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The streets of Pakistan have in recent days resonated with strikes, gunfire, and the cries of demonstrators. A crisis sparked by the suspension of the supreme court's chief justice on 9 March 2007 has exploded into a full-scale emergency with no end in sight. The turmoil raises acute questions about Pakistan's political future. But it also highlights a more deep-rooted question regarding the very possibility of political and economic progress in a country so heavily dominated by one institution: the Pakistani military.
The fact that Pakistan's crisis has turned violent - with forty-one people killed in Karachi over the weekend of 12-13 May and the assassination of a leading court official in Islamabad - adds a dangerous twist and makes the prospect of a quick resolution even more difficult. What is sure is that the country's general-president, Pervez Musharraf, is hard at work in the attempt to ensure his own survival. But where are the allies of the beleaguered leader, apart from the members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) who were deeply implicated in the Karachi events? Here there are persistent rumours of a deal between Musharraf and the former prime minister and exiled opposition leader, Ayesha Siddiqa is an Islamabad-based independent political and defence analyst. Her book, Military Inc: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy is published by Pluto Press (April 2007)
There has been no formal announcement, though Bhutto has mentioned the possibility of an arrangement between her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the president in the parliamentary elections tentatively scheduled for October 2007. If such a deal were made, Bhutto would expect to become prime minister for a third time with Musharraf remaining as president. Each side might benefit: Bhutto would secure a share of power and the lifting of the numerous corruption cases pending against her, while Musharraf would create a buffer protecting him from a tide of multiple, accumulating pressures. The partnership would also allay Musharraf's most potent anxiety, by appeasing the doubts of his foreign patrons about his ability to keep the religious extremist forces in the country at bay. The PPP would be a congenial partner in the effort to display to the world the liberal face of Pakistan.
A stifled polity
If the Musharraf-Bhutto deal does go through - and in the present fluid situation nothing is certain - one important result will be to reformat Pakistan military's partnership: shifting it from a military-mullah alliance to a military-liberal alliance (which was also the case during the 1960s). Such a marriage of convenience against religious extremism and cultural conservatism would be highly attractive to Pakistan's main external patron, the United States. The new relationship would need to be secured politically, the most likely mechanism being the manipulation of the electoral process that has so often been the forte of Pakistan's army and its numerous intelligence agencies.
Also in openDemocracy on Pakistan under Pervez Musharraf:
Irfan Husain, "Musharraf's own goals" (27 March 2006)
Iftikhar H Malik, "Musharraf's predicament, Pakistan's agony"
(5 September 2006)
Shaun Gregory, "Pakistan on edge"
(25 September 2006)
Irfan Husain, "Pakistan: zero-sum games people play"
(6 December 2006)
Irfan Husain, "Pervez Musharraf's bed of nails" (19 March 2007)
Ehsan Masood, "Pakistan: the army as the state"
(12 April 2007)
Irfan Husain, "Pakistan: sliding into anarchy"
(26 April 2007)
Maruf Khwaja, "Rising, uprising Pakistan"
(14 May 2007)
There are many imponderables on the road from the Musharraf-Bhutto dalliance to arranged marriage. But one thing is clear: the partnership will not strengthen democracy in Pakistan.
The reason is rooted in the nature of the Pakistani military and its political influence. In the past, alliances between the country's various civilian leaders and its military have served only to consolidate the armed forces' control of political power. Today, the military remains the key political player, constantly seeking to cultivate bonds of dependence with politicians and among civil society in pursuit of its larger political and economic goals. In fact, after sixty years of independence Pakistan is witnessing the integration of elite interests, including those of the senior military class and its cadres. In this process, there is developing a fusion of military, political and economic power - an outcome inimical either to better governance or stronger democracy in the country.
The military's ambitions are not arbitrary but rooted in the organisation's range of material and institutional interests in Pakistan. The protection of these is vital to sustain the lifestyles of its officer cadre, in particular, senior generals, both retired and those still serving, appreciate the benefits accruing from a financial empire worth billions of dollars. This vast apparatus encompasses four military welfare foundations (valued at around $2 billion), but also includes hundreds of large-, medium- and small-scale business ventures which the military more or less directly runs. For instance, one major cargo transport giant is a military firm; and other army units have run everything from Lahore petrol-pumps to toll-levies on a national highway. The estimated total worth of this economy exceeds $100 billion (see Ehsan Masood, "Pakistan: the army as the state", 12 April 2007).
These extensive financial interests guarantee the armed forces both organisational autonomy and a regular flow of resources from the public and private sectors to enrich senior officers. But the military's power goes even wider: it extends, for example, to the acquisition of state-owned land with impunity. It is now common for the government to dispossess landless peasants from state land they have in desperation occupied and transfer ownership to military personnel. By these and other means, the military has come to control about 11.58 million acres of state land (12% of the total). Much of this is then distributed to its personnel for private benefit (in return for a very modest rent).
This policy is ostensibly designed to benefit all military personnel, including soldiers, but the main beneficiary (especially from urban land distribution) is the officer cadre. In rural areas, too, senior officers receive extra subsidies such as farm-to-market roads, access to water and allowance to use soldiers as farm-workers. The similarities to the position of local feudal lords are more than contingent: in fact, the military economy is in effect a pre-capitalist socio-economic structure whose assets embody comparative political power rather than act as a source of capital formation.
A crony economy
Pervez Musharraf's eagerness to reward the members of his primary political constituency has meant that this system of rewards has flourished under his seven years of military rule. Behind Pakistan's political games and calculations, the system forms the basis of a "social contract" under which the military fraternity and its cronies will continue to enjoy access to resources and opportunities as long as they remain loyal. This formula is also the basis for the enhancement of the military's political power.
The domination of civilian institutions by the armed forces is at the heart of Pakistan's permanent crisis. This political-economic nexus entrenches political cronyism - and in a way that implicates international players too. In a situation of such extensive military control, forces (civilian, political, or Pakistan's foreign allies) which desire to advance their interests in the country have no option but to seek access to and preference from the state's most powerful institution.
The economics and politics reinforce each other. The result is the emergence of a Pakistani ruling elite that comprises a complex network of senior military, significant industrialists, businessmen, landed-feudal owners, civil bureaucracy and now even media gurus. Some members of this elite coalition may not be entirely comfortable with the military's overarching control, but as a whole it has become a pillar of Pakistan's authoritarian form of governance. This system is a huge obstacle in the way of progress towards democracy in Pakistan.
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People can now track how many steps they take, what they eat, their sleep habits, their air conditioning usage and their finances from their phones. But there are still relatively few ways for folks to track their news consumption across publications from their mobile devices.
Most news analytics packages are still aimed at newsrooms to help them learn about their users and then use the data to make better decisions. And most products aimed at end users — the "Recommended for You" boxes found on many news sites — are based on previous reading habits on that particular news site or on that particular device.
Prototypes do exist that focus on analytics dashboards for end users: Students from the Northwestern University Knight Lab and hackers at an MIT Media Lab journalism hackathon created Slimformation and Newstrition, respectively — which each show readers' existing news habits through a Google Chrome app. Slimformation even prescribes a reading goal for the next day, depending on what users have looked at the day before.
Another prototype, called Spectrum, was created by two students at the Columbia University School of Journalism. Spectrum extends the functionality of Slimformation to mobile devices and concentrates on one question: How do we amplify diversity in news consumption? It was developed by Henriette Chacar and Francesca Mirabile for a midterm assignment in a multiplatform storytelling and design class led by professor Mario Garcia. They see a user-centered news dashboard as a way to reinforce habits in daily news readers, and get them to come back to a site.
"We both get most of our news from our social media feeds, so we started thinking of features that would make people want to actively interact with the app, rather than just open Facebook," said Mirabile. "We thought providing users with new information on their daily news-reading behaviors could encourage them to download it."
The two looked at various news apps, including Quartz and Flipboard, as well as tracking apps for inspiration, including the iPhone's health app, before deciding on the dashboard layout for Spectrum.
What I like about their dashboard is that it's easy to understand, helps people figure out where their news is coming from and lets people know if they're on top of the news on a daily basis. It helps users make decisions and set goals, without being overwhelming.
Personalized analytics dashboards don't have to be limited to news; they could also extend to other parts of a news organization's website, like the comment section. The Coral Project, for instance, recently developed a dashboard that allows publishers to identity their best commenters.
But what would that dashboard look like from the perspective of a user? That is, could it show me comments above this threshold, as rated by other users, or perhaps other factors? Maybe I want to see more comments from outside my geographic area, for instance, or from people who generally read news stories that I don't generally consume. The dashboard could also, theoretically, show end users behavior to mimic and also incentivize them to participate even in the comments even more.
The idea to give these metrics directly to the end user is a powerful one: It builds a habit and allows the user to make choices based on data. They could also really help local newsrooms. Imagine a dashboard that measures how many local publications or stories we read on a weekly basis; or recommends local news if we've read too many pieces in national and international categories. Imagine a 'streak' where people try to read a local news story every day for a set period of time. This is how calorie counting on MyFitnessPal works; there's no reason the functionality can't be extended to the information we consume.
To take the idea a step further, I can also see newsrooms giving users the building blocks to make their own dashboards, by asking: What matters to you? We'll help you measure it. In this way, users are also giving explicit permission to news organizations to measure their data — which may make them more comfortable with new business models in the future that are built on aggregating or selling data. It would also help newsrooms learn what their users find important — perhaps it's a high reading level or a variety of topics, or maybe it's news that keeps them updated every day with the news.
All of these approaches build habits and gamify the experience of reading the news. I wouldn't just be using these devices to be informed, I'd be using them to extend my streak or improve my dashboard. I suspect that a more user-centered approach to analytics will also help newsrooms and advertisers, too. I would love to see your ideas for dashboards or what to measure in the comment section.

subset: commoncrawl


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Micha tells his Dad what the police did. Click here to see full clip.
Darla and Blue talk about Blue's doll Kenya. Click here to see full clip.
Laura Linney! Ozark Season Two Finale is on Netflix.
A lot happens in the Season Two Finale of Ozark. See the full episode on Netflix.


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"I'm procession manager and assistant creative director," Corrie tells me as she gathers everyone together outside the butcher's for the rehearsal.
"Wow. It's like The Apprentice."
"That's what we said. But rather than being competitive, we're all working together brilliantly." And then, at the top of her voice, "Can everyone listen please? At the front of the procession is going to be the musician, then comes Shoddy and Mungo…"
It's the big day, the culmination of Creative Scene's Make It Happen course. Working with outdoor art specialists Walk The Plank, 25 artists have been learning about staging an outdoor spectacle in the best way possible… by doing one themselves.
The artists have been mentored over six days by a team of specialists in shadow puppetry, fire-drawing design, lantern making and production management. And today it all comes together.
Curious passers-by are handed leaflets and encouraged to return later. "They'll be lanterns, fireworks and shadow puppetry. This fire drawing will get attached to the scaffold and set alight. You must come back at 6.30."
I catch up with landscape artist Waheeda Kothdiwala. "Last time I saw you, you were burning things in the park," I say. "What's your role for this evening?"
"I'm producer of the lantern parade and I'm terrified," she says frankly. "But we've all been encouraged to step out of our comfort zones and that's exactly what I'm doing. It's terrifying and exciting at the same time."
Dewsbury artist Jax Lovelock is helping to add lengths of inflammable rope to a wire frame. "What are you doing now?" I ask, trying to keep my tape recorder in front of her.
"We're idiot-checking," she says, "making sure everything connects together so it all burns."
"What do you think you've learnt these last few weeks?"
"There's not enough time to tell you everything," she says, twisting a metal tie, "but I have learnt to understand that not all the ideas come at once, sometimes they take time to grow. And ideas change at the last minute but, if we're all calm, it all comes together."
"And what will you do with what you have learnt?"
"Oh, gosh, absolutely loads of stuff. I can't even begin to think about it now."
"Okay, that's enough. Perfect answer. Thank you."
In Brigantia – Creative Scene's pop up studio space on the fifth floor of nearby Empire House – final shadow puppet rehearsals are in full swing. Performers are made up and don their costumes.
"Half an hour to go," someone shouts.
By 6.30 the town square is fizzing with expectation. Freshly-briefed stewards are in place, fire cans lit, and performers gather again in front of the butcher's. Someone mentions the crowd has hit 400.
Corrie has one hand on her earpiece, waiting for the nod. "Okay," she says to the clarinetist, "hit it!"
During the next 45 minutes, as lanterns dance and children gawp, you can almost feel the self esteem of the town grow just that little bit. It's as if there's a collective, "Wow, this is happening in Dewsbury!" coming from everyone in the crowd.
"It was wonderful," says Keisha who opened her beauty salon business in the square two days ago, and kindly loaned a power supply for the event, "very exciting. You kids all enjoyed it didn't you?"
"It was epic!" one shouts.
"For Dewsbury this is very unusual," she says. "I've never seen so many people here. Let's hope it continues."


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Kilimanjaro From Above
This photo was taken while flying into Kilimanjaro International Airport in Arusha aboard a very small and loud plane we had boarded in Nairobi, Kenya. This view and image is seared in my mind as it was the first real sighting I had of the world tallest freestanding mountain and the highest summit on the African Peninsula and I knew I would be attempting to climb this massive mountain before the month was finished.
Before seeing this massive mountain that seemingly didn't realize such girth and height should not be so high above the clouds, the highest I had climbed was to the top of a peak at Breckenridge Ski resort at about 13,000 feet. That climb was after months of living at 9,000 feet and after taking a chair lift up to about 12,500 feet. All that being said, the hike which takes locals anywhere from 15 - 25 minutes took me 45 minutes and I could really feel the thin air and its affects on my energy.
In the end me and my climb team lead by our awesome guides were all able to summit after a very acclimatizingly friendly 7 day climb. The peak of Mt Kilimanjaro sits at exactly 19,341 feet and reaching the summit after 7 long days of climbing through every climate system on earth was an amazing experience!
AfricaClimbGlacierMount KilimanjaroMountainSummitTanzaniaTeckingVolcano
All images © J. Griffin Stewart
Use Of Images | All images are Creative Commons, Non-Commercial | For Commercial Use email me at griffinstewart.com
Feel Free to Use Images on your blog, for fun and the like, but you must:
1. Link to www.griffinstewart.com | 2. Give credit to J. Griffin Stewart


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Your cable box is about to tilt a little further to the left this summer, thanks to the media company that brought you Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" and Matt Damon's anti-fracking movie "Promised Land."
Participant Media is set to launch Pivot beginning August 1. The new cable network is expected to have a 40+ million audience designed to lure young millennials, 18 - 34-year-olds, via a new tactic: social change. The channel will feature more than 300 hours of original programming in its first year, including six greenlit series.
To taste-test Pivot's view of social change, look no further than the spin from Participant Media's past films. There's Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," which propagandized the climate to change the percentage of Americans who cited global warming as a concern from 30 percent to 87 percent, according to the company.
Next is "North Country" which Participant claimed spurred thousands to support the Violence Against Women Act. The company's "Syriana" taught Americans to "understand" terrorists rather than "label" them, according to George Clooney, while a more recent film, the anti-fracking "Promised Land," starred liberal environmentalist Matt Damon lying about gas drilling.
The company has seven films currently in theaters or coming soon and every one of them has a political spin - including a film about lefty labor organizer Cesar Chavez, a pro-Palestinian statehood picture and one promoting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The others depicted the drug war as bad, Occupy Wall Street as good, and had one complaining about poverty and a lefty, internationalist flick about Argentina.
The new network, Pivot, promises to funnel similar agendas directly into the minds of young millennials via TV packages and accessible broadband. As former eBay executive and current Participant Chairman and founder Jeff Skoll explained, "The goal of Participant is to tell stories that serve as catalysts for social change. With our television channel, we can bring those stories into the homes of our viewers every day."
Pivot has lined up some Hollywood types to help - names like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, from "3rd Rock From the Sun," who will host a variety show "HitRECord on TV!" The star boasted a left-leaning history: in 2012, a Joseph Gordon-Levitt from Van Nuys (where the celebrity attended high-school) donated $1,000 to Obama and in 2008 he offered more: $3,300. He adhered to Sesame Street's definition of marriage - which, to put it politely, doesn't outline traditional marriage's definition. MTV's Brian Graden produces the show - a man who helped launch, among other projects, "South Park" and LGBT channel "Logo."
Meghan McCain, the socially liberal daughter of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also boosts name recognition with her show "Raising McCain," a "genre-busting docu-talk" series. The Daily Beast columnist and MSNBC darling is an outspoken gay marriage supporter who told the GOP to "go gay" and criticized the Tea Party for losing young voters over the issue. She called Joe the Plumber a "dumb ass" who should "stick to plumbing" after his comments on homosexuality and in a speech to the Log Cabin Republican Convention, she stated, "Most of the old school Republicans are scared shitless of th[e] future."
But wait. Pivot promises even more.
Also reaching his fingers into Pivot's original programming appears "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. He's good enough that President Obama hired him repeatedly for projects such as "The Road We've Traveled" - a 17 minute short film documenting the president's first term.
The Jim Henson Company holds a piece of original programming too. While the company earned a name through "The Muppets," the company more recently surfaced in the news when it recalled toys from Chick-fil-A kids' meals over the gay marriage controversy.
Next comes Morgan Spurlock, the anti-fast food "Supersize Me"-star-turned-CNN-host, who aired a TV show which twisted a sympathetic illegal immigration story and then made light of 9/11 attacks in an Osama Bin Laden documentary. Oh, and he planned to direct a documentary titled "The Republican War on Science." Yes, title is self-explanatory.
When it came to adding filmmakers to the team, Participant Media went extreme: Mary Harron. Harron found her niche writing "I shot Andy Warhol," which followed the life of feminist Valerie Solanas who not only taught hatred against men, but also shot Warhol when he ignored her screenplay (Harron personally sympathized with Solanas). Harron directed and wrote "The Notorious Bettie Page," a film on a 50's pin-up model and American sex icon. She directed other intense documentaries such as "Big Love," about a polygamist and his three wives, "The L Word," on a small group of lesbians in LA, and produced a documentary detailing The Weather Underground, while serving as a creative consultant for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which examined military stories of men silenced by the policy.
Other names involved with Pivot include Gotham Chopra, who aided in the formation of Al Gore's Current TV, and Timothy Scott Bogart, creator of "Mowgli: The New Adventures of the Jungle Book."
Rolling Stone, which has often attacked the GOP and even rejoiced in conservative leader Andrew Breitbart's death, recently boarded the Pivot boat as well, to make appearances and conduct research on millennial lifestyles. Hint: Millennials, you're not just watching, you're also being watched.
The shows to be on the channel include several reruns, such as WestWind Pictures' "Little Mosque on the Prairie," a popular Canadian sitcom humanizing a Muslim community through humor, "Friday Night Lights," a show about a small town Texas football team, and "Farscape," a program about an astronaut who joins a fugitive alien starship crew.


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We may not have time to review every book on our pull-lists but we do aim to provide a snapshot of what's been released over the past week, encompassing the good, the bad, and those that lie somewhere in between.
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Juan Doe
AfterShock Comics $3.99
James R: I was sold on this by Brian Azzarello's name alone - as the co-creator of the magnificent 100 Bullets and the highly underrated Spaceman, he's a writer that is incapable of producing a sub-par title. He's also given the new Dark Knight series a shot in the arm after some great work on Wonder Woman, and as such I had some high expectations for this new title. The first issue hits the ground running and sees Azzarello right back in the pitch-black groove of 100 Bullets. He takes one of Tolstoy's two story tropes - a stranger comes to town - and uses it to introduce us to the dark underbelly of a nameless small American town. The town is populated by a host of unsavoury characters, and a new arrival in the shape of a hulking, horribly scarred, military veteran. What does he want? What ties does he have to a recent bank job? Knowing Azzarello, the truth, as it unravels, will be hugely entertaining. It's a fine looking book to, with John Doe's distinctive pencils blending nicely with a beautiful use of colour to give things an atmospheric, neo-noir feel. I love it when a book grabs me straight from the first issue, and American Monster has some terribly good potential. 8/10
Writer: Rick Remender
Art: Jonathan Wayshak & Jordan Boyd
Dynamite Entertainment $3.99
Matt C: A new debut issue from Rick Remender is always an essential purchase, particularly when it comes to creator-owned work, so Devolution easily made it to the top of the pile this week. Remender's one of the smartest, most innovate writers in the business, as evidenced by the likes of Low, Tokyo Ghost and Deadly Class, but Devolution doesn't quite match up against those aforementioned books, not yet at least. Although there's a kind of poetic irony behind the premise (man playing God by genetically eradicating the part of the brain associated with belief) it stretches plausibility a little to close to breaking point. It has the potential to improve, and the art is pretty great, but it feels (and this is purely speculation here) like something from the vaults dusted off for publication, a story written before Remender reached the 'zone' of creativity he finds himself in now. 6/10
Writer: Eric Stephenson
Art: Dave Taylor & Jordie Bellaire
Image $2.99
Stewart R: Nowhere Men is back and it's great to have it back. To be clear, this hiatus appears to have been somewhat unplanned based on what occurs in this issue - an assessment of what's happened to all who were on board the fated World Corp space station - and there's no way in heck that this chapter could be regarded as 'a fine jumping on point' for the uninitiated. To be fair, you SHOULD pick up the #1-6 collected trade and then see what a fine job Stephenson does here in settling the ship somewhat after the first arc chaos and suggesting that what we've so far witnessed is just the first step on a gloriously mysterious journey. Issue #7 is all about character as we see various coping mechanisms in effect and a host of varied interactions as confusion remains between everyone and some tense, personal histories come into play. Dave Taylor, the new artist on Nowhere Men, absolutely nails his first issue, recapturing the visual feel established by Nate Bellegarde and putting in a fine, consistent performance on what is, predominantly, something of a 'talking heads' chapter. If the creative team stay on a high quality line such as this there's always the chance that this 2014 Eisner nominee will be receiving nods again in 2016. 8/10
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Mike Mayhew
Marvel $3.99
James R: The Star Wars juggernaut is looking unstoppable - as The Force Awakens triumphantly makes all the money in the world, it was recently revealed that Marvel's Star Wars books represented five of Diamond's top ten best-selling issues of 2015. 2016 has already kicked off with the strong debut of Obi-Wan And Anakin, and whereas Vader Down really didn't do it for me at all, this issue serves as a reminder that when Marvel's Star Wars books do it right, it's hugely satisfying. It's time for another flashback to Obi-Wan's exile on Tatooine, and Jason Aaron moves us forward a few years as Luke takes his first steps towards his destiny. It's nothing revolutionary, but this just feels like Star Wars – here Aaron shows a deft hand at transitioning characters from the Prequels to the Original Trilogy, but the highlight is the art of Mike Mayhew. It's absolutely beautiful stuff and he captures the mood and tone of Tatooine perfectly. Even if you're a Star Wars fan who has for some reason resisted the Star Wars books so far, you should definitely pick this issue up - it's worth the journey to Tosche Station. 8/10
Writer: Bryan Hill
Art: Isaac Goodheart & Betsy Gonia
Image/Top Cow $3.99
Stewart R: As this series continues, it feels that the focus on Mark has strayed somewhat in order to make the town of Eden more of a character along with the criminal citizens that make up its populace. Here, where Bryan Hill takes on sole writing duties, it is clear to see that Mark is just one piece of a thrilling, dramatic puzzle as outside influences start prodding and poking at Eden's façade. Mark is still a large part of Postal and his natural ability for deductive reasoning makes for great reading as he fully comprehends facts, details and evidence, yet struggles with the motives and emotions of those around him. The introduction of Molly, a young girl with her own personality issues, is certainly going to make things interesting as she and Mark get to know each other. Hill (and Matt Hawkins before now) has done well to make Laura and Maggie key figures in the plot as their evident antagonism, whilst trying to keep their individual goals on track makes the inevitable fireworks down the road all the more exciting. The blurb in the back of the book states that Postal will be 'Mature Content' from here on in and I think that can only help this crime story climb to higher heights. 8/10
Writer: Rick Remender
Art: Sean Murphy & Matt Hollingsworth
Image $3.99
Stewart R: It's fair to say that the blood-soaked craziness of the first issue raises its head once more here, but this time Remender plucks away at the empathy heart-strings of the reader as the community of samurai are besieged by the return of a tech-enhanced and Davey-plagued Led Dent. The fall from peaceful nirvana to flame-engulfed warzone is swift and terrifying as Debbie loses her love once again and is forced to take extreme measures to ensure that the day doesn't end in an utter loss of life. The amusing thing about Tokyo Ghost, especially after these past few issues spent in the forest village of Tokyo, is that as a reader, I cringe when we catch glimpses of the social-media and tech-dependent people of Los Angeles, their minds awash in attention-sapping information with little or no meaning, their feelings suppressed or muted. Yet that is the reflection of our Westernised lives in this 21st Century and that's the somewhat scary thing about Rick Remender - he always, ALWAYS seems to be able to pluck away at those strings of thought that may keep you awake at night every once in a while. Exhilarating, enlightening and ever essential. 9/10


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Chandrasekhar's Planetary Problem with Internal Sources.
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Invariant imbedding equations are developed for the determination of the vertical stratification of terrestrial and other planetary atmospheres on the basis of satellite observations. The top altitude of a cloud, for example, can be estimated from the relative spectral intensities of the solar radiation reflected from the cloud in the oxygen "A" band at 7600 angstrom, and in a nearby window. The results of RM-5245-PR are extended to solve the Chandrasekhar planetary problem for atmospheres with or without internal energy sources, and with or without bottom surface reflectivity, either Lambert or nonorthotropic. The differential-integral equations may be approximated by systems of stable initial-value problems that are readily and accurately solved by digital computers. 26 pp. Refs.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation Research memorandum series. The Research Memorandum was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1948 to 1973 that represented working papers meant to report current results of RAND research to appropriate audiences.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.


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New for 2018: Data Sharing
NASCAR announced (in a somewhat roundabout way) they would share the data collected by each car during races, qualifying and practice with all teams in the 2018 season. This produced a mixed reaction in the garage. Newer drivers and those driving for smaller teams seemed to like the idea while more experienced drivers didn't seem so happy.
"I've spent 13 years in this sport to figure out how to drive a racecar, make it go fast, do the things I do to win races and championships… Now you're going to hand all that on a piece of paper to a young driver, they're going to figure it out, as long as they know how to read it."
— Kyle Busch via Tom Errington at Autosport
"I know a lot of veterans are more against it than younger drivers, just because it's not what they're used to.
— Ryan Blaney via Tom Errington at Autosport
"Any resource that you can have at this level, no matter what it is or how small, you have to be so perfect at everything at the Cup level that anything that we can get our hands on is going to benefit us, for sure,"
— Matt DiBenedetto via Kelly Crandall at Racer
While there were a surfeit of driver opinions in the press, there was much less information about what data was being shared, why the decision was made to share it, and what the impact was likely to be.
What's Being Shared and Why?
Let's start with why.
NASCAR has long made information about the car available to their television partners in real time. Back in 2012, folks from SportVision (the company that collected the data for TV and Raceview),about whether teams could intercept that data. They said that they acquire such a huge amount of data that analyzing it in real time is impossible.
That was six years ago.
Raceview provides the same real-time information as television shows: steering angle, speed, throttle and brake, all keyed to the car's on-track position. Six years ago, it might have been impossible for a team to intercept and use the data from Raceview. Today, it's not only possible, it's common. They call it data scraping: Intercepting data intended for display and funneling it into a database or analysis program. Wikipedia calls data scraping 'inelegant' and 'ad hoc', because you aren't getting a nice clean stream of data, but if that's the only way to get the data, that's what you do.
All the larger teams have been data scraping Raceview for some time. It's not that complicated a task, but it takes time and money — which puts smaller teams at a disadvantage.
Some combination of NASCAR and the manufacturers decided it was silly for everyone to spend large amounts of money and time scraping data. Now NASCAR provides the information directly.
What Information is Being Shared and How?
The information being shared comes in real time — during practices, qualifying and the races, but only a small subset of data is shared. The shared data comes from two places: The Engine Control Unit (ECU) and the GPS unit on the car.
Charlie Sullivan, who handles ECU management for Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines, explained that the McLaren ECU can record about a thousand channels. A channel is one piece of data; for example, brake pressure would be one channel, throttle another channel.
Out of a thousand possible channels, NASCAR limits the teams to collecting 200 channels. NASCAR mandates what you measure with 60 channels and you can measure whatever you want on the other 140 channels. Let's look at this graphically:
Four channels out of 200 from the ECU are being shared. Nine channels come from the GPS data and locate the car's position, speed and velocity. The number is a little misleading: It takes three channels to locate the car in space: latitude, longitude and altitude. Position is a vector, after all.
The data being shared is important, but only a small fraction of everything the teams collect. It's also pretty much exactly the data people were scraping off Raceview. Now everyone has access to it, and it broadens the available data because Raceview is active during qualifying or practice.
Data Precision
NASCAR teams take a lot of data, especially in the ECU. You want to measure some things frequently and some things not so frequently. Logging rate is the frequency at which measurements are made. It's measured in Hertz (Hz), which you can read as 'per second'.
- 1 Hz means once per second.
- 5 Hz means five times per second or once every 0.2 seconds.
- 50 Hz means 50 times per second or once every 0.02 seconds
- 500 Hz means 500 times per second or once every 0.002 second.
The simple thing to do is just measure everything at the highest possible logging rate — except the McLaren ECU only has 64MB of storage. (For specialists: this is 16-bit info. We're not storing integers here.) Each team has to decide which data they really want. Something like temperature may be measured at 5 Hz and something like steering or brake or throttle might be measured much more frequently.
But all the data NASCAR provides to the teams is at 5 Hz, just like Raceview. This means that I can have a much more detailed trace of my own brake and throttle than the other teams are seeing.
So What's the Impact?
There are two areas in which data sharing could affect competition: letting the drivers and teams see what other drivers are doing and in determining race strategy.
Andy Randolph pointed out that the data sharing program means that a team now has access to IT'S OWN DATA in real time. Before this change, the team couldn't access the data until they could physically plug a laptop into the ECU and download it.
- Everything is cloud connected. During practice, someone can be analyzing the driver's performance. When the driver pulls into the garage after a practice run, the crew chief will have a tablet with the relevant graphs all ready to show the driver. This information might be his performance, or might be a comparison between his throttle trace and another driver's
- As Charlie Sullivan pointed out, not only can people at the track access all of the information immediately, so can everyone on their network. The people at the shop can focus on analysis and forward observations to the crew chief, who doesn't have a lot of time during practice to look over data. You're basically bringing more brainpower to the problem by distributing different performance questions to different people. ("Sometimes we're looking at the data while they're still drinking champagne in Victory Lane", he said.)
- Let's say your competitor is beating you back to the throttle by 0.4 seconds coming out of turn 2. The driver probably already knows that, just from following the competitor around the track and it doesn't help him to know that the differential is 0.413 seconds. He's not waiting to get back on the throttle because he thinks it's better strategy, or he doesn't understand how racing works. He's slower on the throttle because the car won't let him be any faster.
- Teams don't have any information on other teams' setups: suspensions, steering geometries or anything else. Before shared data, you knew the other guy was faster. The shared data let you figure out where the other guy is faster. But nothing tells you how to make your guy faster. If winning was as easy as choosing the right line, there wouldn't be much to it.
- Josh Browne, former Crew Chief for Elliott Sadler, pointed out that you can't find speed if you aren't looking for it. The data will tell the team that it is possible to be faster in a particle section of the track and allow the team to focus efforts. For example, if you were 4/10 of a second slower in turns 1/2 and 2/10 of a second slower in turns 3/4, the crew chief might prioritize changes that will affect turns 1/2 because the potential gain is greater. While the data doesn't tell you how to fix it, they do allow you to prioritize the search for speed.
- Josh also points out that even without knowing setup details, you can still learn things. Steering input, for example, depends on the steering configuration, but you can compare different laps for the same driver to look for changes and you can also learn how loose or tight another car is based on how much wheel-sawing is happening.
Can't You Already Get All This from Dartfish?
Dartfish is a video tool that allows you to overlay your car with another car. As the video plays, you can see exactly where one car has the advantage relative to the other. As Andy Randolph pointed out, this is good for comparing a small number of laps. Sometimes, you don't have the video you need to do the comparison. Also, you're not going to go through 500 laps of a race comparing your driver with 39 other drivers. Dartfish is still a useful tool (especially for those uncomfortable with graphs and charts), but it provides different information than the shared data.
Is It Fair?
Senior drivers' complaints seem to center on rookies having an advantage they didn't have. Back in the day, they had to figure out all this for themselves. (I sympathize. I walked to school uphill both ways.) But let's look at what else has changed since Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman were rookies.
- In 2003, teams could pick five 2-day tests and four 1-day tests at tracks on the Cup schedule, plus Daytona pre-season testing and unlimited testing at tracks not on the Cup schedule
- In 2013, Organizations (not teams) could choose four Cup-scheduled tracks for testing, plus Daytona pre-season testing and 15 NASCAR-sponsored tests
- In 2015, there were 12 1-day NASCAR sponsored tests and NO private testing at any track
- In 2018, there are four NASCAR-sponsored tests.
I suspect if you asked today's rookie drivers whether they would prefer being able to test on a real track, test on a simulator, or be able to see their competitor's steering input traces, they would all say 'test on a real track'. Just because you see what your competitor is doing doesn't mean you can do it. So maybe the rookies ought to be pointing out that it's not fair they're having to learn how to race at the Cup level without getting as much seat time as the older drivers had.
Race Strategy
Back in the day, the crew chief had a much smaller number of variables to monitor. As cars have gotten more complex, the number of things the crew chief must consider has increased. Teams compile historical data like the probability of there being a caution in the last 25 laps of a race at a given track. They look at their own records: how many times did taking two tires instead of four give us a better finishing position? They subscribe to weather services so that they can make the right call when it looks like rain may wipe out a race.
They gathered data in real-time, too. They listened in on other teams' radios to try to anticipate their pit strategy and adjust their own accordingly.
This is a lot of stuff for one person to keep straight and it's just getting worse. In 2018, teams now have the ability to not just monitor their own driver, but to monitor every other car on the track. We have 13 channels, each at 5 Hz. That's 65 numbers per second. Over the course of a three-hour race, we're talking tens of thousands of pieces of information — and those pieces of information aren't exactly in immediately usable form.
NASCAR Data Science
Data Science is hot. There is high demand for people with the skills to extract information from large quantities of complex data and output actionable information in a way people can use to quickly make decisions. The average salary for a Data Scientist is about $120,000/year.
Rho AI is a Data Science company that includes Josh Browne (aforementioned former NASCAR Crew Chief), and more MIT Ph.D.s than should be allowed in any one place that isn't MIT. If you follow this blog, you probably also are familiar with another team member: Andrew Maness a.k.a. NASCARnomics. Autoweek had a nice article on the Rho AI crew's work in NASCAR.
Josh knows the problems Crew Chiefs face — and which ones might be solved using Data Science. Let's take one of the most common: How many tires do we take on the next pit stop? A train of thought might go something like this:
Note the second bullet under the second point. In order to make this decision, I need to know what every other team on track is likely to do (or at least the ones ahead of and near me.
Once you've decided the question you want to answer and what data you have available, you can apply the standard Data Science process. The graph below sweeps a lot under the rug in the 'analyze' step, but I'll return to that.
The system constantly evolves because it evaluates every prediction against what actually happens and feeds all that back into the model so that the next time the question comes up, every bit of relevant data can be used in making the next (and hopefully more accurate) prediction.
To give you an idea of what the system they developed is capable of, they predict lap times for each car based on all the currently available information. When it's time for a pit stop, they can provide a prediction of what position you'll end up in over the course of the next fuel run based on taking 4,2 or no tires — and that takes into account what everyone else on track is likely to do based on historical precedent.
The systems they use belong to the same general family as the programs that Amazon and Netflix use to suggest movies or books you might like based on all the information they have about you and everyone else in the world. And if you've ever seen one of their recommendations and thought "what the heck…?", you know that the predictions aren't always on the mark. The program is only as accurate as the data and the model.
The programs rely on something called Machine Learning, which is a subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They key to Machine Learning is that the program uses the new information to modify its models and make itself more accurate. The more the program learns about NASCAR, the more accurate it gets. Interestingly, Josh tells me that the most challenging type of race to predict is the restrictor-plate race.
Incidentally, I met the Rho AI guys at an ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy) conference. NASCAR is far from the only thing they do. They work with companies involved in water, waste and energy to save the companies money while helping the environment. They laughed that some of the other problems they work on are easy compared to NASCAR.
Is This The Future of NASCAR?
No. It's the present. Rho AI have been working with Richard Childress Racing for some time now to develop the system. It'll be in action this weekend. As far as I know, there isn't any other Data Science company working in the NASCAR space, although some teams have started developing their own programs. The Rho AI guys emphasize that their work is a true collaboration. It's not like buying a copy of Office or Adobe Photoshop. Because the program is constantly evolving, it is literally a continual work in progress
"Decisions during a race have to be made in seconds. Our strategy tools have played a key role in our wins in 2017 and have shown the power of analytics in making real-time decisions."
— Dr. Eric Warren, Vice President of Competition at RCR via rho.ai website
You might think a program like this would threaten crew chiefs, but the ones using it view it as one more tool they can draw upon to give them an advantage over the other teams. Steve Letarte told me once that his job as Crew Chief was not to have all the answers, but to know where to find the answers and then make decisions.
The program isn't always right because it must face situations for which it doesn't have enough data to make a prediction with high confidence. It must be right much more often than it's wrong because RCR wouldn't maintain a partnership that wasn't working.
The crew chief doesn't have to follow the program's recommendation. There are things the program doesn't consider, like whether driver A and driver B who ended up to each other on the restart had an incident in the last race or whether driver C's contract is up for renewal and he's in wreckers or checkers mode.
And the program isn't going to tell them the answer to all their problems is a spring rubber and one and a half rounds of wedge in the car.
Other Resources


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Hartnett: Rangers Band Together To Avoid Elimination, Inject Life Into Playoff Charge
'Rangers Inside And Out'
By Sean Hartnett
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Through the fires of adversity, the Rangers banded together to broadcast their collective spirit to the entire hockey universe. All you had to do was take a glance at the visiting bench at Consol Energy Center.
Throughout their 5-1 Game 5 victory, the Rangers supported one another on the bench. With their backs pressed against the wall, the Blueshirts galvanized as a single force to produce their best hockey of the playoffs to avoid elimination. As the final seconds ticked down, center Derick Brassard patted teammate Martin St. Louis on the head and gave him a one-armed hug.
St. Louis opted to rejoin his teammates after flying to Montreal on Thursday. His mother, France, passed away on Thursday at the age of 63. After consulting with his father, Normand, St. Louis decided it was best to make the trip back to Pittsburgh for Game 5.
"This morning he said he talked to his dad. Him and his dad agreed that his mom would have wanted him to be here," Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said during his pregame press conference.
One could understand if St. Louis wanted to be as far away from hockey as possible and remain with his family in Quebec.
"At the end of the day, my message to him was there are more important things than hockey," Vigneault said. "You have to do what's right, you have to take care of your dad. They got up this morning and they talked and sorted it out and he's here."
Vigneault spoke of the united spirit of his team.
"I do think the fact that Marty decided to come back again, it says a lot about him but it also says a lot about our group," Vigneault said. "Our guys care, they're trying real hard."
The Rangers had channeled all of their energy and emotions to push the series to a sixth game, which will be played on Sunday night in front of their home fans at Madison Square Garden. Their dismal Game 4 performance on Wednesday seems very far in the rearview mirror.
On Friday night, Penguins fans gathered inside Consol Energy Center sensed that a Game 5 elimination was inevitable. After all, the Rangers played the sloppiest hockey of their lives in Game 4. But suddenly, the Blueshirts transformed into a confident, cohesive unit. They put away the bad habits and puck-possession issues that plagued them 48 hours earlier.
Their 0-for-36 power play found vigorous life in Game 5, going 2-for-3 on Friday night. After only collecting 15 total shots on goal in Game 4, the Rangers got off to a commanding start in Game 5 by outshooting the Penguins 17-9 in the first period. Now, the onus is on the Penguins to rediscover their best game.
"You have to turn the page real quick," Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma said. "We're getting on a plane (Saturday). We've got to go to the Garden for Game 6. It's a tough place to play and a tough building."
When Game 5 was all said and done, Brassard had completed a monstrous night. The center with a flair for big-game performances scored two goals, registered one assist, put five shots on goal and delivered six hits. When watching Brassard, it's evident how fiercely he burns to succeed. He aggressively follows rebound opportunities and pure determination flows through him.
In only his second game of the playoffs, Chris Kreider looked a lot sharper. He opened the scoring for the Blueshirts at 9:36 of the first period with a power-play goal. Kreider launched himself into six hits and recorded a late assist on Kevin Klein's empty-net goal.
The Rangers are a different team with Kreider in the lineup. His speed and powerful strength adds an infusion of energy to the Rangers' lineup. Kreider's all-out desire was apparent as he dove for loose pucks, which kept plays alive.
Key defenseman Ryan McDonagh hasn't been himself throughout most of the playoffs. Some hockey analysts have pondered whether his left shoulder isn't 100 percent healed, while others have been increasingly concerned by his recent struggles against the Penguins.
In Game 5, McDonagh produced his best game of the playoffs. The final stat sheet only credited McDonagh with two blocked shots. Whether that is accurate or not, McDonagh was throwing his body all over the place to cause disruption. He blasted a power-play slap shot past Marc-Andre Fleury's glove into the top corner at 8:48 in the second period.
The Rangers need McDonagh to effectively blanket Pittsburgh's big-name stars, carry the puck up the ice, provide accurate distribution and test Fleury with driven shots from the point.
"That's the way I know he can play," Vigneault said. "That's the way we need him to play. He's not hurt, and he needs to play that way if we're going to continue."
McDonagh's play will be crucial to whether the Rangers force a Game 7.
The Rangers' penalty kill was a successful 4-for-4 in Game 5. That wouldn't be possible without the presence of forward Brian Boyle, who logged 3:29 in shorthanded minutes.
Boyle uses his large 6-foot-7 frame to block shots and clog shooting lanes. His smarts and long reach allow him to break up countless plays. He noticeably made a key diving block on the Penguins' 5-on-3 power play late in the second period that robbed Evgeni Malkin of a threatening shooting opportunity.
Throughout the regular season and playoffs, Boyle has proven his irreplaceable worth to the Rangers' penalty kill. Currently, Boyle is earning a salary of $1.7 million in the final year of his contract. His contributions may get overlooked by some fans, but he certainly isn't a secret among hockey circles. Any team would love to plug Boyle on their checking line and penalty-killing unit. The Rangers must do what it takes to retain Boyle.
Follow Sean on Twitter @HartnettHockey.
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The Comfort of a Cocktail
I used to be intimidated by alcohol. I didn't know what to do with it but pour it into half a glass of orange juice or Coca Cola, neither of which I like very much. In recent years, though, I've begun to understand it. There was no specific experience or learning curve that brought upon this understanding. It just happened. One day I found that I like whiskey. I'd tried whiskey before, but it never suited me. Until one day. Now, I can pour some whiskey over some ice, add some sweet or dry vermouth, a dash of bitters, maybe an orange slice or a lemon twist, or some brandy with grenadine and sweet vermouth, or just benedectine. Or a little benedectine and some lemon juice. I just get it. And in that, I feel secure, at home, comfortable.


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Breaking Benjamin Top Billboard 200 Album Chart With 'Dark Before Dawn'
For all the doom and gloom about the state of rock, there is a positive sign this week that hard rock is still thriving, and it comes from Breaking Benjamin. The band returned with their fifth studio album, Dark Before Dawn, last week, and the fans have overwhelmingly embraced the disc, enough so that it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart.
Surpassing 140,000 in sales, the disc became the band's first chart-topping release of their career. By comparison, the band's 2006 album Phobia debuted at No. 2, while 2009's Dear Agony arrived at No. 4.
The band's return has been one of the more interesting stories of 2015, as vocalist Benjamin Burnley completely reconstructed the band after legal issues over the name with the group's previous members kept Breaking Benjamin from releasing anything since 2009. The new lineup features a number of players with impressive resumes, as former Red guitarist Jasen Rauch, ex-Adelitas Way guitarist Keith Wallen, bassist Aaron Bruch and Picture Me Broken drummer Shaun Foist round out the band.
Upon their return earlier this year, the lead single "Failure" shot all the way up to No. 1 on the rock radio charts and remains there after eight weeks. Meanwhile, the track also hit No. 1 on the mainstream rock chart.
"We all want to say a huge thank you to all of our amazing fans, everybody at radio and other media outlets for continuing to support Breaking Benjamin," says Burnley. "We are all so very thankful and extremely grateful for everything your love and support has allowed us to achieve. We'd be nothing without you! Thank you all so very much from the bottom of our hearts for getting us to No. 1! We'll see you all out there on tour!"
The group is returning to the road tonight (July 1) in Asheville, N.C. for what will be the first of five acoustic dates. After that, they'll resume their regular rock shows with dates mapped out until October. They finish out the run with appearances at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville and the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento. See all of their upcoming dates at this location.


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Donald Trump might be weaseling out of his promise of a White House invitation after the U.S. won the Women's World Cup, after Fox News broadcast people celebrating the victory by chanting "Fuck Trump!"
Days ago, captain of the U.S. Women's National Team Megan Rapinoe got into a war of words with Trump. She said in an interview that, if she's invited to the White House, she definitely wouldn't go.
"I'm not going to the f–king White House," she responded.
"We're not gonna be invited. I doubt it," she added, explaining that Trump doesn't usually invite teams if he doesn't think they'll come, and several of her teammates had backed her up.
Related: Megan Rapinoe kneels during anthem before US match vs. Thailand
Trump responded on Twitter by saying that he would invite the women's soccer team, "win or lose," after the tournament is over. Well, it looks like he doesn't remember that promise. Imagine that.
Yesterday in France, the U.S. Women's National Team won the final match against the Netherlands 2-0, securing America's fourth victory in the tournament since it was started in 1991.
"We haven't really thought about it. We'll look at that," Trump told VOA News journalist Steve Herman about inviting the team to the White House.
The Women's National Team's coach Jill Ellis was asked after their victory if she is going to the White House.
"I don't know," Ellis responded. "I haven't been invited, so I can't really say."
When asked if she expects an invitation, she said: "Well, I wouldn't bet on that."
Trump doesn't seem to be in the inviting mood, either. Yesterday, as part of its coverage of the Women's World Cup, Fox News sent a correspondent to a bar in Lyon, France, where the crowd started chanting "F–k Trump."
lmao @FoxNews just went live from a bar in France after the #USWNT win and people started shouting "Fuck Trump" on air😂😂 pic.twitter.com/EFstJx43BV
— Sara Pearl (@skenigsberg) July 7, 2019
Trump, who's usually a fan of the far-right 24-hour news channel, had some pointed criticism of Fox News the next morning on Twitter. He blasted them for hiring Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.
….their lowest rated show. Watch the @FoxNews weekend daytime anchors, who are terrible, go after her big time. That's what they want – but it sure is not what the audience wants!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2019
In a thread of tweets this morning, Trump attacked Fox News, calling them worse than CNN, a channel that has often drawn his ire as "fake news." (It isn't.)
Watching @FoxNews weekend anchors is worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN, or Lyin' Brian Williams (remember when he totally fabricated a War Story trying to make himself into a hero, & got fired. A very dishonest journalist!) and the crew of degenerate……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2019
…a "source" of information (ask the Times what they paid for the Boston Globe, & what they sold it for (lost 1.5 Billion Dollars), or their old headquarters building disaster, or their unfunded liability? @FoxNews is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2019
While he didn't mention the people chanting "Fu–k Trump" directly in any of the tweets, one can't help but wonder if the two are related.
Because if he is embarrassed by Fox's flubs, he probably wouldn't mention it in public anyway.


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Written by Jourdan Struck, sales associate with the Indiana Store
The L.S. Ayres Tea Room Cookbook project was mentioned to me the day I was hired. I tend to volunteer for things fairly readily, so I am not surprised that the words "I can do that" came tumbling out of my mouth. What did surprise me was the response from my boss, "Well, ok! Great!" I was a little startled that my boss would let the "new girl" tackle such an auspicious project, but I am excited to tackle it.
In the past month, as I have contemplated and discussed with others ideas for where this cookbook will go, I have become very excited about all the possibilities. I have begun to do research on the L.S. Ayres Department Store along with the L.S. Ayres Tea Room. I have asked my grandparents, parents and friends to tell me what they remember about their own journeys to The L.S. Ayres Tea Room and the Department Store. With the help of Katherine Gould, assistant curator of cultural history for the Indiana State Museum, I have begun looking through the museum archives at old Ayrogram Magazines and Ayrespeople (monthly store publications) that date back to 1944, in search of recipes and the occasional blurb about The L.S. Ayres Tea Room.
I was expecting to find those things and I have, but what I wasn't expecting was to be completely amazed at how different society was in the heyday of the L.S. Ayres Department Store and The L.S. Ayres Tea Room. I am 26. I have no clue what it was like to be alive in the post WWII era or in the 1960s, but this project is forcing me to think about what it would have been like to be a little girl, all dressed up in my Sunday best, to go shopping and eat lunch at L.S. Ayres. Gone are the days of dressing up to go shopping and gone are the days of shopping being a special thing. Gone are the days of going to a special restaurant to practice manners and eating with your elbows off the table. As I think about this different time period, I can't help but compare it to now. It seems to me that there was an innocence and youthful hopefulness that I think we have lost. Don't get me wrong, there are many things that we have today that I would miss if I was somehow transported back to the 1950s, but just think what our society would be like without so much T.V., a few more manners and a little less cynicism.
Filed under: history, museums | Tagged: Ayrespeople, Ayrogram Magazine, cookbook, L.S. Ayres Tea Room, recipes | 2 Comments »


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News Item
Major Anti Campaign
8th February 2012
There is legislation in almost every state to prohibit smoking in cars with children under 18. The anti's just can't stop themselves from stamping out tobacco everywhere. They will find a way to get into your home, if you have children, it is only a matter of time.
In the 70's there was a major movement, through the schools, to report parents who smoked marijuana at home. Children did report their parents because they had no idea of the consequences. Many children were removed from their home and placed in foster care.
It is a safe assumption that this will be a new avenue for the anti-movement.
Link To Original Article »»


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Tri-County Restorative Justice has been supporting schools interested in moving forward with implementing a restorative approach. Since 2012, our Agency has supported the Restorative Approaches in Schools Project (RAISP). The RAISP was a collaboration of the Departments of Justice and Education that has provided Nova Scotia schools with tools, resources and supports necessary to adopt a restorative approach.
"I think that restorative justice is a good idea. It's better than kicking the kids out so that they get into more trouble on the streets" Grade 7 Student
Restorative Approach in SchoolsA Restorative Approach in schools is founded on the belief that in order to build safe and healthy school communities; we must strengthen and support our social relationships through community participation, respectful dialogue, and sustainable processes that build and strengthen relationships. In this way, opportunities can develop for all school community members to feel empowered and engaged and hence to participate meaningfully. (Jacqueline Ruck and Emma Halpern, Restorative Models Framework)
What is a Restorative Approach?
Why Implement a Restorative Approach?
What Does a Restorative Approach Look Like?
What does a Restorative Approach look like when Things Go Wrong?
How Tri-County Restorative Justice supports work in schools?


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<=== Three Imaginary Boys (Cure (The)) 1979 / 2008
Faith (Cure (The)) 1981 / 2008 ===>
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Was going to be reprinted on or about 2010-04-03 but pre-orders did not make it profitable.
2010 reprint cancellation noticed by robot harry (source CDJapan).


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Who needs to fit in, when you already belong?
Photojournal by Eric Franklin Shook
The outside world can be a lonely place for audiophiles. For most of us: our dealer (stereo, not drugs), online forums, and facebook groups are the only places where audiophiles gather. The outside world is not so friendly to our protestations of the norm. Alas, there is hope for you and I yet. The Audio Show.
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest is now in it's 14th year, and by all account one of my favorites. I'm not alone in this feeling. "But wait…" you say, "isn't audiophilia about being… alone?"
In short: Nope, not even a little bit. Attendance at shows like AXPONA and likely RMAF this weekend will see record (high achievement, not vinyl) numbers of show goers.
Thursday night before the show RMAF hosts a cocktail party to celebrate by all metaphor the audiophile. And it's only the beginning to a long weekend packed with moments in admiration of your fellow audiophile. Many here new and old, all like brothers. Bound by a common love of good sound, and tonight some fine whiskeys.
If you've never attended an audio show, like… get off your ass and get here. We need you, and you need us. You'll find so much more to the show experience than just electronic equipment. You'll discover new music, new friends, new ideas, opinions on top of opinions likely with a side of opinions.
Let's take a tour of what's to be had.


text: AP Sports Writer Oh, those plucky Irish. Notre Dame is at it again in the NCAA women's basketball tournament. And so is Connecticut, which seems to have erased any doubt about its emotional state _ and Diana Taurasi's health _ after the streak-snapping loss to Villanova. And there's Villanova in the round of 16, too, along with Duke, Texas, Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech and Penn State. After the second round began with a slew of upsets Monday, things went more to form Tuesday night _ except for Notre Dame, that is. At No. 11 in the East, the Irish are the lowest-seeded team still standing as the tournament moves to the regional semifinals next weekend. Using a matchup zone that coach Muffet McGraw calls "The Storm," Notre Dame frustrated third-seeded Kansas State and won 59-53 in front of a hostile crowd on the Wildcats' floor. That followed a victory over sixth-seeded Arizona in the first round. Kansas State had been the last No. 3 seed left. "Somebody had mentioned that the No. 3 seeds had gone down," McGraw said. "We wanted to make it a clean sweep." It was nothing new for the Irish (21-10), the 2001 national champions. In the 1997 and `98 tournaments, Notre Dame won second-round games on the home courts of higher seeded opponents, including an upset of No. 1 Texas Tech in 1998. Notre Dame pulled this one off by holding Kansas State to 33 percent shooting. So flustered were the Wildcats that went nearly 13 minutes in one stretch without making a basket. "To hold them like that was a great stride for our team on the defensive end," said guard Le'Tania Severe, who led Notre Dame with 17 points. "It also gave us confidence on the offensive end to do what we had to do to win the game." Connecticut, the defending champion and No. 1 seed in the East, had what it needed, too. Her name is Taurasi, who looked as healthy as ever while scoring a career-high 35 points in an 81-66 victory over TCU. Taurasi has been bothered by back and ankle pain, but those ailments weren't evident as she showed off her entire repertoire, from a reverse scoop to backbreaking 3-pointers. "You don't get this far without having players like that," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She's just another one in a long line of really unique players that I've had the opportunity to coach." Her play prompted someone to ask TCU coach Jeff Mittie if he had any advice for future UConn opponents. "Stop Taurasi," Mittie said. "I don't have any answers, so don't call me." Connecticut (33-1) will join conference rivals Notre Dame and Boston College for a Big East block party in the regional semifinals at Dayton, Ohio, next Sunday. Fifth-seeded Boston College (22-8) advanced with an overtime victory against Vanderbilt on Monday night and will play UConn. BC gave Connecticut one of its toughest games this season, an 83-75 UConn win on Feb. 8. Notre Dame plays Purdue of the Big Ten in the other game at Dayton. That also is a rematch, Purdue having won 71-54 on Jan. 4. Duke, the No. 1 seed in the Midwest, moved on with a 65-54 victory over stubborn Utah in Raleigh, N.C. Texas Tech, seeded second in the Midwest, needed five points from Plenette Pierson in the final 27.7 seconds to get past seventh-seeded UC Santa Barbara 72-68. In the Mideast, fourth-seeded Penn State beat fifth-seeded South Carolina 77-67 behind Kelly Mazzante's 27 points and second-seeded Villanova made 11 3-pointers in beating No. 7 seed George Washington 70-57. In the West, fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech, playing at home, defeated fourth-seeded Ohio State 74-61 and second-seeded Texas downed seventh-seed Arkansas 67-50. The Mideast Regional semifinals will be played in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, with Penn State (26-8) facing top-seeded Tennessee (30-4) and Villanova (27-5) taking on sixth-seeded Colorado (24-7). Sixth-seeded New Mexico will host the Midwest Regional in Albuquerque. The Lobos (24-8) play Texas Tech (28-5) on Saturday and Duke (33-1) meets fifth-seeded Georgia (21-9). In the West at Stanford, it will be Louisiana Tech (31-2) playing No. 1-seeded LSU (29-3) and Texas (27-5) going against sixth-seeded Minnesota (25-5). Duke, ranked No. 1 for much of the season, will try to gets it offense back in synch as it moves on. Alana Beard scored 27 points on 10-for-12 shooting Tuesday night, but the rest of the team shot only 35 percent. "We learned from this game we can rely upon our defense, especially when our offense wasn't clicking the way we wanted," Beard said. "We relied on our defense to get us through." The Big East leads all conferences with four teams still playing, Villanova being the fourth to advance. The Southeastern Conference, Big 12 and Big Ten each has three teams. East At Manhattan, Kan. Notre Dame 59, Kansas State 53 Notre Dame ended Kansas State's 22-game home winning streak by holding the Wildcats (29-5) well below their 75-point scoring average. Freshman Megan Duffy made two key 3-pointers in the second half and four free throws in the final 1:01. Laurie Koehn led Kansas State with 23 points. At Storrs, Conn. Connecticut 81, TCU 66 Connecticut trailed much of the first half and was down by two at halftime. But Taurasi scored 10 points as UConn opened the second half with an 18-2 run and TCU never recovered. Sandora Irvin led TCU (20-14) with 19 points. Mideast At State College, Pa. Penn State 77, South Carolina 67 The duel between Mazzante and South Carolina's big scorer, Jocelyn Penn, never developed. Penn finished with 21 points, but most came when the game was out of reach. Cristina Ciocan had 14 points for South Carolina (23-8). Tanisha Wright scored 16 for Penn State. At Norman, Okla. Villanova 70, George Washington 57 Katie Davis scored 24 points and Trish Juhline had 14 of her 16 in the second half as Villanova reached the round of 16 for the first time in seven NCAA tournament appearances. The Wildcats hit six 3s in a span of 4 1\/2 minutes in the second half to take control against the Colonials (25-7), who got 21 points from Ugo Oha. Midwest At Raleigh, N.C. Duke 65, Utah 54 Duke reached the round of 16 for the sixth straight year by beating Utah, one of the nation's top defensive teams, at its own game. The Blue Devils converted 13 turnovers into 22 points and held the Utes (24-7) without a field goal for 7 1\/2 minutes in the second half. Kim Smith led Utah with 20 points. At Lubbock, Texas Texas Tech 72, UC Santa Barbara 68 The Lady Raiders had trouble putting the Gauchos (27-5) away after building a 15-point lead. UC Santa Barbara rallied to a tie at 50 and it was back and forth the rest of the way. Lindsay Taylor led the Gauchos with 26 points, and Jia Perkins led Tech with 23. West At Cincinnati, Ohio At Texas 67, Arkansas 50 Heather Schreiber scored 20 points and Stacy Stephens added 16 points and 14 rebounds as Texas won its 15th straight. Shameka Christon scored 16 for Arkansas (22-11) in the matchup of rivals from the old Southwest Conference. At Ruston, La. Louisiana Tech 74, Ohio State 61 Cheryl Ford's 25 points and 15 rebounds helped Louisiana Tech extend the nation's longest winning streak to 29. The Lady Techsters had only seven players after coach Kurt Budke dismissed junior center Sultra Harding for conduct detrimental to the team. DiDi Reynolds led Ohio State (22-10) with 16 points.


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Why Use Opt-In Marketing?
Today Colin talks about Opt-In Marketing and how to make it work for your campaign.
Video Transcription
Opt-in marketing is the idea of giving your customers a choice to receive further marketing communication from you, usually email. Typically the approach is on a checkout form or a contact form to have a check box that asks the user if they want to receive promotions or more information. You can also give incentives for users to receive this opt-in communication. It can be something like a discount or a coupon code, especially for e-commerce.
The important thing with opt-in marketing is to follow that up with a high quality email marketing campaign. If you just start spamming the user with emails after they opt-in, they're not going to be happy and they're just going to opt-out right away. If you follow up with good timely emails and an effective campaign, you're going to have a better overall customer experience from start to finish, and come back to you again and again.


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There are many ways to file a complaint. Choose what is most convenient for you. Remember to provide accurate contact information.
Although helpful, you do not need to know the name or badge number of the officer who is the subject of your complaint.
If you wish to file a complaint against a member of the New York City Police Department through our web site, complete a complaint form online.
Monday through Friday, 8am - 5pm, you will speak directly to an investigator. After 5pm and on weekends, you can leave your complaint on voicemail. Be sure to give contact information where you can be reached during regular business hours. An investigator will call you back promptly.
Free Interpretation Service is Available
Anytime 24/7. Outside NYC: 1-212-NEW-YORK
100 Church Street, 10th Fl., New York, NY 10007, anytime between 8 am and 5 pm. No appointment is necessary.
The Community Partners Initiative (CPI) accommodates complainants who can't travel during conventional business hours to CCRB's lower Manhattan office. Hosted in participating council member's offices in all five boroughs, CCRB staff will be available to answer questions or even receive a complaint in-person. Each office hosts hours at designated times. Click here to find a location near you and that office's hours.
CCRB, 100 Church St., 10th Floor, New York, NY 10007
File a complaint there or pick up a CCRB complaint form, fill it out at home and mail it to us. The form is pre-addressed and postage-paid.
You will be asked to come to our office so that an investigator can take a formal statement from you about what happened. If travelling to Manhattan is difficult for you, or if you're hospitalized or in jail, the investigator can travel to you.
The CCRB takes complaints regardless of a person's immigration status and never asks complainants or witnesses about their immigration status. The CCRB has translation services available in all languages for people with limited English proficiency.
When the CCRB receives a complaint that falls outside of its jurisdiction, it refers the complaint to the appropriate agency. For example, if your complaint is about police corruption or neglect of duty, the CCRB would send it to the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) or the Office of the Chief of Department (OCD) respectively; both are part of the police department.


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2015 Edition — Californians with the Top Chronic Conditions: 11 Million and Counting
Chronic conditions are the leading cause of death and disability in the US, and the biggest contributor to health care costs. But there is wide variation in their incidence, with major differences depending on age, income, race and ethnicity, and insurance status. In addition, many Californians with chronic conditions are delaying needed care because of cost.
Californians with the Top Chronic Conditions: 11 Million and Counting looks at five major chronic conditions — asthma, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and serious psychological distress — and how each of these affects Californians.
Key findings include:
About 40% of California adults reported having at least one of the five chronic conditions studied.
High blood pressure is the most common chronic condition, affecting about one in four, or 7.6 million, adults in California.
As household income rises, the prevalence of chronic conditions falls. Adults living under 138% of the federal poverty level were more likely to have two or more chronic conditions (14%) than those in the highest income group, 400%+ of the federal poverty level (8%).
Many people with chronic conditions delay getting needed care. Of Californians with serious psychological distress, 34% delayed needed medical care, and 27% delayed filling prescriptions (not shown). Cost or lack of insurance was frequently cited as the reason for these delays.
The prevalence of chronic conditions increases with age. Of Californians age 65 or older, 70% have at least one chronic condition, compared to 26% of those age 18 to 39.
The proportion of California adults with chronic conditions varied by region. About 45% of adults in the Inland Empire, San Joaquin Valley, and Northern and Sierra Counties had at least one chronic condition, compared to 36% of adults in Orange County.
The full report, and all the charts found in the report, are available for download below. These materials are part of CHCF's California Health Care Almanac, an online clearinghouse for key data and analyses describing the state's health care landscape. See our entire collection of current and past editions of Californians with Chronic Conditions.


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Reach Your Goal of Complete TOEFL Success with Sherlen's private study packages
I offer students complete study packages because this is the best, fastest and most effective way to get your target TOEFL scores . I analyze your current level, then plan and work out the exact steps you need to follow. Students have to work with me for a minimum of one month to create any significant change in their language skills to get high scores in TOEFL.
All instruction is based on a root cause analysis of the student's reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills while identifying what will shift that student from one level to a high level in knowledge and skill. Erasing their fossilized mistakes in Speaking and Writing is also my expertise as an exam coach.
My TOEFL training program is based on a very structured, systematic methodology to ensure that your score at TOEFL iBT is a reliable, predictable level of your English — not because you simply got lucky with that day's topics in the exam.
Another issue with the TOEFL students is often not having the motivation nor the focus required to succeed because of past exam failures and frustrations. I do not just teach exam strategies and English. I support my students emotionally so that they have the confidence and mental toughness to be successful. Each student's challenges directly affect their exam performance. Anything I do to help remove stress and negativity helps improve students' performances.
Benefits of Working with an Exam Coach
Sherlen provides each student with the following resources
Instant evaluation to determine the weaknesses and strengths at the beginning of the program.
Provide advanced strategies at the beginning of the program so that you don't waste another minute figuring out how to pass the TOEFL exam.
Create a very systematic, targeted and customized study plan to enable you to reach your Target Score
Identify your fossilized grammar errors to help you write and speak accurately.
Help you write and speak with better vocabulary.
Assign consistent practice and give feedback regularly to track your progress.
How Does it Work?
All classes are online using advanced software so that you can see my screen, my whiteboard, and the digital books. It will feel like an in-person session. We will also use Microsoft OneNote to share homework and other documents instead of relying on email.
When you sign up for one of my packaged plans, you're getting my full attention both during and in-between our sessions. Not only do I work with you in the hour we're together but I also spend another 2 or 3 hours each week creating your personalized weekly plans that are targeted towards improving your weaknesses, preparing resources for you, reviewing your homework to track your progress and planning your lessons.
That is all part of my full service to you. A lesson package guarantees your place in my schedule and my personalized, total support for the entire time you study with me.
Because of my years of experience with hundreds of students, and success stories, I know how to get results for you if you follow my advice and proven study method.
Thank you, Sherlen for being a great mentor, for being with me from the beginning until the end. You have taught me so much. I'm so lucky to have Sherlen as my TOEFL tutor. We worked together on and off for almost one year and she is a big part of my success helping me go through this long, arduous journey. Before I met her, I was so desperate to get 26 in speaking. With Sherlen, I moved my Speaking Score from 18 to 29! -Chuenrat Tanwirat, A Pharmacist from Thailand
I finally took the TOEFL test, I ended up getting 102 at the end. My score went from 73 to 102, with 26 in Speaking, which was much higher than what I expected to have, so I'm really happy and blessed about that. A 26 in speaking allows me to apply to a university like Howard or Michigan. If you are a foreign dentist who is trying to apply to the international dental programs and you need a competitive score in TOEFL, I am pleased to highly recommend professor Sherlen. She will contribute greatly to your success as a dentist in the United States. Thank you so much for your help, Sherlen. It was an honor being your student! – Yanairde Somarriba, A Dentist from Cuba
"Six months ago people told me politely that I spoke good English as a Chinese speaker. Six months later people now ask me curiously if I speak Chinese! What happened exactly during that six months? Sherlen corrected my pronunciation mistakes that I carry from my native language to English. I started to notice the natural speech components of English language such as linking sounds, sentence and word stress and the intonation of English and mastered these concepts in producing them correctly in my speech. I can never say thank you enough to Sherlen for being such a wonderful and a knowledgeable teacher to me as she diagnosed my "pains" precisely, fixed them up effectively and fought them back furiously."Annabel H. from China
"I got 26 on speaking! Thanks to you, Sherlen, of course!
I also got 28 on reading, and 27 on listening. With this score (104), I am eligible to a scholarship at NYU and Yale. That's great!
I would like to thank you for your competent teaching. Your job was excellent, and really helped me. It was an honor being your student!"P.C- a lawyer from Brazil


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Chad Smith
Chad Smith is an expert in Demand Driven MRP and co-author of the classic Orlicky's Material Requirements Planning, 3rd Edition.
Chad Smith, a co-founder and Managing Partner of Constraints Management Group (CMG), is the leading authority on Demand Driven MRP (DDMRP ), having been pivotal in its development and with extensive experience in DDMRP implementations in a variety of manufacturing environments.
CMG is a services and technology company based in Enumclaw, WA, specializing in pull-based manufacturing, materials and project management systems for mid-range and large manufacturers. Chad's clients, past and present, include LeTourneau Technologies, Boeing, Intel, Erickson Air Crane, Siemens, IBM, The Charles Machine Works (Ditch Witch) and Oregon Freeze Dry.
Chad is an internationally recognized expert in Theory of Constraints technology, receiving his formal training at the Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute Academy and working under the direct tutelage of Dr. Eli Goldratt, originator of the Theory of Constraints and author of The Goal, for several years.
Since the late 1990's Chad Smith and his partners and colleagues at CMG have been at the forefront of articulating and developing the concepts behind Demand Driven MRP (DDMRP ), as well as building DDMRP -compliant technology.
Today Chad is in demand as a speaker on DDMRP , and throughout 2011 Chad will be conducting regular Demand Driven MRP webinars both in a public and a company-dedicated format.
With Carol Ptak, Chad is co-author of the latest edition of the classic Orlicky's Material Requirements Planning, to be published by McGraw-Hill in summer 2011.


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Auto has been hired by Alert Insulation to test robot efficiency in the workplace, but when he uncovers a plan to replace most of their staff (including Auto himself) with the next generation of robots, Auto takes murderous action to prevent his own destruction.
AUTOMATION is directed and co-written by Garo Setian, co-written by Rolfe Kanefsky (The Black Room) and Matthew L. Schaffer (Dirty Lies), and stars Elissa Dowling (Rootwood), Sadie Katz (Bus Party to Hell), Parry Shen (Hatchet 1 – 3), Graham Skipper (Sequence Break), and Sarah French (Art of the Dead).
"The LA Horror community is one of the most vibrant and exciting group of film fans you will find anywhere," says Setian. "We are beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to share our film with an enthusiastic audience at the Hollywood Horrorfest! Thank you so much to the judges who selected AUTOMATION for this premiere screening. We are very excited and can't wait to share the movie going experience with you!"
Hungry Monster Entertainment, comprised of husband and wife duo, Garo and Anahit Setian, partnered up with producers Mike Elliott and Greg Holstein (3 From Hell), Joseph P. Genier (Teen Wolf) and Rob Kerchner (Razortooth) of Capital Arts Entertainment, Esther Goodstein (Slay Bells), Dan Bowen (Alaska: The Final Frontier), Ted Smith (Guardian of the Realm), Robert Parigi (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), Allen Copeland (Untold Horror) and Charlie Klinakis.


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If there's someone I want to read up about, it's Jenna Lyons. Did you happen to catch her two-part interview on How To Spend It recently? Amazing site, btw. I discovered this Pink Room painting by artist Genieve Figgis through her interview and it.is.stunning!
Go read up on her interview. It's good and so many tasteful resources.
xo Jeanne
Follow my Instagram and Snapchat: shopsweetthings for daily discoveries and behind-the-scenes!


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Daytona 500 winner Kenseth takes in Mavericks game
DALLAS (AP) -- Matt Kenseth was sitting courtside at a Dallas Mavericks game only about 18 hours after winning the delayed Daytona 500.
Kenseth was introduced to the crowd during the first timeout Tuesday night as a man who needs a nap.
Before the game, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle presented Kenseth with a basketball autographed by the defending NBA champions. Kenseth gave the coach a Daytona 500 championship cap from the Victory Lane celebration early Tuesday morning.
Carlisle joked that he knew a little about auto racing and that "winning the Daytona 500 is a big deal." Kenseth has done it twice.
Kenseth says he got only an hour or two of sleep after the race. He will be back in Texas for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in April.


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Property videos are a great way to showcase a special home. We can customize each video to your tastes and budget. Options include branded and unbranded, copies as well as aerial video from our drone.
Videos are typically delivered the day after the shoot.
Contact us to discuss your next video project!


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What Are Some Similarities Between Earth and Saturn?
According to Universe Today, the most distinct similarity between the Earth and Saturn is gravity. While the mass of the two planets differs incredibly, the gravity of Saturn works in the same way as the gravity of Earth. Saturn does not have a solid surface. However, if one were able to walk on Saturn, gravity would hold one to the surface just as it does on Earth.
Beyond gravity, there are no real similarities between Saturn and Earth, only stark contrasts, according to Universe Today. The Earth is the densest planet in the solar system, while Saturn is the least dense, making the Earth eight times more dense than Saturn. Saturn has rings around it, while the Earth does not. It takes 24 hours to complete a day on Earth, and a day on Saturn is 10 hours and 32 minutes long. One year on Saturn takes 30 years to complete compared to the Earth's year.
Saturn's equatorial diameter is 9.5 times the diameter of Earth, making it the second largest planet, according to Universe Today. The surface area of Saturn measures in at 83 times that of Earth, and its volume is 764 times the volume of Earth. According to NASA, Saturn's atmosphere is made up of helium and hydrogen, while the Earth's atmosphere is made of nitrogen and oxygen.


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Visitors and Charlotte residents agree: YOU HAVE TO MAKE A TRIP TO PLAZA MIDWOOD!
Just a short cruise along Central Avenue from Uptown Charlotte will put you in a place where fashion, food, and spray paint rule! Where an afternoon perusing the city's hippest shops turns into a night of live music, craft beer and wild romance followed by morning coffee and yoga. NAMASTE.
Famed historian Tom Hanchett dubbed Central Avenue "The Most Interesting Street in Charlotte." Why? You ask… well…
Come see for yourself!
Cruise down! Ride your bike, push a stroller, skateboard, roll, jog, skip or dance around our vibrant business district. Find where the Queen City keeps her colorful memories and make some of your own.