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As the telecommunications world went wireless and digital, the tried-and-true method law enforcement agencies used for wiretaps—splicing into the local loop—was in danger of becoming an anachronism. In 1994, Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which required telecommunications switches to incorporate a capacity for government monitoring of phone calls and other communications. That requirement ultimately produced an ANSI standard, J-STD-025, that dictated the capabilities of the hardware interface used by law enforcement agencies. A team of academic researchers has now put that standard to the test, and found that it's vulnerable to various forms of denial and obfuscation attacks.
As the authors note, the monitoring of domestic communications has been a source of controversy in recent years; others have questioned whether having a standard capacity built into every piece of communication hardware leaves the US communications infrastructure at risk of external attack. They avoid these issues, however, and focus on a simpler question: how well does the J-standard actually work?
The answer, it appears, is that it's trivial to defeat it and interfere with wiretaps. The big caveat to this work is that the authors didn't have access to any of the actual hardware used by law enforcement agencies; they simply tested whether hardware that follows the J-standard could hold up to a variety of attacks. It's possible that hardware makers have exceeded the standards with more recent equipment, and obviated some of the problems.
Still, there are two reasons to think that at least some wiretaps would be vulnerable. The first is that the hardware that's actually deployed is probably from a variety of generations and manufacturers, making it likely that some of it does the bare minimum needed to comply. The second is that the authors demonstrate multiple vulnerabilities, making it unlikely that even the best equipment handles all of them.
Part of the problem is that there are two classes of phone monitoring available to law enforcement: simple call logging, which is relatively easy to obtain, and full call recording, which is typically more challenging. The two are handled separately within the protocol, and the capacity granted for the logging was based on typical usage patterns at the time: a single, 64kbps ISDN line. The authors go on to show that it's relatively simple to exceed this bandwidth with a single computer or smartphone, creating a denial of service situation.
Part of the problem is that there's an asymmetry between the basic information that needs to be sent down a phone line—there's a connection waiting—and all the information that law enforcement needs, such as the source, a datestamp, a case identifier, etc. This asymmetry ensures that even a simple unconnected call produces significant data that has to be stuffed down the 64kbps pipe.
The other part of the problem is that modern telephony creates a variety of methods of sending a lot of traffic to an individual phone line with minimal effort. So, for example, the authors use an ISDN phone to send commands to voicemail boxes at a rate of 94 calls a second. Forty-two text messages a second would also work, as would repeated call/hangups using IP telephony. A rate of 20 hangups a second would do the trick, and the researchers were easily able to exceed that from a residential broadband connection.
Since the J protocol doesn't allow for queueing or buffering, once the bandwidth is exceeded, any information that can't be stuffed down the pipes is lost. So, once these levels are exceeded, law enforcement call logging becomes unreliable. The protocol is less clear about the capacity allocated to content monitoring, but the authors' analysis suggests that this would be even easier to saturate.
More sophisticated attacks are also possible. For example, the J protocol calls for a termination of call recording once a tone is registered. However, communications hardware will only register the tone if it originates from specific hardware. As a result, a person being monitored could send the tone over their phone; the monitoring equipment should hang up, while the call would continue.
The authors were also able to craft a variety of IP packets that would interfere with monitoring. These include false datestamp information—which would inject irrelevant packets into the middle of a conversation—and eliminating the directionality information used by packets in some CDMA cellular systems. They also built packets that would be routed part of the way to the end user, but never reach them; these would be seen by the tap, but not interfere with the phone conversation.
All told, the authors come up with six attack scenarios that they consider practical, in that they could be carried out with readily available equipment. In fact, they tested a number of them using a laptop tethered to a CDMA phone (in one case, causing Sprint to throttle back their bandwidth).
They also suggest a number of stopgap measures that could be used to help avert some of their own scenarios, such as providing law enforcement with greater bandwidth. Still, it's clear that they think the J standard is due for a complete rewrite, as they suggest it was the product of compromise among law enforcement, hardware makers, and telcos, and a product of simpler telecommunications times.


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Mmmm, Chest Hair.
Janet T. provided the best portrayal I've ever seen of Tom Selleck in icing. (Well, ok, technically it's also the only portrayal of Tom Selleck in icing I've seen.) But that chest hair -- egads! Looks like Emma will be having a very "Hairy" birthday indeed. [shudder]
(UPDATE: This Wreck has been claimed! Thanks to baker Alicia for being such a good sport.)
If you prefer to be shot through the heart, though, you could request the "V-neck special" slice from this Bon Jovi cake:
Don't get me wrong; those frosted highlights are totally rad, dude, but, like, where's his nose? And those stars of David - Oy vay! Get me some bad medicine, stat; this cake is giving more than love a bad name*.
Hmm. You know, I'm thinking this post just isn't Wrecky enough. [Virtually rifling through submissions] AHA!! Here we go:
The best part? It's called a "Macho Man Cake". [Cue the Village People] That's right: it's not an 8-year old boy; it's a MACHO man. Who waxes. And, er, drools black stuff. And likes to lay in a bed of mustard. And has some serious groin grooming issues. And - oh, you get the idea.
*Mini Wrecks contest: whoever works the most Bon Jovi song titles into their comment wins! Not an actual prize or anything, you know; just fame and glory. ;)

subset: commoncrawl


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35 Writers Head to Goodspeed Musicals' First-Ever Musical Theatre Writers Colony
A total of 35 established and emerging writers, composers and lyricists will converge on the Goodspeed campus this month to participate in the first-ever Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing more than twenty new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.
The Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed is an unparalleled, long-term residency program devoted exclusively to musical theatre writing. It will provide a sanctuary for composers, lyricists, and librettists to embark on new musical theatre work or to devote a substantial amount of time to a work-in-progress in an environment rich with creative energy.For four weeks, starting today, January 21, writers will be immersed in this stimulating environment with the singular purpose of allowing the writers to write. In partnership with the Johnny Mercer Foundation, Goodspeed will proudly offer established and emerging writers the unique opportunity to research, develop and create new musicals. Over the course of the four week program, numerous industry luminaries will be on campus serving as mentors for the many writing teams led by Jonathan Brielle, Writer/Producer in Residence and Vice President of the Johnny Mercer Foundation; Bob Alwine, Associate Producer and Donna Lynn Cooper Hilton, Line Producer for Goodspeed Musicals. Award-winning director Michael Bush will serve as Dramaturge/Mentor throughout the residency.
The outstanding writers who have been invited to participate in the inaugural colony have earned tremendous recognition in the industry with honors such as the Tony Award, Emmy Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Lorenz Hart Award, Kleban Award, ASCAP's Harold Arlen Award, Fred Ebb Award, Jonathan Larson Fellowship, ASCAP Frederick Loewe Award, ASCAP Cole Porter Award for Music and Lyrics and The National Art Song Award, as well as special grants from the NEA.
We are pleased to announce that the 2013 writing teams are (in alphabetical order) Aron Accurso, Will Aronson, Arthur Lafrentz Bacon, Sean Barry, Neil Bartram, Rob Baumgartner Jr., Jonathan Brielle, Ben Clark, Sam Davis, Christopher Dimond, Harris Doran, Laura Eason, Jenny Giering, Adam Gwon, Christy Hall, Brian Hargrove, Laura Harrington, Mark Hollmann, Victor Kazan, Hannah Kohl, Michael Kooman, Greg Kotis, Patrick Lundquist, Jordan Mann, Daniel Maté, Thomas Mizer, Curtis Moore, Adam Overett, Kevin Purcell, Jason Schafer, Benjamin Scheuer, Peter Seibert, Jeff Thomson, Beth Turcotte and Sam Willmott.
The start of the Writers Colony marks the realization of a long-held dream for Goodspeed Musicals. Thanks in part to the wonderful support of The Johnny Mercer Foundation, Goodspeed continues to be an incubator for the next generation of musical theatre artists and performers as well as the center for the American Musical.
Dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theatre, Goodspeed Musicals produces three musicals each season at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn., and additional works at The Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn., which was opened in 1984 for the development of new musicals. The first regional theatre to receive two Tony Awards (for outstanding achievement), Goodspeed celebrates another milestone - its 50th Anniversary - in 2013. In addition to the two theatres and production facilities, Goodspeed maintains The Scherer Library of Musical Theatre and The Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre. Goodspeed gratefully acknowledges the support of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.
Who's Who: 2013 Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals Participants:
Project: Untitled
Jonathan Brielle (Book, Music, Lyrics) Currently has four musicals in development including the critically acclaimed NYMF production of Himself and Nora opening April 24th at the brand new Hamilton Stage in New Jersey before its Broadway run; 40 Naked Women, A Monkey and Me premiered last summer at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Conference staring Veanne Cox and Steve Blanchard; Nightmare Alley premiered at the Geffen Playhouse as the last project directed by the legendary Gil Gates; as well as a brand new unnamed musical at the Colony.
On Broadway, Jonathan wrote the songs for Foxfire staring theater legends Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, and Off-Broadway served as Composer in Residence at Circle Rep in NY under Marshal Mason and Landford Wilson writing songs and scores for dozens of plays including a new version of Fifth of July, The Great Grandson of Jedidiah Kohler, and Besides Herself. Regionally, an earlier version of Himself and Nora earned a National Endowment Award at The Old Globe in San Diego and then at The James Joyce Center in Dublin earning the Joyce estate's seal of approval. His US and UK Tours include: Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, Rugrats, & Goosebumps Live!; Jonathan's Las Vegas shows include: Enter The Night (book, music, lyrics) which ran for 12 years at the Stardust Hotel, and a two year run of Madhattan (book, music, lyrics) which opened the New York, New York Hotel featuring 30 street performers form the streets of Manhattan.
Jonathan is serving his fourth year as Board Member of The Johnny Mercer Foundation and his second term as Vice-President overseeing the JMF Songwriting Project at Northwestern University, originating the Kaufman Lyric writing program in title one schools in New York, the NJPAC lyric writing program for title one schools in New Jersey, and is serving as the Writer Producer in Residence of the Writers Colony. He is also the former National Projects Director of the Songwriters Guild of America and is the founding member of Tritone Productions with partners director Michael Bush, and producer Aldo Scrofani. For more info go to: www.jonathanbrielle.com.
Project: Untitled
Mark Hollmann received the Tony Award, the National Broadway Theatre Award, and the Obie Award for his score to Urinetown the Musical, which itself won Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Awards for best musical. Other shows as composer/lyricist: Yeast Nation (New York International Fringe Festival, Perseverance Theatre, and American Theatre Company), Bigfoot and Other Lost Souls (Perseverance Theatre and Atlantic Stage) The Man in the White Suit (New York Stage and Film), The Girl, the Grouch, and the Goat (University Theatre, U. of Kansas), Alchemist the Musical (Seattle Fringe Festival), Jack the Chipper (Greenview Arts Center, Chicago), Kabooooom! (University Theater, U. of Chicago), I Think I Can and Deal with It! (Berkshire Theatre Festival), and Fare for All (Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Gardens, NYC). Actor/co-writer for The Rack, Theater of Funny, The Mercy Ripper, LBJFKKK, Love Me, All Eight Die, and After Taste (all at Cardiff Giant Theater, Chicago). TV: songs for Disney Channel's Johnny and the Sprites. Mark received his bachelor's degree in music from the University of Chicago, where he won the Louis Sudler Prize in the Creative and Performing Arts. He serves on the Tony Nominating Committee and the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America, and is a member of ASCAP.
Greg Kotis is the author of many plays and musicals including Urinetown (Book/Lyrics, for which he won an Obie Award and two Tony Awards), Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards, The Boring-est Poem in the World, Yeast Nation (Book/Lyrics), The Truth About Santa, Pig Farm, Eat the Taste, and Jobey and Katherine. His work has been produced and developed in theaters across the country and around the world, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theater, American Theater Company, the Eugene O'Neill National Theater Conference, Henry Miller's Theatre (Broadway), Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Stage and Film, Perseverance Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Soho Rep, South Coast Rep, and The Old Globe, among others. Greg is a member of the Neo-Futurists, the Cardiff Giant Theater Company, ASCAP, the Dramatists Guild, and was a 2010-11 Lark Play Development Center Playwrights Workshop Fellow. He grew up in Wellfleet, Massachusetts and now lives in Brooklyn with his wife Ayun Halliday, his daughter India, and his son Milo.
Sean Barry is a writer of fiction, poetry, and theatre. He wrote the book and lyrics for "Saint-Ex" (music by Jenny Giering), which was selected by The Sundance Institute for the 2008 Theatre Lab at White Oak, awarded the 2010 Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, and received a 2011 NEA grant and a NAMT New Musical Development award. "Saint-Ex" premiered in August, 2011 at the Weston Playhouse in Weston, VT. Sean's work has appeared in numerous publications, including Boston Review and Mississippi Review. He is currently a writer-in-residence at CAP21 in New York. Sean is at work on a novel.
Laura Eason is the author of more than twenty full-length plays, original work and adaptations. Her plays have been produced at theaters all over the country including multiple productions at the Steppenwolf and Lookingglass Theatres in Chicago, the Humana Festival, Baltimore Centerstage, Kansas City Rep, Hartford Stage, Actors Theatre, Women's Project, and 59E59 in NYC, among others. Her work is published by Smith and Kraus, Playscripts, and Broadway Play Publishing. She has received Chicago's Jeff Award for New Work and Adaptation. In New York, she is an Affiliated Artist of the Obie-winning New Georges and an alumna of the Women's Project Playwright's Lab. She is an active ensemble member and former Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre Company, recipient of the 2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Laura is a graduate of the Performance Studies Department of Northwestern University. Originally from Chicago, she lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Jenny Giering's scores include The Mistress Cycle (produced at Apple Tree Theater, New York Musical Theater Festival); Crossing Brooklyn (commissioned and by The Boston Music Theater Project, The Transport Group and the Beautiful Soup Theater Collective, 2008 Kleban Award); Alice Unwrapped (commissioned by Premieres, Inc. and produced at the Zipper Theater with Jennifer Damiano); Saint-Ex (2011 World Premiere at The Weston Playhouse Theater Company, Weston VT, 2010 Weston Playhouse New Musical Award). Her awards include The National Art Song Award, The Dramatists' Guild Jonathan Larson Fellowship, the Constance Klinsky Prize from Second Stage Theatre Company, and the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award. She was named the Clifton Artist in Residence at Harvard University and composer-in-residence at Sundance's Ucross Residency. She's at work on a new commission for Playwrights' Horizons with Laura Harrington and Adam Gwon.PLEASE NOTE: She is also working on Alice Bliss.
Patrick Lundquist is a Singer/Songwriter residing in Los Angeles, CA. He began his career working for 7-Time Grammy Award winning singer Al Jarreau. Patrick's talents intrigued Mr. Jarreau, and the two began sharing and writing music together. Soonafter, Patrick began singing backup for Al in studio and in concert. Mr. Jarreau has referred to Patrick's music as "getting to the intricacies and sensitivities of what lyrics can bring to a piece of music." In January 2011, Patrick branched away, co writing an EP for his vocal group Embassy Tide, with collaborator Pete Seibert. The EP debuted at #9 on the iTunes vocal charts. The CD came across the desk of jazz legend George Duke who has called it "A Huge Sound." Patrick has performed these songs for audiences exceeding 20,000 in such venues as the American Airlines Arena in Miami and the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. Other significant performances include a small benefit for the Kennedys on Cape Cod, and at the Republican Party's largest annual fundraiser, The President's Dinner. His voice has been heard on numerous studio releases, including Adam Lambert's Billboard Top Ten album For Your Entertainment, as well as the hit comedy Easy A. In addition to being a musical theatre actor, Patrick continues to write, demoing his work on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, and singing both live and in studio sessions around Los Angeles.
Peter Seibert is a composer, conductor, and pianist based in Los Angeles. Additional music and/or arrangement film credits include One for the Money, Footloose, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, Disney's Prom, FAME, and Dear John. Peter recently completed Paradise Lost, a tuba concerto commissioned by Seth Cook and the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra. He was also one of 25 film composers to contribute music to Haiti: A Symphony of Hope. The collaborative piece debuted in Los Angeles on August 3, 2012 with the Hollywood Studio Symphony. A faculty member at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy of Los Angeles, Peter teaches Songwriting and accompanies the academy's esteemed gospel group, SONGBOOK. Peter is a recipient of ASCAP's Harold Arlen Award for Film & TV Music. He currently writes additional music for Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva and the FOX television series Mob Doctor.
Sam Willmott is an New York City-based composer/lyricist whose work has been performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Walnut Street Theatre, 54 Below, Joe's Pub at The Public Theatre, The York Theatre Company, and other venues across the country. He is the recipient of the 2012 Fred Ebb Award, the 2012 John Wallowitch Award, and the 2009 Kennedy Center ACTF Musical Theater Award.Sam's written work includes Standardized Testing - The Musical!!!! (published through Playscripts Inc., Emerson College's 2012-2013 fall mainstage musical), the mini-musical Scarlet Takes a Tumble(2011 Humana Festival Heideman Award Finalist), and Yo, Vikings!with lyricist Marcus Stevens (commissioned by Upper Darby Summer Stage, 2011 Richard Rodgers Award Finalist). He is currently at work on several new projects, including two collaborations with 2011 Kennedy Center Kenan Fellow Brian Sutow.Mr. Willmott's is also an active a music director, arranger, orchestrator and pianist, and his work in these areas has taken him from Radio City Music Hall to Key West to Abu Dhabi, UAE. He has been fortunate enough to work with an exciting and eclectic assortment of distinguished artists such as five-time Tony-nominee Elizabeth Swados, Dan Goggin (the creator of Nunsense), recording artists Will and Anthony Nunziata, and singer/songwriter Shaina Taub. In May 2012, he made his Broadway debut subbing on the Key II book of Sister Act.His's additional accolades include two featured songs ("I'm Sitting Next to Estella" and "Real Adventure") in the Directory of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers "Top 25 Songs" list, a 2009 Music Theatre Fellowship at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, a Tisch School of the Arts Trustee Scholarship, Interlochen Center for the Arts' prestigious Maddy Summer Artist Award, and two National Capital Area Cappie Awards. He is an alumnus of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, New York University and the 2011 Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, and a member of the Dramatists Guild, Local 802 AFM, and the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop.
Sam Davis Broadway credits as arranger and/or conductor include Drood, Scandalous, Curtains, The Apple Tree, and the upcoming Big Fish. He was musical supervisor for Dreamgirls at the Apollo (also the national tour, Korea, and South Africa), plus orchestrator for The Trumpet of the Swan (Kennedy Center). As composer: Bunnicula (Daryl Roth Theater), Love and Real Estate (59 E 59), and the album Love on a Summer Afternoon (P.S. Classics). Winner of the Jonathan Larson Award for composition and a graduate of the University of Michigan. For more information visit www.samdavismusic.com
Brian Hargrove (Book and Lyrics) was a writer/producer on the television shows "Dave's World", "Caroline in the City", "Holding The Baby", and "Maggie". He co-created and executive produced "Titus" on Fox, and was an executive producer for "Wanda at Large". He created the sit-com "Nora" for TBS, wrote the book My Life as a Dog a mock-ography of Frasier's Eddie, co-wrote a new narration for Camille Saint-Saëns' "Carnivale of the Animals" performed at the Hollywood Bowl and wrote the book and lyrics for "It Shoulda Been You", a new musical headed to New York next fall.
Benjamin Scheuer (composer/lyricist) wrote music and co- wrote lyrics to Jihad! The Musical, which played sold-out runs in Edinburgh and London (dir Gordon Greenberg.) Scheuer's operetta The Nightingale and the Rose was produced NYC's Metropolis Opera Poject. A 2010 Johnny Mercer Songwriting fellow, Scheuer writes and performs with his band Escapist Papers, whose recently released their second album, "The Bridge." He gave the debut performance of "The Bridge" at Lincoln Center's Broadway's Future Series in January 2012. Scheuer composed songs for theRoundabout Theatre's reading of "What Would Nora Say" (dir Ted Sod). Scheuer has studied at the BMI workshop, was a member of the LABrynth Theatre's Intensive Ensemble, and holds an English degree from Harvard College. Diagnosed with, treated for, and cured of advanced-stage cancer at 28, Scheuer is alive and well at 30 years old. He lives in New York City.
Victor Kazan has worked in the entertainment industry for four and a half decades, and is equally at home in a theatre or on a film set. A native Londoner, he studied Modern Languages at University of London before training as an actor at Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He subsequently carved a distinguished reputation as a writer and director in British theatre and television before taking up permanent residency in Australia in 1980.In his early London productions he was fortunate in having the opportunity of working with luminaries of the British Stage such as Margaret Lockwood, Richard Todd and Judi Dench - experiences that proved invaluable in his artistic development. Although during these latter years in Australia he has worked primarily as a screenwriter and lyricist, he still enjoys the occasional directing engagement. He recently staged a highly acclaimed production of The Magic Flute, which was conducted by legendary Glyndebourne maestro, Myer Fredman. Victor's latest screenplay, The Dalkeith Sting, is a sequel to his 2002 movie Dalkeith, which played at one particular Melbourne cinema for a record-breaking season lasting three years. Musical Theatre has been a significant part of Victor's world ever since 1955, when (at the age of eight) he played the role of Little Jake in a semi-professional production of Annie Get Your Gun at London's Scala Theatre. His writing partnership with composer Kevin Purcell began in the mid-1990s, and their new Musical, The Mapmaker's Opera, is their third collaboration.
Kevin Purcell is one of those rare creative artists whose entire passion and expertise is singularly focused on Music for the Theatre, whether for Musicals or Opera. An internationally award-winning conductor/musical director, Kevin is also increasingly sought after for his concert orchestrations and arrangements for some of the most respected names in the music business. Not unsurprisingly with these dual passions, Kevin is equally at home whether directing cast and orchestra from the pit, or on-stage in concert.As a composer of Musicals, Kevin has collaborated with his long-time writing partner, Victor Kazan, on three Musicals, including their current project, The Mapmaker's Opera adapted from the 2005 novel of the same name by Toronto-based, Spanish author, Béa Gonzalez. This project has received support and encouragement for ongoing development from Goodspeed Opera House (courtesy of the Johnny Mercer Foundation) as well as a CAP21 Music Theatre Writers Residency in 2013, opportunities for which Kevin and Victor are immensely appreciative.Kevin studied at the Moscow Conservatory of Music with Gennady Rozdhestvensky and Leonid Nikolaev prior to spending two years at Janá?ek Academy of Music (JAMU) in the Czech Republic to study with Maestro Otakar Trhlík as the inaugural recipient of the Sir Charles Mackerras Conductor Competition (London, 1994). He had previously won the Bellhouse Conducting Award (Sydney, 1993) and The Tait Memorial Trust Conductor's Award (London, 1994).In 2012, Kevin has contributed orchestrations to Ann Hampton Callaway's acclaimed 'Barbra Streisand Songbook' project, premiered by the Boston Pops Orchestra with additional forthcoming concerts throughout 2013 with the Detroit, Minneapolis, LA Philharmonic, Tucson, Knoxville and Colorado orchestras.In April 2011, Kevin was asked to musically supervise and orchestrate New York City Opera's Annual Gala at the Lincoln Center. The concert, accompanied by the NYCO Orchestra, featured performances by Kristin Chenoweth, Raúl Esparza, Ann Hampton Callaway and Victor Garber. Kevin also assisted in the preparation of New York City Opera's production of Stephen Schwartz's much-acclaimed Séance on a Wet Afternoon, at David H. Koch Theatre. He is currently assisting Stephen in preparations for the recording of the opera, planned for 2013.Kevin's introduction to London's West End came courtesy of Cameron Mackintosh and the Really Useful Group, when invited to take over musical direction of the long-running production of CATS at the New London Theatre in the mid-90s. In July 2003, Kevin renewed his association for RUG, as Musical Director for the South Korean premiere of this work.In association with Michael A. Kerker, Director of Musical Theatre at ASCAP, Kevin is the Musical Director and Orchestrator for the Australian Festival of Broadway.In 2013, the Festival will host songwriting legends, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, in once-in-a-lifetime concert events in Melbourne. In 2010, the Festival hosted Stephen Schwartz in two separate concerts: the first of these celebrating his extraordinary contribution to Broadway and, in the second concert, his equally successful film music collaborations. The inaugural Festival, in 2009, which performed in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, celebrated the achievements of Tony Award-winning writers Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, including a rare solo performance by Lynn singing one of her own lyrics from Lucky Stiff.
Christy Hall (Bookwriter) Christy's writing for the stage includes her full-length play YOURS, ISABEL, a story inspired by actual letters from WWII. In August of 2011, the official world premiere of YOURS, ISABEL opened as an invited work of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. The production received five star reviews from Broadway Baby and Edinburgh Guide. The Scotsman responded in kind, "Beautifully crafted...playwright Christy Hall is electric."In October of 2011, Christy's full length play TO QUIET THE QUIET had its first staged reading in Los Angeles as part of The Living Room Series at the Blank Theatre. The success of this reading quickly led to the world premiere of the play directed by Emmy award winning actress Barbara Bain, opening at the Elephant Theatre in Los Angeles on July 13, 2012. The play received rave reviews, earning Critics Pick from Back Stage stating, "Every once in a while a playwright as promising as Christy Hall surfaces, and nothing could be more exhilarating." Her collaboration alongside American Theatre Wing Jonathan Larson Award winners Jeff Thomson and Jordan Mann has led her to write the book (script) for their new musical TRAILS which participated in the Village Theatre's Festival of New Musicals in Seattle where it has been accepted into the next theatrical season, opening its official world premiere on March 13, 2013.
Jordan Mann (Lyricist) is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, as well as the Dramatist Guild Musical Theatre Writing Fellowship. His original musical Trails was performed at the 2010 Los Angeles Festival for New Americans Musicals as well as the New York Musical Theatre Festival where it received 2010 NYMF citation for excellence in lyric writing as well as the prestigious Stage Entertainment Development Award. TRAILS will be making its professional debut at the Village Theatre Seattle in Spring of 2013. Other projects include Virtually Me! for TheatreworksUSA, and a pop musical adaptation of the cult film Jawbreaker (book-writer Darren Stein). Jordan's adaptation of LIAR by Issac Asimov took top honors in the City Lit Theatre of Chicago's Art of Adaptation Festival. Jordan is also proud to have been a founding coordinator of the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project at Northwestern University, which is now entering its 8th year! Proud graduate SUNY Buffalo and Northwestern.
Jeff Thomson (Composer) is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, as well as the Dramatist Guild Musical Theatre Writing Fellowship. His songs have been featured in the York Theatre Company's N.E.O Concert Series; six sold out engagements at The Duplex and was a featured songwriter in the acclaimed "Songbook" series at Lincoln Center. His original musical TRAILS was performed at the 2010 Los Angeles Festival for New Americans Musicals as well as the New York Musical Theatre Festival winning him the 2010 NYMF award for excellence in music as well as the prestigious Stage Entertainment Development Award. Other projects include VIRTUALLY ME! for TheatreworksUSA, a pop musical adaptation of the cult hit JAWBREAKER (book-writer Darren Stein), and a rock musical adaptation of Allan Moyle's PUMP UP THE VOLUME (Book and lyrics by Jeremy Desmon). Mr. Thomson is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild, ASCAP, The Humane Society and is an activist for Greyhound Rescue. He enjoys hiking, 80s rock and escaping to the Berkshires as often as possible.
Neil Bartram is the composer and lyricist of Broadway's The Story of My Life with book writer Brian Hill (four Drama Desk Award nominations including two for Neil - Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics). Their adaptation of Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio was commissioned by Chicago Shakespeare Theater for their 2011 season. Neil and Brian's musical Not Wanted On The Voyage received a developmental production at Northwestern University's Barber Theatre as part of the American Music Theatre Project, and was part of Goodspeed Musicals' 2012 New Works Festival. Upcoming projects include Spin for Seoul Korea's OD Musical Company directed by Eric Schaeffer, an adaptation of Michel Tremblay's Les Belles-Soeurs, and a musical based on Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes all with book writer Brian Hill. Neil's awards include a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award and a Dramatists Guild Fellowship. Cast albums include Somewhere in the World and The Story of My Life (PS Classics). Neil is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, and is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Music Theatre Workshop.
Adam Gwon is a composer/lyricist whose musicals include Ordinary Days (Roundabout Theatre, London's West End), The Boy Detective Fails (with Joe Meno, Signature Theatre), Cloudlands (with Octavio Solis, South Coast Repertory), Bernice Bobs Her Hair (with Julia Jordan), and String (with Sarah Hammond). His songs have been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Joe's Pub, Ars Nova, and more, by such luminaries as Audra McDonald and Kelli O'Hara. Adam's honors include the Kleban, Ebb, and Loewe awards for excellence in musical theater writing, the Second Stage Theatre Donna Perret Rosen Award, the ASCAP Harold Adamson Award, the MAC John Wallowitch Award, and commissions from Playwrights Horizons, South Coast Repertory, Signature Theatre (Arlington), Broadway Across America, and the EST/Sloan Project. Recordings: Ordinary Days (Ghostlight Records), Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project (recorded by Brian d'Arcy James). Fellowships: MacDowell Colony, Dramatists Guild. Education: NYU/Tisch. Member: ASCAP, Dramatists Guild. www.adamgwon.com.
Laura Harrington is the 2008 Kleban Award winner for most promising librettist in American Musical Theatre. Harrington has twice won both the Massachusetts Cultural Council Award in playwriting and the Clauder Competition for best new play in New England. Additional awards include a Boston IRNE Award for Best New Play, a Bunting Institute Fellowship at Harvard/ Radcliffe, a Whiting Foundation Grant-in-Aid, the Joseph Kesselring Award for Drama, a New England Emmy, and a Quebec Cinemateque Award. Some recent credits include: Joan of Arc (music: Mel Marvin) Nautilus Music Theatre, MN 2011; Alice Unwrapped, (music: Jenny Giering), a Premieres, Inc Production at The Zipper Factory, NYC, 2008, Nautilus Music Theatre, MN, Spirit in the House Festival, MN, Minneapolis Fringe Festival, 2009; Crossing Brooklyn (music: Jenny Giering) Transport Group, NYC, 2007, Pace University, NYC, 2008, Bristol Riverside Theatre, PA, 2010; Resurrection, (music: Tod Machover) adapted from Tolstoy's last novel, Houston Grand Opera and Boston Lyric Opera. Available on CD from Albany Records. N (Bonaparte), a tragicomedy about Napoleon in exile, Pilgrim Theatre Company, Boston Center for the Arts and the KO Festival. N (Bonaparte) is available in the Spring 2007 issue of Theatre Forum. Hallowed Ground, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, winner of the IRNE Award for Best New play, Portland Stage Company, Tulane University, winner of a "Big Easy" Award. Martin Guerre (Music: Roger Ames), Hartford Stage Company, directed by Mark Lamos, nominated for 3 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, including "Outstanding Musical." Marathon Dancing, (directed by Anne Bogart) En Garde Arts, NYC and Munich, Germany. The Perfect 36 (Music: Mel Marvin), Tennessee Repertory Theatre, the NAMT festival, NYC and the Hartt School of Music. Lucy's Lapses, (Music: Christopher Drobny), Portland Opera and Playwrights Horizons, NYC. The Book of Hours, New Harmony Project, Wellesley Summer Theatre; Einstein + The Angels, The Heart of an Emperor, Dress Right, Universal Soldier, and Flag Girls, Boston Playwrights Theatre; Joan of Arc, (Music: Mel Marvin), Suffolk University Boston Music Theatre Project, Manhattan Theatre Club Workshop, Wellesley College; The Song of the Silkie, (music: Elena Ruehr) Rockport Chamber Music Festival, 2006 and 2010; Babes in Toyland, Houston Grand Opera, etc; and Sleeping Beauty, (Music: Roger Ames) North Shore Music Theatre.Laura teaches playwriting at MIT where she was awarded the 2009 Levitan Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She has also been a frequent guest artist at Tufts, Harvard, Wellesley, and the University of Iowa.
Harris Doran (lyricist) has worked at the O'Neill as an actor in The Red Eye Of Love (dir. Ted Sperling) for NMTC, and two seasons for CPC. As a writer Harris's work includes Salvage (aka Higher), which made the top 20 for NMTC selection and has been in development with NY producers, as well as the musicals dTension and Oliver Button, and the full length play Beautiful. Harris has written lyrics for the pop world, including a top ten single on the European charts, for recording artists Marion Raven, A Band Called Freddy, and Shane. He met his collaborator Arthur Lafrentz Bacon at the BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop and is a member of ASCAP. As an actor Harris's credits include, NY: It Must Be Him, Reading Under The Influence, Hair, Love Jerry (NYMF best actor award). Regionally: I'm Connecticut (world premiere), Harry Connick Jr's The Happy Elf (world premiere), Amadeus, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Cabaret, Oliver (Ovation Award Nom). Film & TV: "The Black Donnellys," "Malcolm In The Middle," "Any Day Now," and the upcoming films Junction and My Best Day. Training: The Juilliard School. www.harrisdoran.com
Arthur Lafrentz Bacon (composer) is a Top-20 pop composer and multiple Clio award-winner. He co-wrote "Stay Forever" for Joey Lawrence (Top-20 hit), "Falling Away" for Marion Raven (#1 European Billboards), was songwriter, arranger and keyboardist for Freddy and the Dials (Virgin Records), Kelli Price and SHANE. Arthur formed the band The Erratics (Touchwood/Zero Hour Records) and was a member of "Groovy Little Band" on The Caroline Rhea Show. He played keyboards on DJ Victor Calderone's remix of "I Don't Need Another Man" (#1 Billboard Dance Single), Hall & Oats' "Do It For Love" (#1 Billboard). He was MD of Hinton Battle's one man show, and MD/Arranger of Saint Hollywood (P.S. 122). Arthur has written music for over 100 national television and radio commercial spots and won 2 Clio Awards (Best Original music for Pepsi), formed Chris & Arthur Music, where he created music for Revlon, Lenscrafters, and Bank of America, among many others. He has studied piano with renowned jazz pianist Lou Stein, Olegna Fuschi (Juilliard Pre-College) and studied composition at SUNY Purchase with Anthony Newman. Arthur composed the musical Billy Sleepyhead (Center Stage, NYC) and is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop. Most recently, Arthur composed the music for the Rock/R&B musical Salvage, which had a successful 29 hour reading at New World Stages. Broadway producers Debbie Bisno and Rebecca Milikowsky have signed on to the project.
Jason Schafer (book) wrote the acclaimed indie hit Trick, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by Fine Line Features. In addition to being a staff writer/co-producer of the GLAAD Media Award winning first season of Showtime's Queer as Folk, Jason has written for Warner Bros., Paramount, ABC and Fox Television. He is currently at work on an original film project for director Carl Byrd. Works for the stage include I Google Myself ("Queer in the best sense of the word: self-consciously outside of the mainstream, looking in with intelligence and wit." - The Village Voice) and Notes on the Land of Earthquake & Fire ("Sharp and satisfying... more polished than most new plays opening Off-Broadway" - The New York Times). He is the recipient of the Paula Vogel Playwrighting Award and the FringeNYC Excellence in Playwrighting Award, a GLAAD Media Award nominee, a Goldberg Playwrighting Award finalist and a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Theater Conference and Geller Screenwriting Competition. Jason holds a BA in Music Theory & Composition from UCLA and an MFA from NYU's Department of Dramatic Writing.
Project: Untitled
Michael Kooman (music) and Christopher Dimond (book & lyrics) received the 2010 Jonathan Larson Grant and are the first recipients of the Lorenz Hart Award. Between them, they have received the Burton Lane Award, the Harold Adamson Award, the KC/ACTF Musical Theatre Award, an Anna Sosenko Grant, numerous ASCAP Plus awards, and have been three-time finalists for the Fred Ebb Award.Their musical DANI GIRL has been workshopped at the Kennedy Center, American Conservatory Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theater Workshop, the Festival of New American Musicals, and was featured in the 2011 NAMT Festival of New Musicals. The show has seen recent productions in Toronto, Dallas, Boston, and Australia.The duo's other works include GOLDEN GATE (Williamstown Theatre Festival), HOMEMADE FUSION (London's Ambassadors Theater, Edinburgh Fringe Festival), the family-friendly Christmas musical JUNIOR CLAUS and the short film FLOUR BABY.Currently, they are working on the original musical THE NOTEWORTHY LIFE OF HOWARD BARNES, as well as two separate commissions.Michael and Chris are proud members of the Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. They were Dramatists Guild Fellows, received a fellowship at the O'Neill National Music Theater Conference, and attended the Johnny Mercer Songwriting workshop.Their debut album, OUT OF OUR HEADS, featuring an all-star lineup of Broadway performers, is now available on iTunes.
(Originally created as devised musical at CAP 21 Conservatory)
NOTE: Also working with Will Aronson and Hannah Kohl on another project
Project: Untitled
Will Aronson's work includes the scores for the hit Korean musical Bungee Jump (Best Score, 2012 Korea Musical Awards), Mormons, Mothers, and Monsters (Barrington Stage; Boston Globe Critic's Pick), My Scary Girl (Best Musical, 2009 NY Musical Theatre Festival), and The Trouble With Doug(NAMT 2010, dir. Victoria Clark), for which he also co-wrote the book. Other work includes music for Mary Testa's Sleepless Variations and William Finn's Songs of Innocence and Experience, as well as arrangements and incidental music for the Finn/Lapine musical, Little Miss Sunshine (La Jolla Playhouse). Will is the recipient of a Fulbright grant, an ASCAP Frederick Loewe Award, and a Baryshnikov Fellowship; he holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.F.A. from Tisch/NYU.
Hannah Kohl has written the book, music, and lyrics for The Blackbird, Gardenia, Cake, and Tora Bora! and the book and lyrics for The Houdini Box (Chicago Children's Theatre, 2012), The Light And Leonardo Da Vinci and Cake!. Kohl is the Associate Creative Producer on the Broadway-bound musical Rocky, with a score by Ahrens & Flaherty and book by Thomas Meehan. The show opened to rave reviews in Hamburg (2012) where she served as Script Supervisor. Based in New York City, Kohl also works as a translator in German and Spanish and travels as an educator and consultant, bringing art, music, and theatrical experiences to schools and organizations around the world. Her new company Showbox Theatricals hosts a collection of new original children's theatre titles for schools and professional theatres. Kohl's book, Great Composers for Kids, will be published by Bright Ring Publishing in 2013. Dramatists Guild Musical Theatre Fellow. MFA, Musical Theatre Writing, New York University. MS, International Education, SUNY-Buffalo. www.hannahkohl.com
Rob Baumgartner Jr., hails from DC. Recent works include Adam Lives (NAMT Songwriters Showcase), Under Construction-with Heidi Heilig. The Hole-with Heidi Heilig and Joey Murray (St. Clements '09) Date of a Lifetime (NYMF '11 and Alone World (winner: Best Score, West Village Musical Theatre Festival-both with Carl Kissin. Radiant Ruby-with Dante Russo (Vital Theatre '05) and Lullabies-with Will Brumley. In addition to his work as a composer, Rob serves as an assistant to composers Galt MacDermot (Hair), Rob Reale (A Year With Frog and Toad) and Debra Barsha (Radiant Baby) Rob is a proud faculty member at Cap21/NYU.
Ben Clark (Music/Lyrics, The Circus in Winter) hails from Floyds Knobs, IN. Ben has been writing music since 14 and The Circus in Winter marks his full length musical debut. He is a recent graduate of Ball State University ('11) with a degree in Musical Theatre Performance. Ben currently lives and works in Chicago as a recording artist/composer.
Beth Turcotte (Book, The Circus in Winter) is a Professor of Theatre at Ball State University and received her MFA from Southern Methodist University. During her tenure at Ball State University, Beth directed three productions (Company, Cabaret and Jesus Christ Superstar) for the American College Theatre Festival. This past January, The Circus in Winter was selected to participate in and honored by The American College Theatre Festival/The Kennedy Center with eleven awards including Outstanding New Work and Director of a New Work. Internationally, Beth has directed and taught throughout China, Korea and Japan.
Aron Accurso Composer/Additional Lyricist: Strega Nona (commissioned by The Weston Playhouse. Six productions including The Atlantic Theatre and a National Tour by Maximum Entertainment.) Composer: The Dogs of Pripyat (showcased at the 2011 NAMT Festival, Goodspeed's Festival of New Artists, Weston's New Musical Award, the University of Miami, and in Bound for Broadway at Merkin Hall.) Training: Dramatists Guild Fellow, BMI Workshop (Harrington Award). B'way: Sister Act (Associate Conductor), Little Mermaid (Keyboard 1), Billy Elliot (Casting, Rehearsal Pianist). Regional: Calvin Berger at George Street (Incidental Music/Music Director). Workshops: Aladdin, Up Here, Newsies, Addams Family, Hello My Baby, Red Clay. TV: Regis and Kelly, and Wendy Williams with American Idol Finalists. Education: BA in Music Composition with distinction from St. Olaf College. Upcoming: Nice Work if You Can Get It (B'way).
Adam Overett is a writer and performer living in New York City. He was a Musical Theater Fellow at the Dramatists Guild (2010-2011), and a Lucille Lortel Award nominee for his contribution to the score of the Off-Broadway musical WE THE PEOPLE (2011).
Thomas Mizer was the recipient of a 2009 Jonathan Larson Grant for his music theater collaborations with Curtis Moore. He wrote the book and lyrics for The Legend of Stagecoach Mary (NAMT Festival of New Musicals), The House of the Seven Gables (ASCAP Workshop) and The Bus to Buenos Aires (Ensemble Studio Theatre), and he co-wrote the book for the New York Fringe Festival hit For the Love of Tiffany. Commissioned by the Williamstown Theatre Festival, he wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book for Triangle, which was subsequently presented at the Eugene O'Neill Center (directed by Robert Longbottom), the American Music Theatre Project and TheatreWorks Palo Alto. An honors graduate of Northwestern University, he has also completed the BMI Lehman Engel writing workshop and received an artist in residence grant from the National Music Theater Conference In addition to his theater work, Thomas is a copywriter for Comedy Central, writes travel features for several national publications and is editor of thebroadwayblog.com, a website devoted to theater in New York and beyond. In a "prior" life as an actor, Thomas appeared in roles Off-Broadway and at regional theaters, including his starring role as "Steve" in the First National Tour of Blue's Clues, Live!. For more more information, go to www.thomasmizer.com.
Curtis Moore is a composer, songwriter, and musician whose wo


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Suadi Arabia held a strong Argentina to a goalless draw in Riyadh
Lionel Messi endured a rare quiet night as Argentina could only register a goalless draw against Saudi Arabia.
Last Updated: 14/11/12 8:07pm
The South Americans were far from their best and came close to losing to the Saudis, who are led by former Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard, and who have already crashed out of World Cup qualifying.
The hosts had the clearest chances of a surprisingly tight opening half. Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero had to make a smart save after 18 minutes from Mohammed Al Shamrani cross-shot following a counter-attack.
Al Shahrani then had the ball in the net 10 minutes later when he headed in a Saud Kariri free-kick but the linesman's flag was already raised for offside. Alejandro Sabella's side produced little as an attacking threat in the first 45 minutes with Manchester City full-back Pablo Zabaleta their best option while Benfica's Eduardo Salvio buzzed about in midfield.
At half-time Sabella sent on Wigan striker Franco Di Santo and Ricardo Alvarez to give his side more of an attacking edge.
But the bad night for Messi and company continued as Saudi Arabia maintained their superiority and the visitors needed Fabricio Coloccini to make a goal-line clearance from a Mansoor Al Harbi shot.
After that Argentina improved slightly and a good combination between Sergio Aguero and substitute Augusto Fernandez finished with the latter forcing Waleed Abdullah into a good stop. The ball rebounded to Di Santo but he could not find the net.
Messi had been a near passenger for the majority of the night until he finally provided a glimpse of his brilliance. The Barca playmaker avoided a pair of defenders before his snap-shot was blocked by defender Al Harbi.
Shortly after, the Rosario-born midfielder connected well with Angel Di Maria and went head-to-head with the Abdullah, who made another excellent stop and preserve his clean sheet.


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Inspired by Crack the Code from designer Scott Hansen of Blue Nickel Studios
Quilt tester: Laura Boehnke
1 yard total assorted green batiks (blocks)
1⁄2 yard total assorted medium batiks in purple, red, green, and orange (blocks)
1 yard total assorted orange and pink batiks (blocks)
3—1⁄4-yard pieces assorted dark batiks (blocks)
3—1⁄4-yard pieces assorted light batiks (blocks)
1⁄8 yard red batik (sashing squares)
1-1⁄8 yards blue batik (sashing strips, binding)
2-1⁄2 yards backing fabric
45x62" batting
Finished quilt: 36-1⁄2x53-1⁄2"
Finished blocks: 15" square
Quantities are for 44/45"-wide, 100% cotton fabrics.
Measurements include 1/4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated.


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Since the fun and games with WonderQuack "Dr" Joseph Chikelue Obi, we have had lots of fun from the usual outlets.
The outcome of the WonderQuack Joseph Chikelue Obi debacle was interesting. The Quackometer post which initially caused the hoo-haa was removed from Google.ie by Google themselves. Now, a quick search of Google.ie for "Joseph Chikelue Obi" brings up no less than 7 reprints of the offending blog in the top 10. Hoorah!
I count that as a result not only against the sabre-rattling bullyboy tactics of WonderQuack Joseph Chikelue Obi but also against the yellow-bellied brownpants that deemed it suitable to be removed from Google.ie. The Quackometer has also found a few anomalies regarding the way Obi does his business, along with his hard-to-find brother.
In the end, about 40 or so blogs carried the story in a wonderful "I'm Spartacus" sort of way. WonderQuack Joseph Chikelue Obi looked at it differently. Or at least, his messenger is not to be trusted:
When I was told that the Enemies of Alternative Medicine had recruited 5000 (Five Thousand) Bloggers to write rubbish about me 24 hours a day , ( every single day of the year ) , I said OK . . . Let's wait and see precisely what they will say
(from professorjosephchikelueobi.com)
Hmmm.....perhaps more time doing sums and less time in suspended paranoia would be more fruitful.
Now , after speedreading almost everything that they have written ... I have reached the simple conclusion that their plan has massively backfired ; as all that their 5000 Blogposts have done is provide me with even more ammunition for my Multiple Lawsuits . . . both against the Hosting Company of the Defamatory Blog Itself and the General Medical Council.
Speedreading 5000 blogs? That is a lie. For two reasons. Anyway, I'm bored with Obi.
What's the point of spending time with a bonkers Walter Mitty type character like Obi when we can
A) sing the high praises of the ASA (again) for slapping down Health Products for Life (with Patrick Holford's face on them) for making unsubstantiated claims and not telling the truth.
B) Be gladdened that the NHS is deciding that homeopathy is not where public money should be spent
C) Be filled with cheer that (although not a patch on the ASA), Trading Standards can show some balls when they need to and close down conmen selling cancer cures.
Much, much more invigorating. Problem is, with all these success stories of honesty, integrity and good guys winning, it's hard to keep up.


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uniface wrote:
"Looks like" is no refutiation. Especially in light of the glaring sparkplug-anomalies cited.
It's a a concretion not a geode is which is salient ,mentioned in the link posted after your initial post .
Moderators: Minimalist, MichelleH
uniface wrote:
"Looks like" is no refutiation. Especially in light of the glaring sparkplug-anomalies cited.
uniface wrote:Concretion or geode, it's solid rock. Does mud do that in less than 100 years ?
And we still haven't disposed of the electromagnetic field aspect, ruling out "spark plug."
Wikipedia is not a reliable source for academic research.
In State v. Flores, an unpublished decision by the Texas Court of Appeals for the 14th District dated October 23, 2008, the court refused the appellant's request to take judicial notice of a Wikipedia entry describing the "John Reid interrogation technique." The court reasoned in footnote 3 that Wikipedia entries are inherently unreliable because they can be written and edited anonymously by anyone
Question: How do I get students to realize that Wikipedia should not be used as a credible source (especially as they enter college), even though some of the information is factually accurate?
Answer: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is quite clear about the uses of Wikipedia. Asked, "Do you think students and researchers should cite Wikipedia? during an interview with Business Week in 2005, he replied, "No, I don't think people should cite it, and I don't think people should cite Britannica, either... People shouldn't be citing encyclopedias in the first place.
The September 11 attacks (also referred as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda on the United States ...
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, as a result of being struck by two jet airliners hijacked by 10 terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda
Henry Makow wrote:There is no Wikipedia entry for The Devil and the Jews (Yale University Press, 1943) or its author Rabbi Joshua Trachtenberg (1904-1959.) There are no reviews on the Internet. Why?
The next day in the gift shop's workroom, Mikesell ruined a nearly new diamond saw blade while cutting what he thought was a geode. Inside the nodule that was cut, Mikesell did not find a cavity as so many geodes have, but a perfectly circular section of very hard, white material that appeared to be porcelain. In the center of the porcelain cylinder, was a 2-millimeter shaft of bright metal. The metal shaft responded to a magnet.
The outer layer of the specimen was encrusted with fossil shells and their fragments.
Virginia Maxey speculated that "one possibility is that it is barely 100 years old - something that lay in a mud bed, then got baked and hardened by the sun in a matter of a few years."
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text:
The point of proxy authentication is that
- The proxy user only has "create session" privileges but can't do much else.
- The real user does not have "create session" privileges and cannot log on to the database without knowing the proxy user name and password (and that is only set on the web/application server).
- The USER function returns the real user name, and all standard database auditing, roles, etc. work as usual.
As of version 1.3 of the Thoth Gateway, proxy authentication is now supported. Here is how it works:
IIS Setup
Set up the application (virtual directory) in IIS where the gateway runs with Integrated Windows Authentication, so that the CGI environment variable LOGON_USER will be populated with the client's Windows username. (If the user is using Internet Explorer to browse the site, his identity will be passed on to the web server/gateway automatically; if using another browser, then an explicit logon is required.)
Oracle Setup
Define an "application server user", ie the common user that connections will be established through:
-- Log on as DBA (SYS or SYSTEM) that has CREATE USER privilege.
create user appserver identified by eagle;
create user end_user identified by secret;
grant create session to end_user;
alter user end_user grant connect through appserver;
Now test the setup with SQL*Plus, by connecting with the "application server user", and then "becoming" the end user:
-- note we don't specify the end_user password, but still become that user
SQL> connect appserver[end_user]/eagle
SQL> select user from dual;
Note that since the point of this is to take advantage of existing Active Directory accounts, you probably want to create your users like this:
create user "your_domain\end_user" identified externally;
grant create session to "your_domain\end_user";
alter user "your_domain\end_user" grant connect through appserver;
Thoth Gateway Setup
In web.config, modify the DAD settings (the following example assumes a local Oracle XE installation):
param name="DatabaseConnectString" value="//127.0.0.1:1521/xe"
param name="DatabaseConnectStringAttributes" value="Enlist=false;Proxy User Id=appserver;Proxy Password=eagle;"
param name="DatabaseUserName" value="LOGON_USER"
param name="DatabasePassword" value=""
Notice the value "LOGON_USER" specified for the DatabaseUserName parameter. This is a reserved string that will be replaced with the actual value of the LOGON_USER value from the web request (ie. the user's Windows username, typically "domain\username"). You can also specify "LOGON_USER_NO_DOMAIN" to strip away the domain part of the user name -- what you use will depend on how you have set up your user accounts in Oracle.
Testing It
To test that everything works at this point, create a procedure similar to the following, and execute it via the gateway (don't forget to grant execute privileges on it to the end-user's account, and create a public synonym for it unless you prefix with the procedure owner's name in the URL).
procedure test_proxy_auth
htp.header(1, 'Proxy authentication');
htp.listitem ('USER = ' || user);
htp.listitem ('Proxy user = ' || sys_context('userenv', 'proxy_user'));
htp.listitem ('CGI LOGON_USER = ' || owa_util.get_cgi_env('LOGON_USER'));
end test_proxy_auth;
If successful, the USER function should return the end-user's Windows username, and the Proxy User should display as "appserver".
Postscript: A little enigma
Actually, if you do as described above, you could possibly get this error when you try to run the procedure via the gateway:
ORA-1045: user %s lacks CREATE SESSION privilege; logon denied
At least, that's what I got . To get around it, I had to explicitly grant this to the "appserver" user:
grant create session to appserver;
The funny thing is that my example above, tested via SQL*Plus, shows that this works without the grant! But when attempting the same connection via ODP.NET, it gives the above error unless the grant is made.
And if I revoke the "create session" from the end_user, the above example doesn't work in SQL*Plus, because of the missing privilege. Which seems to contradict the purpose of proxying, as defined at the top of this blog post.
And if I revoke the "create session" from the end_user, the above example doesn't work in SQL*Plus, because of the missing privilege. Which seems to contradict the purpose of proxying, as defined at the top of this blog post.
If anybody knows why SQL*Plus and ODP.NET show different behaviour here, please let me know.


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Were I back in San Francisco, I'd be lighting a candle here today, in front of this statue of St. Ignatius in the church of his name where I've lit more candles than in any other place.
Ignatius, and a few of his modern companions, were my shuttle back into the Church after very turbulent late teen years. Today on his feast and forever, I will be grateful to him and the men in his company who have meant so much to me, and to most of my closest friends, who made similar journeys under their tutelage at the University of San Francisco.
It's hard to pray for the intercession of St. Ignatius though, because you always know what he's thinking and demanding:
Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess.
Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.
Well it's not enough for me and a request for His love and His grace is usually not the sole content my prayers of petition. But asking St. Ignatius to intercede for what you want has the great benefit of reminding the pray-er of what he needs – the grace and love of God. Sometimes that's not the comfort you want at the moment.
There is another prayer, sometimes falsely attributed to St. Ignatius, which was nonetheless central to his spirituality:
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from Christ's side, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints
and with Thy angels
Forever and ever
It's a prayer that for me powerfully evokes the desire for His love and His grace and it makes what Amy Welborn (and others I'm sure) has called Ignatius' Radical Prayer more credible – if no less challenging.
St. Ignatius, Pray for us.


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Rock fall ahead
Concerts and music fests from central Illinois to St. Louis
Normally, as autumn goes in the Midwest, things begin to cool off, but that isn't so with live music. This fall has a number of options within an afternoon's drive from Springfield, and there are even several all-new showcases for this season. Strap on a helmet; Illinois Times is about to blow your mind, musically speaking, this autumnal equinox.
Buddy Guy is the kind of guitarist who doesn't need to flash awards to command respect. All one has to do is ask fellow musicians, or listen to any of his five Grammy award-winning albums, to understand how Guy shaped blues and rock music. Flamboyant and explosive on stage, he was vetted by Eric Clapton as "without a doubt the best guitar player alive," and influenced Jimi Hendrix, among many other legendary guitarists. On Oct. 10, Guy plays the Sangamon Auditorium. Tickets range from $30-$44, and can be purchased online at www.uis.edu/sangamonauditorium/, or by calling the Sangamon Auditorium at 206-6160.
Reportedly Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys once pulled their yellow 1950s school bus up to a thrift store and inspired a child to ask, "Are you guys from the past?" Perhaps that's not surprising, because since 1988 the band has been cranking out a unique blend of country, swing and rockabilly with a near-obsessive devotion to a bygone era. Sept. 24 they'll play the Hoogland Center for the Arts as part of the Bedrock 66 Live concert series. This particular show celebrates the 10th anniversary of Sangamon Valley Roots Revival, and also features Texas country-rockers Two Tons of Steel, and Bloomington-based swing group Caffeine Patrol.
The Bedrock 66 Live concert series continues at the Hoogland Center on Oct. 22 with Chuck Prophet. As a teenaged guitar prodigy, Prophet fueled the critically acclaimed 1980s psychedelic desert rock group Green on Red. More recently, Prophet's roots-rock solo act was featured on "Last Call with Carson Daly," "The Late Show with David Letterman," and provided background music for the television shows "Sons of Anarchy" on the FX network and HBO's "True Blood." Tickets for Bedrock concerts are $20 at the door, but can be had for $15 when purchased in advance either online at www.wuis.org/bedrock or by calling the Hoogland Center at 523-2787.
Also at the Hoogland, on Oct. 23, the first-ever Third Floor Music Festival hosts homegrown music from 7 p.m. to midnight, as its name suggests, on the third floor of the arts center. Local bands will occupy Hoogland's Theatre III, while the nearby Club Room showcases the work of Springfield-area artists and acoustic solo musicians. The Center for the Arts unveils the list of bands playing this event on Sept. 1. For more info, visit www.scfta.org.
Sept. 24, country music artist Gary Allan plays the Prairie Capital Convention Center. The first 15 rows of this reserved-seat concert are $40, with all other seats going for $30, plus a $2 facility fee. Information and tickets are available at www.springfieldpccc.com, or by calling the Convention Center at 788-8800.
Indie and psychedelic-rock crew Of Montreal, Florida surf-rock quintet Surfer Blood, Tennessee's all-girl, all-country-punk group Those Darlins, along with a roster of more than 50 other indie performers are playing this year's Pygmalion Music Festival in Champaign. From Sept. 22-25, a $65 wristband is all that's needed to gain access to the festival's bands at numerous indoor venues in the twin cities of Urbana-Champaign, though passes to individual performances will be available. For the lineup and more details on the festival, consult www.2010.pygmalionmusicfestival.com.
St. Louis
Fall begins with the big guns in St. Louis, as the first-ever Loufest spans rock, pop and bluegrass genres across 18 bands at Forest Park on Aug. 28 and 29. Among those scheduled to perform are Broken Social Scene, Titus Andronicus, Alejandro Escovedo and So Many Dynamos. Bringing up the end of the festival is southern Illinois' own alt-country hero, Jeff Tweedy, performing apart from his Grammy-winning band Wilco. The festival finale will be the first St. Louis appearance for singer/songwriter/actress Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer, Yes Man), and M. Ward together in She & Him. More information can be found at www.loufest.com.
In September and October, the venue will follow up with performances by Avett Brothers (9/24), Driveby Truckers (10/2), Band of Horses (10/13) and Blonde Redhead (10/25). Thepageant.com has event information and tickets.
The inaugural North Coast Music Festival will crank up Chicago's Union Park on Labor Day weekend with three stages and 35 electronic, hip-hop, and indie rock bands. Headlining acts for the main stage include The Chemical Brothers, Moby, Paul Van Dyk and Umphry's McGee. Three-day passes are $75, but daily admission is also available for $35. For more information, go to www.northcoastfestival.com.
Matthew Schroyer is a freelance writer and graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He enjoys blogging about political events, natural disasters, music and journalism in his free time. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Ecount Is a Leader in Corporate Prepaid Card Solutions
Transaction Strengthens Citi's Cash Management Offering
New York, March 1, 2007 – Citi markets and banking today announced that it has acquired Ecount, Inc, the leading provider of corporate prepaid card solutions, based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Ecount's products will be integrated into Citi's global transaction services business, strengthening the firm's cash management platform for corporations, financial institutions and governments. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Ecount has provided customized prepaid card solutions for corporations looking for simple and convenient ways to deliver payments, including compensation and promotions. Established in 1997, the company serves a base of more than 1,200 corporate clients across North America. Ecount's paperless payment solutions allow corporations to reduce costs, strengthen brand awareness and increase efficiencies.
This acquisition strengthens Citi's leading position in global payments in the U.S., and it enables the launch of similar stored value card solutions worldwide. The prepaid card market is experiencing high growth, and is currently estimated at more than $2 trillion worldwide, as corporations and consumers continue to move from paper checks to electronic-based payment methods.
"Our clients are constantly looking for better ways to make payments, and with Ecount's innovative and comprehensive prepaid programs, we will be able to offer them the latest payment solutions," said Ellen Alemany, Chief Executive Officer of global transaction services at Citi. "Clients want greater flexibility and more solutions to deliver payments electronically. By combining Citi's industry-leading payments products and client base, with Ecount's expertise, technology and distribution in stored value cards, we will be a leader across all North American payment channels," added Alemany.
"Working with Citi is the ideal choice for Ecount," said Matt Gillin, CEO and Cofounder of Ecount. "Citi is a global leader in banking, with robust payment platforms, deep client relationships and innovative technology. This matches Ecount's position in the prepaid card market. Together, we will be able to optimize and strengthen our position in this expanding market, by developing world-class solutions."
Citi's cash management platform offers its clients over 50 global services, spanning payments, receivables, liquidity, investments, information services and commercial cards, and operates in over 100 countries. Its clients include corporations, financial institutions and governments.
About Citi
Citi markets and banking is the most complete financial partner to corporations, financial institutions, institutional investors and governments in the world. As a global leader in banking, capital markets, and transaction services, with a presence in many countries dating back more than 100 years, Citi enables clients to achieve their strategic financial objectives by providing them with cutting-edge ideas, best-in-class products and solutions, and unparalleled access to capital and liquidity.
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Major brand names under the trademark red arc include: Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Citi Smith Barney and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.
About Ecount
Ecount, a Citi company, provides customized prepaid programs for corporations looking for a simple, convenient and cost effective way to deliver payments. Leveraging Citi's extensive payment platform and Ecount's experience and proprietary prepaid technology, corporations have access to an unmatched solution that enables comprehensive communication and unique brand extension, coupled with more immediate, economical payment delivery. With solutions ranging from incentives to compensation to specialized rewards, Ecount programs empower corporations looking to influence and motivate consumers, employees and partners. Over 1,200 leading corporations, including more than one third of the Fortune 100, rely on Ecount's prepaid solutions to gain a strategic market advantage. For more information, please visit ecount.com.


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It's easy to feel a certain fatigue as awards season drags along, with even the most dedicated Oscar-ologists tiring of talking about the same boiled-down pool of a few films. So this may be just the time to turn to the lesser-known quarters of the Oscar ballot, such as the relatively obscure corners of the foreign language film category.
It is widely anticipated that the prize will go to either Italy's "The Great Beauty," which picked up similar prizes at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, or Denmark's "The Hunt," which stars actor Mads Mikkelsen, currently seen on the U.S. television show "Hannibal." (And changes to this year's voting, which allow more of the broader academy membership to vote in the category for the first time, may make that familiarity factor more important than in years past.) Filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, who made Palestine's "Omar," was a previous nominee for his 2005 film "Paradise Now."
That leaves room for two relatively little-known titles, Belgium's "The Broken Circle Breakdown" and Cambodia's "The Missing Picture." Both have won numerous prizes of their own. "Breakdown" was nominated for six European Film Awards, picking up the best actress prize for Veerle Baetens. "The Missing Picture" won the top prize when it premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film festival, awarded by a jury headed by Thomas Vinterberg, director of "The Hunt." (That same jury recognized "Omar" as well.) But both are distinctive movies worth a look that could benefit from their moment in the Oscars' spotlight.
Cambodia's "The Missing Picture" may be the most unlikely and unusual nominee since the 2010 Greek film "Dogtooth." Director Rithy Panh has previously made documentaries on the Khmer Rouge regime and Cambodian genocide, but his latest film is both a documentary and first-person essay, mixing clay figurines with archival footage to explore something haunting and personal.
"I always say I didn't survive because I'm stronger than other people. I'm here today because other people helped me," said Panh in Los Angeles in the fall when the film played as part of AFI Fest. "Of course it's about me, but it's not only about me."
Even as the film has won prizes and played at other major festivals, the singular style and somber subject of "The Missing Picture" have made it an unusual Oscar player.
"I was surprised, but just because of the competition," said Marcus Hu, co-president of Strand Releasing, who noted the bigger "wow moment" for him came when the film first made it from the field of 76 submissions to the pre-nominations shortlist of nine films.
"But then again, it's such a special movie," Hu added. "It's so heartfelt and personal, when people connect to the movie, they really connect to it."
Panh also noted that he's not sure if he feels any better for having made the film. But what he does know is that he hopes the film helps younger people in Cambodia understand their own history while moving forward.
"They don't have to be guilty about what happened," Panh said. "All of this sentiment should stop with my generation. We can write our own history, we can face it, and you're allowed to go on. I'm afraid if you don't write your own story, the next generation will feel guilty. And they are guilty of nothing."
"The Broken Circle Breakdown" also crosses genres. It's a romantic musical melodrama in which a couple who sing together in a bluegrass group must deal with their daughter's leukemia. Director Felix Van Groeningen co-wrote the adaptation of the stage play co-written by male lead Johan Heldenbergh. The film opened in Belgium in 2012 and was a homegrown success there, with the soundtrack CD becoming a bestseller.
Even so, when the film played at the Berlin Film Festival early in 2013 it wasn't highly anticipated, with a news conference held in a mostly empty room. Then the film picked up two prizes at the festival, and its international life began to take off.
"It was an amazing film to make, but then we had a hard time getting into a big festival and we didn't know, 'What is this film going to do?'" Van Groeningen said during a recent visit to Los Angeles. "Maybe it is too dark, maybe it tries to combine too many things, I don't know. At some point we really didn't know."
"To be honest, I have three children, and if somebody says, 'There's a movie around with a dead child,' oh, man, I wouldn't go," Heldenbergh added. Nevertheless, he said, "I was confident. It will find its way. I didn't expect it to be here at this level, but I was reasonably confident about it. When the boom guy starts to cry, you know you're doing something right."
Much like the recent Coen brothers' film, "Inside Llewyn Davis," the lyrics of the songs serve to comment on and push the story along. The centerpiece to the film is a delicate, heartbreaking reading of the late country singer-songwriter Townes Van Sant's "If I Needed You."
"It's the heart of the movie," Heldenbergh said of the song. "It tells the whole story: 'If I needed you, would you come to me. I would come to you if you needed me.' But it's just not true every time. You want to be there, but sometimes you just don't make it there."
The stamp of approval of an Oscar nomination can mean many different things. Heldenbergh likened the experience to being the national team at a sporting event. For Panh it means something else.
"The Khmer Rouge can't destroy me," Panh said. "I still have my imagination and am capable of making films. I am not locked up.
"For the young generation, when they see that there is a film director from Cambodia to go on to be nominated, for them a lot can change. I don't know another way to restore our identity if it's not art."


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I learned in a telephone call today from Jay Ciccarone that President Judge James MacElree, Court of Common Pleas of Chester County has dismissed his case. If you recall, Ciccarone's former wife, Suzy Pratowski, accused Ciccarone of cyber spying. Ciccarone was arrrested in September 2011 and charged with spying on Prawtoski. At the time of Ciccarone's arrest, Tredyffrin supervisor John DiBuonaventuro was dating Pratowski.
There will certainly be much more to come on this story in the days to come but I asked Jay for a comment upon hearing the news. Jay's response —
My family and I are glad and relieved that Judge MacElree has dismissed the case that has been pending against me for more than 16 months. The arrest, charges and publicity has been a great burden on me personally and professionally and I am looking forward to moving past this ordeal. I only hope that the dismissal of these charges receives as much attention as my arrest did.
Jay had maintained his innocence throughout this ordeal … today there is vindication.


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When you get your child a new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can set it up with Touch ID, an Apple ID, Family Sharing, Find My iPhone, Find My Friends, and restrictions. Even if you already set up the device, you can check its settings and set up features like Family Sharing. See our tips below.
Set up Touch ID and a passcode
Set up Touch ID, so that you can unlock the device with the touch of a finger. You can enroll up to five fingerprints, so add your child's prints and your own.
You can also set a six-digit passcode to help protect their data. If you'd like a four-digit passcode or a custom passcode, tap Passcode Options. Remind your child not to share their passcode.
Check your child's Apple ID
An Apple ID is the account that you use to access Apple services like the App Store, iTunes, Apple Music, iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime, and more. Everyone should have their own Apple ID, so make sure that your child signs in with their Apple ID. Don't share your Apple ID with your child. If your child uses your Apple ID, you might have issues such as getting each other's iMessages. Learn how to make sure that everyone in your family uses their own Apple ID.
- If your child already has an account, they should keep using it. Get help if they forgot their Apple ID.
- If they don't have an account, you can create one with Family Sharing.
Then go to your child's Apple ID account page to make sure that their information is correct. Check their birthday, since it needs to be correct for features like Family Sharing.
Set up Family Sharing
With Family Sharing, you can share each other's App Store, iTunes, and Apple Books purchases, an Apple Music Family Subscription, iCloud storage, and more, without sharing an account. And when you turn on purchase sharing, any purchases initiated by your family are billed to your account.
- If your child already has an Apple ID, you can set up Family Sharing now.
- If your child needs an Apple ID, you can create one for them with Family Sharing.
You can also turn on Ask to Buy for your child. When they initiate a purchase, an alert is sent to you, the family organizer, so you can review the download and approve or decline it right from your device. This applies to both purchases and free downloads.
Turn on Find My iPhone
Find My iPhone helps you find your child's device if it's ever lost or stolen and helps protect it. Just sign in to iCloud.com or Find My iPhone with their Apple ID to see the missing device.
With Family Sharing, any family member can help find another member's device.
Learn how to set up Find My iPhone.
Set up Find My Friends
Find My Friends lets you locate your family members from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or iCloud.com. Just open the app, add your child as a friend, then ask them to accept the invite.
With Family Sharing, family members can share their location with each other automatically.
Learn how to set up Find My Friends.
Set Content & Privacy Restrictions for your child
With Screen Time on iOS 12, you can use Content & Privacy Restrictions to block or limit specific apps and features on your child's iPhone. Just go to Settings > Screen Time > Continue, then choose This is My iPhone or This is My Child's iPhone.
If it's your child's device, you can create settings right on their device or you can use Family Sharing to configure your child's device from your own iPhone or iPad. After you set up your child's device, you can also use Family Sharing to view reports and adjust settings any time, right from your own device.
With Screen Time you can also create a dedicated passcode to secure settings, so only you can extend time or make changes.
Make sure to choose a passcode that's different from the passcode you use to unlock your device. If you can't remember a restrictions passcode that you set on a previous version of iOS, or you forgot your Screen Time passcode, you need to erase your device, then set it up as a new device to remove the passcode. Restoring your device from a backup won't remove your passcode.


text: Sold as a diversification tool, they failed badly last year -- and will fail to protect you again if the market turns south. By Steven Goldberg, Contributing Columnist October 6, 2009 Hordes of new players have transformed the commodities markets into a dangerous corner of the investing world. As a result, I feel strongly that you should stay away from commodities. These markets are in uncharted territory and are unlikely to offer you the diversification benefits they did in the past.Numerous studies released over the past several years showed that commodities tended to hold up well during steep stock-market declines. David Swensen, the star manager of Yale's endowment fund, was one of the first to extol their merits. Before long, virtually every endowment and pension plan bought the story. So did hedge funds and individual investors, via exchange-traded funds. All of these new buyers overwhelmed the normal dynamics of commodities markets. A strategy of adding some commodities to your portfolio worked -- for a while. As stocks fell from the fall of 2007 through midsummer 2008, the price of oil, a leading constituent in any broad-based commodities index, surged. It shot through the $100-a-barrel level early last year and hit a record high of $147.27 on July 11, 2008. But that was the end of the party. As stocks collapsed in the fall of 2008, oil and other commodities plunged just as far and just as fast. In mid February, oil bottomed at $34 a barrel, almost precisely as stocks were nearing their lows. What went wrong? It was a classic case of too many people chasing the same good idea. Many investors put 5% to 10% of their assets into commodities to cushion their portfolios when stocks tumbled. But the weight of investor dollars eclipsed market fundamentals. And the patterns of most investors' behavior in buying and selling commodities -- as opposed to those who use the markets to hedge -- followed the same rhythms they did in buying and selling stocks. Advertisement "It's whole a new ballgame," says Charles Ober, the veteran manager of T. Rowe Price New Era (symbol PRNEX), which invests in stocks of commodity companies. "A lot of the studies that justified investing in commodities were based on data through 2005. If you look at data through 2008, it turns those studies on their ear. Price movements of stocks and commodities were so correlated it was pathetic." Those who are in the commodities markets to hedge now represent a small fraction of all commodities investors. Hedging, of course, is the raison d'être for the commodities markets. They allow, for instance, an oil company to lock in a price on its production months or even years before it can bring the product to market. A farmer can sell futures on his crops to raise cash for planting. "Investors are now a multiple of the people who need a hedge," Ober says. "I can't tell you if it's five times or ten times, but it's a big number." Almost none of this has happened before -- not even in the 1970s, the last time the price of oil blasted off, even as stocks suffered through a horrid decade. The futures markets weren't nearly as liquid then, and ETFs didn't exist. So few people and institutions invested in commodities. Despite last year's disaster, investors are still flocking to commodities. "People now perceive them as the new gold," Ober says. Global growth -- particularly in emerging markets such as China -- is leading to increased demand, especially for oil, while supplies are gradually being depleted. In the long run, there's a compelling case to be made for commodities. But the short term has been so thoroughly distorted that it pays to look for other ways to invest in commodities -- and other ways to diversify your investments. Advertisement Ober thinks the price of oil will begin to rise again sometime next year. He has as good a record as anyone at making such calls. But the global economy remains weak, and I think people worried about a pickup in inflation accompanied by rising commodity prices are getting too far ahead of the fundamentals. The broken case for stuff The thesis behind commodities involves several parts. Over the long haul, prices of most commodities have merely kept pace with inflation. But when you invest in futures, you put up only a small percentage of your investment. The remainder can be held in Treasuries or other securities, which can earn a profit. Investors in commodities, in essence, provide insurance to companies that need to lock in a commodity price in advance. As the seller of that insurance, you're entitled to a premium. That's why futures that don't come due for many months generally trade for less than those coming due in a few weeks. But the market doesn't work that way these days. Instead, the market currently prices near-term futures at a lower price than those expiring months in the future. Light crude oil for November delivery closed at $70.32 on October 1, but the same barrel slated for delivery next July closed at $74.50. For investors, the insurance premium -- which constituted much of their returns -- has disappeared. Advertisement Many investors today look to commodities to protect themselves from a falling dollar. In the 1980s, Ober says, there was little or no correlation between any fall in the dollar and high oil prices. Today, the correlation is huge -- in other words, commodities tend to rise as the dollar weakens. Whether you're concerned about a falling stock market, a decline in the dollar or a pickup in inflation, I think you should look elsewhere to insulate your investments. T. Rowe Price New Era is one good choice. You'll likely get as much diversification nowadays in stocks of commodities as in the commodities themselves. And a well-run company can make money even when commodity prices are flat. Investing in foreign stock funds also provides protection against a declining greenback. Indeed, more than half the revenues of the companies in Standard & Poor's 500-stock index come from abroad. A declining dollar will increase the value of their overseas sales. A foreign bond fund is another good option. As for the commodity markets, I'd leave them to the speculators. Steven T. Goldberg (bio) is an investment adviser.


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I recently completed six years on the Board of Directors for the Seattle Bridge Unit. I am on the ACBL Board of Governors and the Competitions and Conventions Committee. I also help manage and direct a once-a-week bridge club on Mercer Island. And occasionally I find time to play bridge too.
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With Mikey Solter and M.J. Miller attacking the net, New Bern�s offense was nearly impossible to shut down.
With Mikey Solter and M.J. Miller attacking the net, New Bern�s offense was nearly impossible to shut down.
Solter led the Bears with 108 points, while Miller contributed more than 70 points.
The senior scoring tandem are the first lacrosse players from New Bern High to sign to play in college.
Both were joined by coaches, family and friends on Thursday afternoon as they formally signed to play at the next level.
Solter will play lacrosse at Division II Wingate. Miller will continue on at Division II Belmont Abbey.
�It�s pretty awesome,� Miller said. �It�s like setting the bar for everybody else. We didn�t really have anyone to look when we were younger.
�College lacrosse is completely different than high school lacrosse. The speed of the game is faster and it�s going to be a great experience playing with a lot better kids.�
Miller picked up lacrosse eight years ago, while Solter started seven years ago. They�ve been a member of New Bern High�s team since it started as a club team four years ago.
After years of trying and persuading, the Bears finally claimed varsity status this season.
They reached the postseason for the first time in the program�s history and they beat two Wilmington schools for the first time.
Together, Miller and Solter were a lethal combination up front for New Bern.
�It took other teams by blindside,� Miller said. �They didn�t expect us to have two all-star players on the offensive side. They couldn�t handle us.�
Now, two of New Bern�s own are taking their lacrosse skills to the college ranks.
�It�s been great for us because coming into the season we were the underdogs,� Solter said. �Now, we�ve really set a standard for New Bern lacrosse.
�I�ve definitely enjoyed playing with this team. It�s a great group of guys and a lot of them are my best friends. It�s like a family here.�
Wingate plays lacrosse in the South Atlantic Conference. The Bulldogs went just 2-14 this spring.
They are led by first-year coach Michael Lawson.
�I chose Wingate because they have great facilities, have a great school and their lacrosse is turning around,� Solter said. �They have a new coach who seems motivated.�
Belmont Abbey plays in the Conference Carolinas. The Crusaders, coached by Chris Barrett, was 11-6 this spring.
�I chose Belmont Abbey because I love the coach,� Miller said. �He coached me at summer camp and I like the way he coaches and he likes the way I play.�
Adam Thompson can be reached at 252-635-5669 or at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow Adam on Twitter @Adam_matic.