiences are doomed to succumb to the entropy of the universe. Because of this, human beings may spend their whole lives trying to find life experiences not dissimilar to dramamine to quell the nausea that builds from the relentless carousel of their own subjective reality.
In fact, the prospect of impermanence can be so daunting for some individuals that many just give up and give in to the inevitability of it. They will opt to evade the emotional risks incurred by life by preemptively stepping away from it and instead nurse the horrible disillusionment that arises among all sojourners of this world. Some of these said individuals will never formulate lasting, meaningful bonds with others, terrified of the risks that are entailed. Others will engage in a pastime that has fondly been given the moniker of "minimalism."
The advocates of minimalism (or "minimalists") will try to get through life using as few amenities as possible and will throw away all objects that they have determined to be gratuitous within their homes, utterly unhinged by their presence.
Whether it's an extra shirt or an old desk, these inanimate objects ominously lying in their homes will manifest into mirrors of their own mortality if left in their homes for too long and must be dealt with immediately to mute the ornamentation of modern, First World living. This routine, a ritualistic itinerary of escape from their own species' futile efforts to collect, transcends the abject tales of capitalism and could be seen practiced in the realm of sound and relationships.
Tadao Ando, a Japanese architect, believes in industrial design that helps dull out the noises of urban life within conference halls and rooms.
Others, such as my currently unreachable dad, view relationships as a way to compartmentalize all of your emotional needs by abandoning people you deem useless and bring no value to your life.
Nevertheless, for those of us who are more equipped to meaninglessly plod through the decaying infrastructure of our own subjective reality by collecting and protecting all of the amenities in our lives, no matter how useless — like many Buddhists would say — we are right where we should be.
For those with the mental fortitude to partake in this great exercise of futility, Berkeley is a great battleground to fight against the horrors of impermanence. If you look hard enough, you will find that Berkeley is burgeoning with programs, nonprofit organizations, local businesses and even abandoned accessories left in the streets for you to pillage and armour yourself against the imperialism of the greatest enemy of all: time.
Detractors of this expression in defiance against time, against the notion of aimlessly collecting everything you can collect until you drop dead, might dismiss the activity as nothing more than a hoarder's game. However, I myself would simply refer to it as "maximalism."
Though it perhaps is a game — a classic game of fourth-dimensional Monopoly between you and time. And if you would like to embark on this game, I would highly recommend that you heed to my advice that you continue reading this important piece to find all the best places in Berkeley to provide you everything you need to defeat a concept that has hitherto been undefeated. Good luck.
1) ReUSE
ReUSE, a nonprofit, student-run thrift store, has locations all over the UC Berkeley campus. According to an email from Student Environmental Resource Center director Katherine Walsh, ReUse hands out student necessities, including charging cables for phones and laptops. ReUSE will sell anything and everything else that has been donated for $3 or less. Walsh said ReUSE also gives away readers to students every Calapalooza.
2) Urban Ore
One of the largest thrift stores in the Bay Area and an active member of recycling politics, Urban Ore, located on Murray Street, vicariously lives through the tagline printed on all of their receipts: "To End the Age of Waste." According to the University of Oregon's Ph.D. Alumni Listing website for its sociology department, Urban Ore founder Dan Knapp has a doctorate in sociology. Urban Ore offers a wide range of cheap life amenities, including clothes, electronics, windows, bikes, building materials and a large library.
3) Thrift stores
Whether it's the Goodwill on University Avenue, the Buffalo Exchange on Telegraph Avenue or the Crossroads Trading Co. on Shattuck Avenue — a relatively higher-end used clothing store — you could explore the eccentric wardrobe of the Berkeley community at almost any corner within the salubrious confines of this fashion mecca. There's even a thrift store called Out of the Closet further down University Avenue that offers free HIV testing and gives 96 percent of its proceeds to HIV/AIDS programs, according to its website.
4) Berkeley Public Library
Sick of reading? Does each subsequent word in this piece make … you … want … to … grab a hammer? Good. Because the Berkeley Public Library offers something more than insight into the minds of old or dead philosophers. You need to check out the Tool Lending Library, where you can rent out any range of construction devices that you may need to build together all of these great amenities that you've procured across the great Berkeley expanse to assist you in building the monolithic fortress of random shit to keep out your greatest enemy — impermanence.


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As an audience member at the Historic Ironwood Theater for Pat and Donna Surface and their wonderful band, I felt a palpable exchange of energy between those of us in the seats and the very engaging performers on the stage. I even felt at several intervals that I was part of the show.
It was a warm and friendly atmosphere featuring nostalgic tunes we could all sing along (and sign along). Several of the songs were performed in front of the theater's impressive screen as it showed videos dramatizing the lyrics in the songs. And speaking of dramatizing lyrics, Donna Surface (a Performance Artist In Sign) offered us her interpretation of the music in American Sign Language, movement and mime. Not knowing what to expect of this aspect of the concert, I was drawn into Donna's compelling and moving part of the show.
And it is in fact a show. It was a night of music, yes, but it was a variety show in the old sense of the word, like you used to find on TV back in the day. Music, humor, dazzling video, in a lively and entertaining show.
Pat Surface, at the helm of this unique group, has an incredible voice that can wrap around any style of music - and he and his award-winning band of impressive musicians performed for us many iconic songs in their signature fusion-style. Their concert was a feast for the eyes and ears that made for a fun and memorable evening at the theater.
Daily Globe - Ironwood MI
Oh, Donna … we had a BLAST at your show Feelin' Alright! That was awesome! I wish you and Pat continued success.
Bob Massey - Editor Florida Weekly
What a great show!! Donna did a masterful job of assembling that group of songs and putting together a show that was enjoyable from beginning to end. It showcased Pat's wonderful vocal talent and the abilities of all of the performers brilliantly. It flowed perfectly, had humor and style, and never dragged for a moment! A great night at the theater!
Florida Lifestyles
What a FUN show!!! We had such a good time. We have been talking about all we learned about Woodstock. The "back story" was so interesting. The guitar "solos" and being present to watch "Rocket man" do his thing was so awesome. It was all so well done.
Pastor Liz Jensen - Venice Isles
American Top 40 was the best show we have ever had at our community. We wanted your show to go on all night. Everybody has been contacting us about how much they loved you both and your show, and they want you back. The music was incredible. And the Performance Signing was a great surprise and such a wonderful addition (we have many people in our community who use sign language). Great variety entertainment! We have now booked you for our All-Star Show next season - as well as for our New Year's Eve Party! We cannot wait for you to return!
Entertainment Committee - Harbor Isles - Venice, FL


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Schedule for Data Uploads
Boise State Faculty180 administration uploads faculty data available through other university systems including scheduled courses and sponsored grants & contracts.
Scheduled Courses
Current Scheduled Courses are uploaded approximately three weeks prior to the end of each semester in order to capture the most accurate data for all corresponding sessions of the semester. You may also e-mail questions regarding previous semester course data to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Sponsored Grants & Contracts
Sponsored Grants & Contracts are uploaded monthly as reported by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Non-OSP Grants & Contracts and Supporting Grant/Contract Roles are completed by faculty in those sections of the Activities page in Faculty180. You may e-mail questions regarding OSP data to email@example.com.


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The Hitch Man's Taneytown, MD location is proud to offer some of the best brands of outdoor power equipment on the market! We are a full-service facility and offer parts & service on all brands we sell. We also offer full-service on most other brands of outdoor power equipment as well. From general maintenance or blade sharpening, to full rebuilds, The Hitch Mans expert technicians have you covered. We are also a certified warranty facility of Toro, Kohler, and Kawasaki engines.
Click on any of the logo's below to browse our current product offerings or contact us for pricing and information.


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Welcome to this interactive map of Decatur GA and Emory University Area Condos and Townhomes. Just east of metropolitan Atlanta, the City of Decatur is a neighborly live-work-play community! It's home to world class educational institutions including Emory University and Agnes Scott College, events and activities hosted by the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and Science Center, the repository of archives at the Dekalb History Center, fabulous eateries, fine dining, live music and boutique shopping at the Decatur Square! Decatur is also the home of beautiful gardens and parks including Woodlands, Parkwood, Sugar Creek, Adair, Ebster, Glenlake, Hidden Cove, Mead Road, McKoy, Scott and Oakhurst!
Visit the Photo Gallery of Decatur and Emory Area Communities here!
Search Atlanta Condos For Sale at CONDOATLANTA, your original online destination and premier resource and licensed Real Estate Brokerage. Our network of referral agents help buyers and sellers of Atlanta Condos, Townhomes and Lofts and Luxury High Rise Homes. Because they work with home buyers and sellers in Greater Atlanta, these agents can help you find just the right place to call your own. Additionally, you can run an MLS Search of Atlanta Condos, Townhomes, Lofts and Luxury High Rise Homes For Sale. From finding just the right place to call your own, to closing and beyond, our network agents are here to help. Ready to find your new home? We look forward to speaking with you! Contact CONDOATLANTA.com 404-939-5820 (call or text)
Historic Decatur Square
Concerts on the Square
Decatur Arts Festival
Fernbank Museum of Natural History
Fernbank Forest
Dekalb Farmers Market
Oakhurst Porch Fest
Haints and Saints Homegrown Halloween Parad
Michael C. Carlos Museum
East Lake Golf Course
Charlie Yates Golf Course
National Black Golf Hall of Fame – Georgia
Druid Hills Golf Club
Candler Park Golf Course
Emory Athletics
Total Tennis Camp – Emory
Emory University Aquatics Center
Community Swimming – Emory
Kittredge Park
LaVista Park
W.D. Thomson Park
Olmstead Linear Park
Lullwater Conservation Garden
Emory University
Agnes Scott College
Mercer University
Georgia Perimeter College in Decatur
Druid Hills Historic District
Decatur Cemetery
The Dekalb History Center
The Cooper Place (now the site of the Decatur Recreation Center)
Agnes Lee Chapter House of the United Daughters of the Confederacy
Old Dekalb County Courthouse
William and Minnie Pearce House
Steele-Cobb House
Cora Beck Hampton Schoolhouse and House
Mary Gay House
Neville and Helen Farmer Lustron House
Emory University Hospital
CONDOATLANTA.com is a full service brokerage licensed in Georgia. We work with buyers and sellers in the Greater Metropolitan Atlanta area and the North Georgia Mountains.
We would be delighted to chat with you about the home you're hoping to sell, and the home you're hoping to find: 404-939-5820…call us today!


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Single Origin
Now that your pallet is more developed, you are now able to enjoy coffees that are more sophisticated and complex in nature as they let your senses enjoy a deeper note. The brewer now has the ability to subdivide the flavour notes such as Fruity-citrus, Fruity-berry or Spicy-pepper and so on. Coffisticated coffees would provide such identifiable varieties of notes that a brewer with such potential would enjoy the exploration and sophistication that accompany the coffisticated.
Another detail that matters is that USDA organic, UTZ, rainforest alliance coffees would fall under this category from Cypher.


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Recent Posts
Category Archives: Body image
Why It's Good To Be Naked In Public
Posted in Body image
Tagged Body Acceptance, Body Shame
Peaceful Bare-chested Outing in Pittsburgh
Doing the right thing the right way sounds easier than it really is. . You should be very proud of what you have been doing for destigmatizing female barecheatedness. Keep up the great work!
Frick Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsyvlania. March 2016. After three months in discussion with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, we received confirmation from the PBP legal department of what we already knew, that male and female bare-chestedness is to be treated the same under Pennsylvania law.
Last week I opened my email to find a message from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police legal department confirming, after three months of conversation, that public female bare-chestedness is legal in Pennsylvania.
Here's what they wrote:
"CONCLUSION There is no City or State law which expressly prohibits or even addresses the act of appearing bare-breasted in public. Based upon the information provided to the Law Department, the City does not appear to have any legal grounds under the City Code or Title 18 (i.e. the Commonwealth's Crimes Code) to cite or arrest women for being bare-chested without any additional sexual or criminal behavior associated therewith…
View original post 670 more words
Posted in Activism, Body image, Top freedom
Tagged #Freethenipple, Activism, Bare chested, Body Freedom, Body image, Pennsylvania, Top freedom, Topless
Raw Photo Series Asks People To Take Off Their Clothes And Discuss Self-Love
Photographer Anastasia Kuba has learned that although body positivity is important, beauty is much more complex.
Priscilla Frank Arts Writer, The Huffington Post
Photographer Anastasia Kuba grew up feeling beautiful. She had light eyes, blond hair and big breasts, attributes conventionally defined as such. From a young age, she was showered with attention. But Kuba still struggled intensely with self-esteem. "My self-worth was connected to my looks," the artist explained to The Huffington Post.
Kuba's self-identification as a beautiful woman shaped many of her life choices growing up. "There was nothing else I thought I had to offer. I was young — I hadn't really established my identity yet, who I was." To support herself in her early 20s, after moving from Russia to the United States, Kuba worked as a topless dancer. It wasn't a defining moment in Kuba's life, but an affirmation of what she already felt — that her…
View original post 2,153 more words
Posted in Body image, Nudism - Naturism
Tagged Body image, Naturism, Nudism, Photography
Why Some Parents are Afraid of Bare-Chestedness
Ver y thoughtful post. I can relate to what you've said having a teenage daughter.
National Mall, Washington D.C., Fall 2015
I have spent a lot of time studying fear and anxiety, both generally and how it relates to normalizing female bare-chestedness.
I traveled to New Hamphire this week to attend the trial of the women who asked to be cited after police officers asked them to cover their breasts at a Gilford town beach.
Two witnesses testified that they were mothers and were offended on behalf of their and other children. One said she was offended in her own right, and didn't want her son to see breasts.
I also just watched poorly made news footage from Woodlawn Beach in Buffalo where women have apparently been going bare-chested with some regularity (according to the hyperbolic reporting) and they managed to find an offended mother who said she was totally fine with topless sunbathing, just not in front of her daughter.
And of course I have heard…
View original post 1,629 more words
Posted in Activism, Body image, Top freedom
Tagged Activism, Bare chested, Body Freedom, Body image, Family, Gender equality, Parenting, Top freedom, Topless
Open Letter to NH House Regarding Proposal to Forbid Female Bare-Chestedness
Let's hope your letter finds echo in NH House of Representatives. Well done!
Rock Creek Park, Washington D.C. December 2015.
I have e-mailed this to every New Hampshire Representative at
Regarding New Hampshire House Bill 1525, which would amend the state's indecent exposure law to forbid female breast exposure but not male breast exposure.
Dear New Hampshire Representatives:
My name is Chelsea Covington and I am writing to offer some thoughts on Representative Brian Gallagher's House Bill 1525, seeking to amend the state's indecent exposure statute to forbid the exposure of female breasts but not male breasts. New Hampshire law currently treats female and male breast exposure equally.
As you probably know by now, a social movement to normalize female bare-chestedness is gaining traction across the country. Representative Gallagher's bill is a reaction to a peaceful action that occurred in Laconia, which has one of the few local ordinances barring female bare-chestedness in New Hampshire.
The first two articles in the New Hampshire…
View original post 522 more words
Posted in Activism, Body image, Top freedom
Tagged #Freethenipple, Activism, Bare chested, GoTopless, Law, Top freedom, Topless
I Can Feel Bare-Chestedness Normalizing
Couldn't agree more on your perspective towards normalizing bare-chestedness. I find what your are doing really admirably.
Georgetown University, Washington D.C. December 2015. Who says global climate change isn't real? 70 degrees on December 13? But it made for a nice normal walk… no negative interactions in three hours.
I walk bare-chested primarily because I enjoy feeling free. My strong secondary reason for walking bare-chested is to normalize female bare-chestedness, so that other women may feel the same way.
The only way to normalize anything is to do it with so much regularity and normality that people stop being afraid of it and start seeing it as conventional behavior. This is my motivation for posting photos and videos of my walks. I want people to see and hear for themselves the reactions (and more importantly the non-reactions) of the public as I walk by.
There exists this misconception that going bare-chested is some disruptive act of revolution and that traffic will stop and babies will cry. Perhaps…
View original post 440 more words
Posted in Activism, Body image, Top freedom
Tagged #Freethenipple, Activism, Body Freedom, Body Shame, Equality, GoTopless, Top freedom, Topless
The Naked Yogis
Yoga is great but nude yoga it's even better!
What a way to celebrate International Yoga Day.
I find myself in a dark room softly illuminated by the glow of candles. Outside there is a wild and wooly storm, the wind and rain lashes against and rattles the window. It's a stark contrast to the warm, welcoming and cosy environment inside. I am on all fours, running through a cat/cow sequence with 20 other gorgeous women, who like me are all naked. Stark, bare, beautiful, and NAKED.
Tonight I experienced my first ever nude yoga class.
Now let me commence with my original comment when someone told me about Nude Yoga.
"Gross, just GROSS. Nope, no, definitely not!'
In my mind I had a visual of a well lit room, filled with naked bodies in uncompromising yoga positions, a rear view vision of downward dog. Shudder.
However, this idea kept presenting itself and after a girlfriend told me about…
View original post 826 more words
Posted in Body image, Health, Nudism - Naturism


text: Keanu Reeves's newest sci-fi flick has the 53-year-old actor bringing back the dead (sort of). In the trailer for Replicas, Keanu plays a synthetic biologist, William Foster, who brings his family back to life as clones after they were killed in a car crash, and secretly transfers their consciousnesses into their new robotic forms. Thomas Middleditch co-stars as Fosters's fellow scientist working on their ethically questionable project, and Alice Eve plays Fosters's wife (both in her human and clone forms). With its subject matter delving into the ethics of synthetic memories in android-like robots, this film's replicas feel similar to Westworld's hosts and Blade Runner's replicants. Watch the trailer, which was released at New York Comic Con on Thursday, above.


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Yo'd be hard pressed to find anywhere with better bargains than Great White Way if you are trying to find the lowest prices for Noises Off tour group tickets in New York. We don't simply provide inexpensive seats for popular Broadway and Off-Broadway shows as with other commercial ticket brokers. In addition, we can help you select what play or musical that your group party will love the most. We can hook you up with Broadway theatre party group tickets in New York for Grammy and Tony award winning shows whether you are entertaining guests from out of town or searching for class trip matinee tickets. We also can hook you up with the best ticket prices for avant-garde shows and innovative musical productions in the event your group wants something different, and will help recommend a production you're certain to love.
Whatever the occasion may be, if you're looking for the very best Broadway travel group tickets in New York City, Great White Way is the place to go. In addition, to offering tickets to Broadway's most famous productions at the best prices, the agents at Great White Way provide impeccable customer service. If you call the Great White Way ticket hotline for Broadway church group tickets in New York, one of our representatives helps you find the best seats at the shows that will appeal to each person in your group and make sure your group is seated together. Our concierge service is what helps us stand apart from other businesses that offer Broadway theatre party group tickets in NYC.
Celebrate special occasions with Broadway church group tickets in New York City. Great White Way will help you get the greatest Noises Off travel group tickets in New York City for the best prices. When you need to make your next reunion or annual corporate meeting memorable and exciting, few things will top sharing the experience of seeing a Tony and Grammy award-winning musical like Noises Off . Even when you need tickets for the most popular showtimes, Great White Way can assist you in finding the best inexpensive Noises Off group tickets in NYC. Get the finest seats in the house minus the hassle of waiting on line by using Great White Way for Broadway theatre party group tickets in New York. On the night of the show, all you and your group has to do is go to the theatre, relax, and enjoy some of the best plays and musicals on the planet.
With Great White Way, you can get Broadway synagogue group tickets in New York for show times that will be convenient, which is not something you'll get with other major online ticket companies. If you're considering taking a class of kids to a matinee show, we can work with you to find the most convenient show time to ensure the kids can get back to their parents before it is time for dinner. If you're looking for an early evening or late night show for the most popular Broadway plays and musicals, we can help you too. Regardless of what show time, Great White Way has some of the lowest prices for Broadway tour group tickets in New York, whether your group is looking to see one of the latest shows on Broadway, catch a revival, or experience a Tony award-winning cast in the hottest musical.
Locating tickets to a Broadway show ahead of time can be difficult if you and your friends are arranging a visit to NYC. Great White Way can easily find the best tickets for you since we are so familiar with all the shows and all the theatres. Contact Great White Way if you want to avoid standing in lines at the ticket booth when ordering your Broadway corporate group tickets in NYC.
Discover the excitement of live theatre with friends and family today with Noises Off tour group tickets in New York City. At Great White Way, we have such a love for live theatre productions that we would love to offer this opportunity for others. Call us today at 888-517-0112 if you wish to experience the greatest live theatre productions in the world with your group.


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FROM 06/21/2019 | Asia Pacific Foundation
BY Jeremy Chan
On June 4th, the world commemorated the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. In Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, 180,000 people held a vigil, the largest gathering since the 25th anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising. This year's Tiananmen anniversary took on a politically poignant tone for the people of […]see source


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When sending bitcoin (BTC) from one wallet to another, the wallet's entire balance is split into spent and unspent outputs. An unspent transaction output (UTXO) is the amount of BTC that was not spent in previous transactions. In simple terms, the UTXO is the amount of BTC associated with a wallet that can still be spent by its owner.
For example, if a wallet contains 0.5 BTC and its owner wants to send 0.4 BTC to a friend, the resulting transaction will contain two parts consisting of the whole 0.5 BTC:
(1) The 0.4 BTC is sent to the friend's receiving Bitcoin address
(2) The remaining 0.1 BTC is sent back to the owner's wallet to be spent in future transactions
Since the 0.1 BTC wasn't spent in the given transaction, it is referred to as the UTXO.
*Please note that the necessary network fees were not included in this example.


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This month marks the publication of "The Fun of It" (Modern Library Paperbacks), a collection of nearly two hundred stories from _The New Yorker'_s The Talk of the Town section, which has, since the magazine's début, in 1925, offered vivid scenes of city life. The collection was edited by Lillian Ross, a staff writer who has contributed to the section since 1945, and includes work by such writers as Robert Benchley, James Thurber, E. B. White, A. J. Liebling, and John Updike. Ross's memoir, "Here But Not Here" has recently been released in paperback. Susan Morrison, the current editor of The Talk of the Town, talked to Ross about the section. **SUSAN MORRISON: You've written around four hundred stories for The Talk of the Town. Which one is your favorite, and why?
LILLIAN ROSS: I have three equally favored stories. First, "The Shit-Kickers of Madison Avenue," from 1995. The tenth-grade school kids I wrote about in that one were lovable and generous and funny, and they accepted me directly, without cynicism or reservation. In "Workouts," from 1986, I caught Robin Williams, during an appearance at a comedy club, at the very moment he created a new comedy bit about "Dr. Rufe," a black woman preacher scolding someone about sex. I built the story to end with that inventive moment of comic genius. And for "Fugue," in 1963, I was with Glenn Gould, the pianist, when he showed his movie "The Anatomy of Fugue," featuring himself at the piano, to the violinist Yehudi Menuhin. It was exceptionally moving to hear them talking to each other about their sensitive reactions to public appearances and making plans to play together and to film that.**How has the department changed since you started writing for The Talk of the Town?
When William Shawn was the magazine's editor-in-chief, he worked closely with the writers on these short pieces as well as on the long ones. He was attuned to everyone's talents, and we loved working with him, surprising him and making him laugh. It is exactly like that now, in the way we work with the department's editor. In the past, the stories, including my own, used to be longer, often too much longer. Some stories eventually became boring. A few writers were permitted to become self-indulgent. When Tina Brown took over as editor, in 1992, she insisted that the stories be shorter, and so they became shorter, occasionally too much shorter. Today, the stories are kept to a reasonable length—eight hundred words or so. Now the writers enjoy the challenge of trying to create a good little story of that length and make it original, interesting, and funny.**As you read through seventy-six years' worth of Talk stories, in the course of compiling this anthology, did you encounter any particular surprises?
I was surprised and thrilled to discover the early reporting by James Thurber and E. B. White. In reading what they did, I found it very exciting to see how they selected and appreciated facts. And, of course, they set a tone that the magazine developed and that I absorbed by reading the magazine years later. Also, in reading the stories of the nineteen-forties and fifties—especially those by John McCarten, Geoffrey Hellman, and A. J. Liebling—I realized more than ever how good and how funny they had been.**Readers always ask about the famous "we," the first-person plural that for years was the voice of The Talk of the Town. How did it start, and why did it vanish?
The famous "we" appeared in the first stories by Thurber and White in the nineteen-twenties. "Of all the orchids in the Orchid Show, we liked Harriett—she was so rare" is the way White began one of his earliest Talk stories (May 19, 1928). Harold Ross, the magazine's founding editor, said he wanted the department to sound like "our" voice, the voice of the magazine. The "we" felt comfortable to me when I started out, and it was a useful device. Around 1960, I asked William Shawn whether I might write a Talk story as a little movie scene—mostly with dialogue—and I wrote a couple of stories in the third person. I know I deliberately wrote "Fugue" that way, in 1963. Staff members started writing some stories in the third person in the nineteen-seventies. "The Fun of It" includes a story written in 1979, by Ian Frazier, in the third person, about an appearance in New York by the fourteenth Dalai Lama. The use of "we" persisted through the nineteen-eighties, but it began to peter out. By 1993, it was almost gone. It just wasn't needed, and it had become slightly artificial.**How do you decide whether something would make a good story for The Talk of the Town?
I'm guided strongly by what interests me, what I'm curious about, what, to me, is "fun." Every story should have a theme. If I'm going to write about an individual, I do some research that gives me an idea of what to look for. If I'm going to report on an event, I get a sense almost as soon as I arrive of what my story might reveal. I look for facts and listen for quotes with which to build the story. I often think of making the story as a little film, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Based on what I see and hear, I can feel what the story is.**What advice would you offer to a beginning reporter?
Be interested in your subject, not in yourself. Listen carefully, with your own ears; don't turn over the job to a tape recorder to listen for you. Be accurate, honest, responsible. Do homework and be prepared. Your point of view should be implicit in your choice of facts and quotes in your report. Don't exploit your position as a reporter to divest yourself of pettiness, bitterness, jealousy, prejudice, resentment. Don't be catty. Don't gossip about people who try to help you in your reporting. Don't gossip about your colleagues. Don't try to go where you're not welcome. Don't write about anybody you don't like. Try to be original by following your own instincts, your own ideas, your own thinking. Find the humor in everything you see or hear or feel. If you have anything to say, about the world, about life, look for a way to say it without making a speech. Have a baby before you reach forty.**What are you working on now?
I'm writing Talk stories. ♦


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Last week I had the opportunity to go to Marlins Park for the first time. This was also one of the rare opportunities when my wife went to a game with me.
My wife doesn't hate baseball, but she also doesn't go out of her way to see it. I wanted her to have a good time so I needed a few things to go just right: hopefully we'd get to see an exciting game; a good atmosphere wouldn't hurt; and I'd heard good things about the food. There was one major selling point I had leading up to the game though: "You're going to get to see Giancarlo Stanton!" I thought for sure that the opportunity to see one of the best players in baseball would win her over.
We got to Marlins Park at 5:30 for a 7:00 start. If you're taking someone to a game who isn't that interested then getting to the park this early might not be a good idea. I noticed a couple things once we got there — you can tell as soon as you arrive that the park is new, nice, and clean (we had an easy time getting to the ticket window and picking up two seats for the game); and that there were WAY MORE Dodgers' fans than Marlins' fans outside the stadium. I figured maybe the Marlins' fans would show up later, but that didn't really change throughout the night.
But by far the best part about Marlins Park to me was the beautiful roof on the stadium. Miami is hot and humid. I hate both of these things. I hate the beach. I hate sand and the sun, but when the roof is on Marlins Park it is a perfect 70-75 degrees. You don't spend the first few innings of the game praying for the sun to go down. You don't have to worry about an unexpected rain shower. This might be a personal quirk, but I'd be fine with every MLB stadium having a roof over it. Marlins Park was an oasis away from the hot Miami sun, and for that reason I was already in love with it.
Once we got in the ball park we started looking for some food. Marlins Park does have some nice choices, and it does a good job of highlighting Miami cuisine. We stopped by a Cuban food stand. I picked up a pulled pork sandwich with cilantro dressing. We also grabbed a coke for $8.00, but it offered free refills throughout the night, which seemed to be a pretty good ball park deal to me. For those interested there were several bars, restaurants, and clubs inside the stadium for people to check out. We decided to watch a little bit of batting practice, and then we did a lap around the stadium. One of the things I was most excited to check out was the "bobble head museum."
The "museum" is a large case of bobbleheads with every team represented. The case actually softly shakes from time to time to keep everything bobbling. We spent a few minutes walking around the case and then I had this unexpected conversation with my non-baseball fan wife.
Wife: Who is Mo Vaughn?
Me (very surprised to hear my wife say that name): Why do you ask?
Wife: Was he really happy?
Me: I'm not sure I can answer that.
I wasn't sure why my wife was asking this existential question about Mo Vaughn's happiness and then it clicked. Mo Vaughn has a very happy bobble head in the case.
We headed to our seats for the start of the game. One of the highlights of the night is that we set next to a guy named Mark and his girlfriend. Mark was from London and this was the first baseball game he had ever attended. His girlfriend was Hungarian and she too was attending her first MLB game. We struck up a conversation prior to the game starting and I could tell from the outset that this was going to be a long night for Mark.
Mark: So where is everyone? Will the stadium fill up soon?
Mark: When do we sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"?
As a side note, Mark was VERY excited about the 7th inning stretch. He asked about it several times. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it probably wasn't going to live up to his surprisingly lofty expectations.
The recorded attendance at the game was just over 21,000. I feel comfortable saying that there were fewer than 21,000 people at the ball park that night. I was shocked at how small the crowd was. It was a Friday night. The Dodgers were in town. One of the most exciting players in baseball plays for the Marlins. I was expecting something of a crowd. I was sitting in the outfield and probably could have had a conversation with someone sitting along the third base line if I barely raised my voice. The turn out was depressing, the atmosphere wasn't great, and Mark was slowly coming to the realization that this wouldn't be like his football matches back home.
It was fun watching with someone who had never really seen a baseball game. He had a question during every at-bat and I was happy to answer. I was actually surprised to discover that it wasn't just Mark who had trouble with the concept of tagging up. Almost everyone close to me had never heard of that before. Some of these people were in Marlins jerseys. Apparently we need to do a better job of educating others on this point.
Let me just get this out of the way: It was a boring game. The Marlins didn't put up much of a fight. The Dodgers led 6-1 by the fifth and you could tell it just wasn't the Marlins' night. I still had one hope for excitement for my wife, Mark, and everyone at the game: Giancarlo Stanton was playing tonight. I showed everyone close to me where Stanton had hit his farthest home runs in the park. I talked about the reasons he earned the mammoth salary that he did this past off season. If anyone could make this night exciting for non-baseball fans at the park it's Giancarlo. So what did he do?
First at-bat: ground out
Second at-bat: struck out
Third at-bat: struck out
Fourth at-bat: struck out
Mark wasn't around for Stanton's last at bat. By the time he struck out in the third I think he was having a hard time believing that this was one of the best players in baseball, but that's one of the hard thing about this game for non-fans. If you go to an NBA game you're going to see a star do SOMETHING. They might not have a memorable performance, but you'll get to see them a lot. At an MLB game you're seeing the best for a few minutes at a time, and there's a decent chance they might not be able to do anything. We'd come to find out later that night that Stanton had actually broken his hand during one of his at bats. Stanton's hand was broken, my heart was breaking, but at least Mark had "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to look forward to.
The top of the 7th ended. One of two people in our section stood up but the majority stayed sitting. I leaned over to Mark, "This is it." He popped to his feet ready to hear the gathered crowd belt out this song like his fellow Liverpool supporters sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" prior to each match. A few people sang. Most people didn't. Mark looked around perplexed. The song ended. He turned around and asked, "That was it?" That was it.
It didn't surprise me that in the bottom of the 7th Mark stood up, turned around, shook my hand and uttered a heart felt "good luck." I think he felt bad that there was still more game I had to endure. Sadly I don't think this game piqued Mark's interest much. If anything he left bewildered at the lack of excitement in this shiny new stadium.
I think the night encapsulated the state of the Marlins well. I completely understand the fans not buying in. The team hasn't been great, but beyond that this is a fan base that has been burned time and time again by ownership. Plus, it's Miami…there are many other things you could be doing on a Friday night other than watching a baseball game.
In the heart of downtown Miami is this brand new baseball stadium. It's great and I think everyone should check out a game there. The food was good. The weather will always be perfect. There is plenty of legroom in the seats for 6'7 fans like me. But what happened on that night is, I think, an apt metaphor for where the Marlins are right now. On that night I walked into a stadium that looked great, but was dead inside. The Marlins have several bright young stars who bring optimism, but there isn't enough substance in the organization to bring success yet. Hopefully one day the experience and the ball club will match the shiny exterior of a new ball park and a few big name stars.Announcing the 2015 Effectively Wild Listener All-Stars
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Reposted from the Wilberforce Award website
'Dick Smith is one of Australia's most recognised individuals. After a successful business career in retailing and publishing, Dick has become well known as a restless adventurer, making many pioneering and record breaking flights by helicopter, aeroplane and balloon.
He has also been active in public service having served as Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority and later as chair of the Civil Aviation Safety Board. He led the National Council for the Centenary of Federation and served as an Ambassador for the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
Dick is a passionate supporter of environmental and conservation efforts and since 1995 has been Chairman of the Australian Geographic Society. Less well known is his work as a philanthropist. He is a supporter of many charities and individuals in need. In recognition of this he was honoured as Australian of the Year in 1986.
Dick has never been shy to take on controversial issues, from aviation safety to support for refugees and the campaign to return David Hicks to Australia.
Recently he has involved himself in another contentious issue- Australia's population future. Concerned about our expected rapid population increase, Dick is calling for a national debate on what he considers to be the most important issue facing the nation.
It has become obvious to me that my generation has over exploited our wonderful world – and it's younger people who will pay the price. Like many people my age, I've benefited from a long period of constant economic and population growth – we are addicted to it. But sooner or later this consumption growth will have an end. We appear to be already bumping against the limits of what our planet can sustain and the evidence is everywhere to see.
Right now I believe we could be sleepwalking to catastrophe because we are failing to both acknowledge that there are limits to growth in a finite world and to prepare for a more sustainable way of organising our economy. In the 19th Century, empires were built on the labour of slaves, and it was believed economies would collapse if slavery was abolished. But brave people like William Wilberforce fought to end the slave trade – and economies still flourished. We need brave people like Wilberforce today, and I want to encourage a new generation of clear-thinking and inspiring young leaders.
So today I am announcing Dick Smith's Wilberforce Award – $1 million to go to a young person under 30 who can impress me by becoming famous through his or her ability to show leadership in communicating an alternative to our population and consumption growth-obsessed economy. I will be looking for candidates whose actions over the next year show that they have what it takes to be among the next generation of leaders our incredible planet so badly needs.
Candidates will need to have a firm belief that we can have a viable and strong world economy that is no longer obsessed with growth for its own sake, but instead encourages both a stable population and sustainable consumption of energy and resources. They must be able to communicate that we cannot continue to squander the resources that will be needed by future generations, and they must also be able to communicate a plan that offers an alternative to our growth addiction.
Like the Nobel Prize, you will not apply for the Wilberforce Award. Over the next twelve months I will be following the media throughout the world to see who is the most outstanding individual in not only making a significant contribution to this important issue, but who also becomes famous through his or her contribution to the debate.
One year from now I will announce the winner of the $1 Million Wilberforce Award. The Award will go towards advancing the momentum the winner will have already achieved.'


text: Politics / State of the Union Address Obama Eyes Nuke Cuts in Tough State of the Union Obama set for 'aggressive' speech: Glenn Thrush By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff Posted Feb 11, 2013 7:03 AM CST Updated Feb 11, 2013 7:36 AM CST Copied President Barack Obama gestures speaks during an Armed Forces Farewell Ceremony to honor outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) View 1 more image Tomorrow's State of the Union is shaping up to be a much tougher speech than we've seen in previous editions from President Obama, writes Glenn Thrush at Politico, calling it "less a presidential olive branch than a congressional cattle prod." Obama doesn't expect Congress to hammer out compromises on his agenda, and on the heels of his 2012 win, he's ready to come out swinging. Among his chosen topics: a return to nuclear disarmament, the New York Times reports. Rather than trying to work out a new nuclear treaty in Congress, Obama hopes to set new standards in tandem with Vladimir Putin. The White House aims to cut the deployed US arsenal from some 1,700 nuclear weapons to 1,000, and it has the Joint Chiefs on board. Jobs, the budget, climate change, and gun control will also be on tomorrow night's menu. To limit Capitol Hill squabbles, Obama is turning to a host of potential new executive actions—as well as calling for public support, the AP notes, with help from social media. After the speech, Obama will join a conference call with supporters, and Thursday he plans to chat with them via a Google hangout. (Read more State of the Union Address stories.) View 1 more image


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Post price reflects hard times
Needless to say, next week's price rise for the Racing Post from £2.90 to £3.20, an increase of over 10%, generated a lot of adverse comment.
Last year saw the removal of the price differential between the midweek editions and those published on Saturday and Sunday. Now the price rise across the week is somewhat eye watering.
Racing dailies have always been a premium purchase, much like the Financial Times. Indeed, it used to be said that you only needed to read two newspapers in life, the FT and The Sporting Life.
Not long before decimalisation, The Sporting Life cost one-shilling, whilst other dailies were about a third of that; that was when the Life had had an average daily circulation of around 125,000. The daily sale of the Post is about 25% of that figure. Although the reach of the Post's content is probably greater than that of the Life in its heyday through online and digital availability.
And the expected closure of around 1,000 betting shops will not only have an adverse effect on prize-money, but also on the Racing Post. A conservative estimate puts the loss of annual revenue at around £750,000.
The trouble with print is that a lot of the costs, which are rising at a higher rate than inflation, are fixed despite the number of copies sold, and only a small proportion of outgoings is saved when producing fewer copies.
The Racing Post is not perfect but a lack of competition tells you something about the economics. Racing Plus, the Saturday only paper, folded, and its replacement The Racing Paper is a shadow of itself compared to the optimistic days of its launch just under a year ago.
Racing Post editor Tom Kerr (pictured) says the demise of print version is "a long, long time away I hope. It is not on our horizon at all." Meanwhile, if you want to read it in print, you are going to see it continue to be very close to the price of a pint.
Four more years
If The Times is correct in saying that there is going to be an early renewal of ITV's free-to-view contract to show racing for a further four years after the current deal ends in 21 months, then it is great news for racing.
The sport has been brilliantly covered by ITV Racing, and the two awards it has won, a BAFTA for last year's Grand National coverage, and Ed Chamberlin and Francesca Cumani picking up the Sports Broadcasters of The Year at last week's British Sports Journalism awards, are testament to that.
These scribblings have long since unfollowed bookmaker Geoff Banks on Twitter, not least for his repeated and tedious criticism of, first, the contract being taken away from Channel Four (where he sometimes appeared on the Morning Line), and then the prediction that viewing figures would plummet with the sport being largely shown on ITV4.
After a shaky start, not least on its 1 January debut transmission at Cheltenham, a modest rise of Cheltenham Festival viewing figures and a drop for the Grand National, the chippy bookie was in his element.
But then, with ITV Racing hitting its stride, the viewing figures started a continued upward trend. Last year's Derby had a peak viewing figure of 1.8m, the best since 2013.
Banks continued his sniping but was running out of ammunition, and awarding ITV with the contract to cover racing has been fully vindicated. Fingers crossed it gets that four-year extension.
For more on TV racing see http://wp.me/p8e3Dl-1ss


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NASCAR's 2011 Rule Changes a Mixed Bag for Drivers and FansJanuary 27, 2011
Everybody's a critic, or so the old adage goes. Maybe it's because part of the human condition is to complain about trite inconveniences. Maybe it's because the people who are higher up on the food chain than us are actually making the wrong decisions. Maybe it's a combination of both.
Either way, the rule changes that Brian France announced for NASCAR's 2011 season have spurned plenty of criticism.
Count me among the more vocal critics of the direction in which the sport is headed—as I have been for quite a while now.
A little background: during my formative years, NASCAR was experiencing a growth boom that many major-league sports have never seen, expanding to accommodate more teams, markets and marketing dollars. It was an idyllic time when everything worked just right.
Then, the sport overexpanded. Too many tracks with too many seats to fill, a vaguely elitist "guaranteed starting spot" system that benefits all the wrong people and a schedule that was just the wrong length for the existing points system.
Many of the rules that defined the sport in the 1990s—from a cumulative champion at the end of the year, to restarts with lapped cars on the inside, to the points system—have fallen like soldiers in a losing war, caught in unexpected positions with no defense and no help from the people in control.
As such, the sport's powers that be have had to compensate for the poor decisions by implementing new ideas instead of reversing some of the old ones. Mistakes can't be fixed by more mistakes—but I'm not going to categorically reject everything as a new mistake.
Indeed, the decision to seed Sprint Cup qualifying order by practice speed is a solid idea that will add more drama on Pole Day, hopefully bringing more fans into the seats and getting them to attend the lower-tier events on the same day.
And putting the fastest cars in practice on the pole in event of a qualifying washout is respectable too—reward the folks who worked out the kinks fastest.
Finally, don't forget the new Chase rules, which are designed to reward otherwise unlucky drivers who still manage to win races by adding them into the 10-race playoff as "wild cards."
But the sport's two biggest changes—"Pick a Series" and the points system revision—were the wrong moves.
"Pick a Series" allows a driver to accrue points in only one series, although the cars still accrue owners' points. I understand that NASCAR still wants Sprint Cup drivers in Nationwide, but they didn't go far enough. There needs to be a race limit, say 15-20 events, in which Cup drivers can compete.
This idea hearkens back to the 1990s, when there were fewer Winston Cup/Busch Series tandem weekends, and teams sold full-series sponsorship based on the idea of having a Cup driver win races and a development driver learning with the intent of bringing the sponsor into Cup.
Did it always work? No, but at least it got the younger drivers into the car more often, and more seat time equals faster development and a better long-term return on investment.
As for the points change, I'll say this. The old system lasted 35 years for a reason. NASCAR's repeated emphasis that it was "drawn up on a napkin over drinks" is an insult not only to Rob Latford, its creator, but to Little Bill France, who presided over the sport's most popular and successful era. Way to put a knife in the back of the folks that got you to a fantastic point in the sport's history, boys.
I've explained my points theory at least a hundred times, but for those of you who don't know or need a refresher: the old system worked best in schedules in multiples of 10. Around the middle of each 10-race trimester, the points gap between first and second would be widest, and it would close up around the end. Well, NASCAR went from 30 races to 36; you do the math.
Look, I'm not in control of the sport. Maybe if I was, back during the end of its heyday, I would have made some of the same decisions as Brian France and Mike Helton and whoever else was making them. But I can tell you with almost absolute certainty that some of the biggest decisions made right now are not going to work. The little ones will help the on-track product; the big ones will do far more harm.
Call me a critic, I guess.