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"I had her above the white line. I wanted to get her up to the railing…and then I threw the center main bearing and it just dropped off the course. There was smoke from the hot oil sliding by the metal and Jack Bowers was so scared her just sat there and hollered 'Shut her off! Shut her off! We'd hit bottom and he didn't even know it."
That's Charlie Kruse, an old-time Santa Rosa garageman, 83 years old this month, talking. He's telling about his adventures in his "build-up" King-8 race car on the Cotati Speedway, Sonoma County's brief encounter with big-time auto racing in the speed-crazy 1920s. The Cotati Speedway was the brainchild of a promoter named Jack Prince. It lasted just two seasons but it brought the top race drivers of the day to the county. Barney Oldfield, Tommy Milton, Ralph DePalma, Peter dePaolo –they all did their turn on the banked wooden track. Their incentive was the big prize money offered on the AACB circuit –the American Automobile Association Contest Board, which included the Indianapolis. Pretty fair company for Cotati. The standard purse was $25,000- with $10,000 to the winner. Charlie Kruse and his friend Bowers were racing just for the fun of it, having "sneaked in" to the track in the off season just to see what the King-8 and a cutdown Model T racer that they had built would do on the boards. Charlie and Frank (Barney) Richardson, another Santa Rosa mechanic who worked on cars for the speedway, talked to Dorothy Walters of the local Horseless Carriage Club of America about the track last spring. Their memories and the recollections of others are all that remains of the short-lived auto racing adventure that brought people from all over Northern California packing into Cotati on a racing weekend. Mrs. Walters, who set out to write a short piece for the HCCA newsletter became to intrigued with the stories of the track that she put together a booklet entitled, "They Burned Up the Track," a history of the speedway. While Dottie Walters doesn't say so in her story, other old-timers recall that the expensive track, built with a staggering two million board feet of lumber, mostly 2X4s laid on the edge, was rumored to be part of a scam, a stock scandal that put the track out of business within 2 years. It was built in 1921 and dismantled in '22. The contractor was Santa Rosan Walter Proctor and 150 carpenters worked two months on the giant structure. Completed it rose 26 feet into the air on the straightaways and nearly 60 feet on the curves, supported by a complex scaffolding of heavy timbers. Kruse recalls that it took four railroad cars of nails to put it together, the 2by's being nailed in in short lengths. Dwight Herrick, a sonoman interviewed several years ago by the Press Democrat, worked on it as a carpenter. He never saw a race although he once got as far as the gate before the $5 admission charge turned him back. Later, he told our reporter, he'd learned that Barney Oldfield raced that day and he'd always regretted the decision to turn back. "I would have paid $25 to see Oldfield drive 80 miles per hour around that wooden track," he said. Chances are the great Oldfield got the speed up beyond that. Barney Richardson worked on a Leach Special in his Santa Rosa garage for driver Frank Elliot who later won the feature race – at 101 mph!
Gaye LeBaron
Barney, 20 years old at the time and in love with the internal combustion engine, watched that race with mixed feelings. First, he recalls being enormously proud that the car he had helped prepare had won. But there was some disappointment also for Driver Elliot had offered Barney the second spot, the chance to ride with him as his mechanic. "My share would have been $2,000 if I had gone," Barney remembers. "But my mother talked me out of it." Barney's role in the preparation of the Elliot car was standard procedure for local garagemen. "The drivers would come here about two weeks before the race," he told Mrs. Walters." They would come here, there famous racers and rent space from one of us garagemen and they'd prepare the car for the track, change ratios in the rear ends and do all kinds of things to the motor for this particular track." "It was a short track," says Charlie Kruse, "So they'd put low speed in the back. On longer tracks, you see they'd stay in high and get the rpms into mileage around." It was a short track but it was might, as Kruse attested to after his clandestine attempt to get his car going fast enough to get above the white line at the top of the track and hold her there. And there were pitfalls, particularly after the track sat in the weather for a few months and 2X4s loosened. "I pert near got it with a loos stick up on the turn," says Kruse. "The T had no fenders and the stick went right through the wheel with a loud band. We just zzzzzzed right down the bottom." Kruse wasn't the only "sneaky" track racer. Barney Richardson recalls a "grudge race" between motorcyclist Ang Rossi on his Indian and the "Harley Davidson gang." "A lot of people went down to see that race." Says Barney, "And Ang really showed them what his new Indian could do. You know Ang can't be beat when it comes to fixing up a motor and he won that race doing 98 mph." The track was a great draw, too, for the neighborhood bicyclists. Walt Christensen, our Rod & Gun columnist, was a 14-year-old easy rider in those days, tempted to test his speed with his Cotati buddies. Try as they might, Walt recalls, they could never get enough speed out of their 1920 Schwinns to stay on the top side. Walt recalls that track for other reasons. He made pocket money there one season, selling ice cream bars to the spectators in the infield. It was great while it lasted. But Charlie Kruse seems to recall that there was a fire, maybe an arson fire, after the second season. And then it sat neglected for several months and boards loosened until it became a hazard. Finally it was dismantled and the lumber in it used to build the grandstand for the Luther Burbank Jubilee, a town celebration held near the site of the old Lincoln School. But you can't dismantle the old-timers' memories: "Our butters pert near went through the seat. It was aboard on a fram. And the smoke would fill this room." Charlie Kruse and his racing T. Those were the days when cars were SOMEthing, let me tell you.
Copyright the Press Democrat June 22, 1980
Barney Richardson's garage where the race cars were modified. Richardson is second form the left.
Cotati, 1922. Frank Bowers and Charlie Kruse in the 'T'
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The P.C. Richard & Son Theater is a 200-person venue that hosts exclusive concert events. You cannot buy tickets to these rare private performances; you can only win your way in on the P.C. Richard & Son Theater website or on our social media pages. Keep checking back for possible ways to win on Facebook, Twitter and our blog!
Sony Presents 2010 American Idol winner, Lee Dewyze performing live at Tribeca's P.C. Richard & Son Theater on November 11th for 200 of his biggest fans. He will feature hits from his album Live it Up and showcase the new Sony Bloggie ™ Touch HD Camera with full HD video, 12.8 megapixel images, a 3" touch screen, built-in software and more!
If you haven't already heard it, listen to Lee DeWyze's debut single Sweet Serendipity below off his forthcoming album Live It Up:
To attend this limited-invitation event at our theater, you'll need to win tickets on the P.C. Richard & Son Theater website. Use the points you earn in our P.C. Richard & Son Theater Rewards program to enter to win your tickets. The more points you receive, the more chances you'll have to win.
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subset: commoncrawl


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WACO (February 27, 2013)—A man wanted on felony warrants in connection with a December incident was arrested Tuesday after a traffic stop.
U.S. Marshals Task Force members and Waco police arrested Ruben Fajardo, Jr., after police stopped his car at South 11th Street and Clay Avenue.
Fajardo was listed Wednesday on the McLennan County Jail Log awaiting arraignment for possession of a controlled substance and on a parole violation without bond.
Fajardo was named in felony warrants in connection with an incident on December 29 during which a police officer saw a man firing a gun into the air.
Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said at about 2:50 a.m. on that date, an officer on patrol witnessed a man firing a handgun into the air in the 2700 block of Mildred, in South Waco.
When the man saw the officer he jumped into a car and began to flee.
The officer chased the fleeing car to Interstate 35 where it turned north and continued to flee.
As the driver crossed the Brazos River bridge, the officer saw him throw a package from the car, but rather than falling into the river below, the package hit the guard rail and bounced back into the highway.
The chase continued into the 800 block of Garrison Street, where the driver crashed into a utility pole and the chase ended.
The driver was taken by ambulance to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center for treatment of injuries and remained there a couple of days, Swanton said.
Officers later recovered the package that was thrown from the car and found it contained a handgun and a quantity of methamphetamine.
A warrant was issued for Fajardo's arrest and it was on that warrant that officers detained him Tuesday.


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Given an 2-valued measure $\mu$ on a set $I$, and structures $M_i \ (i \in I)$, one can construct the ultrapower $\prod_{i\in I}M_i / U$ (where $U$ is the ultrafilter associated with $\mu$.) One can then prove nice theorems about this structure - e,g, Łoś's theorem.
But suppose now that rather than beginning with a 2-valued measure, we begin with a real valued measure on the set $I$, and structures $M_i \ (i \in I)$. Is there any sort of analagous structure that we can build and prove useful results about?


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In a mangement statement, Essar said gross refining margins at its Vadinar refinery in India rose to $9.75/bbl for the final 2012 quarter, compared with $2.82/bbl for the same time a year earlier, thanks to refinery upgrades that allow it to process larger amounts of oil as well as cheaper grades.
By SARAH KENT
LONDON -- London-listed Essar Energy said Monday it
continued to see good performance at its two refineries in the
final quarter of last year, thanks to planned upgrades and
improvements as well as better refining margins globally.
In a mangement statement, Essar said gross refining margins
at its Vadinar refinery in India rose to $9.75/bbl for the
quarter ended December 2012, compared with $2.82/bbl for the
same quarter a year earlier, thanks to upgrades to the refinery that allow it to process
larger amounts of oil as well as cheaper grades.
Refining margins at the company's UK Stanlow refinery also improved
substantially, rising by 128% to $5.59/bbl in the final quarter
of the year compared with the same period in 2011.
According to data provided by the International Energy
Agency, refining margins for benchmark Dubai crude in Singapore
-- one of Asia's major refining hubs -- averaged
$5.37/bbl in the third quarter, while refining margins for the global
marker, Brent crude, in Northwest Europe averaged $5.81/bbl in the
same period.
In its half-year results, released in November, the company
said higher refining margins helped boost the group's earnings
before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization to
$582.6 million in the six months to September 2012, up 193%
from the first half of 2011.
The improved performance at Essar's UK refinery comes despite a fraught
outlook for the broader refining sector in Europe.
The region's refining industry has endured a fraught time
since the start of the economic crisis in 2008; since then
around 10 refineries have closed or sharply reduced output as
profit margins weakened amid lower demand for products and
higher prices for both crude and credit.
The company has a target of adding over $3/bbl to refining margins at Stanlow by 2014
and said Monday it has already succeeded in improving margins
by more than $1/bbl.
A further $2/bbl improvement will be added through various
initiatives, including a plan to replace fuel oil with natural
gas as the principal source of fuel for the boilers that give
steam to the site, the company said.
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A searchable database of project activity in the global hydrocarbon processing industry
Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


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After years of research, we can answer these questions. In fact, we are now able to predict whether a couple will stay happily together after listening for as little as three hours to a conflict conversation and other interactions in our Love Lab. Our accuracy rate averages 91 percent. Gay and lesbian relationships operate on essentially the same principles as heterosexual relationships, according to our research.
But the most rewarding findings are the seven principles that prevent a marriage from breaking up, even for those couples we tested in the lab who seemed headed for divorce.
Emotionally intelligent couples are intimately familiar with each other's world. They have a richly detailed love map—they know the major events in each other's history, and they keep updating their information as their spouse's world changes. He could tell you how she's feeling about her boss. She knows that he fears being too much like his father and considers himself a "free spirit." They know each other's goals, worries, and hopes.
Fondness and admiration are two of the most crucial elements in a long-lasting romance. Without the belief that your spouse is worthy of honor and respect, where is the basis for a rewarding relationship? By reminding yourself of your spouse's positive qualities—even as you grapple with each other's flaws—and expressing out loud your fondness and admiration, you can prevent a happy marriage from deteriorating.
In marriage people periodically make "bids" for their partner's attention, affection, humor, or support. People either turn toward one another after these bids or they turn away. Turning toward is the basis of emotional connection, romance, passion, and a good sex life.
The happiest, most stable marriages are those in which the husband treats his wife with respect and does not resist power sharing and decision making with her. When the couple disagrees, these husbands actively search for common ground rather than insisting on getting their way. It's just as important for wives to treat their husbands with honor and respect. But our data indicate that the vast majority of wives—even in unstable marriages—already do that. Too often men do not return the favor.
Start with good manners when tackling your solvable problems:
Many perpetual conflicts that are gridlocked have an existential base of unexpressed dreams behind each person's stubborn position. In happy marriages, partners incorporate each other's goals into their concept of what their marriage is about. These goals can be as concrete as wanting to live in a certain kind of house or intangible, such as wanting to view life as a grand adventure. The bottom line in getting past gridlock is not necessarily to become a part of each other's dreams but to honor these dreams.
Marriage can have an intentional sense of shared purpose, meaning, family values, and cultural legacy that forms a shared inner life. Each couple and each family creates its own microculture with customs (like Sunday dinner out), rituals (like a champagne toast after the birth of a baby), and myths—the stories the couple tells themselves that explain their marriage. This culture incorporates both of their dreams, and it is flexible enough to change as husband and wife grow and develop. When a marriage has this shared sense of meaning, conflict is less intense and perpetual problems are unlikely to lead to gridlock.
Purchase the How To Keep Love Going Strong poster.
Download the PDF for free.
OK, not everyone is in a position to quit their job to spend more time at home. And not everyone wants to. That doesn't mean that the household can't shift toward increasing production and decreasing consumption. The transition can start with simple things, like hanging out the laundry or planting a garden. For those people who need or want to push further into the realm of living on a single income or less, here are a few secrets for survival we've learned on the family farm:
Sometimes a direct barter—"your bushel of potatoes for my ground beef"—works. But we don't always have something the other party needs. At those times, gifting may be the best answer. Gifts are often returned along an unexpected path. Last summer I canned beets and green beans for my folks—of course, for no charge. In the process, I discovered that my solar hot water system wasn't working. I called a neighbor and asked him to look at it. He fixed it, free. We have a facility that a butcher uses to process chickens for local farmers. On chicken processing days, Bob, Mom, and Dad help out, at no charge. At the end of the summer, the neighbor who fixed our hot water wanted to get his chickens processed. He got them done, no charge. Mom and Dad got a winter's supply of veggies. Bob and I got a repaired hot water system. The butcher had a place to do his work, and the neighbor got his chickens processed.
Homemade Prosperity
Producing things at home lets Shannon live on a fraction of what she thought she needed.
It would be handy sometimes to have our own tractor and tiller. But it seems foolish for us to own that equipment when we can borrow from my parents. It's cheaper to borrow and lend money, tools, time, and resources among family, friends, and neighbors and abandon the idea that it's shameful to rely on each other, rather than a credit card, paycheck, or bank.
One of the most solid investments Bob and I have discovered is spending to lower expenses. Examples are better windows, more insulation, solar hot water, photovoltaic panels, or even just a really big kettle for canning.
Living on reduced incomes may require more family members living under one roof, husbands and wives spending more time together, or greater reliance on friends and neighbors who may stand in for family. The families depicted on television, in movies, and in advertisements show dysfunction as the norm—with an antidote of further fragmentation of the family and community. That gets expensive. While no one should tolerate an abusive relationship, learning to accept or navigate the quirks of family and friends will keep the home stable and facilitate the sharing of resources.
The next time you find yourself waiting forever for a light to change at a busy intersection, practice this visualization: Imagine the streets around you completely devoid of cars. Replace the painted lane lines with lush, green, flowering plants. Zap that smog-spewing SUV and manifest a café table in its place, complete with a shady umbrella and chairs. Vanish the ugly traffic light and see instead a whimsical statue.
Think it's all just a wishful fantasy? It's actually happening, and in some unexpected places. From an artists' collective in San Francisco's funky Mission district to New York City's Times Square, people are working to reclaim streets as public spaces, partnering with residents and local businesses to create a renewed sense of community while they're at it.
Here's how to make it happen in your own city:
Start small and temporary.
Photo essay: Parking spots take on a whole new meaning.
Even something as small and car-centric as a parking spot can be transformed into a space for pedestrians to enjoy. In 2005, REBAR, an artists' collective based in San Francisco, wanted to demonstrate the need for more urban green space in San Francisco. They put some quarters in a parking meter, brought in some benches and sod, and used the parking space for a rather unconventional purpose: a park instead of a car. They called it PARK(ing) Day. Park(ing) Day is now "an annual, worldwide event that inspires city dwellers everywhere to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good," according to REBAR's website. The website also offers a downloadable instruction manual ($6.99) with step-by-step instructions on how to transform a parking spot into a park, including ideas about creative uses for the space and advice on how to make your park safe and inviting.
Once you've successfully reclaimed 200 square feet, you're ready to take on a whole street, or even a park.
Request a one-day street closure in an area that pedestrians and bicyclists already frequent, like a park or esplanade.
"Ciclovias" started in Columbia in the 1980s, when several of the country's major cities declared main streets closed to cars on Sundays and holidays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. A staggering 2 million people (30 percent of Colombian citizens) now participate in these weekly events, where stages are set up for aerobics instructors, yoga instructors, and musicians to encourage people to move their bodies without the assistance of an automobile.
The cities of Portland, Ore., Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and even Cleveland, Ohio, sponsor "Sunday Parkways"—events where park streets are closed to car traffic. On a recent Sunday in the streets of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, those enjoying the break from cars included families teaching kids how to ride bikes, joggers and runners of all shapes and sizes, and even old-school boom-box-toting roller skaters disco dancing their way across the pavement.
After you see how much fun a Ciclovia can be, you'll want to move on to a semi-permanent project. This type of project uses a temporary installation to test a street closure, with the goal of eventually closing the street permanently. For this one, you'll need help.
To make a park permanent, recruit partners who will benefit from the experience, like community organizations and local businesses.
San Francisco's Pavement to Parks project reclaims wasted space on overly wide streets and turns the space into temporary public parks and plazas, complete with benches and movable landscaping. City and community organizations help make sure the parks stay clean and coordinate community uses such as farmer's markets, chess clubs, and concessions. In one "parklet," Pavement to Parks partnered with REBAR and three restaurants to turn parking spots in front of the restaurants into additional seating and bike parking.
Building the World We Want
When city officials told them, "That's public space. No one can use it," architect Mark Lakeman and his neighbors began a revolution in Portland's public places.
Perhaps the most well-known example of a successful temporary street closure that is now on its way to becoming a permanent pedestrian area is in New York City's Times Square, where, in May of 2009, Broadway was closed to traffic between 47th and 42nd Streets. The goal of the project, named "Green Light for Midtown," was to improve mobility and safety in Manhattan's Midtown area, and to make it a better place to live, work, and visit. Because this project would affect a large and diverse group of residents and businesses, New York City's Department of Transportation held numerous public and private meetings with stakeholders before they started the project—with Business Improvement Districts, local community boards, elected officials, local media, the theater community, government agencies, and representatives from the taxi, hotel, real estate, and tourism industries.
This closure yielded some startling results. According to the Department of Transportation's 2010 evaluation report, pedestrian injuries in the area dropped by 35 percent. In addition, the area has become a much more inviting place, encouraging people to linger and spend time there, which promotes social interaction and benefits local businesses. Again, according to the Department of Transportation (DOT) report:
The DOT currently is upgrading and reviving the plaza with a temporary mural, and is designing a permanent pedestrian plaza for the space that will be constructed in 2012.
Like the song says, "if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere." Here are some more tips to ensure that your new temporary pedestrian plaza will get built, be used, and turn into a permanent pedestrian oasis:
Make the space beautiful and inviting with plants, seating areas, and art.
Using reclaimed materials whenever possible is the inexpensive and environmentally responsible way to go. Pavement to Parks blocked off one street using reclaimed logs that were hollowed out and used as planters. In another plaza, they sanitized, painted, lined, and filled donated dumpsters and unused terracotta sewer pipes with trees and plants. For easy maintenance, make sure your plants are drought-tolerant.
Warn users of the space in advance of the closure with fliers, signs, handouts, and digital announcements.
Because the Green Light in Midtown project would potentially disrupt one of the most congested traffic areas in the United States, the DOT made a tremendous effort to involve the community and form collaborative partnerships long before the first orange cone was placed. In addition to meeting with key stakeholders, project leaders distributed thousands of fliers to inform the public about the proposed closure and invite them to participate in open house discussions. The DOT also welcomed feedback about the proposal on its website.
Make it fun! Have a party in your new park!
It's easier than you think to turn a parking spot or even a street into a beautiful, safe place for people to relax and socialize, even in the middle of a big city. Look around, visualize, and then start talking to people in your community about it. Happy parking!
Before the global sugar industry, local honey was the universal sweetener. Because raw honey has antibacterial properties and tends to crystallize, it can store indefinitely.
Stock up on raw, local honey in the summer when it's been freshly collected. The freshest and purest honey will crystallize rapidly—and this is a good thing. It's what preserves the quality of the honey. The actual rate of granulation will depend on the floral source: Blackberry honey may granulate in two weeks, while fall wildflower honey takes about a month. Honey granulates quickest at 57°F, so aim for that.
When you need some honey, scoop crystals into an open jar. Set the jar into a pot of hot water for a minute or so, and it will return to its clear and liquid state. Then you're ready to use it.
For baking, substitute 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of honey per cup of white sugar. Reduce the amount of other liquids by 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup for every cup of honey used. Lower the oven temperature about 25°F because honey browns faster than sugar. Add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for each cup of honey in your recipe, because honey is naturally acidic and baking soda will temper it.
Put an old lightbulb or glass jar into the sock so that it shows through the hole. That keeps the material supported and gives a smooth surface for your needle work.
Thread a large needle with thread similar in weight to the thing you're mending: Embroidery floss works for cotton or synthetic socks.
Use a small running stitch to circle the hole, far enough outside the damage that the fabric won't unravel later. Don't use any knots; leave the ends unsecured.
Use long stitches to stitch horizontally across the length of the hole. You will eventually weave a framework of stitches to fill in the damaged area. Sometimes it's easier if you turn the sock upside down on every other stitch.
Once your horizontal stitches are done, turn your sock sideways and start weaving your thread vertically, in and out of the horizontal stitches. Secure the vertical weave at the end of the row with a couple of small running stitches. Turn your sock the opposite way and weave again. Keep going until your hole is filled in.
You don't need a package of yeast from the store to make a loaf of bread.
Mix 1/2 cup filtered or spring water (no chlorine!) with 1/2 cup of rye flour and 1/2 cup of white bread flour (using malted barley flour can also be helpful) in a glass bowl. Cover the bowl with a wet towel to let air in but keep bugs out. A warm day is optimal. Let the culture sit for 36 hours. After that, feed your culture every 12 hours by removing half of the old culture and replacing with a mixture of white and rye flour and an equal amount of 85°F water. Mark the level of the culture so you'll know how much rising has happened.
The culture should get more vigorous with each feeding. When the culture is bubbly and doubles itself in 12 hours, around Day 4, you can start feeding with only white flour and water.
After about five to seven days, a successful culture can double itself in eight hours or less, smells pleasantly sour, and is full of bubbles. That's when a "culture" becomes a "starter," and it's ready to bake with. Store as you would any commercial sourdough starter.
If your culture is slow to get going, some people suggest adding 1/4 teaspoon of unfiltered apple cider vinegar to raise the acidity, which encourages the yeast.
Kale is a winter green and offers more nutrients per serving than any other vegetable. In mild climates it can be a four-season crop. Once temperatures rise, older kale plants will start going to seed. Kale plants create hundreds of tiny flowers on stalks that emerge where the leaves attach to the stem. In a couple of weeks, the flower petals fall off and seed pods form on the stalks. Let the pods ripen and dry on the plant—they'll get brown and brittle—then harvest the largest pods. Remove the seeds from their pods—there will be hundreds—save them in a paper bag, and plant them in early spring.
The pot-in-pot cooler uses the evaporative power of water to draw heat energy away from the contents. In Nigeria, where 90 percent of villages have no electricity, these pots preserve tomatoes for 21 days instead of two or three days.
In a well ventilated dry area, place a small clay pot inside a larger clay pot. Fill the space in between them with wet sand and keep it moist. Cover the top with a cloth. Store produce in the inner pot.
As the water evaporates, it pulls heat out with it, making the inside pot cold.
You're in the park surrounded by swaying willows, or maybe knee deep in goldenrod in someone's backyard, or sunk into the couch in a small apartment on Cayuga Street.
Usually, one way or another, a circle is formed. What are you doing here with a professor from Maine, a few pink-haired chatty teenagers from town, a local diesel mechanic, and a retired couple who brought cookies? You're here to learn how to weave baskets out of the long limbs of willow trees. You're discussing how Thor got along with the giants in Norse mythology. You are about to plant the first herb in your medicinal garden. Or you've been hearing about natural gas drilling, but want to get more information. Any one of these people might be your teacher today.
In Ithaca, New York, the Ithaca Freeskool offers you an alternative to traditional education. With classes like Mushroom Hunting, Bike Repair, Know Your Rights with Debtors, and D.I.Y. Movie Making, it's a refreshing variety of completely free classes for people of all ages. Started only a few years ago and run entirely by volunteers, the Freeskool gives the community an opportunity to share their skills and knowledge.
Anyone can teach for the Freeskool, so the semesters take on the flavor of whatever people are interested in at the time. We all have some sort of skill hidden up our sleeve, perhaps a hobby that's become something more. Often, sharing that skill—that love for what you've learned—with others is what brings about the most enjoyment. On the other hand, some classes arise out of a need. An issue becomes important in the community and there is a sudden hunger for information—then, the Freeskool becomes a vehicle for sharing, processing, and problem-solving.
Anyone can bring a Freeskool to life in their town. In fact, there are Freeskools all over the country and in other parts of the world. If you're thinking of starting one, consider some of the following:
Learn As You Go
Life's best lessons are outside the classroom. YES! Magazine's special issue on learning the skills we need take on today's challenges.
With a new fall calendar coming soon, we're pretty excited and motivated. We're also getting ready to have our first ever Freeskool Prom—a night of celebration, dress-up, and silliness that we plan to have at the end of each semester. We'll watch video footage and a photo slideshow of recent classes, drink punch, and give out some awards. People will have a chance to socialize, collaborate and, of course, dance.
If education is going to be sustainable, it has to be flexible and up-to-date. Freeskools provide an alternative that enable people respond to the month-to-month needs and interests of their community. Classes can evolve as they need to. Remember, if you've got skills and knowledge, you've got a Freeskool.
Who benefits when a pastor in a small town in Florida threatens to burn the Quran? Or when a proposal to build a Muslim cultural center in Manhattan erupts into a national controversy?
And what can those of us who believe extremism is harmful do to stop it?
Terry Jones, the Gainsville pastor who was catapulted onto the global stage by his plan to burn the Quran, said his action was about standing up to Islamic extremists. But General David Petraeus and others tell us that this action would play into the hands of extremists. Extremists need anger and hate to recruit and motivate followers; without images of outrage like this, people might revert to peace, respect, and tolerance, which, after all, come pretty naturally to a social species like ours.
There's another group of extremists who likewise rely on hatemongering. The extreme right wing in this country needs fear and anger to keep people distracted from the real sources of insecurity—a stalled economy that has been managed for the benefit of Wall Street and big corporations, two protracted and disastrous wars, and a system increasingly unable to support a middle-class way of life.
The extremists on both sides have an oddly symbiotic relationship—each thrives on the anger and vitriol of the other.
But Reverend Jones and others of his ilk can succeed only when moderate voices are silent. Quiet disapproval isn't enough. We must take a stand often, courageously, and respectfully for tolerance and peace. Here are a few ways we can do this during an especially fraught anniversary of the 9/11 attacks:
In coming months and years, we can expect even greater social stresses from a flagging economy, the continuing wars, and the "natural" disasters that will occur with increasing frequency on an overheated planet. Those stresses will be multiplied if we allow demagogues to transform them into hate and anger. Silence won't be enough—we'll have to speak out if we are to stop the madness.
Question: What are you doing to counter intolerance? What have you found works best? Please leave your comments below.
In this fun, quirky video, filmmaker Andrea Dorfman and poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis use poetry, art, and music to offer advice for tackling one of society's biggest fears: alone time.
Tanya shows us how to ease into loneliness—starting in easy places like the bathroom or coffee shop, turning off our cell phone security blankets, honoring the things we like to do by ourselves—as we learn to enjoy it and feed ourselves with it.
Recent studies show that our brains need downtime, away from computers and other digital devices, to spur creativity and productivity. Check out the video...then unplug and reap the rewards of solitude!
The torrid summers of the past few years have been among the hottest ever recorded on our planet. American households have responded to the heat by doubling our consumption of electricity for air-conditioning since the mid-1990s. Our A/C use has, in turn, boosted greenhouse gas emissions from power plants—helping to speed global climate change and to ensure that future heat waves will be even more frequent and intense … and that we'll soon be cranking up the air-conditioning yet another notch.
But around the country, people are starting to recognize this vicious cycle and trying to put a stop to it.
I've met many people from across the country who enjoy the non-air-conditioned life, even in the heart of the Sunbelt. Here in Salina, Kansas, a place where triple-digit highs are common, my wife Priti and I have lived without air-conditioning for ten years.
Air-conditioning plays an important role in protecting the more vulnerable segments of our population during heat waves. But that doesn't warrant its lavish deployment throughout society for much of the year. Whether you live in a house on a shady lot or in a third-floor urban apartment, it's possible to stay comfortable by reviving and updating simple hot-weather strategies that have been cast aside during the age of air-conditioning. And it can be done without costly equipment or home renovations.
The key is to focus on people-cooling, not building-cooling. Your body is constantly converting chemical energy from food into heat; hot and/or humid weather makes it harder to unload that heat. But filling a home with chilled, still, dry air around the clock is only one of the many ways by which we can help our bodies maintain their thermal balance.
Keep air circulating. Air movement is highly effective in helping you evaporate perspiration and shed heat. On a merely warm day, a breeze through an open window is enough to do the job, but in truly hot weather, especially if it's humid, turn on a fan. Ceiling fans are good, but the direct breeze from a portable or window fan can be more effective. In summer, we have a window fan blowing directly across our bed at night.
Don't let the morning weather forecast scare you into reaching for the A/C switch. If all of the home's occupants are away at work or school during the day, midday temperatures are not very relevant. If you are going to be home all day, the predicted high temperature or heat index may sound menacing; however, a naturally ventilated indoor space often remains at least ten degrees cooler than the outdoor maximum, and air movement knocks a few more degrees off the temperature your body is actually sensing. In a closed-up, air-conditioned home, a thermostat set in the mid-to-upper eighties would create a suffocating environment—but with open windows and moving air, living in such temperatures is no sweat.
Change your location with the time of day and sun position. If you're fortunate enough to have a basement, take advantage of the geothermal cooling it provides. A fan enhances the effect. And if things get really tough, there's no need to be an absolutist. For a few hours' break, you can quickly and fairly efficiently cool down a one-room refuge with a window air-conditioner.
Reserve sedentary activities for the hottest part of the day. When physical work is called for, just accept that you may need to wring out your shirt afterward. Don't do your running or other exercise at three in the afternoon under a broiling sun, but don't do it in an air-conditioned health club either. Research shows that regular exertion in the heat builds the body's tolerance, helping you function better in hot weather.
Don't make extra heat. Remember that any energy-consuming household device releases waste heat. Plan meals that involve less cooking—cut back on boiling and baking especially. Keep the dishwasher and any unneeded lights turned off. Use solar technology—a clothesline—to dry the laundry. And take cold or lukewarm showers to avoid burdening your indoor atmosphere with a big load of humidity.
Get wet. High humidity may be the enemy, but water in liquid form is an essential ally. When it's feasible, hit the lake or local swimming pool with your friends and neighbors. When it's not (and if water supplies are sufficient), nothing cools like the old garden hose or lawn sprinkler.
Stay near plants. Head to the woods, where it always feels cooler. Plants can cool twice, by blocking sunlight and by absorbing heat as they transpire water. If you have a yard, you can further reduce the peak indoor temperature by creating more shade [pdf]. If possible, have trees, especially to the south and west. If that's not possible, a dense stand of other kinds of tall plants—giant reed (Arundo donax) or sunflowers, for example—can be tall enough by July to shade the sun-baked sides of the house. We have grapevines covering a couple of windows.
Bring in the night air. If, when the sun starts going down, the outdoor temperature drops below that in the house, it's a signal to pull in some of that outdoor air. Use a whole-house or attic fan if you have one; otherwise, set up one window fan blowing in and another out.
Meet your neighbors. Especially in the evening, spend time under a shade tree, patio umbrella, or screen porch, or head for the neighborhood park. Using natural cooling can help reverse the trend toward isolation from neighbors and nature that has characterized the age of air-conditioning.
The most important adjustment to be made is not in the thermostat but in our own view of what constitutes comfort. When people say they couldn't survive without air conditioning, they tend to be thinking about the last time they dashed from a sun-baked parking lot into a chilled home or business. But focusing on those extremes ignores a wide range of perfectly livable, pleasant environments—that come at a much lower cost to you and the planet.
Off the Waffle in Eugene, Oregon is not your typical waffle house. You won't find pads of butter, bottles of fake maple syrup, or sides of hash browns and eggs here.
The owners, brothers Omer and Dave Orian, are in their mid-twenties and usually sport matching red afros. They and their seven employees serve traditional Belgian Liège waffles made from yeast-leavened batter. They use pearled sugar imported from Belgium, which caramelizes through the waffles, making them crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside.
And if you're low on cash, Omer and Dave are happy to make a trade, because they're big fans of bartering.
"When we were in elementary school, Dave would carry with him a little suitcase full of toys in hopes of trading them for cool stuff that other kids had," says Omer.
Dave says the brothers have traded all kinds of things for waffles, including "acupuncture, massage, plumbing, a trumpet, and art." And Omer adds that they received yard rakes from one customer.
"We have bartered for things we never would have gotten were we to have to pay cash for them," Dave says.
The Orian brothers also installed a "barter wall" next to the counter to encourage exchanges between customers. The "wall" is a large corkboard with a sign next to it explaining: "It may benefit you to trade your goods and services with your neighbors as an alternative to using money, which can potentially be a little hard to find these days."
"I don't know that our five foot bartering wall will be the thing that turns this local economy in the right direction, but I do think we can make a significant impact," Omer says. He argues that Eugene possesses ample "human and natural resources" to sustain itself. "The lack of cash flow due to the economy should not stop this city from prospering."
Right now you can make a number of exchanges using the wall. Ellen will do some proofreading or editing for you if she can borrow your truck for an hour. Heather, a doula-in-training, will provide free labor support in exchange for experience toward her certification. Mike will fix your bicycle for some moped parts. And if you're a business lawyer, Omer and Dave would like to trade you some waffles for your services.
If legal work for waffles doesn't sound like a fair trade, you probably haven't tasted these waffles. Everyone who has seems to invariably sound like a teenager with a crush. The store is wallpapered with waffle wrappers decorated by customers, many of them waxing poetic about the waffles. "Waffles make me so happy," one gushes. "There's a waffle at the end of the rainbow," another proclaims. Off the Waffle's 1,695 Facebook fans seem pretty smitten as well.
Off the Waffle's "original" waffle is served in a to-go wrapper just like it would be if you purchased it from a street vendor in Brussels. But you can also sit down in the casual dining area, enjoy the Django Reinhart music that's often playing on the stereo, and get a waffle served on a plate and topped with a combination of gourmet ingredients you'd expect to find in a much fancier restaurant. The Ahee-hee, for instance, features cream cheese, garlic-rubbed seared rare ahi tuna, sesame seeds, and drizzled sesame oil.
While you wait, you can pick up Off the Waffle's small "joke basket" and exchange jokes with other customers. It's crammed with scraps of paper, post-it notes, and pieces of napkin scribbled with jokes like, "What's the difference between snowmen and snowwomen?" You turn it over for the punch line: "Snow balls."
Off the Waffle just moved to a new location, and they haven't put their sign up yet, but day and night, a line seems to snake from the counter to the door. Most people pay cash, but if you have a healthy potted plant or a restaurant-style highchair, Omer and Dave will probably trade you a mighty tasty waffle for it.
During the last two great depressions in the U.S., hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of people organized to meet their basic needs when the mainstream economy and centralized monetary system failed them. Unemployed poor folks got together to create time dollar stores and cooperative mills, farms, health care systems, foundries, repair and recycling facilities, distribution warehouses, and a myriad of other service exchanges.
Many of these were based on the hour as a unit of account, and often everyone's hour was equal and could either be exchanged for another hour of service or its equivalent in goods.
Modern forms of time exchange, called Timebanks and LETS (Local Employment Trading Systems), have been around since the 1980s. Now, with one in ten Americans unemployed (likely twice that, given recording problems), time exchanges are making a comeback.
Timebanks USA, a system of over 120 timebanks in the U.S. and a few other countries, was developed by activist lawyer Edgar Cahn as a way to help the underprivileged and underserved help each other through an organized system of reciprocity. In the following interview, Cahn explains the basic principles behind timebanks:
Official Timebanks purchase software that provides a ready-made, standardized directory and accounting system of individuals, and sometimes nonprofits or government agencies, that are willing to provide services to their communities and receive help in return.
Timebank coordinators help create matches between people who need things and others who can help meet those needs, and they keep track of completed transactions in the system. No money is involved, and everyone's hour is equal, which is one of the features that enabled Timebanks to receive an official IRS income tax exemption declaration so that people on disability, social security, unemployment, and other government benefits can participate without penalty.
The egalitarian nature of the system ensures that people will be able to purchase the services that they need without toiling endlessly to meet high prices in the market economy. People can also trade goods with the stipulation that their price be based on the amount of time involved in producing the goods and not their market value. Timebanks' most successful application has been to provide a means for at-risk youth who have gone to court to do service for their community.
LETS systems also operate without money (except for fixed costs like gas or paper copies), but the value of time or goods may be linked to market value. Every community determines its own rules, so every LETS is a little different. LETS are now mostly online accounting and directory systems just like Timebanks, but they have also taken the form of paper ledgers, checkbooks, paper currencies, and time-based stores.
When one person provides service or goods to another, the giver receives credit in her account and the receiver gets a debit to his account so the system is always in balance. People manage their own accounts and make payment over the internet by logging into their personal account. Businesses, nonprofits, and government may also have accounts if they are involved in reciprocal community exchange. Some systems have account balance limits, others don't or merely flag high or low balances and then contact members to help them figure out how to spend or earn their credits.
Many communities have created similar time exchange projects, going by names like Fourth Corner Exchange, Village Networks, Richmond Hours, and Austin Time Exchange.
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Why sharing is the answer to some of today's biggest questions.
Probably the largest time exchange in the world is the Fureai Kippu in Japan. Fureai Kippu ("Caring Relationship Tickets") was created in 1995 to help families who had migrated to other parts of Japan care for elder family members from whom they'd been separated. Seniors can help each other and earn the hour credits, family members can earn credits and transfer them to their parents who live elsewhere, or users may keep credits for when they become sick or elderly themselves.
Free open source software is now available for any community to tailor a time exchange to its own needs and to reflect the local culture. Many of these projects also have regular in-person meetings, swaps, and potlucks to help facilitate exchange, trust, and community building.
While we may not have many dollars these days, most people do have some time. Instead of paying professionals who we may never see again to provide services, we can use time exchanges to find neighbors who might provide service in exchange for hour credits, thereby saving scarce U.S. dollars for things like rent and medicine.
In the process, people get to know and trust their neighbors, establishing caring relationships that can help reweave the fabric of our communities, and replace our culture's over-reliance on individual financial security.
Do you know a college student? Chances are, that person is going to graduate with an alarming amount of debt: Students in the class of 2008 graduated owing an average of $23,200 in student loans. It's now a given that you "need" a college degree to achieve middle-class status in the United States. But we also know that the middle class isn't what it used to be. So, is a college education worth the money?
The question plagues many Common Security Club members, whether we are students, graduates, parents, or grandparents. How can we save (or borrow) enough to pay for top level schooling, when private college tuition—plus room and board—now runs about $45,000 year? Parents wonder whether they should compromise their retirement savings; grandparents are shocked at the cost; teens have little to compare it to, and may be quite unprepared to make use of such an expensive investment.
In her new book, DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education, Anya Kamenetz ambitiously dismantles much of our cultural mythology around higher education:
Looking at the history of American colleges and universities convinces me that many aspects of the current so-called crisis in higher education are actually just characteristics of the institution. It has always been socially exclusionary. It has always been of highly variable quality educationally. It has always had a tendency to expand. It may be because we keep asking more of education at all levels that its failures appear so tremendous.
Kamenetz analysis is both rational and radical. She questions whether college is "nothing more than an elaborate and expensive mechanism for employers to identify the people who … had all the social advantages in the first place, and those people then get the higher paying jobs."
Her point is ultimately practical, which is what makes this book such a good resource for folks questioning and contemplating higher education. While stating flatly that, since the 1970s, there has been no increase in return to match the increasing cost of a college education, Kamenetz also makes it clear that the penalty of not going to college has increased in that time. This penalty is a steep decline in income for those with no college degree. The decision, then, of getting a degree, or not, can't be taken lightly.
Kamenetz also covers the student loan industry that saddles young people with debt, critiques both the popular and real histories of higher education in this country, and examines the difficulties faced by community colleges.
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New legislation lets students skip corporate student loan middlemen.
But perhaps the most useful section of the book is the last one, in which Kamenetz examines a large variety of alternatives to traditional 4-year colleges. Some of them come out of digital age technology that makes information highly accessible, while others are more hands-on. There are opportunities for self-education through Internet-accessible course syllabi (MIT, for example, makes all of its syllabi available online). There are also free colleges, where students work to run the campus in exchange for their education. She describes "edupunk" as "an evolution from expensive institutions to expansive networks" of teachers and learners—largely connected through the Internet. For those who learn best with their hands, or at least in person, there are more directly experiential colleges built on a foundation of internships and apprenticeships.
Kamenetz concludes with a 30-page resource guide of all sorts of educational possibilities—from the highly virtual to the totally experiential. It made thrilling reading for me, as the parent of a couple of "non-traditional" learners (and no budget for Harvard, anyhow). I would recommend it highly to stoke discussion of the future of higher education … and particularly to all the high-school seniors out there.
|BerkShare board member Asa Hardcastle visits Berkshire Bank in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, to exchange his federal dollars—95 cents for each $1 BerkShare. Photo by Jason Houston, jasonhouston.com
Total dependence on one currency is like total dependence on one crop, or, for that matter, a single energy source: there's always the risk that crop failure or a cutoff in supply will topple the whole system. This is the scenario we're seeing now—credit has dried up and unemployment is soaring. In small pockets throughout the world, in rural areas and inner cities, and spots as far-flung as Bavaria and Thailand to Massachusetts and Michigan, people are responding by launching their own currencies. Such monetary renegades are not simply thumbing their noses at the dollar (or the mark, or the euro, or the baht…) They are making a carefully considered choice to promote the well-being of their communities.
"From the beginning we had two objectives—to promote the region and promote local charities," says Christian Gelleri. In 2003, Gelleri and a group of his students at a Waldorf School developed the Chiemgauer currency in the Lake Chiemsee region of Bavaria, Germany. Since then, some 3 million Chiemgauer notes (equivalent in value to the euro) have been placed in circulation. The currency, accepted by 600 businesses in the region, typically is spent and spent again 18 times a year—three times more than the Euro. This means that the currency is encouraging trade and cooperation in the region, which keeps the shops and restaurants and artisans active. Think of this faster rate of use (what economists term "velocity") as a kind of reinvestment in the community.
Local currencies can help a community counter some of the problems with conventional money. For example, bank-issued currency tends to flow toward the money centers for investment. If you shop at a chain store, the profit gets whisked out of town and into the corporate coffers and then, often, to the speculative market. A local currency stays in the community, encouraging local business and trade, adding value to local products and services, and supporting the local infrastructure.
Reliance on national currency means being at the mercy of the national credit situation. As we've recently seen, credit constriction can paralyze local economies. Despite the availability of goods and the need for business, when there's no money, consumers don't buy. Stores don't sell. Start-ups can't get a toe-hold. An alternative currency gives people another way to buy, sell, lend, and borrow. If the community creates its own currency, local business can go on even if the supply of national currency dries up.
At the most basic level, currency functions as a means of exchange (I give you a dollar and you give me an ice cream cone), a unit of value (a dollar, pound, etc.) and a store of value (you can hold onto a dollar as it maintains its worth). It's also a source of information about relative value, and about what is needed to keep trade flowing, for instance, by adjusting the supply of money or the exchange rate so that those in other markets can afford your goods.
With local currency, a community can meet currency needs that the national tender isn't fulfilling. If the idea seems fanciful, there are models up and running—some for many years.
|A now-common sign around Great Barrington, this one at Rubi's Cafe. Photo by Jason Houston, jasonhouston.com
Author and urban activist Jane Jacobs' work was one inspiration for the monetary experiment called BerkShares—considered the best-designed and most successful local currency in the United States, with more than $2.4 million-worth passing from bank to hand to till and around again since fall 2006. The attractive paper bills—one BerkShare is worth $1, but is sold into circulation for 95 cents—are accepted at more than 400 businesses in the Berkshire region of western Massachusetts.
Jacobs pointed out that national currencies cover such broad geographical areas that they provide no local feedback. The way our system is now, regions subsidize each other, and weaknesses are not corrected. Local currencies, however, have clear feedback loops so that trade and production imbalances can be addressed more quickly.
As Susan Witt, executive director of the E.F. Schumacher Society, explains, "Whenever a BerkShare must be returned to the bank [instead of recirculated], that means there is not a source or product available locally to fill that business's needs." For example, say a toy store finds itself stuck with the currency. This presents an opportunity for a local craftsperson to provide the store with wooden figures, games, or puzzles to be purchased with BerkShares.
Witt, co-founder of the BerkShares program, took to heart Jacobs' belief that regional economies need their own currencies to grow and thrive. "Businesses are now trading with other local businesses, so that they're sourcing their printing, accounting, and food products locally rather than out of the area," says Witt. "People are getting off Amazon.com and back to the local bookstore and camera store. They like the personal exchanges and the ambiance, so they stay."
The currency belongs to the community, Witt stresses. And its use has been a valuable exercise in community empowerment. "The use of BerkShares is educating people on the importance of supporting local businesses. With that comes a sense of empowerment—that people can make positive changes in the local economy. The fact of BerkShares raises questions like: Can we issue currency that is not backed by the U.S. dollar? It's prompting people to think about other ways of thinking about money."
|Hardcastle buys food with BerkShares from Rubi's Cafe worker Kate Van Olst. Photo by Jason Houston, jasonhouston.com
On a recent visit to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, I purchased Berkshares at Lee Bank and spoke to Branch Manager Paula Miller, who expressed enthusiasm about the currency. "Customers love it. We've gotten to know other businesses better," she said, adding that it's always fun when clients recognize the work of local artists who designed the bills. "It makes it a little more real."
Time Banking
Time Dollars, now used in settings as varied as small towns, retirement homes, schools, and prisons, respond to conventional currency's limited capacity to measure worth. "Dollars don't measure value very well," says David Boyle, a Fellow at the New Economics Foundation in the United Kingdom. They are good, he says, at measuring "the instantaneous value of Microsoft or currencies on the international exchange. But not the value of, say, a local shop, or of me if I'm very old or young. I might have skills, but not those that are conventionally marketable."
Time Dollars were developed in 1980 by law professor Edgar Cahn, who lamented that crucial work to improve people's lives—such as child and elder care—is much needed but little valued. He saw that many who could do these tasks were idle and felt useless. To get people economically engaged, Cahn proposed a system where people earn credit according to the number of hours they work. These Time Dollars can then be "cashed in" for services, like yard work, tutoring, etc.
Not only does Time Banking promote social justice by connecting people, promoting reciprocity, and improving neighborhoods—it has also proved quite versatile: People have exchanged Time Dollars for wool spinning, "rune making," and having a baby delivered by a midwife. And there's always an ample supply since no community is going to run out of hours.
TimeBanks USA offers a start-up kit that includes instructions and software for starting a Time Bank anywhere. Rose-Marie Pelletier is working on launching a Time Bank in her town of Pownal, Vermont, an economically diverse rural community of 3,500. At a town meeting, Pelletier looked at the listings of delinquent taxes over recent years and saw that they had increased geometrically. She's a math teacher, and the numbers spoke to her; she saw the extent to which people were hurting. "People want to help each other—when we know how to do it," she says. "I see Time Banking as a way of building community, one hour at a time."
Chiemgauer Regional Currency
Conventional currency excels at serving as a store of value—so much so that use of money for actual trade slows down, leaving some local economies stuck. Coin and paper currencies do not lose value like the products one buys with them can, which makes hoarding and speculation attractive, particularly with the enticement of interest. Argentine economist Silvio Gesell described this phenomenon in 1913 and said that money also should lose value: that it should "rust" or go moldy like other commodities, and suggested a penalty, or demurrage fee, for holding onto it. Nearly 75 years later, then-teenager Christian Gelleri read Gesell's work and was fascinated. As a high school teacher, he saw the chance to test the model with a local currency. This is how it works: Each quarter, every Chiemgauer bill loses 2 percent of its value. In order to spend the money later, the consumer needs to put a special sticker on the paper currency.
In the beginning, Gelleri got complaints. Then people figured out how to make the model work for them. For instance, one cinema owner said that business went way up at the end of the quarter when people wanted to shed their currency. Increased cash flow at quarter's end was helpful for accounting, he said. The 2 percent loss, he added, was insignificant compared to the advertising he'd have to buy to secure the same level of customer loyalty he has from accepting the Chiemgauer.
A consumer can exchange euros for Chiemgauers at 50 offices in the region.Three percent of the purchase price goes to a nonprofit the buyer chooses. So far, more than $100,000 euros have gone to charities such as school athletic programs and environmental groups. The "good cause" component reinforces people's investment in the currency, and in their community.
Maybe we're asking national currencies to do too many things. As Thomas H. Greco, Jr. points out in his new book, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, some functions are inherently contradictory: If money is for trading, you want to use it; if money is to store value, you want to save it. Greco and others such as David Boyle say that people could be better served by separating out the functions of money—and using different currencies, depending on whether you are, say, meeting friends at a local café or saving for college.
Back on Main Street in Great Barrington, Matthew Rubiner, of Rubiner's Cheesemonger & Grocers, says the issue of local currency has shifted quickly from the theoretical to the here and now. "When BerkShares started we talked about what would happen if the economy falls apart and we were really forced to look local." The economic downturn, he says, has "brought the question into bolder relief."
|Judith D. Schwartz wrote this article as part of The New Economy, the Summer 2009 issue of YES! Magazine. Judith is an author/journalist in Bennington, Vermont now writing about alternative/complementary currencies and localization movements.
Interested? Read "The Local Multiplier Effect"


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- Binding: Hardcover & eBook
- Era:
- Number of Pages: 152
- Subject: Communications
- Date Available: December 2011
Clear The Decks Price*
A primer on the art and science of strategic communication, this book offers a solid foundation of communication strategies that is both practical and theoretical. Like no other book, the manual provides practical advice on the tactics, techniques, and procedures necessary for successful media relations, campaign planning, crisis communication, and strategic communications planning. It takes a compelling look at how communication processes can be made to function more efficiently and with greater effectiveness, whether conducted by governments, organizations, or military units. The author points to such influencing factors as new technologies that flatten communication hierarchies, social media platforms that empower amateurs, generational divides, and the ebbing trust in mainstream media news. She also warns that a coarsening of public discourse contributes to the difficulty of communicating and results in a toxic information environment.
Mari K. Eder is a communications professional with more than thirty years of communication experience in the U.S. Army.
"Mari Eder tackles [a] complex idea, offering the reader a strategic communications primer, albeit through a decidedly military perspective. Her years of service in various Army public affairs roles and depth of experience in the joint environment shine through as she discusses ways that military communication has worked and can improve, as well as military leaders' opportunities to take advantage of effective communication...Eder includes a number of complex concepts regarding strategic communications, succinctly describing many ideas and backing them up with good analysis...Overall, the noncommunication professional should find Leading the Narrative well worth exploring."
— Air and Space Power Journal
"While written primarily for a military audience this excellent little book is just as relevant to the wider world of commerce and beyond. Leaders of organizations operating within other parts of the maritime industry should study this fine book. The advice it contains will be very valuable to them."
— AUSMarine
"If you are a public affairs officer (PAO), information operations officer, a commander at battalion and higher, or a professional communicator, Leading the Narrative is worth the time to read and refer to often….Eder's discussion of strategic communication, an often ill-definted, overused expression that few understand and fewer know how to implement, is the best I have seen to date. She discusses the uses of new technology, social media, and trends in public opinion and weaves together a mosaic for both the professional and the layperson to grasp."
— Military Review, January-February 2013
"A worthwhile read for communication professionals, especially those who are in uniform or involved with military public affairs."
— Communication World, May/June 2012
"A compelling look at how all communication processes can be made to function more efficiently and with greater effectiveness The Strategy of Communication is a primer on the art and science of strategic communication. This book covers the foundation of communications strategies as well as solid tactics, techniques, and procedures for media relations, campaign planning, crisis communication and strategic communications planning. It is both a philosophy of communication and a solid practical reference manual. Like no other book on public relations, public diplomacy, or media operations and community outreach, it offers a compelling look at how all communication processes can be made to function more efficiently and with greater effectiveness. The ties are those of intention and purpose, both leading to meaningful and purpose-driven communication efforts, whether conducted by governments, organizations, or military units."
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"Chock full of information about, sound argument for, and a path to successful strategic communication. A must read for military commanders at every level of command. Mari K. Eder also provides information about modern communications media that is of great value to any organization, whether government or corporate."
—ROBERT KENNEDY, professor of international affairs, Georgia Tech, former director of the G. C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, and author of The Road to War: Congress' Historic Abdication of Responsibility
"Eder's comprehensive examination of the evolution and nature of strategic communication in the U.S. government is exceptional. She explores with experienced insight the real challenges to executing communications in support of strategy and the essential breaking down of existing stovepipes to 'compel a culture of cooperation' among public information activities. She does not sugarcoat the significant obstacles that exist in producing effective mechanisms for consensus and integration—but she is clear on our need to successfully reach that objective. This is a timely and valuable work to drive a thoughtful re-examination of how we communicate as a government."
—BRIAN P. CULLIN, former assistant White House press secretary and director at the National Security Press Office under President Bill Clinton


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Outreach is dead. It's time we put its body in a coffin, say our collective prayers and move on.
You see, for most of the summer I undertook a long series of "outreach" trips to promote and educate the public at large about a grant-funded project I'd been working on for the past year. I drove all over the state of Oregon, to the desert in the East, the rolling mountains in the South, up and down the rocky coast, and through the farm and ranch land in Western and Central Oregon. During these long trips (imagine expanses of high desert for 200 miles before you hit a rest stop or gas station) I had a lingering feeling that what I was doing was definitely NOT outreach. Instead, I was promoting and marketing a service and tool that, for the past year, I had been helping to build at my place of employ.
What IS outreach in libraries today? It became my mission to discover a succinct working definition of what we do that so many of us consider outreach, yet my conclusion remained embedded in that same violent phrase: outreach is dead. When this thought first occurred to me my brain immediately began singing the lyrics to Bauhaus's hit Goth Rock song Bela Lugosi's Dead. ("…Bela Lugosi's dead/ undead undead undead/Oh, Bela/Bela's undead…)
We need to lay rest to outreach's physical body–that separate entity that comprises library departments and ancillary programs. As well we need to lay to rest the word "outreach," whose separate existence inhibits and deters us from doing what we as libraries, librarians, and information professionals should be doing. Instead of integrating library promotion, advocacy, and community-specific targeted services, we have left "outreach" outside of the inclusive library whole to be an afterthought, a department more likely to get cut, or work function of only a few, such as your subject librarians. If we kill this notion, if we consider the word and the separate entity of outreach as dead, we are more likely to be able to embrace and participate in activities formerly known as outreach and incorporate this essential part of our jobs into our daily work routine.
Before I came to the conclusion that outreach is dead, I attempted to re-define outreach as such: Outreach is marketing. If the people who you're attempting to reach seek services from you (rather than you reaching them) it is not outreach. The agenda behind library outreach should be to offer services without monetary gain, and to identify and fill service voids for people who are not looking for them. Unsatisfied with my definition I asked my dad. His response was "I let the NSF [National Science Foundation] define that for me." (My dad is an organic chemistry professor.) I was not convinced that a funding agency should have the ultimate say in what "outreach" activities should be or include; particularly in libraries. It was then that I decided to turn to my colleagues and professional literature to seek a good definition.
Scott Pointon (Public Libraries, 2009) refers to the following definition: "Draw a circle around the central or main library building–every library service, program, or library-related endeavor taking place outside that circle is outreach." (5-6). Likewise, in her introduction to the Extraordinary Outreach section of Public Libraries last winter, Nann Hilyard points to the Random House Webster's College Dictionary definition of outreach, "noun: the act of extending community services to a wider section of the population. Transitive Verb: to reach beyond, exceed" (20). Unsatisfied with both of these definitions I turned to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online (thanks, Multnomah County Library, for my remote access to this!) I found:
Outreach. Noun. b. spec. The activity of an organization in making contact and fostering relations with people unconnected with it, esp. for the purpose of support or education and for increasing awareness of the organization's aims or message; the fact or extent of this activity.
None of these definitions are satisfactory to me. And none of us define outreach in the same way. Pointon's definition is great, but it pulls into play the struggle libraries are having with "library as place," an issue recently addressed in The Journal of Academic Librarianship by Sennyey et al., 2009. Current library services transcend the physical boundaries of a library building. Many collections and services offered by public and academic libraries are used remotely. Users access library services from home, in their offices, and even via mobile devices. "…the bond between users and the physical library will change and if poorly managed the "library as place" will become just another campus building" (Sennyey, et al., 2009). In this way, defining outreach by physical boundaries (a body) does not reflect the wealth of services that libraries provide and undermine our community-centered work.
The OED definition is great, but to me this definition gets back to my first instinct: this is marketing, not outreach. In fact, I looked at the OED definition of marketing, and felt that the two, for our intent, are almost interchangeable.
Marketing b. The action or business of bringing or sending a product or commodity to market; (now chiefly, Business) the action, business, or process of promoting and selling a product, etc., including market research, advertising, and distribution.
Our product is our service. To many librarians marketing can be a dirty word and outreach almost saintly. But in so many articles about outreach authors seem to refer to library service promotion as marketing anyway. (see Dawn Bussey's Getting the Word Out, Eugene Jeffers's Electronic Outreach and Our Internet Patrons, and Rebecca Donnelly's The Misguided Relationship.) I think we should embrace marketing for what it is, and let outreach diffuse into our daily routine. Moreover, the first use of the word outreach in this way was over 100 years ago, in 1899 according to the OED. Since libraries have changed so much over the past 100 years isn't it time we find a new way to express and incorporate community-centered work? The OED definition reminds me of a picture I snapped while on my outreach excursions.
The paint is peeling. Obviously its current physical manifestation could use some help. Likewise, when we use the term "outreach" we typically refer to an older and more traditional notion of what the word means. For us to move beyond this idea, we just might have to start using different words and detach current assumptions about "outreach" to discuss our "outreach" activities.
Differences Between Academic and Public Libraries
In academic libraries outreach seems to mean one of a few things. First, you have to reach your constituents. Some libraries have a Facebook page and some libraries tweet. You might also provide orientations to new student cohorts or you might offer satellite library services in a different building such as a dorm or a student center. Other examples could be creating relationships with faculty to provide services that support teaching as well as to their students to support course-specific learning. These examples seem to encompass much of what academic "outreach" focused activities include. To me, all of these services should not be contained within a separate body, department, or undertaken by just the "Outreach Librarian." Instead, they are part in parcel what we do. As professionals we should all be talking about the library in our communities and fostering relationships. We should be offering satellite services and, yes, we should all have down pat our 30 second "why the library is important" elevator speech. These are essential aspects of a library and of any librarian's job. They are not separate nor should they be contained in a different or a sole unit or entity.
Unlike academic libraries, Public library outreach programs seem much more identified by space and place. Bookmobile services, library services provided to those in jail, services at senior centers and in schools are all examples of what would fall under the "outreach" umbrella. Dawn Bussey discusses the various things that the Glen Ellyn Public Library has done in their community and outside the library's walls (Public Libraries, 2009). But let's face it, these services and the community-based nature of public libraries are essential to what today's library is. It is not extra, it is mandatory and we should all be engaged and providing targeted, community-based services to our constituents.
Community Engagement and Marketing are Essential
The nature of libraries has changed enormously. The physical building is less important. Books are less important. Due to these changes libraries will become obsolete in today's current market where information needs are created and fulfilled by (my favorite "frenemies") Google and Facebook. People purchase books from Amazon, they read blogs, wikis and other online commercial (and non-commercial) information sources. But libraries have what they don't and we need to let our users know this. We have the ability to be in our communities, to engage them and offer specific targeted services. Our engagement with our communities can be the defining aspect of what a library is to any given community—and that sounds a whole lot like what one "outreach librarian" was doing or one "outreach department" does in the old "outreach" paradigm. I am not trying to undermine the importance of marketing, advocacy, or library services. Traditional "outreach" services should be an integrated part of what we do, not an aside, a tacked on item.
Problems We Face in Death
Just because libraries need to change and have changed does not mean that the politics of our respective institutions and governing bodies have. Many institutions, such as my own, have "outreach" outlined in their missions. Institutions might use "outreach" to exemplify their worth for grant or other funding sources, which frequently require "outreach" activities be incorporated into funded projects. (Much like my dad's example and my recent travel around the state of Oregon.) We need for our city governments and our library and university administrations to advocate for libraries and library services in the manner I have described. When crucial administrative decisions get made, for example to open a new campus, build a new building, or to add a new degree program at a college or university, libraries and their services need to be represented. If we have successfully advocated for our constituents by providing them with quality targeted, community-centered services, they will advocate for us. In the end, we might be able to provide those essential library services without being restricted by traditional "outreach" departments or initiatives.
Another issue facing libraries and library staff is training. How are we going to train library staff to provide those 30 second elevator speeches? Who will take the lead to ensure that circulation staff, reference staff, and others know how to engage in the services we've been calling outreach? If we expect everyone to engage in this work, staff need to have the skills and knowledge to be able to do so.
Finally, outreach is usually considered a separate department, when marketing and promotion of outreach activities within institutions get delegated to separate "marketing," "communications," or "public relations" departments. Wouldn't it be best if the two were integrated? These departments often produce and distribute printed and written materials such as press releases, brochures and flyers, or craft an organizational mission statement. This kind of community engagement remains essential. We must learn to embrace marketing and collaborate with our marketing and communications departments for our community-centered services to achieve their potential.
The Undead
Kill your notion of outreach. We should demolish the body of outreach, but keep outreach activities alive. We should disallow outreach a separate body, but fold its spirit into our daily work and activities, for it is this spirit of work that is the very kernel of what makes a library. Let's use different words to talk about what we do. (Please, if you have a suggestion on a new term to replace "outreach" leave a comment!) Let's work to engage our administrators and our institutions in changing the attitude and political structure surrounding "outreach." Let's bridge the divide by collaborating with community and institutional partners to create and promote services. Let's make sure library staff has the training to be able to give an elevator speech about why the library is important to community. Finally, let's reshape our attitude and view community-based library services as essential; as the core of what keeps libraries strong and relevant to our communities.
Thanks to Gail Kouame for providing her thoughtful feedback to this post. Also thanks to Lead Pipe Colleagues Derik Badman, Ellie Collier, and Hilary Davis for their edits and feedback. Additionally, thanks to my office-mate, Andrew Hamilton, who is a great springboard for ideas.
References and Further Reading
Adams, T. M., & Sean Evans, R. (2004). Educating the educators: Outreach to the college of education distance faculty and native american students. Journal of Library Administration, 41(1), 3-18.
Aguilar, P., & Keating, K. (2009). Satellite outreach services program to under-represented students: Being in their space, not on MySpace. The Reference Librarian, 50(1), 14-28.
Bussey, D. (2009). Getting the word out. Public Libraries, 48(1), 20-21.
Connell, R. S. (2009). Academic libraries, Facebook and MySpace, and student outreach: A survey of student opinion. Portal: Libraries & the Academy, 9(1), 25-36.
Donnelly, R. (2009). The misguided relationship: Learning from outreach experiences. Public Libraries, 48(1), 24-25.
Hilyard, N. B. (2009). Cultivating support for library advocacy. Public Libraries, 48(3), 16-19.
Jeffers, E. J. (2009). Electronic outreach and our internet patrons. Public Libraries, 48(1), 21-23.
Pointon, S. E. (2009). Library outreach is the future! Public Libraries, 48(2), 2-5, 24.
Sennyey, P., Ross, L., & Mills, C. (2009). Exploring the future of academic libraries: A definitional approach. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 35(3), 252-259.


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According to Genesis 1:3, "And G-d said, Let there be light; and there was light." What light is the Torah referring to if the sun which produces light by day was created only on the 4th day of creation?
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The Gemara (Chagigah 12a) records a debate about this. One opinion (R' Elazar and R' Yaakov) is that the light referred to here is an intense light with special powers; G-d afterwards concealed it, realizing that there would be unworthy people who wouldn't deserve to make use of such light, and set it aside as part of the future reward of the righteous.
The other opinion (the majority view) is that the light created on the first day is the same as that we get from the sun and other heavenly bodies. The verse tells us G-d created them on the first day, and then placed them in their proper positions on the fourth day. (See also this question.)
You're assuming that the passage is only concerned with the creation of physical stuff, but verse 2 makes clear that everything was messed up chaos.
My opinion: Perhaps on day one, the laws of the universe were created: the existence of light, forces (e.g. gravity), matter, time etc. That's a faithful reading of the verse because it says 'Let there be light', not 'let there be a thing that produces light'.
From a hard science background, I can tell you that Maxwell's laws of electromagnetism set up the initial conditions for light to not only exist, but also become mandatory.
G-d saying "let there be light" can from this perspective been seen as a metaphor for G-d inscribing the necessary laws of physics upon the space-time fabric so that light may occur. Then, since in physics everything which is optional is mandatory, light then had to appear because cause the conditions were now right for it's appearance.
(Slight correction: the description of our own space-time fabric itself includes Maxwell's equations. Therefore, when G-d created the universe by creating the space-time fabric with the laws we presently understand, light then automatically happened, because Maxwell's equations also describe the existence of light. Therefore, G-d spoke math, translating into more common terms as 'let there be light'. That's how I understand it.)


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When the SARS virus broke out in China in January 2003, Karl Taro Greenfeld was the editor of Time Asia in Hong Kong, just a few miles from the epicenter of the outbreak. After vague, initial reports of terrified Chinese boiling vinegar to purify the air, Greenfeld and his staff soon found themselves immersed in the story of a lifetime.
Deftly tracking a mysterious viral killer from the bedside of one of the first victims to Chinas overwhelmed hospital wardsfrom cutting-edge labs where researchers struggle to identify the virus to the war rooms at the World Health Organization headquarters in GenevaChina Syndrome takes readers on a gripping ride that blows through the Chinese governments effort to cover up the disease . . . and sounds a clarion call warning of a catastrophe to come: a great viral storm potentially more deadly than any respiratory disease since the influenza of 1918.
About the Author
Karl Taro Greenfeld is the author of seven previous books, including the novel Triburbia and the acclaimed memoir Boy Alone. His award-winning writing has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Best American Short Stories 2009 and 2013, and The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012. Born in Kobe, Japan, he has lived in Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, and currently lives in Pacific Palisades, California, with his wife, Silka, and their daughters, Esmee and Lola.
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A work of riveting, relevant journalism...a dexterous approach that recalls Randy Shilts's AIDS history And the Band Played On.
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A taut scientific thriller, well told.
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Greenfeld moves quickly, often conjuring a thriller, and his personal and professional involvement give his account...a unique perspective.
-Library Journal
Greenfeld... ponders the nature and purpose of viruses as he paints a gloomy picture of what we...can expect next.
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"This book is a parable for our times."
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10 Ideas to Naturally Bring on Labor
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Long Walks
Walking and light exercise, especially stair-climbing, causes your baby's head to press down on your cervix, which helps to stimulate the release of oxytocin.
If your baby hasn't dropped yet, walking might also help him move into a better position for birth, which could help labor start naturally. Just make sure not to wear yourself out — labor is exhausting enough without having walked a marathon beforehand.
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11 Everyday Ways to Learn Math While Having Fun
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Family Gardening
Avid gardeners know a little something about math, like how far apart your vegetable rows need to be, or how deep a seed needs to be planted. The next time you're sowing some seeds, ask your child to help. When harvest time rolls around, he'll be proud to show off the fruits of his labor.
Gardening as a family is a great way to spend time together, learn about nature, and eat nutritiously. The math part is a bonus!
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Your order must total $99.00 before tax and shipping. Free Shipping on Ground Deliveries only going to one delivery location in the continental U.S. only, additional locations are $8.95 each. May not be combined with other coupons or promotional offers. Coupon not valid on our selection of Tervis or Louisville Slugger products. Offer not valid on previous orders.
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We do not have control of how the names repeat or how the names are placed (the order and layout) on the background


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More than 300 spirited supporters of the Alzheimer's Association filled the Balboa Bay Resort for its annual gala. This year's theme? Creating Hope—and guests did exactly that by raising more than $525,000 for the nonprofit's mission to end the disease. And here's how they did it: They bid on live auction items like a luxurious two-night stay at The Resort at Pelican Hill-and even a glass of tap water, just to encourage giving without reward. Karl and Tina Weber, meanwhile, donated $250,000 to the cause. Attendees also recognized local business execs for their philanthropic efforts before American Idol-winner Taylor Hicks took the stage to perform his unique blend of blues and country, and end the night with a whole lot of soul. –Photos by John Gilhooley and Ashleigh Magnum


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I have the following query that I'm executing using a Python script (by using the MySQLdb module).
conn=MySQLdb.connect (host = "localhost", user = "root",passwd = "<password>",db = "test")
cursor = conn.cursor ()
preamble='set @radius=%s; set @o_lat=%s; set @o_lon=%s; '%(radius,latitude,longitude)
query='SELECT *, (6371*1000 * acos(cos(radians(@o_lat)) * cos(radians(lat)) * cos(radians(lon) - radians(@o_lon)) + sin(radians(@o_lat)) * sin(radians(lat))) as distance FROM poi_table HAVING distance < @radius ORDER BY distance ASC LIMIT 0, 50)'
results=cursor.execute (complete_query)
print results
The values of radius, latitude, and longitude are not important, but they are being defined when the script executes. What bothers me is that the snippet of code above returns no results; essentially meaning that the way that the query is being executed is wonky. I executed the SQL query (including the set variables with actual values, and it returned the correct number of results).
If I modify the query to just be a simple SELECT FROM query (
SELECT * FROM poi_table) it returns results. What is going on here?
EDIT: Encapsulated Haversine formula calculation within parenthesis


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;_*Zombie Lab-+x (Telephone's Pixelness) - 01-13-2009, 06:55 PM
I'm not really into dolling, but I hope this thread is allowed since I do still pixel and need somewhere to track my progress. I have been pixelling since about September 2007, and I hope that reflects in the work. On that subject, I'll be posting some very old pixels here later on so you can compare how much I've improved, I may even repixel a few [:
(CC is welcome, but ya know- not required)
I've been working on a pixel layout for a website I plan to open and I have taken bits I like off it to show ya'll before the site is released. ENJOY;;
Zombie Lab- at least, I think it's a zombie and a lab o__o Or bits that go in a lab. We're trying to create a new brain for the zombie since the old one is starting to fall apart, I hope we haven't created a clone by accident @_@
(the skillzz comment: I can already see several mistakes I have made. I would go back and edit but... -facepalm- it's a bit too late for that, I forgot to anti aliase the blue XD I think I did well on this one though, probably one of my best.)
Botanical Surprise- Aha ;D The rise of the test tubes and giant conical (sp?) flasks. Overrsly, this is also part of the layout and we're trying to grow MOAR windmill flowers. That's why the petals look odd o_o
(the skillzz comment: hmm, I prefer the zombie but I still like this [': Mistakes made obviously, but who is perfect? And you can't really tell it's a windmill, but I like the shading on them. I'm working that dithering look =D)
And that's it for now.
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