text:
Petite Champagne
Cognac is rarely born of a single eau-de-vie or a single growing area, but generally from a blend of different ages and crus, sometimes up to a hundred of them.
It can be made also exclusively from certain "cru", for example exclusively from "Grande Champagne", but of different ages.
Petite Champagne : some 16,000 hectares of clay and a more compact chalky layer of soil. Petit Champagne is very much of the same quality, but a touch lighter. It's vineyards lie to the south-west and south-east of Grande Champagne.
Jean Grosperrin -1976- Petite Champagne
Collection Cognac – Artisan Vintage
"Feminine" character, according to some.Learn More
"A very typical and expressive cognac, de grande allure", Newzy, France, 2006.Excl. Tax: €140.00 Incl. Tax: €168.00
Jean Grosperrin -1989- Petite Champagne
Collection Cognac – Artisan Vintage
"I like the freshness and the structure of this cognac on the palate, long and fruity, still on the young side but with a good persistence," Andreas Larsson, 2008.Learn MoreExcl. Tax: €82.50 Incl. Tax: €99.00
Jean Grosperrin -1989- Petite Champagne 35cl
Collection Cognac – Artisan Vintage
"I like the freshness and the structure of this cognac on the palate, long and fruity, still on the young side but with a good persistence," Andreas Larsson, 2008.Learn MoreExcl. Tax: €57.50 Incl. Tax: €69.00
Le Réviseur - Aged 10 Years
Light amber in colour.Learn More
The first nose is characterised by spice and toasted notes. They intensify and are complemented by hints of pastry and confectionary.
A very clean elegant palate displays excellent balance and a touch of oak at the finish.
Le Réviseur - XO
Amber in colour.
The initial nose has soft oak and vanilla. The nose develops to a very elegant 'rancio' with delicious dried fruit and nut aromas.
The palate is soft and lingering with liquorice and 'rancio' flavours.
Many awards at spirits competitions.Learn MoreExcl. Tax: €60.00 Incl. Tax: €72.00
Le Roch - VSOP Petite Champagne
This is a 10 years old cognac with an amazing bouquet, making it one of the best in its class.Learn More
Normandin-Mercier - Vintage -1976-
PETITE CHAMPAGNE MILLESIME 1976Learn More
SINGLE VINEYARD SINGLE VINTAGE. (Vignoble et année uniques)Excl. Tax: €187.50 Incl. Tax: €225.00
Out of stock
Pierre Boullmer - VSOP Réserve
Subtle notes of flowers and crushed fruit mixed with violets.Learn More
Roullet - Très Rare n°45 Petite Champagne
A dry and tasteful well matured cognac, distilled just after World War II, introducing a delicate fruitiness and charm of the past.Learn MoreExcl. Tax: €348.33 Incl. Tax: €418.00


text:
Iceberg - Rough N Ready 5 Shelf Open Storage System, Resin, 36w x 18d x 74h - Black
by Iceberg | Item #: 956471 |Model #: ICE20851 |
Ideal for any application, this heavy-duty, commercial grade shelving won't scratch, dent or rust. Steel-reinforced, blow molded, high-density polyethylene shelves support up to 180 lbs. each while strong polypropylene uprights offer increased stability. Easy snap-together assembly in five minutes with 18" clearance between shelves. Washable. Constructed of blow molded high-density polyethylene. 180-lb. capacity per shelf.
Assembled Country
Assembled Size
Component Country
Ask & Answer
Shipping Information
Warranty InformationThis product is covered by the Sam's Club Member Satisfaction Guarantee.
There is no additional information available for this item.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Take last week, for instance.
I was having a bad sci-fi writing day. A few comments were made about my middle grade science fiction book Jump Boys (coming soon! woot!) that just . . . felt like a kick in the gut, ya know? I'm sure I'll talk more about this on Wednesday's IWSG post, but for now, the point is, I had a STNG movie marathon to help me out of the doldrums and learned another little gem of wisdom from old Captain Kirk himself.
It happens somewhere in the middle of this spliced-together scene (see below), where Kirk has ridden off to meet with the love of his life and make all the right choices this time--namely, give up space exploration in favor of a quiet life with the woman he loves.
Picard catches up with him to find Kirk beside a ravine, looking perplexed. And then this bit of wisdom appears (also spliced):
Kirk: "I must have made this jump fifty times, and every time it scared the hell out of me. But not this time." (pause) "Because . . . it's not real."
"It's kinda like . . . orbital skydiving. Exciting for a few minutes, but in the end, you haven't really done anything. You haven't made a difference."
And so it occurred to me while I watched this scene, that that's what it means to live. To really live. Life is messy. It's scary. There's risk in every emotionally charged event. People will hate your work (or love it), you'll get hurt (or you won't), you'll lose (or you'll win).
In every single choice, there is fear.
There is risk.
But if you play it safe, forever sticking with what you know--well, sure, life will be predictable. But will you live? Will you love? Will you win?
And then there's #349. Be like Kirk here, look fear in the face and take the challenge.
As for me, I want to face my fears, stick a smile on my face and say, "Sounds like fun!"


text:
The community blogging event #meme15 created by Jason Strate ( Blog | Twitter ) challenged SQL bloggers to write about blogging, in the hope that this will encourage people. This challenge provoked me to think about the reason that I blog. I have a number of reasons for blogging:
Blogging is a two-way conversation. I get comments and emails via my blog and I cherish them all. Even the challenging comments are superb, because I am glad that someone has taken the time to comment and it helps me to learn.
Blogging helps me to connect with the community. At SQLBits and other community events, I don't always get the chance to speak properly with the people that I'd like to meet. I also don't get the chance to answer all the questions that I receive during my sessions. My blog is a way of reaching out to people, and it is always here. I can use it to respond to queries,and then write to the individual to say that I've answered via my blog without naming them.
There are some lonely people in the community. I'm sad to say that I occasionally come across some very lonely people in the community. Blogging means that you can start to touch people, and they can touch you.
I love Business Intelligence so much because it is a people subject as well as a technical subject. The 'people' aspect is very much a part of the heart of my passion for Business Intelligence. Blogging is my way of understanding different people's perspectives.
Blogging has also helped me to feel part of the community, regardless of distance or time. It helps me to connect. As we all know, it can be difficult to juggle family, work, life, learning, reading books and 'me time'. Blogging is, for me, a way of reaching out to people regardless of their distance or time difference or my commitments or their commitments.
Blogging helps me to really know my stuff. I'm a firm believer in that, to really know something, you have to be able to explain it. I also want to put back into the community some of the help I've had over the years, including people on this list, from whom I've learned a great deal over the years. It's always nice to know that you've made someone's day a bit easier just by lending a 'helping hand' remotely.
I know that this is more personal than what I usually write, but I hope it helps you to see why I blog. Your feedback is always welcome!
Jen x


text:
By Olivia Oran
(Reuters) - Hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Inc
Hilton, whose brands include such high-end names as Conrad and Waldorf Astoria, priced its shares at $20, within the expected range, and gave the world's largest hotel operator an equity value of $19.7 billion. The stock will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the ticker symbol "HLT."
Blackstone took Hilton private in 2007 for $26.7 billion, including debt, at the height of the market. The financial crisis hit soon after, leaving the company facing a large debt pile due to the leveraged buyout and a recession that hit business. Blackstone refinanced about $13 billion of the hotel chain's debt before launching the IPO.
It also plans to use the proceeds from the offering to repay $1.25 billion in debt.
"Blackstone must be wiping their brow knowing that the company had a label since they bought it at the top
Blackstone has invested in total about $6.4 billion in Hilton, and the 76.2 percent stake its funds will hold after the IPO would be worth about $15 billion, meaning it is on course to make more than 2.3 times its money. This means that Hilton ranks as one of the most successful private equity deals of its size.
Hilton and existing shareholders sold 117.6 million shares in the IPO, the second-largest float this year behind oil pipeline holding company Plains GP Holdings LP.
Hilton had initially offered 112.8 million shares at an expected range of $18 to $21. But a source familiar with the IPO said the float was oversubscribed by around 10 times, meaning investor demand far outstripped supply.
Hilton, which was founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton, operates in 90 countries, has more than 4,000 hotels and 670,000 rooms under its umbrella. The company itself owns or leases 157 hotels, including the Waldorf Astoria in New York and the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Hilton's IPO comes as the U.S. hotel industry has been recovering along with the economy, with room rates and occupancy levels expected to increase in 2014, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Dow Jones U.S. Hotels index has risen nearly 30 percent so far this year. It also comes amid a surging IPO market, spurred by a market rally and low interest rates.
Several private equity firms have taken advantage of favorable markets to sell or list assets. Another Blackstone-backed hotel company, Extended Stay America Inc
Deutsche Bank AG
(Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Gary Hill, Matthew Lewis, Leslie Adler and Andrew Hay)


text:
Free Tools to Teach Children How to Sew
Oda May here! I'm thrilled to share with you a new resource from American Patchwork & Quilting that goes along with their 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge. The editors at APQ are passionate about sharing the joy of sewing and they have Introduced Free Tools and patterns to teach children how to sew.
Teaching children how to sew provides valuable life skills, fosters creativity, and boosts self-esteem, says Jennifer Keltner, executive editor of American Patchwork & Quilting. "Participating in the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge is a great way to introduce children to the concept of giving back," she says. "Sewing a pillowcase for charity teaches a child compassion and empathy, all while having fun and learning to sew!"
I learned to sew as a child and what was once just a useful skill became a joyful hobby that has kept my hands busy throughout my adult life. Share your own loving of sewing with the children in your family or your community. APQ's Teaching Tools are a great resource to get started. Click
{here} for free printouts and patterns.
Designed by Moda Fabrics on Sunday, April 28, 2013 Type of Recipe: Oda May
2 comments:
- Shannon said...
I love this! Thank you for sharing. I think my son (7) and I can make a few of these!
- April 28, 2013 at 6:53 PM
- Rowena Hailey said...
Toddlers can begin to use lacing cards and plastic needles and then move up to scissors and tapestry needles. We start sewing with my kids around age 4. You'll know when they are ready. Be sure to teach safety and talk a lot about the needles, scissors. Once they can respect the tools, they can become independent.
Rowena Hailey (Seattle Criminal Lawyers)
- June 15, 2013 at 2:05 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
We are all back from Boston now after last week's IP Business Congress (see reports here, here and here) and we are now going through the feedback we have had from delegates. Overall, it looks as if most of the 600-plus who attended found the event very worthwhile, both in terms of content and networking opportunities. There are criticisms and nits too, just as there always are, and we will look at these carefully so that we can make next year in Amsterdam even better; but, in general, the reception has been very good. I was pleased with the contributions from the vast majority of speakers and moderators; and I enjoyed the content and learned quite a bit – both by sitting in on sessions and talking to delegates in the breaks. It's good to get together with a few hundred market leaders over a concentrated period as it tops up your information and knowledge bank very effectively.
In terms of general buzz, it looks to me as if patent-based deals are going to get more numerous, more widespread and, as the finance community gets increasingly involved, more sophisticated too. We are very unlikely to go back to the multi-billion dollar figures we saw a couple of years back, but in terms of volume and geographical scope things are moving quickly. There's a lot of interest both in Asia, where the big companies are engaged in a very quick learning process, and the potential opportunities for NPEs that may be opened up by the arrival of the unified patent court (UPC) in the EU; though European companies themselves still lag in terms of their sophistication and are now in danger of being overtaken from the east.
I am not sure that those tasked with the creation of the UPC were thinking of offering hope and encouragment to NPEs when they developed their plans, but there is no doubt that it has caught the imaginations of many aggregators and intermediaries in the US and elsewhere. A single legal system covering a market of 500 million plus wealthy consumers combined with the possibility of a single injunction with no restrictions on who may get one and the chance to game the system, at least in the early years before rules and procedures are properly established, is a very tempting proposition for US entities feeling increasingly under pressure in their home market, not to mention ones that may spring up in Europe itself. The key for any NPEs that do enter the European market, though, will be the quality of the patents they assert. The UPC only becomes really interesting if there is a realistic chance of winning a case, because that's when the injunction kicks in. The kind of nuisance troll that thrives in the US on the back of the expense of taking cases to court is unlikely to prosper in Europe, unless the cost of litigating inside the unitary system turns out to be much higher than expected. Instead, what will bring defendants it the table is the award of an injunction or the possibiliy that one may be awarded after a case has been decided.
All that said, what I think some of those who attend the IPBC may lose sight of from time to time is the fact that IP deals are only possible because of the value that lies in IP outside of monetisation. Sales and licensing programmes do not exist in a vacuum; instead, they are made possible because of what the IP being transacted enables: freedom to operate, exclusion, collaboration, open innovation, targeted R&D and so on. For most IP owners, actual and potential, these possibilities are much more interesting and financially significant than making a few million dollars from cashing in on their portfolios.
Instead, what really drives strategic IP value inside the vast majority of corporations of all sizes are the ways in which IP is applied and how it relates to the other parts of the business – not the fact that it is bought, sold or licensed. You need spend only a few minutes speaking to any CIPO or in-house IP head to find that out. And, what's more, they'll tell you that it's about a lot more than patents – that other IPRs and intellectual capital such as brands, reputation and know-how are equally, if not more, important. The real art is in working out not just where the value lies, but how to capture it, measure it, balance the differing types and then communicating all this to the C-suite, the rest of the business and to the outside world. And sometimes, an IP strategy can be about considering IP and then deciding that actually there are more important things to focus on.
Don't get me wrong: deals are very important, not just in and of themselves, but because of how they bring IP to the attention of senior executives and investors. The more people know about IP, the better. But let's remember that they are just one part of the equation; and for most businesses nowhere near the most important one. It's my task to make sure that the IPBC, IAM and this blog reflect that too. We should never forget the big picture.
IP management, Licensing, Brands, IP litigation, Copyright, Patents, IP business
Joff, I completely agree. As we highlighted in our session on "From IP to IC", IP exists in an ecosystem of other intangibles. Competitive advantage for a company comes from aligning all intangible assets to produce goods and services that meet market needs. IP is an important part of the equation, but only part. IP value comes from someone recognizing how the IP fits in to the broader operation. I hope we can continue to highlight this at future conferences.
Ken JarboeKenan Jarboe, Athena Alliance on 17 Jun 2013 @ 19:32
"It's coming home! It's coming home! Intellectual Property is coming home!"
As one of the inductees to the IP Hall of Fame indicated the IP world is in danger of overreaching itself and killing the Golden Goose.
We need to stop trying to think like bankers and begin to re-think what it means to be an IP expert and the role and point of the IP system. We also need to send the New Age IP gurus back to their none IP routes.
There were clearly some indications of this moving in the right direction at this IPBC and I would encourage further moves in that direction.
One day we will look back and be slightly bemused that anyone with any serious knowledge of IP and the real world of IP could ever have thought that IP should be or even could be an "asset class". It is just so much more than that.Nicholas White, Tangible IP on 18 Jun 2013 @ 11:44
When the best, brightest, and most ambitious up-and-comers in an enterprise decide to become the head of IP instead of head of sales, finance, or operations, then you'll know things have really changed.
This is a very smart reminder, Joff.David Kline, David Kline Associates on 19 Jun 2013 @ 16:50


text:
WBKX Kix Country 96.5/100.3FM
500 - 1,000 downloadsAdd this app to your lists
Tweets por @AppsZoom
+ By Securenet Systems Inc.
Chautauqua Counties Country Station. WBKX Kix Country 96.5 / 100.3. Listen to us live now on your iOS device. See what's playing, request a song, and see past songs played!
Comments and ratings for WBKX Kix Country 96.5/100.3FM
(69 stars)
So what
(69 stars)
Good music down in the south
(69 stars)
Good music down in the south


text:
PROSPECT, La. (KALB News Channel 5) -- The Grant Parish Sheriff's Office received a report of a burglary in progress in the Prospect community on June 19, 2014.
When deputies arrived, they discovered a female, identified as Sheri Brewer, opening a gate for a vehicle attempting to leave the property. The driver of the vehicle, who was later identified as Michael Houston, left the woman and fled in the car to the back of the property and crashed into a tree.
Houston ran on foot, and when caught by deputies, physically resisted arrest. He also gave deputies a false name.
Michael Houston, 29 of Pineville, was arrested for Simple Burglary, Resisting by Force, Resisting by False Information, Obstruction of Justice, Criminal Trespassing, and two outstanding warrants.
Sheri Brewer, 34 of Pineville, was arrested for Simple Burglary, Criminal Trespassing, an outstanding warrant from Rapides Parish and one from Grant Parish.


text:
Writings of a coffee drinking software engineer based in Atlanta, GA.
My name is Matt Farmer. I'm a software engineer based out of Atlanta, GA. I consult and ship awesome products under the name Crazy Goat Creative, including Anchor Tab. My GitHub and Twitter both stay pretty active. Writings here vary in topic. Read more about me.


text:
Camp Creativity: Studio A
1801 Thirty-Fifth Street NW (at S street)
Registration begins January 27th for Members, February 10th for Non-Members
REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS: Please click on the title of the camp or care session you would like to register for. You must do this for each session. If you are registering for full-day camp, you must select both the FULL DAY AM and FULL DAY PM sessions. If you are registering for half-day camp, you must select an AM-ONLY or PM-ONLY session. Failure to do this may result in an incomplete registration.
Georgetown Studio A (Ages 5-7)
Week 1 June 23 –27 Georgetown Studio A (Ages 5-7)
Masterful Masks A.M.
Learn about the meaning of masks in cultures around the world. See examples of colorful and elaborate masks. Create your own using fun and unique materials.
Just Add Water P.M.
Watercolor is one of the most difficult painting mediums to control, but it gives some of the most delicate and beautiful results. Learn how to mix color, apply washes, and create effects unique to watercolor as you paint from life.
Week 2 June 30-July 4 (4 day week, no class on July 4 th ) Georgetown Studio A (Ages 5-7)
Modern Masters A.M.
Study the works of artist such as Monet, Matisse, Picasso and Kadinsky. Learn about the early modern art movements and how abstraction was born, then try painting in an abstract style yourself.
Story Illustration P.M.
Create picture books, thumbnail sketches and full-size drawings from a short story, a fairy tale or an original written piece. Study popular illustrators and follow in their imaginative footsteps.
Week 3 July 7 –11 Georgetown Studio A (Ages 5-7)
Paper Explorations A.M.
Explore the range of artistic possibilities with beautiful and unique papers by bending, folding, cutting and pasting to create two-dimensional collages and three-dimensional structures.
Magic Brushes P.M. "Magic Brushes P.M.": SOLD OUT! PLease click here to sign up for the wait list
Create beautiful paintings using a variety of water based paints. Learn how to mix color and paint from subject matter that includes still life, landscape and personal invention. Let your magic brushes color your world!
Week 4 July 14 –18 Georgetown Studio A (Ages 5-7)
Mosaic Art A.M.
Examine the uses of mosaic from Roman times to the present. Be inspired and assemble unique designs and colors to create one of a kind two- and three- dimensional works of mosaic art.
Animal Menagerie P.M.
Learn how to create many different kinds of animals with a variety of two-and three- dimensional media. Your favorite animals will come alive through creative expression.
Week 5 July 21 –25 Georgetown Studio A (Ages 5-7)
Around the World A.M.SOLD OUT! Please click here to sign up for the wait list.
All around the world people make art. They decorate their world and add beauty to their lives. Create objects inspired from cultures around the world, and learn their meaning and importance along the way.
Circus P.M.
The circus has always been a special source of entertainment for all. Draw, paint, and sculpt animal creatures and figures from the circus.
Week 6 July 28 –August 1 Georgetown Studio A (Ages 5-7)
Creepy, Crawling, Critters A.M. SOLD OUT! Please click here to sign up for the wait list.
Survey unusual and exotic insects from around the world and create your own two- and three- dimensional creatures from a variety of materials.
Fantasy Art P.M.SOLD OUT! Please click here to sign up for the wait list.
Dreaming of unicorns, animal creations and habitats of the future? Learn to draw with a fantastic and imaginative theme. Develop creative finished works of art with a range of media.
Week 7 August 4 –8 Georgetown Studio A (Ages 5-7)
Pirates and Parrots A.M.
Ahoy mate! Hear some tales of famous pirates, their ships and hidden treasures. Create your own treasure maps, pirate persona and paint your way across the ocean!
Creature Creations P.M.
Focus on amazing wildlife from around the world. Using a range of media, create your own favorite creatures.
Week 8 August 11–15 Studio A (Ages 5-7)
Kid Pan Alley FULL DAY ONLY. DOWNTOWN ONLY
The last week (August 11-16) of Camp Creativity 2014 is a weeklong songwriting workshop that combines creativity, music, and art. Campers work with Kid Pan Alley Songwriter Staff, who have written over 1,800 songs with over 30,000 children across the nation. Budding songwriters draw musical inspiration from the art in the Corcoran's galleries. Theater and visual art teachers guide costume and stage design projects for the concert finale on Saturday, August 16th.
All classes for all ages are held at the Downtown campus this week only. Full Day Session only with pre and post camp activity options.
Kid Pan Alley Fees
Pre-Camp Activity
8 to 9am
Full-Day Sessions
Post-Camp Activity


text:
$10 million yacht tips over on its maiden voyage
Well, that's not supposed to happen. Not when you spend 10 million dollars on a 90-foot yacht. Not when that $10 million 90-foot yacht is embarking on its maiden voyage. Not when a boat, let a lone a $10 million 90-foot yacht, is never supposed to tip over sideways. »


text:
ASSE Foundation Upbeat About Future, Unveils New Logo
DES PLAINES, IL (September 21, 2012) – To celebrate more than 20 years of helping students and supporting occupational safety, health and environmental research, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Foundation unveiled a new logo today.
The logo is built out of multiple shields showing the Foundation's connection to ASSE. The three shields overlap and intersect to form a fourth shield at the center, referencing how the Foundation is built upon components of ASSE. When the three shields are placed together, they combine into a central, prominent shield. The designer notes that the unified, stronger shield showcases the collaboration and nurturing side of the Foundation.
In the center of the logo is an icon – a person reading a book, referencing the Foundation's successful scholarship and grant program. It can also be viewed as a lantern, pointing more broadly to the Foundation's overarching orientation toward lighting the way to a safer tomorrow.
The Foundation's tagline is incorporated into the logo. The full tagline, which reads 'Generosity from you, growth within our profession, safety for all,' has been abbreviated to 'Generosity, growth, safety' for purposes of the logo.
"Our new tagline illustrates that because of the philanthropy of our charitably-minded donors, we are able to provide programs that advance the safety profession, keep more employees safe at work and increase safety everywhere – generosity, growth and safety," Foundation Chair Fay Feeney, CSP, ARM, of Hermosa Beach, CA, said.
"We haven't changed who we are. The Foundation is moving forward, eager to bring the safety profession onward and upward and to continue to extend help where help is needed when it comes to continuing to ensure well-educated safety professionals are ready to fill the positions charged with keeping people and businesses around the world safe," Feeney said.
The Foundation will soon roll out its new on-line scholarship and grant application process. Nearly $180,000 will be available in scholarships and grants for students and professionals at www.asse.org/foundation.
The ASSE Foundation was established by and in partnership with the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) in 1990. Over the years, the ASSE Foundation has awarded nearly $1.4 million in scholarships and professional education grants, supported almost $400,000 in key research, and endowed a Ph.D. fellowship in occupational safety and health.
The Foundation generates funding and provides resources for scholarship, applied research, academic accreditation, and related academic initiatives in order to advance the safety, health, and environmental profession.
Founded in 1911, the Des Plaines, IL-based ASSE is the oldest professional safety society and is committed to protecting people, property and the environment. Its more than 34,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members lead, manage, supervise, research and consult on safety, health, transportation and environmental issues in all industries, government, labor, healthcare and education. For more information, please go to http://www.asse.org/foundation/logo.php or to www.asse.org.
Contact: Diane Hurns, 847-768-3413, email@example.com


text: It is a little of time when I was writing here last time. But today I would like to give you some bonus. One of latest photossets from Ts Jesse has been called Naughty Girl Jesse. It is something extra for fans of shemale Jesse. This transsexual star posing here topless in sexy panties only. We can admire her big round tits from first photos. But later there is a more spicy situation. Jesse is taking of her sexy panties and shows her huge cock. It is always nice and well shaved. Probably you would liek to suck it, I too. Shemale Jesse has nice makup which makes from her very sexy tgirl. Nice photos Jesse Ts! We are wating for a movie!


text:
Inside USC Rossier Online Blog RSS
Obtaining Your Teaching Certificate
Obtaining a teaching certificate is essential to becoming a teacher. With the right preparation, acquiring your certificate can be easy.
Let's say that, John, a California native, has always wanted to become a teacher. Having always been an organized individual with a passion for working with children and a drive to make a difference, he knows that teaching would be the perfect career from him. The time has now come for him to complete his Bachelor's degree in education and he feels a bit anxious, unsure of how exactly the process to earn a teaching certificate works.
Let's say that, John, a California native, has always wanted to become a teacher. Having always been an organized individual with a passion for working with children and a drive to make a difference, he knows that teaching would be the perfect career for him. The time has now come for him to complete his bachelor's degree in education, and he feels a bit anxious. He is unsure of how exactly the process of earning a teaching certificate works.
John's story is hardly unusual. Many prospective teachers are unsure of where to start when it comes to obtaining a teaching certification. To help explain this process, let's discuss the steps an individual must take in order to obtain his or her teaching certificate.
When it comes to getting a teaching certificate, there are a number of requirements to consider. A factor many seem to overlook, however, is that different states require different teaching certification methods. To keep it simple, let's take a look at California's specific requirements and the process John must undergo when attempting to obtain a teacher certification.
- The first step is to consider an individual's prerequisite coursework. Like all other states in the country, California requires that an applicant has at least completed a bachelor's degree. While some programs require specific undergraduate credit hour requirements, the majority do not. Thus, a bachelor's degree alone is typically all an individual needs to get started. So far, John seems to have a good start.
- In addition to a bachelor's degree, prospective teachers must have undergone some sort of teaching preparation, perhaps during their undergraduate studies. Further, an individual must have completed an accredited teacher education program in order to be considered for a teaching certification. This process involves a combination of rigorous curricula and designated fieldwork. In the course of teacher preparation, students spend time in the classroom learning the foundations of education and go on to apply their acquired knowledge and skills in the fieldwork component. Fieldwork typically includes on-site observations within schools, student teaching and internship opportunities. Those who obtained a bachelor's degree in education during their undergraduate years, as in John's scenario, will have undergone the teacher preparation process. Those, however, who did not major in education as college students and earned a bachelor's degree in a different area of focus, can fulfill substituted requirements and receive a teacher certification.
- The last factor an individual must consider when securing a teaching certificate is the completion of required testing. Satisfactory scores are required for the Basic Skills Test as well as the Subject Area Competence assessment required for an individual's area of specialization. For example, California offers the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST). The CSET is California's subject area competence assessment.
Thus, when preparing for teacher certification, individual's like John must keep in mind the following three factors: prerequisite coursework, teacher preparation, and required test scores. As long as the three of these factors have been fulfilled, a prospective teacher residing in California will be able to obtain a teaching certificate.
Thus, when preparing for teacher certification, individuals like John must keep in mind the following three factors: prerequisite coursework, teacher preparation and required test scores. As long as these three factors have been fulfilled, a prospective teacher residing in California will be able to obtain a teaching certificate.
Now straying away from John's situation, suppose another individual attained his or her teaching certificate in a different state and decided to move to California. Would this create any conflict?
Luckily, the state of California accepts teaching certificates from a majority of other states. More specifically, an interstate certificate reciprocity disclaimer exists outlining which states accept other states' teaching certificates. For example, if a woman who just earned her teaching certificate in Maryland decides to move to California, she will find that under this interstate agreement, the state of California will accept her Maryland teaching certificate.
To find out more information regarding interstate agreement and teaching certificates in general, take a look at www.certificationmap.com. The website can provide answers to many of your questions regarding teaching certificate rules and requirements. The website details certification requirements for every state in an easy-to-understand manner. People like John no longer need to stress — just read the requirements, plan the next steps and get the ball rolling!


text:
Issues like climate change and race are usually framed individually but they are part of a connected system.
The link between climate change and race may not be immediately apparent, but at least one organization is doing something to connect the dots. In light of the racial tensions stemming from the killing of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, 350.org's Executive Director May Boeve stated, "We believe unequivocally that working for racial justice is a crucial part of fighting climate change."
The reasons behind such a statement are many and varied. For one, organizations advocating for racial justice, "could use some of environmentalists' passion around conservation and the preservation of life" Brentin Mock writes for Bridge the Gulf.
Additionally, climate change has and is expected to disproportionately affect people of color both domestically and internationally. In cases like Hurricane Katrina, the disaster quickly became an issue of race and racism, ranging from accusations of "looting" to at least 11 shootings of African-American men by white men in the days following the storm. In at-risk countries like Bangladesh, the potential for climate change "acts as a threat multiplier" wherein people face food and housing insecurity, as well as social and political instability. At the center of these situations is an imbalance of power where those with the most resources (including money, weapons, and connections) usually win out.
Furthermore, in many ways, the two issues are related by economic priorities which tend to favor profit over everything else—the environmental, the ethical, the future of our communities. Oil companies profit despite disasters such as Deepwater Horizon (where Vietnamese communities in the Gulf who relied on the fishing industry took a particularly hard hit, not to mention the environmental and health effects), corporations like Halliburton contract out armed guards to protect their extraction sites abroad, weapons companies profit in the billions from police departments that acquire tanks and teargas (like the kind deployed in the Ferguson protests), and privatized prisons make money off of discriminatory drug laws.
Lastly, a threat of suppression or actual violence to one group is a signal to anyone else who may want to speak out. In the U.S., such acts can have a "chilling effect" which is intended to quiet the use of our First Amendment rights including the right to free speech and the right to assemble.
So what can be done to bridge the divides between movements? Deirdre Smith, 350.org's Strategic Partnership Coordinator says it will take a deeper understanding of institutional injustices, a drive to develop stronger alliances, and an acknowledgment of privilege. And although she recognizes that, "we have a lot of learning to do about how to come together," in doing so, collectively, our voices will reach farther, be more resilient, and do more to tip the balance of power.
Photo by Rachel, licensed under Creative Commons.
California's severe drought prompts innovation.
California is in the midst of its third consecutive year of drought conditions while water usage remains relatively unchanged or has even increased. However homeowners are now under restrictions that prohibit hosing off driveways and lawn water runoff, with violations costing up to $500. With the introduction of an app called Dropcountr, readily available regulation of water use may help prevent those fines. The app monitors daily use so users can see long-term patterns (such as more use on weekends). It also warns users if it suspects there is a leak and it shows water usage in houses similar in size for comparison. Dropcountr CEO Robb Barnitt said, "The first response we get from folks is, 'Wow, I had no idea that I used that much water.' That's really the first piece we're trying to deliver—transparency and visibility. It's really tough to gain much insight from your water bill." The company is working to broaden the number of utility districts the app is available for and is also coordinating with property management companies in an effort to expand the app to renters.
Another solution is the slightly absurd idea of lawn painting which allows homeowners to save water while maintaining curb appeal. It's a consideration that is quickly gaining popularity throughout California with new companies offering the service popping up, and established ones seeing sales increases of 60 percent. Each paint jobs lasts three to six months and costs about $175 for a 500 square foot lawn. The paint that is used is nontoxic and once it dries, it doesn't run. One San Bernardino resident remarked, "It became a real eyesore…I heard about a service where people paint your lawn so it looks like the real thing and thought, why not? We've had lots of people stop over and say it looks good."
Now that homeowners have some innovative options to utilize during the drought, it's time to focus on controlling the wildfires that have resulted, regulating Nestle's water bottling plant in Southern California, and finding ways to protect Napa Valley's vineyards to avoid a wine shortage.
Photo by Robert V, licensed under Creative Commons.
The Nature Conservancy has come under fire for allowing drilling on its land.
The Nature Conservancy is the largest environmental organization in the U.S., operating in all 50 states and backed by over $6 billion in assets. Being such a big operation, it's bound to face some controversies, whether it's animal management methodology or the fact that its current president spent 24 years serving Goldman Sachs. However the latest revelation is particularly surprising. In Naomi Klein's forthcoming book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate she reveals that The Nature Conservancy has made millions of dollars off of oil being drilled on a piece of land it manages in Texas, a fact acknowledged by the organization.
The primary contention for environmentalists is over the welfare of the Attwater prairie chicken, a critically endangered species, that was supposed to use part of the land as a refuge. However it has not been seen there since 2012 (it's unknown if drilling played a part in this though internal documents from the organization suggested that drilling would disturb the birds). Many activists and environmental groups have been highly critical of The Nature Conservancy in light of the discovery. Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, asserts that The Nature Conservancy "has just lost its moral compass."
In its defense, The Nature Conservancy contends that it doesn't have a say in the drilling. The land was donated by Mobil Oil in 1995, in an effort to save the aforementioned chicken which suffered dramatically dwindling numbers due to hunting and habitat destruction. Under a 1999 contract, the organization allowed new drilling that came closer to the breeding grounds of the prairie chicken with profits to be used for conservation efforts. However The Nature Conservancy now says it regrets the decision. Klein argues that the organization could have fought the drilling requests by utilizing termination clauses in the contract. She adds, "We all need to get off fossil fuels. If the largest environmental organization in the world can't figure out how to stop pumping oil and gas, how are they going to help the rest of us figure it out?"
Photo by Ray Bodden, licensed under Creative Commons.
Why fossil fuels can't solve the problems created by fossil fuels
This post originally appeared at TomDispatch.com
Albert Einstein is rumored to have said that one cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that led to it. Yet this is precisely what we are now trying to do with climate change policy. The Obama administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, many environmental groups, and the oil and gas industry all tell us that the way to solve the problem created by fossil fuels is with more fossils fuels. We can do this, they claim, by using more natural gas, which is touted as a "clean" fuel—even a "green" fuel.
Like most misleading arguments, this one starts from a kernel of truth.
That truth is basic chemistry: When you burn natural gas, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced is, other things being equal, much less than when you burn an equivalent amount of coal or oil. It can be as much as 50 percent less compared with coal, and 20 percent to 30 percent less compared with diesel fuel, gasoline, or home heating oil. When it comes to a greenhouse gas (GHG) heading for the atmosphere, that's a substantial difference. It means that if you replace oil or coal with gas without otherwise increasing your energy usage, you can significantly reduce your short-term carbon footprint.
Replacing coal gives you other benefits as well, such as reducing the sulfate pollution that causes acid rain, particulate emissions that cause lung disease, and mercury that causes brain damage. And if less coal is mined, then occupational death and disease can be reduced in coal miners and the destruction caused by damaging forms of mining, including the removal, in some parts of the country, of entire mountains can be reduced or halted.
Those are significant benefits. In part for these reasons, the Obama administration has made natural gas development a centerpiece of its energy policy, and environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, have supported the increased use of gas. President Obama has gone as far as to endorse fracking—the controversial method of extracting natural gas from low permeability shales—on the grounds that the gas extracted can provide "a bridge" to a low carbon future and help fight climate change.
So if someone asks: "Is gas better than oil or coal?" the short answer seems to be yes. And when it comes to complicated issues that have science at their core, often the short answer is the (basically) correct one.
As a historian of science who studies global warming, I've often stressed that anthropogenic climate change is a matter of basic physics: CO2 is a greenhouse gas, which means it traps heat in the Earth's atmosphere. So if you put additional CO2 into that atmosphere, above and beyond what's naturally there, you have to expect the planet to warm. Basic physics.
And guess what? We've added a substantial amount of CO2 to the atmosphere, and the planet has become hotter. We can fuss about the details of natural variability, cloud feedbacks, ocean heat and CO2 uptake, El Niño cycles and the like, but the answer that you get from college-level physics—more CO2 means a hotter planet—has turned out to be correct. The details may affect the timing and mode of climate warming, but they won't stop it.
In the case of gas, however, the short answer may not be the correct one. The often-touted decrease in greenhouse gas production applies when natural gas replaces other fuels—particularly coal—in electricity generation. That's important. Electricity is about 40 percent of total U.S. energy use. Traditionally, coal has been the dominant fuel used to generate electricity in this country and most of the world. (And no one has any serious plan to live without electricity.) Any measurable GHG reduction in the electricity sector is significant and gains achieved in that sector quickly add up.
But a good deal of the benefit of gas in electricity generation comes from the fact that it is used in modern combined-cycle gas turbine plants. A combined-cycle plant is one in which waste heat is captured and redirected to drive a mechanical system that powers a generator that creates additional electricity. These plants can be nearly twice as efficient as conventional single-cycle plants. In addition, if combined with cogeneration (the trapping of the last bits of heat for local home heating or other purposes), they can reach efficiencies of nearly 90 percent. That means that nearly all the heat released by burning the fuel is captured and used—an impressive accomplishment.
In theory, you could build a combined-cycle plant with coal (or other fuels), but it's not often done. You can also increase coal efficiency by pulverizing it, and using a technique called "ultra super-critical black coal." An expert report compiled by the Australian Council of Learned Societies in 2013 compared the efficiencies of a range of fuels, including conventional gas and shale gas, under a variety of conditions, and concluded that greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation using efficient forms of coal burning were not that much more than from gas.
What this means is that most of the benefit natural gas offers comes not from the gas itself, but from how it is burned, and this is mostly because gas plants tend to be new and use more efficient burning technologies. The lesson, not surprisingly: If you burn a fuel using 21st century technology, you get a better result than with late-19th or 20th century technology. This is not to defend coal, but to provide an important reality check on the discussion now taking place in this country. There is a real benefit to burning gas in America, but it's less than often claimed, and much of that benefit comes from using modern techniques and new equipment. (If the coal industry weren't so busy denying the reality of climate change, they might publicize this fact.)
Replacing coal with gas in electricity generation is still probably a good idea—at least in the near term—but gas isn't just used to generate electricity. It's also used in transportation, to heat homes and make hot water, and in gas appliances like stoves, driers, and fireplaces. Here the situation is seriously worrisome.
It's extremely difficult to estimate GHG emissions in these sectors because many of the variables are poorly measured. One important emission source is gas leakage from distribution and storage systems, which is hard to measure because it happens in so many different ways in so many different places. Such leaks are sometimes called "downstream emissions," because they occur after the gas has been drilled.
Certainly, gas does leak, and the more we transport, distribute, and use it, the more opportunities there are for such leakage. Studies have tried to estimate the total emissions associated with gas using well-to-burner or "life-cycle" analysis. Different studies of this sort tend to yield quite different results with a high margin for error, but many conclude that when natural gas replaces petroleum in transportation or heating oil in homes, the greenhouse gas benefits are slim to none. (And since almost no one in America heats their home with coal any more, there are no ancillary benefits of decreased coal.) One study by researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University concluded that while the probability of reducing GHG emissions at least somewhat by replacing coal with gas in electricity generation was 100 percent, the substitution of natural gas as a transportation fuel actually carries a 10-35 percent risk of increasing emissions.
In the Northeast, the northern Midwest, and the Great Plains, many builders are touting the "energy efficiency" of new homes supplied with gas heat and hot water systems, but it's not clear that these homes are achieving substantial GHG reductions. In New England, where wood is plentiful, many people would do better to use high efficiency wood stoves (or burn other forms of biomass).
Isn't gas still better than oil for heating homes? Perhaps, but oil doesn't leak into the atmosphere, which brings us to a crucial point: Natural gas is methane (CH4), which is a greenhouse gas far more potent than CO2.
As a result, gas leaks are a cause for enormous concern, because any methane that reaches the atmosphere unburned contributes to global warming more than the same amount of CO2. How much more? This is a question that has caused considerable angst in the climate science community, because it depends on how you calculate it. Scientists have developed the concept of "Global Warming Potential" (GWP) to try to answer this question.
The argument is complicated because while CH4 warms the planet far more than CO2, it stays in the atmosphere for much less time. A typical molecule of CO2 remains in the atmosphere about 10 times longer than a molecule of CH4. In their Fifth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that the GWP for methane is 34 times that of CO2 over the span of 100 years. However, when the time frame is changed to 20 years, the GWP increases to 86!
Most calculations of the impact of methane leakage use the 100-year time frame, which makes sense if you are worried about the cumulative impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the world as a whole, but not—many scientists have started to argue—if you are worried about currently unfolding impacts on the biosphere. After all, many species may go extinct well before we reach that 100-year mark. It also does not make sense if you are worried that we are quickly approaching irreversible tipping points in the climate system, including rapid ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
It gets worse. CH4 and CO2 are not the only components of air pollution that can alter the climate. Dust particles from pollution or volcanoes have the capacity to cool the climate. As it happens, burning coal produces a lot of dust, leading some scientists to conclude that replacing coal with natural gas may actually increase global warming. If they are right, then not only is natural gas not a bridge to a clean energy future, it's a bridge to potential disaster.
A great deal of recent public and media attention has been focused not on gas itself, but on the mechanism increasingly used to extract it. Hydraulic fracturing—better known as fracking—is a technique that uses high-pressure fluids to "fracture" and extract gas from low permeability rocks where it would otherwise be trapped. The technique itself has been around for a long time, but in the last decade, combined with innovations in drilling technology and the high cost of petroleum, it has become a profitable way to produce energy.
The somewhat surprising result of several recent studies (including one by an expert panel from the Council of Canadian Academies on which I served) is that, from a climate-change perspective, fracking probably isn't much worse than conventional gas extraction. Life-cycle analyses of GHG emissions from the Marcellus and Bakken shales, for example, suggest that emissions are probably slightly but not significantly higher than from conventional gas drilling. A good proportion of these emissions come from well leakage.
It turns out to be surprisingly hard to seal a well tightly. This is widely acknowledged even by industry representatives and shale gas advocates. They call it the problem of "well integrity." Wells may leak when they are being drilled, during production, and even when abandoned after production has ended. The reason is primarily because the cement used to seal the well may shrink, crack, or simply fail to fill in all the gaps.
Interestingly, there's little evidence that fracked wells leak more than conventional wells. From a greenhouse gas perspective, the problem with fracking lies in the huge number of wells being drilled. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, there were 342,000 gas wells in the United States in 2000; by 2010, there were over 510,000, and nearly all of this increase was driven by shale-gas development—that is, by fracking. This represents a huge increase in the potential pathways for methane leakage directly into the atmosphere. (It also represents a huge increase in potential sources of groundwater contamination, but that's a subject for another post.)
There have been enormous disagreements among scientists and industry representatives over methane leakage rates, but experts calculate that leakage must be kept below 3 percent for gas to represent an improvement over coal in electricity generation, and below 1 percent for gas to improve over diesel and gasoline in transportation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently estimates average leakage rates at 1.4 percent, but quite a few experts dispute that figure. One study published in 2013, based on atmospheric measurements over gas fields in Utah, found leakage rates as high as 6-11 percent. The Environmental Defense Fund is currently sponsoring a large, collaborative project involving diverse industry, government, and academic scientists. One part of the study, measuring emissions over Colorado's most active oil and gas drilling region, found methane emissions almost three times higher than the EPA's 2012 numbers, corresponding to a well-leakage rate of 2.6-5.6 percent.
Some of the differences in leakage estimates reflect differing measurement techniques, some may involve measurement error, and some probably reflect real differences in gas fields and industrial practices. But the range of estimates indicates that the scientific jury is still out. If, in the end, leakage rates prove to be higher than the EPA currently calculates, the promised benefits of gas begin to vaporize. If leakage in storage and distribution is higher than currently estimated—as one ongoing study by my own colleagues at Harvard suggests—then the alleged benefits may evaporate entirely.
And we're not done yet. There's one more important pathway to consider when it comes to the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere: flaring. In this practice, gas is burned off at the wellhead, sending carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It's most commonly done in oil fields. There, natural gas is not a desirable product but a hazardous byproduct that companies flare to avoid gas explosions. (If you fly over the Persian Gulf at night and notice numerous points of light below, those are wellhead fires).
In our report for the Council of Canadian Academies, our panel relied on industry data that suggested flaring rates in gas fields were extremely low, typically less than 2 percent and "in all probability" less than 0.1 percent. This would make sense if gas producers were efficient, since they want to sell gas, not flare it. But recently the Wall Street Journal reported that state officials in North Dakota would be pressing for new regulations because flaring rates there are running around 30 percent. In the month of April alone, $50 million dollars of natural gas was burned off, completely wasted. The article was discussing shale oil wells, not shale gas ones, but it suggests that, when it comes to controlling flaring, there's evidence the store is not being adequately minded. (At present, there are no federal regulations at all on flaring.) As long as gas is cheap, the economic incentives to avoid waste are obviously insufficient.
In a perfect world, people would use gas to replace more polluting coal or oil. Unfortunately, the argument for gas rests on just that assumption: that the world works perfectly. You don't need to be a scientist, however, to know just how flawed that assumption is. In fact, economists have long argued that a paradox of energy efficiency is this: if people save energy through efficiency and their energy bills start to fall, they may begin to use more energy in other ways. So while their bills stay the same, usage may actually rise. (It's like going to a sale and instead of saving money, buying more things because of the lower price tags.) In this way, consumers can actually end up using more energy overall and so emissions continue to rise.
To ensure that natural gas use doesn't follow such a path, you've got to do something. You could introduce a law, like AB32, the California emissions control law, or put in place the pending EPA carbon rule just introduced by the Obama administration that mandates emissions reductions. Or you could introduce a hefty carbon tax to create a strong financial incentive for people to choose non-carbon based fuels. But laws like AB32 are at present few and far between, the fossil fuel industry and its political and ideological allies are fighting the EPA carbon rule tooth and nail, and only a handful of political leaders are prepared to stand up in public and argue for a new tax.
Meanwhile, global fossil fuel production and consumption are rising. A recent article by the business editor of the British Telegraph describes a frenzy of fossil fuel production that may be leading to a new financial bubble. The huge increase in natural gas production is, in reality, helping to keep the price of such energy lower, discouraging efficiency and making it more difficult for renewables to compete. And this raises the most worrisome issue of all.
Embedded in all positive claims for gas is an essential assumption: that it replaces other more polluting fuels. But what if it also turns out to replace the panoply of alternative energies, including solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear? In Canada, where shale-gas development is well advanced, only a small fraction of electricity is generated from coal; most comes from hydropower or nuclear power. In the U.S., competition from cheap gas was recently cited by the owners of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear power plant as a factor in their decision to close down. And while the evidence may be somewhat anecdotal, various reports suggest that cheap gas has delayed or halted some renewable power projects. It stands to reason that if people believe natural gas is a "green" alternative, they will chose it over more expensive renewables.
We've all heard about the Keystone XL Pipeline through which Canada proposes to ship oil from the Alberta tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast, and from there to the rest of the world. Few people, however, are aware that the U.S. has also become a net exporter of coal and is poised to become a gas exporter as well. Gas imports have fallen steadily since 2007, while exports have risen, and several U.S. gas companies are actively seeking federal and state approvals for the building of expanded gas export facilities.
Once coal leaves our borders, the argument for replacing it becomes moot because there's no way for us to monitor how it's used. If gas replaces coal in the U.S. and that coal is then exported and burned elsewhere, then there's no greenhouse gas benefit at all. Meanwhile, the negative effects of coal have been passed on to others.
All of the available scientific evidence suggests that greenhouse gas emissions must peak relatively soon and then fall dramatically over the next 50 years, if not sooner, if we are to avoid the most damaging and disruptive aspects of climate change. Yet we are building, or contemplating building, pipelines and export facilities that will contribute to increased fossil fuel use around the globe, ensuring further increases in emissions during the crucial period when they need to be dramatically decreasing.
We are also building new power plants that will be with us for a long time. (A typical power plant is expected to operate for at least 50 years.) Once technologies are adopted and infrastructure built to support them, it becomes difficult and expensive to change course. Historians of technology call this "technological momentum."
Certain forms of infrastructure also effectively preclude others. Once you have built a city, you can't use the same land for agriculture. Historians call this the "infrastructure trap." The aggressive development of natural gas, not to mention tar sands, and oil in the melting Arctic, threaten to trap us into a commitment to fossil fuels that may be impossible to escape before it is too late. Animals are lured into traps by the promise of food. Is the idea of short-term cuts in greenhouse gas emissions luring us into the trap of long-term failure?
The institution of rules or incentives in the U.S. and around the globe to ensure that gas actually replaces coal and that efficiency and renewables become our primary focus for energy development is at this point extremely unlikely. Yet without them, increased natural gas development will simply increase the total amount of fossil fuel available in the world to burn, accelerating what is already beginning to look like a rush towards disaster.
Gas advocates say that while these worries might be legitimate, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions nonetheless fell between 2008 and 2012, partly because of the way gas is replacing coal in electricity generation. This claim needs to be closely examined. In fact, it seems as if the lion's share of that decrease was simply the result of the near global economic meltdown of 2007-2008 and the Great Recession that followed. When economic activity falls, energy use falls, so emissions fall, too. Not surprisingly, preliminary data from 2013 suggest that emissions are on the rise again. Some of the rest of the 2008-2012 decline was due to tighter automobile fuel economy standards.
But how do we know what our emissions actually are? Most people would assume that we measure them, but they would be wrong. Emissions are instead calculated based on energy data—how much coal, oil, and gas was bought and sold in the U.S. that year—multiplied by assumed rates of greenhouse gas production by those fuels. Here's the rub: the gas calculation depends on the assumed leakage rate. If we've been underestimating leakage, then we've underestimated the emissions. Though the converse is also true, few experts think that anyone is overestimating gas leakage rates. This is not to say that emissions didn't fall in 2008-2012. They almost certainly did, again because of the recession. But the claim that there's been a large decrease thanks to natural gas remains unproven.
The reason for industry enthusiasm isn't hard to discern: A lot of people are making a lot of money right now in shale gas. Chalk up the enthusiasm of the Canadian government, politicians in gas-rich states like Texas, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania, and individuals who have made money leasing their properties for gas drilling to the same factor. In those gas-rich states, employment, too, has benefited (even as the familiar social problems characteristic of boom towns have also increased).
On natural gas, the Obama administration seems to be looking for a compromise that Democrats and Republicans can support, and that does not invoke the wrath of the powerful and aggressive oil and gas industry or voters in states like Pennsylvania. In the process, it's surely tempting to demonize the coal industry, with its long history of abusive labor practices, its callous disregard for occupational health, and its catastrophic environmental record. Since few of us ever see coal in our daily lives, a future without coal seems not only imaginable but overdue.
But when it comes to natural gas, what about the enthusiasm of some environmentalists? What about groups like the Environmental Defense Fund that have a long track record on climate change and no history of love for the oil and gas industry? What about scientists?
In such cases, I think the positive response to the exploitation of natural gas lies in a combination of wishful thinking and intimidation.
The fossil fuel industry and their allies have spent the past 20 years attacking environmentalists and climate scientists as extremists, alarmists, and hysterics. Their publicists have portrayed them as hair-shirt wearing, socialist watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside) who relish suffering, kill jobs, and want everyone to freeze in the dark. Extremists do exist in the environmental movement as everywhere else, but they represent a tiny faction of the community of people concerned about climate change, and they are virtually nonexistent in the scientific community. (Put it this way: If there is a hair-shirt wearing climate scientist, I have not met her.)
While the accusations may be false, that doesn't mean they don't affect our thinking. Too often, environmentalists find ourselves trying to prove that we are not what they say we are: not irredeemable anti-business job-killers. We bend over backwards to seek out acceptable compromises and work with business leaders, even to the point of finding a fossil fuel that we can love (or at least like).
And that leads to the wishful thinking. We want to find solutions, or at least meaningful steps in the right direction, that command widespread support. We want gas to be good. (I know I did.) Climate change is a gargantuan challenge, and it's bloody hard to see how we are going to solve it and maintain our standard of living, much less extend that standard to billions more around the globe who want it and deserve it. If gas is good, or at least better than what we have now—then that feels like a good thing. If gas moved us substantially in the right direction, then that would be a good thing.
After all, can't the leakage problem be fixed? Our panel spent considerable time discussing this question. Industry representatives said, "Trust us, we've been drilling wells for 100 years." But some of us wondered, "If they haven't solved this problem in 100 years, why would they suddenly solve it now?" A strong system of monitoring and compliance enforcement could help create incentives for industry to find a solution, but the odds of that developing any time soon seem as remote as the odds of a binding international treaty.
Sometimes you can fight fire with fire, but the evidence suggests that this isn't one of those times. Under current conditions, the increased availability and decreased price of natural gas are likely to lead to an increase in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Preliminary data from 2013 suggest that that is already occurring. And global emissions are, of course, continuing to increase as well.
Insanity is sometimes defined as doing the same thing but expecting a different result. Psychologists define perseveration as repetitive behavior that interferes with learning. Whatever we call it, that seems to be what is happening. And whatever it is, it doesn't make sense. Natural gas is not the bridge to clean energy; it's the road to more climate change.
Naomi Oreskes is professor of the history of science and affiliated professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University, and co-author, with Erik Conway, of Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. She is also a co-author of Environmental Impacts of Shale Gas Extraction published by the Council of Canadian Academies in 2014. Her new book with Erik Conway is The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future (Columbia University Press, 2014).
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook and Tumblr. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Rebecca Solnit's Men Explain Things to Me.
Copyright 2014 Naomi Oreskes
Photo by Fotolia/fkruger
A new report finds the environmental movement is lacking in ethnic diversity.
Topics surrounding environmental justice disproportionally affect minority communities; for instance, counties in the U.S. with the worst pollution had statistically significant larger numbers of African-Americans. And a new report shows that similar imbalances are apparent in the environmental movement itself. "The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations" surveyed mainstream environmental groups to gain insight in their employee demographics and found that "the dominant culture of the organizations is alienating to ethnic minorities, the poor, the LGBTQ community, and others outside the mainstream." Considering the minority population in the U.S. is 37 percent, the sizable gap the study discovered means that areas and issues may be missed or underrepresented, and that opportunities for coalition-building with different groups may be overlooked.
While inroads have been made, (in 1972 a study of environmental volunteers showed just 2 percent minority involvement), the numbers are still lagging. Employees of color at foundations make up 12 percent of the staff while at government agencies, the number sits slightly higher at 15.5 percent. Minorities are also less likely to occupy leadership roles. The working group that undertook the report is called Green 2.0 and was led by Professor Dorceta Taylor of the University of Michigan. Taylor commented that, "a constant is the disconnect between the leadership at highest levels of these organizations who are saying, 'Yes we want diversity,' and what they have actually done." She also points out that there exists a prejudicial perception that people of color don't care about the environment which is historically untrue. Further evidence shows that a majority of minorities want to see action on problems like climate change.
On a more positive note, the study found that progress has been made in terms of gender equality with women being newly hired at a rate of 60 percent as compared to males at conservation organizations and also making strides in leadership positions.
The report recommends developing diversity assessment plans, implementing more diversity initiatives, making sure job postings are published in a variety of places, and carefully tracking the results to try and improve the sector's inclusiveness.
Photo by Calinago, licensed under Creative Commons.
"Climate departure" will be the next phase as extreme weather becomes normal.
One of the challenges with changing people's views and behaviors in regards to climate change is that it's difficult to see how scattered weather and environmental anomalies fit into the bigger picture. However a team of researchers organized by Camilo Mora, a University of Hawaii biogeographer, is hoping to catalyze a sense of urgency by showing that, in many of our lifetimes, we will experience a transition from climate change to "climate departure."
Mora explains, "The timing of climate departure is an index that calculated the year after which the climate will become like something that we've never seen ... At the broadest [average] scale, we calculate that year, under a business as usual scenario, is going to be 2047. Basically, by the year 2047 the climate is going to move beyond something we've never seen in the last 150 years."
The researching team analyzed five billion data points and came up with two sets of projections for climate departure—one based on current emissions numbers and one based on stabilized greenhouse gas emissions. They then applied these to both cities around the world as well as various flora and fauna which will have to rapidly adapt or face extinction. For instance, in the U.S., if you live in Phoenix, climate departure will arrive in 2043 assuming we continue at the current rate of emissions. If emissions slow, then it's delayed until 2073. For coral reefs, climate departure will take effect in 2034 assuming there are no environmental efforts to slow changes and 2070 with environmental improvements.
One of the more counterintuitive points they found was that the tropics will be hit hardest (not the poles where a lot of focus on melting has typically been). That's because temperatures in the extreme north and south change more throughout the seasons, whereas weather in the tropics is relatively constant throughout the year. This stability leaves less room for species to adapt as climate starts to fluctuate more dramatically.
Additionally, the study looks at the affects climate departure will have on humans, particularly for those in the developing world where it will likely have the most impact. These regions will be susceptible to food insecurity, disease, economic challenges, and even conflict.
Mora adds, "These results should not be reason to give up. Rather, they should encourage us to reduce emissions and slow the rate of climate change. This can buy time for species, ecosystems, and ourselves to adapt to the coming changes."
Photo by Tim√, licensed under Creative Commons.
Apps, crowdsourced funding, and reverse auctions find a role to play in conservation efforts.
For migrating birds, the dwindling amount of wetlands on the West coast has caused a major, even species-threatening problem. During migration, birds rely on the wetlands as rest stops along their routes which extend from Canada to South America. Wetlands areas are also an integral source for water and shelter.
A new program called BirdReturn aims to increase the remaining 5-10 percent of wetlands available for migrating birds, a situation made worse by recent droughts. Apps such as BirdLog enable users to send bird sightings into a database which then allows researchers to predict migration patterns. Using that information, deemed "precision conservation," The Nature Conservancy in conjunction with the California Rice Commission has organized reverse auctions where the lowest bidder is paid to flood their fields, creating pop-up habitats. Douglas Thomas, a rice farmer outside of Sacramento was one of the farmers chosen in the reverse auction. Of the project, he says "It'll push back our planting cycle. We can't get into our fields earlier. So we're putting harder, longer hours on our tractor and our crew. We're taking a greater risk doing this." However Thomas adds, "Northern pintail is my favorite bird. It's such a graceful, amazing creature. And that we're part of that annual cycle, that's a neat, special thing."
So far, the program is seeing success on many fronts. The cost of "renting" the habitat as compared to creating permanent wetlands is 0.5-1.5 percent according to Eric Hallstein, The Nature Conservancy's Chief Economist. Additionally, in the first round of reverse auctions, approximately 10,000 acres of land were turned into temporary wetlands which saw bird densities 30 times higher as compared to average fields.
Now efforts are focusing on how to expand the program. The Nature Conservancy hopes to raise enough money to create a million acres of land to be used as pop-up habitats. Organizations are also looking at how to apply this economic and conservation model to other habitats such as fisheries and streams.
Image by David Jenkins, licensed under Creative Commons.
Want to gain a fresh perspective? Read stories that matter? Feel optimistic about the future? It's all here! Utne Reader offers provocative writing from diverse perspectives, insightful analysis of art and media, down-to-earth news and in-depth coverage of eye-opening issues that affect your life.
Save Even More Money By Paying NOW!
Pay now with a credit card and take advantage of our earth-friendly automatic renewal savings plan. You save an additional $5 and get 4 issues of Utne Reader for only $31.00 (USA only).
Or Bill Me Later and pay just $36 for 4 issues of Utne Reader!
Copyright 2014, All Rights Reserved | Ogden Publications, Inc., 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, Kansas 66609-1265
Special Interest Websites :
Great Green Careers •
Community Chickens •
Mother Earth Now •
Good Things to Eat •
Utne AltWire


text:
MF Global CEO (and former Goldman Sachs CEO, and former New Jersey CEO) Jon Corzine resigned this morning, which is what you do when your company goes bankrupt. Oh, MF Global went bankrupt earlier this week. We hope you're getting your breaking financial news from sites that update every day.
Anyway, MF Global found itself in financial hot water after investing a few billion dollars in European sovereign debt, which sounds like a good idea if you're not the kind of person that keeps up with current events. And not even sweet debt like Germany's, either. They were heavily (read: leveraged over 80:1) long Portuguese, Italian, Irish, and Spanish debt. You could argue they PIIS-ed their money away.
Except, here's the thing, it wasn't all their own money they were PIIS-ing away. You know how most firms have a thing where they don't use customer money for in-house trading? I think that thing is called a "law" or something. Anyway, MF Global supposedly did not have that thing, and may have somehow managed to misplace a solid $600 million in customer money. So they've got that going for them. Also, the SEC is investigating some of MF Global's traders for insider trading on the firm's bonds just prior to its downgrade to junk status, but we feel like that's just dogpiling at this point.
Apparently the whole "might have lost hundreds of millions of customer monies in a stupid gamble that was also illegal" business scared away everyone who might have bought MF Global, so it's good to see there is still some sense left on Wall Street.
Also, it's worth noting that Corzine was on everyone's shortlist for Treasury Secretary as recently as August, so if that doesn't make you want to hug Timmay, nothing will.


text:
Kellogg's Chocolate Frosted Flakes - 47 Oz.
by Kellogg's | Item #: 707138 | (1) |
New Chocolate Flavor!
Froster Corn Flakes with Chocolate Flavor
Milled Corn, Sugar, Palm Kernel Oil, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Contains 2% Or Less of Malt Flavor, Salt, Artificial Flavor, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Yellow 6, BHT For Freshness. Vitamins And Minerals: Iron, Vitamin C, (Ascorbic Acid And Sodium Ascorbate), Niacinamide, Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Hydrochloride), Vitamin A Palmitate, Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12. Corn Used In This Product May Contain Traces of Soybeans.
- 1 Gram Saturated Fat / Serving
- Easy Open Bag
- Fuel Your Day
Assembled Size
2/23.5 Oz Bags
Ask & Answer
Warranty InformationThis product is covered by the Sam's Club Member Satisfaction Guarantee.
There is no additional information available for this item.


text:
Look at your opponent's hand. You may have your opponent shuffle a Supporter card you find there into his or her deck. If you do, your opponent draws a card.
The Pokémon Company International is not responsible for the content of any linked website that is not operated by The Pokémon Company International. Please note that these websites' privacy policies and security practices may differ from the Pokémon Company International's standards.


text:
Have To Raise Your Search Engine Results? Consider These Search engine marketing Recommendations!
Don't get mad in regards to the time your throwing away trying to find what you want to on the Internet, understand what you must know to improve your looking on a search engine. This informative article will provide you with the information you need to truly find what you are interested in online. So that you can absolutely have your internet site give attention to search engine optimisation, ensure that you consider look for words not merely about one search phrases. Also put your local area with your written text for example the San Francisco branch so that you can also assist your internet site be located in nearby queries. Make sure that your website has authority. Seo are only able to become successful as soon as your consumers or market have self confidence with your brand. A passionate and simple to remember website address is an excellent 1st step in developing a brand folks can keep in mind a long time after they've concluded looking at your internet site. If you're seeking to drive traffic towards your website through Adwords, tend not to hyperlink to any web pages that turn off the back button. Truthfully, much of your viewers will be annoyed if they're not permitted to go in reverse while they truly feel they must be able to move since they remember to. Also, Yahoo, on the other hand, will get rid of your link in the event you get rid of the rear switch. Use groups to individual your blog since it grows. This not simply helps search engines like google straight customers to the specific component of your blog they are seeking, it also assists established visitors find their most favorite information efficiently and quickly. Label your blog with keywords and phrases to look at your website reaches expand. Provide links with other internet sites and blog sites to enhance your views. For those who have a dynamic linking system, you will boost your search engine rankings throughout the key search engine listings. Get content which you like that relate to your content and add backlinks to them. Make sure nevertheless to help keep your page from getting simply a webpage of hyperlinks or you'll shed your visitors. When starting a webpage for SEO, make use of your blog headers. These are the headers that break-up your webpage into easily-read paragraphs. Search engines like google place weight on these headers, so long as in addition, you take advantage of the very same keywords inside the text of the site. Just putting a term from the header isn't sufficient. One reaction you can have within a article to increase your search engine marketing is to produce inner backlinks with your article. In case you are referring to a vacation to The european union in the past, link to a former post that looks at it. This is beneficial in obtaining your visitors take more time on the weblog. To the label tags of the web site, you may use the identical search term or key phrase expression more than once to maintain key word solidity, but do not make use of them in series with the other person. Search engines like google will think you might be overloading your page with key phrase and penalize your research result properly. Get the best websites for search engine marketing info and sign up for them. The discussion boards are usually the most effective for updated understanding, supposition, and forecast, so become a lively component of them. It's even worth it to pay for usage of some web sites as they are truly a repository of the greatest the web provides. Search engine optimisation is not just about inserting descriptive keywords to your textual content headlines, article articles, product descriptions, and revenue version. Even the data file labels of your item photos, banners and ads, and graphics ought to include probably the most pertinent keywords that may can be found in impression search results of significant search engines pozycjonowanie warszawa. In your site, headings are likely to enjoy a vital role in setting up info. So you should employ only a solitary H1 tag when you find yourself adding your webpage collectively. You may use numerous subheading tags, like H2-H6, but keep things great and nice and clean by only utilizing a single main H1 label. Search engine marketing can be challenging only one simple task helps your web site get the traffic it requires. Article back links to your website on social media marketing websites. Whilst tweeting or facebooking make sure you incorporate your internet site weblink. Individuals on a regular basis talk about links on societal websites. This revealing leads to your link showing up in places you never ever thought. Make a fantastic series of suitable backlinks on your own website. Have your key word words remain in the titles of explained hyperlinks. Make sure that these network hyperlinks are based on your site content, usually they may perhaps job in opposition to you. Making use of backlinks is the best way to generate traffic from a variety of places. Search engine optimization is high in the concern selection of a lot of companies, due to its impact on future growth. You should think about offering backlinks to new information on your blog to some proper social network websites, for example Twitter or facebook. The rationale is not difficult, the quantity of locations where your links are considered could be multiplied many times above, as a result increasing the amount of potential prospects. Consist of numerous photos on your own site to be able to make use of the visible queries in the huge search engine listings. At times, it is way better to present, market or market your item having a snapshot, as opposed to describing exactly what it does with a written text information. This will help a lot in increasing your presence as being a company. When you're working on the Search engine optimisation method for any website, keep in mind your goal to keep guests repaired towards the internet site after they discover it. Even if the web page is on top of google search results, but doesn't offer you some thing useful to guests they will likely move on to a different option. With the billions of final results that you might get whilst looking to browse a search engine, wouldn't it be great to get what you were looking for right off the bat? Utilize the knowledge which you have obtained from this short article to find the effects you are searching for!


text:
Discussion on incorporating green practices in your career
April 24th, 2012, 12:30-2pm
Suffolk University Law School
120 Tremont St.
1st Floor Function Room
Boston, MA, 02108
Looking for a green career path? Or looking for sustainable consumer options? Join us for a panel discussion that features professionals from varied fields who have successfully incorporated green practices into their career and business ventures. The event will also include a poster session featuring the environmental work by Suffolk University students.
• Timothy Albers, Assistant Director of S.O.U.L.S. Community Service and Service Learning Center (moderator)
• Karen Clarke, Associate Professor and Program Co-Director of Interior Design at the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University
• Matthew Heller, Partner, Kairos Energy Capital and Kearsarge Solar
• Eric Silva, Product Manager, RelayRides
This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Please contact Julia Howington (email@example.com) for more information.
To learn more about Suffolk University's Earth Day Series, please consult our full list of events.
Sponsored by the Moakley Institute, S.O.U.L.S. Community Service Center, and Suffolk University's Sustainability CommitteeBack to Events Listing »


text: Amarillo, TX - As many people ring in the new year, the chances of fatal accidents will increase. It has been more than 13 years since Texas has gone without a fatal accident on it's roadways. And with many people ringing in the new year Tuesday night, authorities say that's not expected to change for 2014.The last time there was a day without a traffic death in Texas was November 7th, 2000. This is believed to be the longest streak in the history of the state with records dating as far back as 1940. Authorities statewide are urging those celebrating tonight to think twice about drinking and driving. Also while out on the roads, watch out for other drivers who may be under the influence.


text:
"We've had opportunities against them during the last four or five years, but we just haven't been able to put them away," said PHS head coach Jim Stringer, who got his first win against Star Valley since taking over the varsity program at PHS in 2003. "In recent years, I've found myself thinking about how nice it would be to pop off a win against them. Last year, we had a good chance to get them, but we let it get away during a game that went down to the wire. It's a great feeling to finally get a win against them."
This year's Panthers, however, weren't about to let a golden opportunity escape them. Powell began the scoring early in the second quarter on a two-yard touchdown run by running back Billy Harshman. Drayson Bratt added the PAT to cap the 52-yard drive.
With just more than five minutes remaining before halftime, PHS found itself in good field position after defensive end Ryan Brandt tackled the Braves' punter after a botched play on special teams. Brandt's stop set up PHS at the Star Valley 47. The Panthers' ensuing drive took more than three minutes off the clock and ended with Harshman scoring his second touchdown of the night on a four-yard run. Bratt again added the PAT for a 14-point cushion.
According to Stringer, the start of the third quarter proved be crucial to the game's outcome. PHS got the ball first in the second half and mounted a 77-yard scoring drive. The Panthers' drive concluded with quarterback Galen Mills throwing a 16-yard touchdown strike to Brandt and Bratt's third PAT of the game.
"After that drive, I really felt like we were in control of the game," Stringer said. "At that point, I knew we'd be in pretty good shape if we continued to play well and avoided making any major mistakes like we did against Lander. We had some mistakes, but we never made them at critical times like we did the week before. All in all, I was impressed with our intensity and our concentration throughout game.
"The defense did a great job of shutting them down. Our offense played well and only had three plays for negative yardage. We had some success with our passing game, and I thought Billy Harshman ran hard and did a good job of hitting the holes aggressively."
Star Valley's defense finally put the Braves on the scoreboard during the fourth quarter. PHS, facing a third-and-14 situation at its own one-yard line, suffered a fumble in the end zone. Harshman picked up the ball and raced to his left in attempt to escape the Braves' defenders, but he was brought down for a safety with 8:35 left to play.
The Panthers ended the Braves' momentum, however, by stopping Star Valley following the kick after the safety. After taking over at its own 47, the Panthers marched 53 yards for the final touchdown of the game, and it proved to be a memorable one for PHS lineman Kyle Woodward.
PHS, facing second-and-goal from the Star Valley nine, turned to Harshman, who bulled his way toward the goal line. Near the five-yard line, Star Valley's Michael Luthi stripped the ball from Harshman's grip and it bounced into the end zone. Woodward, who was blocking Luthi during the play, alertly sprinted to the end zone and fell on the ball for the score. Bratt added the PAT and ended the scoring with just more than five minutes remaining in the contest.
The Panthers finished the game with 47 rushes for 202 yards. Harshman led the way with 114 yards on 20 attempts. PHS's second-leading rusher was Galen Mills, who added 28 yards on 13 carries. Trevor Donarski and Brandon Sullivan added 24 and 19 yards on six and four rushes, respectively.
Galen Mills enjoyed a four-for-eight passing performance for 56 yards and one touchdown. Leading the receiving effort was Brandt with two catches for 31 yards. Gavin Mills added one reception for 29 yards.
Defensively, Powell held the Braves' offense in check throughout the contest. Star Valley entered the game averaging almost 200 yards passing per contest. The Braves' quarterbacks hit just nine of 26 passes for 90 yards. Star Valley also was the victim of four interceptions. On the ground, the Panthers limited their opponent to only 53 yards on 27 attempts.
Leading the defensive charge for PHS was Donarski, who finished with 30 defensive points. Included in his effort was an interception that ended Star Valley's first drive of the game. Trent Gillett added a 17-point defensive showing, and Galen Mills and Gavin Mills finished with 16 and 15 defensive points. Brandt added 12 points.
Others who picked off passes Friday included Gillett, Galen Mills and Kyle Sullivan. Sullivan's interception came on the game's final play. The sophomore returned the ball 51 yards, and despite his best effort, he was dragged down five yards short of what would have been his first varsity touchdown.• Up next: The Panthers will travel Friday for a West Conference matchup with Jackson. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Jackson is 2-3 overall and 1-2 in West Conference matchups.


text:
Our Invitation
We would like to invite you to our office to experience the difference in our expertise, professionalism, and thorough care. Our staff will work hard to gain your confidence and trust. Call our office at 317-882-0228 and experience the difference. Read More
The office staff is just exceptional — from the appointment desk to the dental hygienists, every single employee is pleasant and thoughtful. I highly recommend Dr. Reese for all of your dental needs." -Cynthia H. Read More


text:
MTV's Rock Band strategy (through the lense of an E3 party)
I think a couple of scenes from MTV Games' sprawling suite at the O Hotel last night provide a good look at how MTV is splitting up the gaming universe with the newest incarnations of the Rock Band series.
In one room, a raucous group of slightly drunk 20- and 30 and 40-somethings screamed the lyrics to The Beatle's "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in horribly off-key harmony, finishing with a self-congratulatory round of applause.
In the next room, a group of younger, hipper-looking gamers watched silently and intently as a foursome struggled through a heavy, note-filled scream-fest from Iron Maiden.
Add in a theoretical room with a group of kids jumping and dancing around to the strains of Lego Rock Band and I think you've got the full state of the current Rock Band experience.