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Congress heads home with dubious distinction: Far fewer laws than infamous Do Nothing Congress
Days before adjournment and the year-end holiday recess, Sen. Lindsey Graham was hardly feeling the holiday spirit.
As usual, the Senate was limping through a slow legislative slog: passing a small-scale bipartisan budget agreement that averts another federal government shutdown and softens the blow of sequestration, meandering through a defense authorization bill and trudging through a slew of judicial and administrative nominations.
"The new good government standard is we didn't shut the government down. We're slapping ourselves on the back for not shutting the government down," groused Graham, a South Carolina Republican. "Even when we try to be functional, we're dysfunctional."
When they wrap up their business this week, senators will join members of the House of Representatives in returning to their districts with a dubious achievement they'll not likely brag about to their constituents: being part of one of the least productive Congresses ever.
The 113th Congress is heading home and into the history books with a record of legislative futility. By the time the Senate finishes its business, this Congress will have passed slightly more than 57 bills into law. It's on course to surpass the first session of 104th Congress, which passed 88 bills into law, in terms of its low productivity.
Critics say the current Congress makes the 80th Congress – dismissively dubbed by President Harry S Truman as the "Do Nothing Congress" – look like workaholics. That Congress enacted 395 public bills into law by the end of its first session, in December 1947, according to congressional records.
"By all objective measures, this is the worst Congress ever," Tom Mann, a senior governance fellow at Washington's Brookings Institution, said of the 113th. "But there are two main things: Important matters not addressed and destructive things done, like October's government shutdown. They did a lot of stuff of no consequence. All the important stuff, they couldn't get done."
The 113th Congress didn't pass a single appropriations bill, a farm bill, immigration legislation, anything to change or improve health care or anything thing to curb the debt.
This isn't to say that the 113th hasn't done anything. The budget deal, approving a $50 billion aid package for states battered by Superstorm Sandy, reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, passing legislation to keep the nation's helium reserves open, and setting new rate structures for federal student loans, were among some of the first session's major accomplishments.
But Legislation Lite also ruled: Lawmakers agreed to name a Mississippi bridge after St. Louis Cardinals slugger Stan Musial, rename a subsection of the tax code after former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and name a veterans affairs medical center after the late Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla.
Mistrust and acrimony also gummed up the works. Frustrated by what he considered deliberate Republican blockage of President Barack Obama's judicial and administrative nominees, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., changed the Senate rules, effectively eliminating the use of the filibuster for all but Supreme Court picks.
"There's a reservoir of ill will the likes of which I've never seen in my years in the United States Senate," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Unable to achieve bipartisan consensus on big issues, the 113th Congress displayed a penchant for delaying action until the last minute or, in the case of October's 16-day partial government shutdown, after it's too late.
The short-term funding deal that reopened the government yielded a bipartisan House-Senate committee that produced a modest budget to keep the government operating through fiscal 2015.
While congratulating themselves for avoiding another shutdown fight with the deal crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., lawmakers passed on dealing with the debt ceiling, potentially setting up another high-stakes fiscal fight in February or March.
"We kicked the can down the road one more time and missed the opportunity," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a former White House budget director under President George W. Bush.
A study by the Pew Research Center found that 24 of 31 bills that the 113th Congress passed into law by Labor Day were substantive, meaning they weren't measures to rename post offices, commemorative coin authorizations or Congressional Gold Medal conferrals.
The numbers reflect a downward trend since the 110th Congress, which passed 45 substantive bills into law by the end of August 2007. The spiral coincides with the increasing political polarization between the parties in the House and the Senate, the study states.
Some have suggested that Congress hasn't put in the time to get its work done. Normally coming in late on Mondays and usually out by midday on Thursdays, House lawmakers were scheduled 126 days in Washington during the first session.
They're slated to spend less time in D.C. – 113 days – when they return from recess next month. The Senate was still in session this week and hasn't projected how many days it will work next year.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, strenuously disagrees with the notion that his charges haven't done their work. In his last news conference of the year, he pointed out that the Republican-controlled House passed 150 bills during the year.
Many of them, including numerous bills designed to kill the Affordable Care Act such as the Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013, died in the Democratic-held Senate.
"We should not be judged on how many new laws we create," Boehner said on CBS' "Face the Nation" in July. "We ought to be judged on how many laws that we repeal. Unpopular? Yes. Why? We're in a divided government."
Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action, the political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, agreed.
"By and large, Republicans were elected to stop the president and reduce the size and scope of government and Democrats were elected to push the president's agenda and increase the size and scope of government," Holler said.
So if American voters are frustrated with Congress' performance and are looking to assign blame, Brookings' Mann has a suggestion: get a mirror.
"The public is getting what it produced," Mann said.


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Seize The Deal Auction Going On Now!
All this weekend, you can bid on over $38,000 worth of items during the Seize the Deal Auction! There are some great times up for grabs this weekend and everything will be sold for unbelievable discounts!
Are you looking to spoil yourself with some brand new jewelry? Open the bidding for Diamond Earrings From DeVries Jewelry for $325 (retail price $575.)
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If you are looking to quit smoking, open the bidding on a $530 E-Cigarette Package From Kalamazoo Vapor Shop for only $200!
All that and more, all weekend with the Seize the Deal Auction!

subset: commoncrawl


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Frank Gaffney distorted Clinton's domestic security record
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., founder and president of the conservative Center for Security Policy, included factual errors and misleading information in his July 22 column, "The Bad Old Days," which appeared on the center's website and on David Horowitz's right-wing FrontPageMagazine.com.
Responding to reports that former President Bill Clinton's national security adviser, Samuel Berger, had allegedly removed classified documents from the National Archives, Gaffney suggested that the Clinton administration and its employees had repeatedly engaged in "this insidious and predictably dangerous" behavior, and provided examples that he suggested were proof of such a pattern.
Among his examples, Gaffney included the claim that Professor John M. Deutch, Clinton's second director of central intelligence, was "forced to resign" for having improperly kept classified material at his Bethesda, Maryland residence. But Gaffney's chronology is wrong. The security breach was not discovered until Deutch had concluded his tenure as CIA director, according to a report issued by the agency's inspector general. Deutch left his position on December 13; the classified information was discovered at his residence on December 17.
Gaffney also included as an example the "wall" designed to restrict information sharing between intelligence agencies and law enforcement operations, holding Jamie Gorelick (9-11 commissioner and former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration) partially responsible and naming it as a failing of the Clinton administration to adequately ensure national security. According to Gaffney, the "serious failures" that led to the September 11 terrorist attacks were in part a result of Gorelick's "insistence ... that the 'wall' ... be maintained in an even more exacting way than was otherwise required." Yet, as Media Matters for America noted on May 20, this "wall" was built before Gorelick became deputy attorney general and was retained by Attorney General John Ashcroft's own deputy, Larry Thompson.
Furthermore, Gaffney incorrectly described a Clinton-era policy designed to prevent intelligence abuses of the sort that happened in Latin America in the 1980s. Gaffney asserted, "[A]t the instigation of a close Clinton associate, then-Senator Bob Torricelli [D-NJ], the CIA was barred from using spies who had unsavory records." In fact, the policy only required that senior personnel approve the use of prospective informants with questionable backgrounds, as necessary for national security. The policy was enacted after then-U.S. Representative Torricelli (D-NJ) revealed that the CIA was complicit in illegal conduct in Guatemala, as The Washington Post reported on March 2, 1997:
Under a policy [John] Deutch established early last year, the CIA's officers for the first time must submit annual reports assessing the quality of their informants and generally are prohibited from recruiting new sources implicated in human rights abuses or criminal behavior. Senior CIA managers can approve recruiting such persons, but only for national security reasons.
Gaffney served under President Ronald Reagan as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy and was deputy assistant secretary to Richard Perle. He is also a columnist for The Washington Times and the Heritage Foundation's website, Townhall.com, and is a contributing editor to the conservative National Review Online.


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Steve Stevens (born Steven Schneider, May 5, 1959, Brooklyn, New York) is an American guitarist and songwriter. He is best known for playing for other artists (most notably Billy Idol, Michael Jackson, and Vince Neil)[1] and less so for his solo efforts (Atomic Playboys and Flamenco A Go-Go), collaborations (Bozzio Levin Stevens, a.k.a. Black Light Syndrome), and as an in-demand session guitarist. He is also a television personality on the E! show Married to Rock, alongside his wife, Josie Stevens. He is also known for his diverse collaborations. One notable example is his spanish guitar stylings for the trance group Juno Reactor in the song Pistolero.
Artist Website


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5 February 2013
WFP Mobilizes To Reach 2.5 Million Syrians
WFP is stepping up operations in Syria to reach 2.5 million people in the next three months. WFP reaches opposition and government-controlled areas through food distributions such as the one we see in this video, filmed on 31 January in the Al-Shadadi area of the northeastern Al Hassakeh governorate. Al-Shadadi is currently controlled by the opposition.


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Country music superstar Tim McGraw doesn't want to explicitly share who he's rooting for to win the Super Bowl. But he gave a pretty big hint.
``It would be nice to see Michael win and see that whole `Blind Side' story come to completion,'' McGraw says.
He's referring to Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher, whose life was the subject of the film ``The Blind Side.'' It starred McGraw and Sandra Bullock, who won an Oscar for her role.
McGraw, whose new album, ``Two Lanes of Freedom,'' comes out on Tuesday, was in New Orleans on Friday for a very early performance at the House of Blues broadcast live on ABC's ``Good Morning America.''
- John Carucci -http://twitter.com/jcarucci-ap
EDITOR'S NOTE - ``Super Bowl Watch'' shows you the Super Bowl and the events surrounding the game through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across New Orleans and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.


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From European royal palaces to impoverished African townships, anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela was remembered Friday for his tireless fight against injustice and racism and celebrated for the better world he left behind.
Former South African President Frederik W. de Klerk, with whom Mandela negotiated an end to the brutal racist regime in his homeland, recalled the man who succeeded him as head of state as "a force for reconciliation and social justice" to the end.
"It was an honor for me to have been able to work with Mr. Mandela in the process that led to the adoption of the interim constitution and our first democratic elections in April 1994," De Klerk said in a statement of condolence.
"Although we were political opponents, and although our relationship was often stormy, we were always able to come together at critical moments to resolve the many crises that arose during the negotiation process."
Despite Mandela's death Thursday, the last white leader of South Africa declared himself confident that Mandela's legacy "will continue to inspire all South Africans to achieve his vision of non-racialism, justice, human dignity and equality for all."
PHOTOS: Nelson Mandela through the years
In Soweto township, where Mandela lived during his years as an African National Congress militant, tearful residents gathered outside his former home, many sporting the ANC black, green and gold colors, to vent their sorrow and gratitude to the man who liberated them from the institutionalized racism of apartheid.
"If we can just strive to be half the person he was, with his humble forgiving soul, then I think this country would be a lot better," said mourner Annelice Govender.
Buckingham Palace issued a statement Friday saying that Queen Elizabeth II was "deeply saddened" to learn of Mandela's death.
"He worked tirelessly for the good of his country, and his legacy is the peaceful South Africa we see today," the British royal household said.
"Her Majesty remembers with great warmth her meetings with Mr. Mandela and sends her sincere condolences to his family and the people of South Africa at this very sad time."
FULL COVERAGE: Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela dies
Elizabeth's grandson Prince William learned of Mandela's passing after attending a film screening in London.
"We were just reminded what an extraordinary and inspiring man Nelson Mandela was," William, his wife, Catherine, by his side, told the BBC after leaving the cinema.
Another British subject, former England national soccer team captain David Beckham, recalled Mandela as "a true gentleman and a courageous human being."
"It was truly an honor to have known a man who had genuine love for so many people. Rest in peace," said Beckham, who met Mandela in 2003 during a friendly match between England and South Africa.
Olympic champion runner Usain Bolt hailed Mandela as "one of the greatest human beings ever" and the "world's greatest fighter."
PHOTOS: The world reacts to Nelson Mandela's death
Tributes to Mandela poured in from all corners of the world.
From Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sent condolences to South Africa and praised Mandela as someone who "believed undoubtedly in freedom and equality for all human beings, not only in South Africa but across the world."
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif added in condolences posted on his Facebook page that Mandela was "a role model for freedom-seeking revolutionaries" who succeeded not only in defeating apartheid but also in resisting the temptations of "power, anger, hatred, violence and revenge."
Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed Mandela as a world-renowned statesman who peacefully transformed his country.
"With arduous and extraordinary efforts, he led the people of South Africa to success in the struggle against apartheid, making a historic contribution to the birth and development of a new South Africa," Xi said in a statement that seemed carefully worded to avoid any encouragement of people power in communist-ruled China.
In Europe, the honors were more lauding of Mandela's personal sacrifice in challenging the apartheid regime, for which he spent 27 years in prison.
"Mandela traversed great hardships and trials, but remained true to the noble ideals of humanism and justice right to the end," Russian President Vladimir Putin said of the departed figure whose long imprisonment was frequently denounced by Soviet leaders before him.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Mandela a "luminous example" that will continue to inspire justice advocates for years to come.
"Even many years in prison could not break Nelson Mandela or make him bitter -- his message of reconciliation ultimately led to a new, better South Africa," Merkel said.
A giant portrait of Mandela covered the facade of the Quai d'Orsay building housing the French Foreign Ministry on the banks of the Seine River in Paris, and the Eiffel Tower was illuminated in the colors of the South African flag. Flowers were laid in front of the South African Embassy in the French capital, as was a newspaper emblazoned with a headline bidding farewell to the beloved leader: "Adieu Mandela."
ALSO:Girl's attack on toddler jolts China
Former Russian defense minister charged in corruption case
Friends, students reminisce about teacher slain in Benghazi, Libya
Twitter: @cjwilliamslat


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Springfield Baptist Church will be hosting a Women's Conference 'Renew Your Strength' from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 24 with registration beginning at 8:30 a.m. There will be a continental breakfast and lunch served. It will be a day of fellowship with guest speaker Jessica Castenir, music by Kindred Spirit. Call Springfield Baptist Church at (859) 336-3544 for reservations by March 16 due to preparation.
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But wait... we have more to celebrate than tuna today. Although tuna is pretty special, we have happy news.
You remember Toni and Mike who took Flat Max on that wonderful trip to New York where he got his paper furs wet at Niagra Falls... and then they took him on that wonderful cruise...(you can see all the adventures of Flat Max Here).
Well, we are happy to announce that they are adopting this guy.... His name is Sammie and he's just the sweetest boy....
|This is one great nose!!! I just love Nose shots.... up close and personal is the only way to go.
|And here is Sammie practicing for Easy Like Sunday... never enough time to practice...
Well... we know for sure that Sammie will never be ... abused, neglected or rejected ever again... Toni and Mike will take extra special care of him.... So welcome, Sammie, we are so glad you have found a new home.
Have a great Tuna Tuesday everybuddy!!


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Discussion (33) ¬
im interested in magic swords too.
Nazi elves. Should be completely absurd, and yet so much fantasy has suddenly clicked into place.
Sieg Heil! But then, the nazis did form their twisted ideology by stealing from the past. There was some sort of a ledgend of an aryan like race before their time that Himmler and Goebbels tried to twist into their own flawed philospophy.
The real aryan people spoke indo-irani languages and lived in an area around iran and india.
The aryan language family is one of the eastern branches of the indo-european language family.
The real aryan people still exist and live in north western india and in iran (name comes from aryan).
The nazi twisted history for their ideology and ignored who the real aryan people were.
What Linguist said six years ago, but I'll add that there does seem to be an Aryan Y chromosome. It is R1b, distantly related to the R2b gene found in most of Europe. The Andronovo Culture is usually associated with this population. In ancient poetry, the Vedas.
Interestingly the Germans had very little to do with any of this. Adolf was talking through his hat here.
Excuse me, Andronovo / the Indo-Aryan Y gene is R1a. The Celts and the Tocharians (wide apart!) share R1b. I suck at remembering strings of alphanumeric.
Finally the truth behind Tolkien's mythology uncovered. Let's not forget he was a white South African… in the middle XX century, with all it implies.
There you go Laz… and David!
Linguist… this is a web comic… I'm not sure you should be taking real life history into account for this…. just sayin…
Your'e right, this is just a web comic, not a high level, high stakes acedemic debate. It's common knowledge that the Nazis called their so-called super race the 'aryan', but I doubt they would have 'borrowed' the name from a culture they would have viewed as inferior to theirs. It's quite possible, too, that a word or a phrase can exist in different cultures and have different meanings.
The name was indeed taken from Indo-Iranians, notably Indo-Aryans. It was not an specifically Nazi feat however: it was part of the, sometimes quite racist, anthropology/prehistory of the late 19th and early 20th century. Aryan was easier to say than Indoeuropean, so that's probably why it stuck, with a Germano-centric or Nordo-centric perverse twist, until Hitler and co. gave the word the last abuse. Since then the term Aryan (in European context) and the swastika (not really related to Indoeuropeans in fact) became kind of taboo and are mostly used by Nazi-style thugs.
These issues do not really apply in Asia where the swastika is still widely used with religious/lucky meaning (and a curvy variant is also popular among Basques in Europe).
Goes farther back.
At the end of the _eighteenth_ century it was remarked that Sanskrit and Pali have much the same type of grammar as Latin or Greek.
The term "aryan" was used in a _linguistic_ context for the languages that _later_ were called indo-european. Because the word "Aryan" had acquired unpleasant connotations, that's why.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, some authors began to write of an Aryan race.
This was related to traveller's tales, speaking of misterious blond peoples in the north of India. Actually, there are not that many blonds there, and they can be accounted for because of the ancient country of Gandhara, peopled by Greeks come in the wake of Alexander the Great. There are ancient Indian pictures representing light-colored people together with dark.
Anyway, the "Aryan race" tale took root.
In 1839 Courtet del'Isle (French) published: A study of the human Races.
In 1855 A. Gobineau (French) publishes An Essay on the Unequality of human Races.
In 1890 H. S. Chamberlain (English) published The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century
In 1899 Vacher de Lapougue (French) published The Aryan and his social Role.
Needless to say, all these believe in the Aryan race.
Aand, you should add to this quite a corpus about the "Anglo-Saxon" race.
All this is connected to the Nationalistic movements in the nineteenth century. You'll find these ideas in France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and so on. Ah, and in the United States.
These theories permeated twentieth century thought ot such a degree that you can find people that personally hate racism but that still believe in concepts like "young race/old race" (which was used to justify spoliating and destroying the Native Americans). Hollywood history has lots of these misconceptions, it goes without saying.
I sure wish there was a shorter and witty way of saying all this.
a very interesting take on cultural history, thanks for sharing this! Although the Nazis perversion of culture and history was monstrous in both scope and content, I rather doubt that sub-intellectuals like the Nazi top dogs would have had the motivation or the brains to research it like you folks did, stitching together a cultural ideology from convieniently stolen bits of history won't stand up to scrutiny.
…wow… all that to clear up incorrectness… Piki, I facepalm and salute you. Oh, and rakshasa have what would normally be two left hands.
Yeah, sadly, the idea of a bunch of Nordic Aryans running around being the master race in early history was hardly cultivated by the Nazis. Northern Europe and the United States actually made the idea popular to begin with.
well laz can be rel stupid for a smartass
nazi elves!?… COOL! makes sense for their "we are better than everyone" speachs
oh and long time no comment for a while!
Dude. Srsly? Nazi elfs? Now you have to justify the term or prove it wrong, both aren't very good options. Cause, yknow, if you builded his character before, made him a little more charismatic, given the reader time to sympathize with him. Know him a little better. And then you drop the N bomb and completely change their percpective about him. Yknow, like Neil Gaiman, which I assume you read a bit cause, rly, gods, interacting with other pantheons and aware to the fact they are they have origins from earth. It's a nice twist, but it's wasted if you do it as soon as you can
Laz is reactionary and trollish, Kisame. I'm not going to base a plot point around one of his observations as he is now. Besides, the fact that Caleb's a jerk doesn't have to be a twist – we're still getting character introductions out of the way 🙂
But why did you choose the term "Aryan" of all possible real or imaginary ethnic groups? Obviously Laz is right and Caleb is a Nazi elf and you meant it that way. Also, as someone has mentioned, the racial superiority thing totally fits the elvish arrogance in most fantasy settings.
Because, there's a link between elves and the Aryan ideology, and the idea is that this crazy fantasy setting loosely parallels earthly belief systems. And Nazis were not the only ones to tout this idea – in fact, they borrowed it from northern Europe and other places where it was quite popular until recently. Laz reached for the most extreme and well known association he could find, and I can spend time in the future actually going deeper into the subject and developing Caleb as a character.
first Nazi zombies now Nazi elves what will be next
Nazi magic swords?
Communist dwarves?
Geez. People. You're getting over-reactive. The artist has a like major in Mythology, he knows what he's talking about. He's not talking about Nazis, Laz is a 13 year old smartass.
or it could be that the few who did believe the natzis, did so to a digrea that it was added to the world of methodology. but in a sort of patch, so the elves think they are a part of history but are only a recent addition?
That…actually makes a lot of sense.
By the way, the voting incentive seems broken to me.
This is beautiful. First LOTR names, now Nazi Elf? I love this


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In 2001 Christmas Island became synonymous with Australia's hard-line refugee policy after former conservative Prime Minister John Howard turned away a Norwegian tanker, the Tampa, carrying shipwrecked asylum seekers.
Nine years later, the island – an Australian external territory 1,600 miles northwest of Perth – is again in the spotlight, as asylum policy once again becomes a political football.
In Australia, which intermittently receives boatloads of refugees fleeing war and poverty in neighboring countries, the issue is always a sensitive one, but never more so than in an election year.
The Labor government, accused of being "soft" on border protection following a flurry of asylum-seeker boat arrivals on the island, has announced a freeze of up to six months on the processing of new refugee claims by Afghans and Sri Lankans.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans cited improved security conditions in the two countries when announcing the move last month. However, critics noted that the move followed the interception of dozens of boats in Australian waters this year, and revelations that an immigration detention center on Christmas Island is overflowing.
'Tough but compassionate'
After Kevin Rudd became prime minister in 2007, he abolished some of Mr. Howard's more controversial measures, such as sending asylum seekers to the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea for processing, and granting refugees five-year rather than permanent visas.
However, as part of an immigration policy that Mr. Rudd has called "tough but compassionate," his government continued the practice of preventing "boat people" from setting foot on the mainland. Christmas Island, where a detention center was built after the Tampa incident, became the centerpiece of that policy, with all "illegal" arrivals taken to the remote, tropical territory for processing.
Designed to accommodate at most 800 people, the center currently holds about 2,000, with the excess housed in prefabricated huts and air-conditioned tents. The government has been forced to fly some detainees to the mainland, where it recently reopened a Howard-era facility in Western Australia.
That action has provoked more criticism from human rights groups and refugee advocates, who claim that the isolated Curtin center – the site of riots and suicide attempts in the past – is unsuitable for its purpose. Zachary Steel, a clinical psychologist and senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, described it recently as "a psychiatric catastrophe."
Dr. Steel, who carried out a mental health study at the center, uncovered a tenfold increase in psychiatric disorders among children.
Chris Sidoti, a human rights lawyer who visited Curtin before it was mothballed in 2002, told The Age newspaper this month: "People had nothing to do. It was a lethal recipe for depression and unrest."
But with Labor behind in the polls for the first time since coming to power, according to two consecutive surveys this month in The Australian newspaper, the government is under pressure to prove its credentials on border protection. With an eye to the election, it has already ditched unpopular policies such as a proposed Emissions Trading Scheme and announced a new tax on the "super profits" of mining companies.
Although Australians have in the past expressed strong antipathy toward asylum seekers arriving by boat, the government's poll ratings did not improve after the announcement of the freeze on Afghans and Sri Lankans – indicating, perhaps, that the issue is nowadays less of a concern.
Defined by detention
On Christmas Island itself, residents are divided on the matter but also weary of it.
The Island used to be known as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, thanks to its profusion of endemic species, including native red crabs which stage a spectacular annual migration from the rainforest to the ocean.
Many of the 1,200 locals – most of them descendants of indentured workers brought over from China and Southeast Asia in the 19th century to work in the phosphate mines – say they are fed up with their home being used as a political football. They also worry that the island's prison island image will set back their attempts to establish an ecotourism industry.
"This is an incarnation of Christmas Island I don't really approve of," says Simon Prince, who runs a dive operation. "My opinion is that these are people needing our help. I've been involved in rescues [at sea] in the past, and generally they've got a tragic story to tell."
"I would like the place to be known for what it's best for – as a pristine wilderness, both above and below the water, and as one of the last frontiers of nature," he adds.
With hundreds of Immigration Department staff on the island, residents also complain that they can no longer afford rents, which have been driven up because of an accommodation squeeze.
Gordon Haye, Christmas's one taxi driver, says: "My brother and his son are living in a little shed because they can't afford a house. I know of a family with two kids living in a laundry [room] the back of someone's house."
However, with the phosphate industry waning, and tourism yet to take off, the island – closer to Indonesia than Australia – has become dependent on jobs and income generated by the detention center. "We have a detention economy on the island," says Gordon Thomson, president of the shire council.
Related stories:


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Russian Mining Company Uses Trump's Face to Brand Asbestos
An asbestos company in Russia is marketing its product using one of the most recognizable faces in the world - President Donald Trump.
The Russian mining firm, Uralasbest, posted photos of several pallets labeled with Trump's face to its Facebook page last month.
"Approved by Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States," the seal reads in Cyrillic.
Asbestos is a fibrous silicate material that saw widespread use in industrial and commercial purposes, like construction in the United States. The material went out of style after a series of scientific studies showed that exposure resulted in serious health concerns, such as mesothelioma and lung cancer. Use of asbestos is heavily restricted in the U.S., unlike 60 other countries which have banned it outright.
The 'stamp of approval' comes after the Environmental Protection Agency decided not to ban new asbestos products outright and that the agency would evaluate new uses of asbestos on a case-by-case basis. Environmental groups have criticized the EPA and its former administrator, Scott Pruitt for not going further by barring them on public health grounds.
Uralasbest, located in the mining city of Asbest in the Ural mountains, operates a massive mine for the material that reaches seven-miles long, a mile and a half wide and around 1,000 feet deep according to The Center for Public Integrity.
Trump has expressed his support for asbestos in the past, saying it was "100% safe, once applied," in his 1997 book, The Art of the Comeback. In 2012, Trump tweeted he believed the World Trade Center buildings "would never have burned down" after the Sept. 11 attacks if asbestos hadn't been removed from the building.
Some uses of asbestos are completely banned in the U.S., but some use is still permitted in clothing and roofing. The World Health Organization says "all types of asbestos cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, cancer of the larynx and ovary, and asbestosis," and that exposure comes from inhaling airborne fibers in working environments and around factories that use the material.
Photo: Getty Images


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Please provide comments to the issue below as part of the 2012 WCB cost model virtual workshop for inclusion in the record. Comments are moderated for conformity to the workshop's guidelines.
Hybrid Cost Proxy Model: The HCPM builds loop plant directly to customer locations via individual micro-grids. At the time the HCPM platform was adopted, micro-grids were hundreds of feet across. This approach allowed for an error of up to a few hundred feet in determining customer locations. The model defines customer "lots" within each micro-grid based on the customer population. The model allows for spanning-tree optimization of routes, although this is recommended only in sparsely populated locations. The feeder network is built on explicit spanning-tree algorithms, with user-defined inputs to select various approaches (e.g., airline v. rectilinear distance, allow artificial junction nodes).
CQBAT: The CQBAT model builds loop plant along road segments. It utilizes a spanning tree algorithm in order to find the optimal route (i.e., the lowest cost route) to serve all customer locations along road paths—a minimum spanning road tree.
Questions for Comment
- The CQBAT model appears to use a reasonable approach for estimating the plant necessary to serve customer locations. Is there any reason to deviate from this approach? Are there any changes that should be made to this approach?
- What additional information, if any, regarding the routing algorithm and outputs is necessary to understand the model's approach?
- Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Forward-Looking Mechanism for High Cost Support for Non-Rural LECs, CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 97-160, Fifth Report and Order, 13 FCC Rcd 21323, 21346, paras. 50, 56, n.106 (1998) (Platform Order)
- C.A. Bush, ET AL., Federal Communications Commission and Panum Telecom, LLC, Computer Modeling of the Local Telephone Network (1999), https://transition.fcc.gov/ccb/apd/hcpm/ (via HCPM_doc.zip) (HCPM Report)


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Vanessa Wilson shows you how to make adorable items for the nursery, including a changing pad, rocking chair cushions and window coverings.
You may know Vanessa as Crafty Gemini, from YouTube's Threadbanger channel. As you make a changing pad cover and rocking chair seat and back cushions, you'll learn piping, ruffles, French seams, blind hems and pleats. Measure and design cafe curtains and valances that will work for your nursery or any room in your home. As you learn these basic projects, you'll pick up professional-level techniques that you can use to make garments, more home decor, accessories and more. Decorate your nursery while learning fundamental skills to take your crafting to the next level!
If you're not delighted with your Bluprint experience, we'll make it right or give you a full refund.


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Listen to Ellie Goulding's Unreleased Song 'Only You' Courtesy of ASOS
Ellie Goulding, fresh off her breakup with DJ boyfriend Skrillex, has shared the previously unreleased song 'Only You' via ASOS.com. What makes this track so special is the fact that it comes with an interactive, shoppable music video.
If you love the stylish black leather short shorts or black and white patterned top that Goulding sports in the video, well you can buy 'em and bite off her look, instead of heading down to the local mall to try and find something similar. Imitation is such a sincere form of flattery.
The video's movable hotspots enable the viewer click-to-shop the product worn by Goulding. The video was also recorded exclusively for ASOS.
Goulding looks fashion forward and sexy in this clip and now she is giving you the chance to copy off her. If you are not a fashionista and could care less about her clothes and just want to hear the song, well you can do that, too. It's a win-win for either faction of Goulding fans. Plus, you get to see her looking extra cute in the ensemble.
This cross promotional effort is a partnership between the British singer and the ASOS fashion line. It's a smart strategy, since Goulding has a hip and happening look.
PopCrushers, any of you want to dress like Ellie Goulding?


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Norm Macdonald Returns to Series TV as COMEDY CENTRAL® Greenlights 'Sports Show With Norm Macdonald'
Scripted Series Picked Up For 8 Episodes And Is Slated To Premiere In April
Executive Produced By Macdonald, Marc Gurvitz, Lori Jo Hoekstra And Jackhole's Daniel Kellison
"Norm Macdonald: Me Doing Stand-Up" Premieres Saturday, March 12 at 11:00 P.M.
Feb 09, 2011, 10:33 ET
NEW YORK, Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- He made a name for himself as the anchor of "SNL's" Weekend Update, and now Norm Macdonald is taking the same approach, but with his sights set on the sports world. COMEDY CENTRAL has picked up "Sports Show with Norm Macdonald" and placed an 8-episode order for the show, it was announced today by Kent Alterman, head of original programming and production, COMEDY CENTRAL. The new series is slated to begin production this month and is scheduled to premiere in April.
"Sports Show with Norm Macdonald" will feature Macdonald's unique and comedic take on the most topical and controversial stories from the sports world. Taped in front of a live studio audience, the fast-paced and informative show will cover all sports -- from the popular to the obscure -- delivered with Macdonald's unforgettable style, reminiscent of his hugely popular run as "SNL's" Weekend Update anchor. The series will be executive produced by Macdonald, Marc Gurvitz, Lori Jo Hoekstra and Jackhole Productions' Daniel Kellison. Jim Sharp and Gary Mann are the executives in charge of production for COMEDY CENTRAL.
"Norm has the uncanny ability to say what I didn't even realize I was thinking," said Alterman.
"I'm excited and look forward to doing this series," said Macdonald. "On this show, we plan to put the central back in COMEDY CENTRAL."
A staple in the comedy world, Macdonald is best known for his offbeat delivery of the news as a Weekend Update anchor on "Saturday Night Live." Macdonald joined the cast of "SNL" in 1993 and remained on the show for five seasons where his impressions of Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman and Bob Dole, among others, are still talked about today.
A native of Quebec City, Canada, Macdonald began his career as a stand-up comic and made his way to Los Angeles, where he became a writer on the ABC hit series "Roseanne" and then starred in ABC's "The Norm Show" from 1999 - 2001. Macdonald's film credits include co-writing and starring in "Dirty Work," voicing Lucky the dog in all three of the Eddie Murphy remakes of "Doctor Dolittle," as well as appearing in "Billy Madison," "The People vs. Larry Flynt," and "Man on the Moon," among others. Macdonald has a history with COMEDY CENTRAL, which released his comedy album, "Ridiculous," in 2006 and, in 2008, Macdonald made an epic and unforgettable appearance on the COMEDY CENTRAL "Roast of Bob Saget." In addition, his upcoming original one-hour special, "Norm Macdonald: Me Doing Stand-Up" premieres on Saturday, March 12 at 11 p.m.
COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 98 million homes nationwide. COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks. COMEDY CENTRAL's Internet address is www.comedycentral.com. For up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs visit Press Central, COMEDY CENTRAL's press Web site, at www.comedycentral.com/press.
MTV Networks, a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of entertainment content, with brands that engage and connect diverse audiences across television, online, mobile, games, virtual worlds and consumer products. The company's portfolio spans more than 150 television channels and 400 digital media properties worldwide, and includes MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Harmonix, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, AddictingGames, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, SPIKE, TV Land, Atom, GameTrailers and Xfire.
SOURCE COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications


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Looking Back with Epperson, Fifty Years Later
This past July (2018), I had the pleasure of hosting NCSE Teacher Ambassadors at Georgia Southern for a two-day workshop. During our time together, we shared and explored content and best practices for teaching, covering everything from recent fossil discoveries to how to deal with conflict in the classroom. Early on, Stephanie Keep gave us a quick run-down on the history of evolution education in the United States, including the legal cases that set precedent for science teaching.
One slide featured a black-and-white photograph of a woman I had seen before, but many of our teachers had not. The picture was of Susan Epperson, classroom teacher and advocate. Keep told the assembled teachers to remember that this was all recent history. So recent, she said, that the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Epperson v. Arkansas, which overturned a ban on evolution and set precedent for the unconstitutionality of similar laws, is still actively supporting science education today.
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of her case, NCSE asked if I would be willing to reach out to Susan Epperson and ask her to reflect on her experiences. What an opportunity! Evolution education is a topic that is very dear to my heart. Like Epperson, I was raised in a religious community in the South.
Also like Epperson, I have experienced firsthand the pressures, concerns, and challenges that learning and teaching evolution can bring in this region, well-known for cultural and political undercurrents that tend to be seen as in conflict with evolutionary science. For a person to have the strength of will to stand up for teachers in the way that Susan Epperson did is inspiring and empowering to future generations of science teachers and advocates alike. It's a story worth telling, because today, fifty years later, there continue to be efforts to undermine and dilute the teaching of evolution in both blatant and surreptitious ways. We need Epperson's story to remind us of what can and should be done in the face of challenges to the teaching of accepted science.
Epperson v. Arkansas
The 1927 Arkansas law under which Susan Epperson sued was similar to Tennessee's Butler Act of 1925, under which John T. Scopes was prosecuted. But where the Butler Act only imposed a fine, its Arkansas counterpart allowed the offending teacher to be dismissed. An unsuccessful attempt to repeal the law in 1965 prompted the Arkansas Education Association (AEA) to orchestrate a lawsuit challenging the law's constitutionality. At the time, Susan Epperson taught biology at Central High School in Little Rock. She was expected to use a textbook that discussed human evolution, making her an ideal plaintiff. She was in a position to contend that the law was unconstitutional and also that it required her to choose between miseducating her students and being fired. I asked Epperson why she thinks she was recruited, and she said, "It's possible [Executive Secretary of the AEA] Forrest Rozzell and his lawyer had me in mind when I was hired … Mr. Rozzell knew I was a Christian, a native of Arkansas, thus not some 'outside agitator,' which might be avenues of attack from any opposition."
Epperson's challenge to the law was instantly a matter of public controversy and drew a range of reactions. "[I received] many very encouraging positive notes, from people I knew and some I didn't," she told me. "[But I also got] quite a few notes telling me I am going to hell, also some comparing me to a monkey." What about from your colleagues? I asked. Epperson responded, "My principal, Mr. Harry Carter, was completely supportive, saying, 'This has needed doing for a long time. If you have any trouble with anyone in the building, let me know.' Wonderful to have that kind of support. One teacher did confront me in the teachers' lounge saying, 'you're just a pawn in their hands.' But I happily recall a note Mrs. Patty Hadley, English teacher, left in my box saying, 'Bully for you!' Those sorts of memories help make it all worthwhile!"
The state trial began on April 1, 1966. Epperson (who had been told by her lawyer to expect the case to be settled out of court) was nervous but appeared calm and collected on the witness stand. "After some moments of panic, I just knew I needed to follow through with what I had said I'd do." The court's decision, issued on May 27, 1966, was that the anti-evolution law was unconstitutional. The state promptly appealed the decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which upheld the constitutionality of the anti-evolution law in a two-sentence decision issued on June 5, 1967. Epperson and her lawyers in turn appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case. On October 16, 1968, oral arguments were heard with Epperson in attendance. The unanimous decision in favor of Epperson was announced less than a month later, on November 12, 1968.
From Bans to "Balance"
The Supreme Court's decision was featured in headlines around the country. John T. Scopes, whom Epperson met for lunch in 1969, told the Associated Press that the decision came "43 years too late." By the time of the Epperson decision, the Butler Act was already a thing of the past, repealed by the Tennessee legislature in 1967. Still on the books, though, was Mississippi's 1926 anti-evolution law. It was swiftly challenged, and in 1970, the Mississippi Supreme Court found that "in Epperson ... the Supreme Court ... has for all practical purposes already held that our anti-evolution statutes are unconstitutional."
Of course, the affirmed unconstitutionality of evolution bans did not deter anti-evolution groups for long. In the wake of the Epperson decision, efforts to "balance" the teaching of evolution in the public schools with various supposedly scientifically credible alternatives, whether biblical creation, creation science, or "intelligent design," became common. These efforts were challenged in the federal courts, with victories for the cause of evolution education in such cases as Daniel v. Waters (1975), McLean v. Arkansas (1982), Edwards v. Aguillard (1987), and Kitzmiller v. Dover (2005)—all citing the Epperson decision as a crucial precedent.
The View from Arkansas
As for Epperson's home state of Arkansas, the legislature has not been swayed by the pattern of losses. Anti-evolution bills have been introduced many times, even as recently as 2017. The hostility toward evolution in the state has left its mark, as it has in so many other communities in the South and around the nation. In 2009, Mark W. Bland and Randy Moore surveyed Arkansas public high school biology teachers about what they present about evolution, finding that 27 percent of teachers disagreed with the statement that teaching creationism was inappropriate, going a long way to explaining why a full 23 percent were teaching creationism in their classrooms. While headway is being made in supporting and encouraging teachers to teach evolution, public opinion on the matter has not changed as much as might be hoped in the last 30 years. Even the mere mention of the word "evolution" in science education standards continues to be a source of controversy—especially in the South.
An Agent of Change
Looking back fifty years later, I asked Epperson what she took away from it all. "Well, obviously our case did not solve the problem. As long as preachers tell their congregations that this is an anti-God idea, then there will be efforts to remove it from classes. I have learned that one cannot debate the validity of evolution with students in class. Evidence that evolution occurred is abundant, so look at the science."
In other words, scientific evidence exists for us to follow where it leads. With students, we must define what science is and what it is not. Science is based on the evidence, not on faith; science is self-correcting, and it is not setting out to prove or disprove but rather to open our understanding through discovery.
Speaking with Epperson was an amazing experience. Her willingness to stand up for what she believes, especially at a time when she had so much to lose and felt pressure to abandon her cause from many directions, should be a reminder to us all that anyone, including a young high school science teacher in Little Rock, has the potential to bring about great change.
Thanks to Mark W. Bland, Randy Moore, Eugenie C. Scott, and especially Susan Epperson, for discussions and resources.
A modified version of this post originally appeared in Reports of the National Center for Science Education 38(4). If you like this interview, you're going to love the whole issue.
Amanda Glaze is an Assistant Professor of Middle Grades & Secondary Science Education at Georgia Southern University firstname.lastname@example.com


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Looking for a great little gift for the fun-loving guy in your life? How about a fun holiday surprise to get the season's festivities off to the perfect start? Santa's elves have been busy putting together our latest and greatest line of fun and fantastic holiday ornaments that make for perfect stocking stuffers, early holiday surprises and great little keepsake gifts.
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You are listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.
Literature is full of explorers, people who sail across oceans, tunnel deep into caves, or travel through time. Writer Gregory Crouch likes to read about a particular kind of pioneer: those who ventured into the skies. And that's his theme for our series Three Books.
GREGORY CROUCH: Today, it's like riding a bus. But it wasn't always that way. Vaulted from the sands of Kitty Hawk and freed from its military background by the end of the Great War, aviation soared into the 1920s and '30s on a direct course to tomorrow. Here are three flyers who not only helped open the skies but also brought literary gems back from the cutting edge of progress, from a time when flying was the most exciting thing in the world.
In 1931, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of America's biggest celebrity, served as radio operator in the back of her husband's plane on a voyage into the unknown. She chronicled the adventure in her book, "North to the Orient." The Lindberghs dropped in on fur trappers, Eskimos and missionary settlers in the frozen wilds of Canada and Alaska. They crossed the Bering Sea from Nome and visited Soviet outposts. But the book's climax comes in China Sea, where the Lindberghs surveyed the devastation caused by the 1931 flood. Her harrowing passages about the large, chillingly tranquil lake submerging the lives and homes of millions is surely one of the best descriptions of flood ever written. Only from the air could one comprehend the devastation.
"North to the Orient" won the National Book Award for general nonfiction in 1935. Antoine de Saint-Exupery's classic "Wind, Sand and Stars" carried off the award four years later. Believe it or not, before he wrote his much-beloved children's story "The Little Prince," Saint-Exupery was a professional pilot for a French airmail company, braving storms and mountains, Saharan deserts, windswept steppes and the brutal horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Genuine magic animates his pen, and through him, we suffer the perils of stormy skies, ache with the cold of the Andes and revel in the magic of lonely nights aloft, amid a glitter of stars.
Ernest K. Gann, author of "Fate Is the Hunter," picks up where Saint- Exupery left us, in the late 1930s. Gann takes us through his professional apprenticeship on domestic commercial routes. Often, the flights weren't even close to routine, as his story of being caught by a violent thunderstorm makes apparent. Once, during the World War II, Gann found himself in northeastern India, flying the notorious hump over the Himalayas, delivering supplies to China. High mountains, volatile weather and Japanese fighter planes made this one of the most dangerous aerial undertakings of the war even though it wasn't considered a combat operation. In one day on the hump, Gann witnessed the loss of four airplanes and 32 men.
Gann and Lindbergh survived their flying careers and died at advanced ages, but fate caught Saint-Exupery in its talons. His plane disappeared in the summer of 1944. He'd known the risks, and it's hard to imagine him wanting it any other way. As a friend of his had observed: It's worth it. It's worth the final smashup.
BLOCK: That's writer Gregory Crouch. He's the author of "China's Wings: War Intrigue, Romance, and Adventure in the Middle Kingdom During the Golden Age of Flight."
Copyright © 2012 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
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RonMartin on Family Tree Circles
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My grandfather was William Addison Martin ... born in Mineral County WV and passed away in 1942 in Allegany County, MD. My grandmother's name was Lillian Rizer. My Great Grandfather was Adison (or Addison) Martin (born around 1857) who was married to Victoria Marker.
I am looking for any links for the Martin family tree beyond my GGF.
Ronald N Martin ... son of Ralph L Martin
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Vincenzo Cosenza's world map of social networks.
Eerie sculptures from Tomohiro Inaba.
Using Twitter And Flickr Geotags To Map The World. More great maps from Eric Fischer.
An Abrupt End, a series of photos of bursting rubber balloons by James Hulse. Interesting series showing the possibilities made available through university and those without, capturing the potential impact of educational budget cuts.
VIDEOOfficial music video 'Sermon' woven with subliminal messaging by up and coming Swedish indie afro band - The Touch.
Jean Baptiste Fastrez's Tomahawk hair dryers.
Young French designer Jérémy Guénolé has designed this piece of furniture; a desk and work space intended to encourage good posture.
Florent Bouhey Fayolle designed the 'Sun Container' a radiator working by recycling solar heat.
"Choose Your Bullets is a desk accessory that empowers our thoughts and gives us the opportunity to shoot positive ideas." says Jorge Diego Etienne.
The Fe Wearables are a line of wearable art pieces that can be reconfigured and worn in infinite ways.
VIDEOGreat behind-the-scenes look at the craftsmanship and making of Leica lenses in the production facilities of Leica Camera AG.
SomeOne rebrands the National Maritime Museum ahead of their opening of a new wing next week.
Emerging Scottish atelier Method Furniture will be unveiling pieces from their new collection at 100% Futures during the 2011 edition of the London Design Festival in September.
The Seduction of Galileo Galilei is a public art project by Aleksandra Mir. To build a tower of automotive tires as high as possible until it topples over, only to start over again. Watch the Video!
'From Here For Here' is a project in which Ariane Prin explores creating useful products for that specific site, made from the waste that was created there.
An awesome new school by Huma Studio made entirely of Turf Grass!!!
Lincoln Supply benches by John Truex have cast concrete tops with bases made from reclaimed old growth pine, salvaged from a former factory building in Syracuse, NY.
Bionic glove to help golfer with the hand deformity.
FEATUREDA peek into the latest LA hotspot continuing the libations for bibliophiles trend... The Library is now open in The Rebury in hollywood! Check out some of the drinks at Tasteologie!
'Lufthansa and Graphic Design> Visual History of an Airline' a new book coming in September edited by Jens Müller und Karen Weiland.
FEATUREDThis week's roundup features subway shopping, ink riding and even a bit of Jedi management training.
Urban bee keepers check on rooftop bees making honey for restaurants in Melbourne.
Framing at United Measure - What's the difference between craftsmanship and something that is merely made?
Keg# is a new type of keg, which replaces the traditional barrel kegs, that are bulky, heavy and impractical. Design by Danish designers, Maja Thorning and Niels Astrup.
'Star Wars: the Blueprints' contains 500 blueprints from the iconic movie universe - including the Millennium Falcon!
Working Girl is the reinterpretation of a simple workshop stool featuring a lacquered beech seat, powder coated steel frame and subtle brass fixtures. By David Irwin for Deadgood.
'The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore' innovative film/iPad app/storybook experience by award-winning author/illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg.
Flederhaus in Vienna by Heri & Salli.
A Gentleman's Guide to tying a bow tie. Lovely illustration for the 2011 Trinity Ball Magazine. One of many gorgeous pieces from Conor Whelan.
Le Comic mailbox from design studio Ahsayane. Wall mounted mailbox is inspired by a comic bubble, and it has an independent compartment for advertisement flyers. Main body is stainless steel with a colored translucent door.
New illustrations featuring surreal portraits, intricate patterns and lush colors! By Ken K Chung, Mergs Illustration.
'Jelly shots' - A picture gallery of work from a group of chefs and designers who came together to produce lifelike creations using only jelly as material.
Michael Mieskes' exhibition 'Portrait und Gestalt' in Berlin.
Christian Louboutin's new campaign is a slice of art inspired advertising and another great collaboration with Peter Lippmann.
Ink Riders, awesome new series from Alberto Seveso.
Seal your letters with the tokka safety pin stamp!
Beautiful illustrations by Peter P. Plasencia for Franz Born's 1964 book Jules Verne: The Man Who Invented the Future.
Lightning quilted ipad case from maharishi.
'Twins' an installation by artist Lawrence Lek and industrial designer Onur Ozkaya was part of 'Illuminations', the inaugural exhibition of the Coldharbour London artspace.
A project which focuses on the future of the human race - Where will we go when the Earth can no longer sustain us?
Abort, Retry, Frame: a dir /p of nostalgia. A new art concept that lets us remember the floppy disks of our youth.
BDW 2011 video impressions. Belgrade Design Week konference FUTURE² had stunning line up of speakers with inspiring lectures.
A project by Suppose Design (Japan), a roof-top bathroom, open to the outside. Amazing.
Illuminated mixtapes from Adam Parks (Gigawatt).
FEATUREDTom Back's Thrive Hive and Ben Fursdon's High Rise Wormery bring bees and worms to urban balcony gardeners! Great pieces featured at New Designers.
Dana Tanamachi - New York based graphic designer and custom chalk letterer. Dana creates large-scale chalk installations. She also applies her chalk lettering to a wide variety of uses for publications, packaging, and apparel.
Beautiful outdoor lighting by .PSLAB for Iris, a rooftop bar in Beirut.
FEATUREDLeontine May's 'Animal Mineral Vegetable' show opening at Gallery 1988 tonight ~ gorgeous show, the details are stunning!


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Arctic Impressions
by Photographs by Evan Anderman
This is the price your customers see. Edit list price
About the Book
Features & Details
- Primary Category Arts & Photography Books
Standard Landscape, 10×8 in, 25×20 cm
98 Pages
- Publish Date Feb 13, 2013
- Language English
About the Creator
Evan Anderman is a social-landscape photographer based in his hometown of Denver, Colorado who shoots mostly from his airplane. In his youth Anderman spent a great deal of time in the mountains and plains of Colorado and the Western United States. This love of the land eventually led Anderman to pursue the earth sciences as a career and he obtained several degrees in Geological Engineering. After working nearly two decades in the field, Anderman took his love for the landscape and pursued his passion for photography to become a full-time artist in 2005. Anderman is especially attracted to less-traveled, and often barren, areas such as Eastern Colorado, the high deserts and forests of the Western United States, Antarctica, Iceland and the Arctic. He finds peace in the solitude that these places offer, and is empowered to rise to the challenge of portraying these landscapes with optimism.


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Weekend Confidential: David Karp
David Karp doesn't look like a Champagne-swilling clubgoer who parties with P. Diddy. Tall and reedy, the young techie—he turned 27 last week—looks like he'd be more comfortable in front of a computer monitor than under a strobe light.
But in late June, the Tumblr CEO had cause to celebrate, waving a bottle of bubbly in the air amid the thrum in a Cannes discothèque in widely circulated photos. Mr. Karp had recently sold his company Tumblr, a blogging service, to Yahoo for $1.1 billion. (His estimated take: $250 million.) He was in France for an advertising festival, schmoozing ad buyers to help his parent company earn back some of that money.
Just a few weeks before his trip to France, newly invigorated by his multimillion-dollar windfall, Mr. Karp was sitting in a quieter milieu. Seated at a booth in the Manhattan restaurant Maialino, he speared strawberries as he extolled the virtues of the company he started at age 20 and his new corporate partner. " Marissa Mayer is awesome," he says, referring with seemingly unfeigned enthusiasm to Yahoo's chief executive and his new boss. "It's been an awesome couple of weeks."
There's more change to come. His company, which now hosts over 100 million blogs, is about to get much more visibility thanks to its parent company. Though he's taken great pains to promote Tumblr's independence, it was clear from the very first joint news release that Ms. Mayer plans to be deeply involved.
With the draft in Google 's online service for sharing documents, "I watched her in the Google doc editing the press release, with [Yahoo's] lawyer making comments on the side," along with Yahoo's heads of PR and marketing and himself, he says. The experience of drafting the document together was, he adds, "awesome."
The second sentence of the release reads, "Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business." Ms. Mayer "wrote 'promise not to screw it up' herself," says Mr. Karp. "To have her personally go into the press release and make that statement up front, in front of the whole world, in front of their shareholders…was such an awesome gesture on her part."
It will be the first time Mr. Karp has reported to anyone full-time since he was a teenager. He grew up on New York City's Upper West Side, the son of progressive parents who encouraged him to leave Bronx Science, a prestigious public high school, to focus on his passion: computers.
The summer that he turned 15, Mr. Karp was interning as an engineer for the media entrepreneur and TV producer Fred Seibert, and his parents realized he was enjoying work a lot more than school. They "were the ones who caught it," he says. "I remember very vividly: They came to my room and asked, 'Are there any teachers you're excited about this year?' " He says that he was oblivious to what they were getting at, admitting, "I never know when somebody's angling for something."
When he answered his parents' question in the negative, they told Mr. Karp that he could continue his internship instead of going back to school. Within a few years he had learned enough programming to build websites for stores in his neighborhood.
Instead of socializing with contemporaries, he hung out with the adults at Mr. Seibert's office. "I didn't say a word my first few months," he says. "I was a shy kid."
When it was time to get a full-time job, Mr. Karp became a salesman at Apple retail and service company Tekserve. But he was only allowed to sell computer wires, not computers, because he was "just a kid." He went on to be head of product at Urbanbaby, the parenting blogging community, working remotely from his bedroom in his mother's house.
While working on Urbanbaby, he abruptly left the U.S. in 2004, at age 18, after his girlfriend of 2½ years broke up with him. Two weeks after the split, he bought a ticket to Tokyo and told no one but his mother that he was moving. "She was kind of sad," he says. Mr. Karp stayed in Japan for a year, returning to the U.S. once he began to get reports about the startup boom. His stint at Urbanbaby later paid off: When CNET bought the company in 2006, he reportedly earned hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Back in New York, he contacted his old mentor Mr. Seibert to rent office space, where he started a company called Davidville. In 2005, he came up with the idea for starting Tumblr as a Davidville product, after seeing a statistic showing that more blogs were being registered every year but the number of active blogs was actually decreasing.
Mr. Karp suspected that this lack of follow-through had a lot do with the relatively formal feel and voice of blogs at the time. Would-be bloggers felt obliged to mimic the style of existing publications. The idea for Tumblr was to offer a simple way for anyone to start a blog and add text, photos and videos to it. "It was about unlimited expression, really raw expression, a raw look through the author's eyes," Mr. Karp explains.
By the fall of 2012, the company had attracted the attention of Yahoo. Mr. Karp says his company wasn't looking for a buyer. But when Ms. Mayer visited his office that winter and walked him through what the two companies could do together—Tumblr bringing Yahoo more content, Yahoo increasing Tumblr's audience—Mr. Karp took her seriously. He says the toughest question she asked was how Tumblr would make money from mobile users, the majority of its base. (Users can post to their own blogs and browse others on their phones.)
It was a good question. With Tumblr's business on mobile growing three times faster than on the Web, living up to a billion-dollar sale price is a tall order without a proven model for mobile ads. Did the size of the offer from Yahoo surprise Mr. Karp? "I wasn't, like, shocked when Marissa came in and said it. It was just like a general shock to the system, and I was like, 'Oh my God, can I do this right now? Is this the right thing for us?' " Mr. Karp says he's not worried about revenue. He points to the four ad products Tumblr has rolled out in the past year as well as to plans to continue to update Tumblr apps.
Excursions to the French Riviera aside, Mr. Karp says that his personal life hasn't changed much since the acquisition, and he plans to keep it that way. He'll continue to live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with his girlfriend of the past four years, a nursing-school student. He has no plans to move closer to the mother ship in Silicon Valley. "I don't know how you could live in Palo Alto," he says. "It's just boring." Mr. Karp won't be taking any wild vacations, and says that he prefers spending weekends at home or at the movies with his parents. His only new toy is a Honda motorcycle that he enjoys fixing and rebuilding. He does plan to take on philanthropy at some point. "There are some ramifications," he says earnestly. "I have to think of something responsible to do."
Our allotted time together is one hour, and at exactly 59 minutes, Mr. Karp looks down at his phone to check on his next meeting and then stabs the last of his strawberries. He concludes, "It's a ridiculous circumstance for a 26-year-old to be in."
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