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Address: 103 5th Ave, Pelham, New York, 10803
Phone Number: 914-276-5071
Year Established: 2000
Address: 103 5th Ave, Pelham, New York, 10803
Phone Number: 914-276-5071
Year Established: 2000
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 6th Feb 2013 12:29 UTC, submitted by Anonymous
"Some GNOME developers are planning to implement an app format that allows developers to provide their Linux programs in distribution-independent files that can be installed as easily as smartphone apps. A sandbox model is supposed to isolate the apps from each other, and from the rest of the system, in a way that goes further than the isolation in current Linux distributions. Various developers worked to conceptualise such "Linux apps" at the GNOME Developer Experience Hackfest, which was held in the run-up to FOSDEM 2013 in Brussels. At the hackfest, the GNOME developers also declared JavaScript as the de-facto standard for GNOME programming." Right, because they haven't alienated enough of their users.
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RE: Do they actually use Linux?
by nej_simon on Wed 6th Feb 2013 15:07 UTC in reply to "Do they actually use Linux?"
Do the GNOME developers use Linux on the desktop, or are they actually using Macs and trying to develop for tablets and phones? Because they seem to be unaware that the problems they're trying to solve have already been solved (like with chroot and dpkg), which would be understandable if they weren't using Linux.
Or perhaps they just want to be distro neutral instead of being tied to a distro-specific package system like dpkg? You would have known that if you had read the article.

subset: commoncrawl


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Operation Shelter Care - A General Population Shelter Tabletop Exercise - CSU-EB - 02
Exercise Basics
Exercise Information
Access the American Red Cross Health and Sheltering Course information web site.
This exercise is restricted to Nursing Students from California State University - East Bay that have participated in Part 1 of the American Red Cross Disaster Health and Sheltering Course.
Exercise Participation
Access the Exercise Participation Fact Sheet.
Exercise Date/Time
|Friday, November 30, 2018
|Participant Login: 12:30 PM
Exercise Begins: 1:00 PM
Exercise Registration
Everyone will need to register via this portal not just participants and observers but evaluators and controllers.
Then the exercise designer can indicate the role of each registrant when they are approved for the exercise.


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Oil pared a second weekly loss, rising with gasoline and heating oil on concern that Hurricane Sandy will disrupt East Coast refinery production and as the U.S. economy showed signs of growth.
Prices advanced as Sandy was forecast to intensify into a �Frankenstorm� that may become the worst to hit the U.S. Northeast in 100 years.
The nation�s gross domestic product grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, according to the Commerce Department, exceeding analysts� expectations.
�Oil would have closed lower, if not for the Frankenstorm,� said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. �It�s obviously having a bigger effect on heating oil and gasoline because supplies are tight. If the storm shuts refineries and we�re then hit by a cold snap, we could see heating oil prices surge.�
Crude oil prices fell 4.8 percent this week and are down 13 percent this year.
Heating oil climbed 3.57 cents, or 1.2 percent, to end the session at $3.0978 a gallon in New York.
Gasoline increased 2.27 cents, or 0.9 percent, to settle at $2.6991 a gallon.
Sandy is forecast by the National Hurricane Center to go between Philadelphia and Baltimore on Oct. 30. Five refineries in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania that produce 600,000 barrels a day of gasoline may be shut down, said Andy Lipow, president of energy consultant Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston.
GDP, the value of all goods and services produced, increased its growth from 1.3 percent in the prior quarter. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was a 1.8 percent gain.
Consumers� purchasing power eased, with disposable income adjusted for inflation rising at a 0.8 percent annual rate from July through September, the least since the end of 2011, today�s report showed.
The GDP estimate is the first of three for the quarter, with the other releases scheduled for November and December when more information becomes available.
�The GDP number was better than expected, but 2 percent growth doesn�t signal a booming economy,� said Kyle Cooper, director of commodities research at IAF Advisors in Houston. �At $86 a barrel, we�re close to fair value.�
Oil prices slumped to a three-month low Wednesday after the Energy Department said supplies jumped 5.9 million barrels last week to 375.1 million, the highest level this time of year since the government started reporting inventories in 1982.
Production in the U.S. climbed for a seventh week to 6.61 million barrels a day in the week ended Oct. 19, a 17-year high.
Gasoline consumption declined 2.7 percent to 8.49 million barrels a day, the slowest rate since March 16.


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MIDDLEBURY — Just before the Jan. 12 second anniversary of Haiti's devastating earthquake, three local moms early this month delivered more than 700 pairs of shoes collected in Addison County to needy children on the Caribbean island.
"There is an incredible culture of humility that happens when you take a trip like this because we come from a place of such excess by comparison," said Andrea Ward, a New Haven resident, who made the Jan. 4-8 relief trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with Maria Graham and Kelly Hickey.
UPDATE 1/23/12: This story has a major inaccuracy: Due to a calculation error by Addison Central Supervisory Union (ACSU), the proposed 2012-2013 Ripton Elementary School spending plan will not require two votes at town meeting after all. Please see the end of the article for more details, and stay tuned for an article with updated ACSU budget information.
VERGENNES — The Vergennes Union Elementary School board on Monday made final a decision to put before voters on Town Meeting Day a $3.91 million budget proposal for 2012-13 that would increase current spending by $20,500, or 0.5 percent.
Addison Northwest Supervisory Union officials are cautiously optimistic that spending proposal, combined with the recently proposed $8.97 million Vergennes Union High School spending plan, would lead to little or no school tax hikes in the three towns served by VUES.
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MIDDLEBURY — The Better Middlebury Partnership (BMP) wants to hear local business owners' views on the challenges and advantages of operating in Addison County's shire town, so that future changes can be made to improve local commerce.
With that in mind, the BMP is circulating its second survey of the winter, this one featuring 32 questions polling Middlebury business owners on their impressions of municipal services, help they might need to become more prosperous, and what local events seem to best stimulate customer traffic.
BRISTOL — The Bristol selectboard at their Monday meeting continued ironing out a proposed town spending plan for the next fiscal year, addressing budgets for the recreation department, the Lawrence Memorial Library and the town's waste disposal programs.
The recreation department spending plan for next fiscal year, which has not yet been finalized, is likely to see a noticeable hike, according to Town Administrator Bill Bryant.
VERGENNES — Vergennes aldermen on Jan. 10 adopted two articles for voter consideration on Town Meeting Day: one that would devote $37,000 to improvements to the city's recreation area and another that would end the practice of mailing annual reports to every Vergennes household.
Aldermen also discussed adopting a conflict of interest policy, possibly at their next meeting, set for Jan. 31, and broadened their search for a new police station site.
MIDDLEBURY — Playing Castleton State College's men's basketball team poses a unique challenge: The Spartans press for 40 minutes, constantly sub in fresh players, and relentlessly force the pace by launching shots as quickly as possible.
But on Tuesday, unique didn't translate into difficult for the host Middlebury men, who improved to 15-0 and protected their No. 1 ranking in NCAA Division III by holding the Spartans to 34.6 percent shooting and pounding them inside to win, 97-71.
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Regional Headquarters
The headquarters of the New York Region of the Social Security Administration is located in lower Manhattan in the Jacob Javits Federal Building. The regional headquarters is responsible for oversight and support of the administration of all Social Security programs in field offices, teleservice and processing centers, and state disability determination services in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Most questions and concerns can be quickly resolved by contacting our 800 number or by visiting one of our field offices. Important information is also accessible on our website, www.socialsecurity.gov. However, staff in a number of our regional headquarters' divisions are available to provide information and discuss issues related to Social Security's policies and procedures.
Public Affairs Office
Our Public Affairs staff coordinates the distribution of public information through the media and through our network of field offices and teleservice centers. This staff also responds to important correspondence received in the regional office. This staff may be contacted by writing to:Social Security Administration
Regional Public Affairs Office
26 Federal Plaza/Room 40-120
New York, NY 10278
E-mail may be sent to the Public Affairs staff at firstname.lastname@example.com
Programs Center
Staff in the regional office Programs Center are responsible for coordination of the Retirement, Survivors and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs in the New York Region. This staff may be contacted by writing to:Social Security Administration
Director/Programs Center
26 Federal Plaza/Room 4060
New York, NY 10278
Disability Center
Staff in the regional office Center for Disability are responsible for coordination of the Social Security and SSI Disability programs in the New York Region, including the Ticket to Work. This staff may be contacted by writing to:Social Security Administration
Director/Disability Center
26 Federal Plaza/Room 40-140
New York, NY 10278
Medical determinations for disability cases are made by local state agencies. You can learn more about your local state agency by visiting their website at:
New York
Division of Disability Determinations
New Jersey
Disability Determinations
In Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, please contact:Disability Determination Services
PO Box 71301
San Juan PR 00936
Please send us any comments or suggestions you have about our web site.


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A White House Dinner in Pittsburgh
One hundred and seventy-five guests got the chance to dine like the President of the United States at the Omni William Penn Hotel for A White House Dinner in Pittsburgh. Former White House Executive Chef Pierre Chambrin was assisted by Chef Wayne Schmidt and Omni William Penn Executive Chef Jacky Francois in creating a menu of White House favorites rivaling that of a State Dinner. The event honored the regional leaders who support the employment of people with disabilities to benefit Life'sWork of Western PA. The dinner raised $83,000. Photos by Megan WylieRead More
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Choosing the Right Law School / Re: a dude w/ heart disease asks: USD with $$ or fordham (parttime)?« on: June 01, 2007, 11:56:06 AM »
oh i forgot to add one more important factor....i'll be alone in USD, meaning i will have no friends or family. @ Fordham, i will have family members who are also linked to the medical field.
I can relate with you there. All my friends and family are in NY/FL. I'm moving to SD alone, but it doesn't seem as though making friends out there is going to be much of an issue at all...
I don't know how important living near your family is to you. That's something you need to decide. The friends part, I would not worry about though (assuming you're not an introverted jackass .


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Prominent Rightwing Blogger Promises To Work Hard To Defeat Any Rightwing SOPA Supporters In Congress
from the good-for-him,-how-about-the-left? dept
And that's creating some interesting opposition that may start to wake up Congress. We've definitely seen people associated with both ends of the political spectrum come out against the bills. For example, how often do you see Nancy Pelosi and Darrell Issa agree on something? We've also seen some prominent Tea Party groups, like the Tea Party Patriots, as well as prominent "left" movements/sites like MoveOn and DailyKos come out against the bill.
Now, Erick Erickson, the guy behind the rightwing site RedState, has said that not only is he against SOPA, but that he will do everything in his power to defeat any Republican who co-sponsors the bill. And he challenges people on the left to do the same with Democratic co-sponsors:
A fund should be created and the left should go out and find candidates to take on the Democrat sponsors. The right should go out and find candidates to take on the Republican sponsors.... The money should then be used to fund the primary challenges against the incumbent sponsors of SOPA. Let the right vet and direct the funding on the right so no one thinks the left is trying to pick the challenger and vice-versa on the left.He even admits that this might take out some politicians he really likes and supports, such as Rep. Marsha Blackburn (whose hypocrisy on the topic of regulating the internet, we've discussed in the past). As Erickson says:
Killing SOPA is that important.So important that it's worth campaigning and sending funds against candidates you otherwise agree with.
For a few months now, we'd been warning SOPA/PIPA supporters that this was going to become an election issue. It appears that's starting in earnest, and it's not going to look good for such supporters. And this truly is a non-partisan issue. Rather than this being about some concept of "left vs. right" or Rs vs. Ds, it's about those who understand the internet vs. those who don't understand or are afraid of the internet and wish to control that which they fear. And that's why SOPA and PIPA are becoming toxic politically for their supporters. There are a lot more people who actually do get this stuff out there than are in Congress. And they're starting to speak out as they realize just how big an issue this is.


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Using Dark Elf team vs STR teams
Your rosters, your strategies, advice, etc.
3 posts • Page 1 of 1
Using Dark Elf team vs STR teams
I bought BB Chaos Edition off steam recently during a sale and I've been having a lot of fun but struggling against strength teams. I've been trying to focus on learnint night elves since I like the different options that having a slightly less squishy elf team. I'm having trouble especially on the offense thouh. It always seems like within a couple turns of the kick most of my team is stuck in a big scrum with the other team and I'm forced to start taking lots of risky dodges to try to get the ball down the field. How do you avoid getting entangled and how do you know when to go all out and lake a decisive push?
Re: Using Dark Elf team vs STR teams
Dodge away, screen one side and leave a reasonable threat down the middle so you can switch easily. Strength teams are usually limited in mobility (either through low MA or low AG), so it's a maneuver game.
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Re: Using Dark Elf team vs STR teams
Use handoffs/short passes to switch play from side to side or even backwards, forcing the opponent to respond and spread his team out. His slower players will get separated from the faster ones, giving you more open lanes and less tackle zones to dodge.
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Penn State Grand Jury Report - Full Text
For those of you interested, below is the link to the full grand jury report from their investigation into the Jerry Sandusky abuse case. WARNING: Graphic language.
For all you Pennsylvania lawyers out there: Does PA not have a specific reporting duty provision in the General Statutes that requires a witness of abuse to report it to the authorities? I ask because there is such a provision here in other state statutes, in which case McQueary's and Paterno's failure to report would be a criminal failure to report had this occurred in those states.
[EDIT: Read this report at your own risk. Sorry in advance for those that have their day ruined by reading it. It really is a terrible read. A "day ruiner" for sure.]


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TUSCALOOSA | The last time Tuscaloosa experienced mass casualties — after the April 27, 2011, tornado — throngs of off-duty medical staff swarmed DCH Regional Medical Center to treat the hundreds of injured who sought help.
TUSCALOOSA | The last time Tuscaloosa experienced mass casualties — after the April 27, 2011, tornado — throngs of off-duty medical staff swarmed DCH Regional Medical Center to treat the hundreds of injured who sought help.
But, in the wake of recent mass casualty events like the bombing at the Boston Marathon, the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, the DCH Health System is making changes to be ready in the event of another disaster.
"We're always aware of our responsibility to meet the health care needs of West Alabama, but mass casualty events like the April 2011 tornado really bring that responsibility into focus," said Bryan Kindred, CEO of the DCH Health System. "We're proud of the way this area's physicians and our employees responded on April 27, 2011, but we discovered many ways we could improve."
Each year, the DCH Health System undergoes an evaluation that is reported to the Joint Commission that examines in what areas the hospital is vulnerable. According to results reported to the DCH board of directors last week, one area where DCH Regional needs to focus is its preparedness for "mass casualty trauma," Janet Teer, vice president of legal services told the DCH board April 9. There is more attention being brought to hospitals to be ready for mass casualty events, particularly after events like the Sandy Hook school shooting, Teer told the board.
"Efforts to prepare for mass casualty trauma has risen to our highest level and will take up the greatest amount of resources in the next year," Teer told the board, less than a week before the bombing at the Boston Marathon.
Several improvements have already been made, including an annual communitywide disaster drill, with the most recent one held earlier this month, said Brad Fisher, DCH spokesperson. The drill is highly orchestrated with participants including the hospital and all first responders. Regular "in house" drills are also held to ensure hospital staff know what to do in case of another disaster, he said. DCH is also taking other steps.
"The DCH Health System has made several improvements in its procedures to ensure it can meet the demands of a mass casualty event," Fisher said.
According to the hospital's definition, a "mass casualty event" is when there are multiple trauma injuries and additional resources are needed or called in to meet the demand of the event. To be prepared for such an event, the DCH Health System has improved the notification process, and notices will now go out to hospital staff and first responders in a variety of formats, including text messages, emails and beepers, Fisher said.
When hundreds of people sought help at DCH the night of the April 27, 2011, tornado, it became apparent that there needed to be a designated overflow treatment area for people with minor injuries. Now, DCH Regional has identified the cath lab, endoscopy and outpatient surgery areas as overflow areas that can be opened up and staffed if necessary, Fisher said.
What to do with volunteer staffing is another element that DCH has had to consider.
"The night of the tornado, many physicians came in to help without being called," Fisher said. "It was an amazing response. Most went to the (Emergency Department) and went right to work, but no one knew exactly what physicians were here and where they were."
Now, if a mass casualty trauma occurs, physicians will report to a central area so that a response team will know who is "on deck," and physicians will be deployed where they are needed, Fisher said.
Along with the injured that came to the hospital on April 27, 2011, so did many uninjured people who had lost their homes and had no where else to go. Previously, DCH had no contingency plan on what to do if the hospital was being used as a shelter. But, the night of the tornado, hospital staff coordinated with local schools and the University of Alabama to bus people to local shelters once they opened up.
Now, the hospital has formally included plans on where to house people at the hospital who are seeking shelter, how to ensure they are fed and plans for transportation once alternative shelters are available, Fisher said.
"The night of the tornado there were 1,000 people here who had no place to go, and we were the only ones with lights on," Fisher said. "We had not worked out in a drill or plan for that ever."
Now there are designated areas for shelter, areas for volunteers and areas for overflow treatment, Fisher said.
"We've put these improvements in place, and we're ready for the next event if one should occur," Kindred said. "That's what this community expects from us, and that's what we expect from ourselves."
Reach Lydia Seabol Avant at 205-722-0222 or lydia.seabol


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Computer games are pretty amazing in their ability to capture the hearts and minds of their players.
And if Eric Hackathorn, the program manager of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fragile Earth Studios is right, federal agencies are only beginning to scratch the surface with gaming technology, which could be used to get a message out, engage the public and even solve some of the world's problems.
To prove his point, Hackathorn hosted a GSA webinar July 31 about how government can use game technology to its advantage, and how feds can get involved in the Federal Games Guild, which researches that topic.
Related stories:
Government's serious pursuits sometimes call for a game
How I solved the budget crisis
First, he showed how powerful games are as a lure to players. One of the most popular games right now is World of Warcraft. But even I, a pretty hardcore gamer in my own right, was shocked to learn just how popular that massively multiplayer online game really is in terms of man-hours.
According to Hackathorn, in the 10 years the game has been running, players have collectively spent 6 million years worth of time playing. And even less intense games like the ubiquitous Angry Birds sees 16 years worth of collective time spent playing the game every single hour of the day.
"What if we put that effort towards something real?" he asked.
But to do so, feds are going to have to think like gamers. And that means focusing efforts on gaming concepts like leveling, achievements, badges and the social aspects of play. It's not about bringing games into the federal space, but about using game mechanics to get jobs done, he said.
Basically, games lay out a path to mastery. Everyone wants to be the best, but not everyone has the discipline to achieve it, Hackathorn said. Games focus that drive and energy and can be used to accomplish great things.
A basic gaming concept that feds can start using include leveling, which means giving new perks, or levels, to players for accomplishments within a game. Agencies can use leveling to reward people for continuing to put work into a project and to clear them for greater challenges.
Leveling, interestingly enough, is almost never linear. Several levels typically are gained early on in a game, with advancement becoming progressively harder as play continues, though the difficutly is balanced by the promise of greater rewards.
Another concept is badge-earning, which is slightly different from leveling. Badges are little icons that are difficult to earn and that can be displayed on a user's social media pages. Not all badges can be earned by everyone, which makes possession of them more exclusive. A good example of a federal game that uses badges is NASA's Space Race Blastoff game on Facebook.
A close cousin of badges is the leaderboard. It generally shows high scores, but can also be used by government to publicly acknowledge those who most participate in a project, such as crowdsourcing solution. And Hackathorn says it's best if the leaderboards are divided up somehow, so users can see that they are the fifth most important person from their state or town, instead of being the three-millionth person overall. It's all about engaging your users.
The website at Fragile Earth Studios has lots of examples of game technology that has been successfully used by government. The projects, such as a perfect 3D model of Rock Creek Park and the ReGenesis Project, where users try to fight a future hurricane in the year 2017, are pretty cutting-edge.
And we have seen successes using this technology before, like the Budget Hero game, which explained the complexities of the federal budget in a fun way.
Hackathorn's point is that the public is hungry to play games, and a clever agency can harness that powerful draw to improve the way it does business, and perhaps even make the world a better place.
About the Author
John Breeden II is a freelance technology writer for GCN.
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Yes, a lot of the popular community sites use gamification to engage their audience to get them to stay on the site longer. Look at StackExchange . com I think they do this the best. They use badges and rewards for people to provide information and bring value to their site. I see people spend hours everyday just to get their points up and earn more rewards which unlock abilities they can do w/in the site.
Been pushin' this idea for a couple of years now. The (virtual) Ann Meyers Medical Center was probably one of the better demonstrations of some really useful properties of "gaming" technology. It created a knowledge management system where information could be stored and accessed in a very natural, intuitive fashion. Closer to the original "gaming" concept, Army does some great stuff with virtual world training...and incorporates cross-over reinforcement between "realities". As the old saying went..."Goodby Windows(tm) - hello world!"
Napoleon once said "A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon". As a former soldier myself, I've never understood why. Have we declined so much as a civilization that we only strive to excel if there is a shiny medal at the other end? While not hardcore, I am a gamer and I mainly look to level up as a way improving my character and expand my abilities. Badges and such are nice to get but to me are just a side part of the game.
Spend that time on something "real"? Like, what, exactly: professional sports? what they call reality TV?
Forgot to mention Foldit. Great game with practical applications.
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text: President of the AU Alpha Conde, European Council President Donald Tusk (L) and President of the EU Jean-Claude Juncker. Reuters/Luc Gnago 4 décembre 2017 The EU-Africa summit is now the AU-EU summit. Why the upgrade matters Frank Mattheis, University of Pretoria et John Kotsopoulos, University of Pretoria The transformation of the EU-Africa summit series into the EU-AU summit is more than just a change of name. It reflects the increasing recognition of the AU as an international actor.


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|Episode Description
|Tuesday, Jan 15, 2013 - 4:30 AM
"Quillber's Birthday Present"
It's Aviva's birthday, and Chris and Martin decide to collect shed porcupine quills to make a beautiful necklace as a gift. As they tag along with an African Crested Porcupine, they discover that animals have different ways and even some highly specialized features to defend themselves from predators. For example, porcupine quills are modified hairs, designed by nature into a deadly defense. D
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By: Emma Shrapnel, Category: Museullaneous, Date: 25 Sep 2012
"Engaging Young Adults in Museums" an audience research study aimed at discovering the reasons why young adults don't visit museums.
The research project titled "Engaging Young Adults in Museums" was an audience research study aimed at tackling several of the main issues surrounding the topic of young adult's visitations (or lack of) to museums.
As the role of museums in society shifts from traditional collection-driven institutions to visitor-centred establishments with a prime role in the leisure industry, museums are now met with obligations to entertain visitors.
However, young adults are proving to be an age group that are exceptionally difficult to engage and entertain in museums internationally. Studies have shown that there is a significant gap in museum visiting from the time when youths leave school to when they settle down and have children. It is in the interests of museums to fill this gap and successfully engage the young adult audience.
This research project examined the following topics surrounding this issue; the barriers preventing young adults attending museums; how museums around the world are currently trying to engage this audience; and what the current needs and wants of this audience are in a museum.
A variety of research methods were used to investigate these issues including a literature review, observation study, case study and questionnaire.
For the full research paper, "Engaging Young Adults in Museums"


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Tournament raises funds for scholarship named in honor of former OU ballerina.
It's time to dust off the golf clubs and practice that swing for a good cause.
The second annual Juli Busken Memorial Scholarship Tournament and Lunch is slated May 20 at Belmar Golf Club, 1025 E. Indian Hills Road, Norman. Two tee times are scheduled in this year's tournament.
The morning tee time begins with a shotgun start for the four-man scramble at 7:30 a.m. Lunch will follow at 11 a.m.
An auction will kick off at noon followed by a second tee time at 1:30 p.m.
The tournament honors Busken, who was kidnapped from her Norman apartment in December of 1996 and brutally slain. Busken, a student-ballerina, completed her senior year at the University of Oklahoma a few days prior to her death.
Sheriff Joe Lester served as OU's police chief when Busken was murdered. Lester said he became friends with Busken's family during the homicide investigation and remains close with them today.
Lester said all funds collected from the golf tournament will be donated to the Juli Busken Memorial Scholarship at the OU School of Dance.
"This is the right thing to do to keep Juli's memory alive at the OU School of Dance," Lester said. "My ultimate goal is to raise $500,000 for the scholarship fund."
Tournament sponsorships range from $10 to $10,000. Deadline for reservations is May 13.
For a registration form, call Bill Tucker at (405) 329-6800 or (405) 919-1746. Make checks payable to OU Foundation Juli Busken Scholarship, P.O. Box 5672, Norman, OK 73072-5672.
Any questions regarding this press release and/or information can be addressed to Meghan McCormick, Cleveland County Sheriff's Office, community liaison/public information officer. McCormick can be reached at (405) 701-8847.


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Accountability and Responsibility
Robert Gregory
Accountability and responsibility are related ideas that are central to political, constitutional, and institutional arrangements in Western liberal democracies. However, political elites in non-democratic systems are generally not held accountable by citizens through such arrangements, and accountability is primarily a means of securing the compliance of state functionaries to the will of these elites. In liberal democracies the terms "accountability" and "responsibility" are often used in common discourse as if they were synonyms, but they are not. The former is a concept that embodies a number of different types, with a common theme of answerability by an accountor to an accountee, usually—but not necessarily—in a hierarchical relationship designed to ensure compliance and control. Responsibility, on the other hand, speaks of the associated but different domain of individual moral choice, where often conflicting duties of obligation are experienced by those in official positions. Beginning in the 1980s, the so-called new public management movement, which brought major changes to many Western systems of public administration, sought to enhance the accountability of public bureaucrats, especially their answerability to their elected political superiors. The effects have been mixed and uncertain, often with unintended consequences, such as the reinforcement of risk aversion and blame shifting and gaming behavior. The quest for accountability is inherently a political process, in which "holding to account" may often depend much less on any forensic determination of specific culpability and much more on evidential and political disputation, where the search for the "truth" is highly—and increasingly—contestable.
Attitudes Toward Women and the Influence of Gender on Political Decision Making
Mary-Kate Lizotte
There is a great deal of research, spanning social psychology, sociology, and political science, on politically relevant attitudes toward women and the influence of gender on individual's political decision making. First, there are several measures of attitudes toward women, including measures of sexism and gender role attitudes, such as the Attitudes Toward Women Scale, the Old-Fashioned Sexism Scale, the Modern Sexism Scale, and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. There are advantages and disadvantages of these existing measures. Moreover, there are important correlates and consequences of these attitudes. Correlates include education level and the labor force participation of one's mother or spouse. The consequences of sexist and non-egalitarian gender role attitudes include negative evaluations of female candidates for political office and lower levels of gender equality at the state level. Understanding the sources and effects of attitudes toward women is relevant to public policy and electoral scholars.
Second, gender appears to have a strong effect on shaping men's and women's attitudes and political decisions. Gender differences in public opinion consistently arise across several issue areas, and there are consistent gender differences in vote choice and party identification. Various issues produce gender gaps, including the domestic and international use of force, compassion issues such as social welfare spending, equal rights, and government spending more broadly. Women are consistently more liberal on all of these policies. On average, women are more likely than men to vote for a Democratic Party candidate and identify as a Democrat. There is also a great deal of research investigating various origins of these gender differences. Comprehending when and why gender differences in political decision making emerge is important to policymakers, politicians, the political parties, and scholars.
Erica Frantz
Dictatorships have dominated global politics for hundreds of years, from the pharaohs of Egypt to the absolute monarchs of Europe. Though democracy has since spread to much of the world, about a third of today's countries are still ruled by dictatorship. And yet, compared to democracies, we know very little about how dictatorships work, who the key political actors are, and where decision-making powers lie. Political processes are opaque, and information is often intentionally distorted. Political survival depends not on maintaining the favor of voters, as in democracies, but on securing the backing of a considerably smaller coalition of supporters. The absence of a reliable third party to enforce compromises among key players means that power-sharing deals lack credibility and the threat of forced ouster is omnipresent. Uncertainty pervades authoritarian politics.
Modern autocrats respond to this uncertain environment in a variety of ways. They use political parties, legislatures, elections, and other institutions typically associated with democracies to lessen their risk of overthrow. Despite the façade of democracy, these institutions are key components of most autocrats' survival strategies; those that incorporate them last longer in power than those that do not. The specific ways in which autocratic institutions are used and the extent to which they can constrain leadership choices to prevent consolidation of power into the hands of a single individual, however, vary enormously from one dictatorship to the next. Better understanding the conditions that push autocracies down a path of collegial versus strongman rule remains a critical task, particularly given that the latter is associated with more war, economic mismanagement, and resistance to democratization.
Comparative Political Regimes: Consensus and Majoritarian Democracy
Matthijs Bogaards
Ever since Aristotle, the comparative study of political regimes and their performance has relied on classifications and typologies. The study of democracy today has been influenced heavily by Arend Lijphart's typology of consensus versus majoritarian democracy. Scholars have applied it to more than 100 countries and sought to demonstrate its impact on no less than 70 dependent variables. This paper summarizes our knowledge about the origins, functioning, and consequences of two basic types of democracy: those that concentrate power and those that share and divide power. In doing so, it will review the experience of established democracies and question the applicability of received wisdom to new democracies.
Friedrich Kratochwil
Constructivism in the social sciences has known several ups and downs over the last decades. It was rather early successful in sociology but hotly contested in international relations. Oddly enough, just at the moments it made important inroads into the research agenda and also became accepted by the mainstream, the enthusiasm for it waned, and many constructivists—as did mainstream scholars—moved from the concerns of "grand theory" or even "meta-theory" toward "normal science," or experimented with other (eclectic) approaches, of which the "turn to practice" is perhaps the latest manifestation.
In a way, constructivism was "successful" on the one hand by introducing norms, norm-dynamics, and diffusion; the role of new actors in world politics; and the changing role of institutions into the debates, while losing, on the other hand, much of its critical potential. The latter survived only on the fringes—and in Europe more than in the United States. The Copenhagen school, building on the speech act theory, engendered at least a principled discussion of security studies, even if its use of speech acts was too simplistic.
In the United States constructivism soon became "mainstreamed" by having its analysis of norms reduced to "variable research." Similarly, while the "life cycle of norms" apparently inevitably led to norm cascades and "boomerangs," "norm death," strangely enough, never made the research agenda, despite the obvious empirical evidence (preventive strikes, unlawful combatants, drone strikes, extrajudicial killings etc.).
The elective affinity of constructivism and humanitarianism seemed to have transformed the former into the enlightenment project of "progress," where a hidden (or not so hidden) teleology of history à la Kant tends to overwhelm the analysis and thus prevents a serious conceptual engagement with both law and (inter-) national politics. This bowdlerization of constructivism is further buttressed by the fact that none of the "leading" U.S. departments has a constructivist on board, ensuring thereby the narrowness of conceptual and methodological choices to which the future "professionals" are exposed. The engagement with concepts and language, which "first generation" constructivists introduced, is displaced again by "ideal theory" (both in terms of deductive reasoning based on "unrealistic" assumptions and in the "clarification" of abstract principles à la Rawls), or by the search for "algorithms" hidden in "big data."
Counterfactuals and Foreign Policy Analysis
Richard Ned Lebow
Counterfactuals seek to alter some feature or event of the pass and by means of a chain of causal logic show how the present might, or would, be different. Counterfactual inquiry—or control of counterfactual situations—is essential to any causal claim. More importantly, counterfactual thought experiments are essential, to the construction of analytical frameworks. Policymakers routinely use then by to identify problems, work their way through problems, and select responses. Good foreign-policy analysis must accordingly engage and employ counterfactuals.
There are two generic types of counterfactuals: minimal-rewrite counterfactuals and miracle counterfactuals. They have relevance when formulating propositions and probing contingency and causation. There is also a set of protocols for using both kinds of counterfactuals toward these ends, and it illustrates the uses and protocols with historical examples. Policymakers invoke counterfactuals frequently, especially with regard to foreign policy, to both choose policies and defend them to key constituencies. They use counterfactuals in a haphazard and unscientific manner, and it is important to learn more about how they think about and employ counterfactuals to understand foreign policy.
Gender and Religiosity in the United States
Mirya R. Holman and Erica Podrazik
Religiosity is a combination of public and private religious practices, beliefs, and experiences. While diversity exists in how religiosity is measured, three central components are consistent across the scholarship: organizational religious engagement, non-organizational religious activities, and subjective religiosity. To measure organizational religious engagement, scholars frequently look at church attendance and participation in congregational activities. Non-organizational religious activities include frequency of prayer, reading the Bible or other religious materials, or requesting others to pray for you. Subjective or intrinsic religiosity includes self-assessed religiousness (where respondents are asked, "How religious would you consider yourself?") or strength of affiliation, as well as specific beliefs, such as views of the afterlife, hell, and whether the Bible is the literal word of God.
Various groups express different levels of religiosity. One of the most well-documented and consistent group-based differences in religiosity is that women, including white women and women of color, are more religious than are men across religions, time, and countries. Women report higher rates of church attendance, engagement in religious practices (including prayer and reading the Bible), and more consistent and higher levels of religious interest, commitment, and engagement. Many explanations for these gaps in religiosity exist including differences in personality and risk aversion, gendered socialization patterns, and patriarchal structures within churches. Scholars have engaged in robust debates around the degree to which explanations like risk assessment or gender role theory can account for differences in religious behavior between men and women. Yet unresolved, these discussions provide opportunities to bring together scholarship and theories from religious studies, sociology, gender studies, psychology, and political science.
Religiosity shapes a variety of important political and social attitudes and behaviors, including political ideology and participation. The effects of religiosity on political attitudes are heterogeneous across men and women—for example, highly religious women and men are not equally conservative, nor do they equally oppose gay rights. The process by which religiosity shapes attitudes is also gendered; for example, the effects of women's religiosity on political attitudes and participation are mediated by gendered attitudes. And while religiosity increases political participation, the effects are not even for men and women, nor across all groups of women. Future research might examine the differing effects of religiosity on subgroups of men and women, including evaluations of how intersecting social categories like race, gender, and class shape both levels of religious engagement and the degree to which religiosity influences other political and social behavior.
Government Legitimacy and Religion
Michael Hoffman
Despite the predictions of Marxists and secularization theorists alike, the relationship between religion and government legitimacy is mixed. Religion, in its various forms, can serve to promote regimes of virtually any type—democratic or otherwise—and can just as easily undermine such regimes. Observers hoping for a one-size-fits-all account of the link between religion and legitimacy will surely be disappointed; the reality is far more complicated. Religion, encompassing a nearly infinite variety of beliefs, behaviors, and actors, exercises a diverse set of influences on its political context. For regimes, this diversity can be either helpful or dangerous. Religion is neither inherently pro-status quo nor revolutionary; it can be either one depending on the context. Likewise, religion is neither necessarily pro- nor anti-democratic. Political and theological conditions influence the ways in which religion interacts with politics, and in particular, the role it plays in building or undermining legitimacy.
Twenty-first-century research highlights the Janus-faced relationship between religion and political legitimacy. In some settings, religion has been the foundation of non-democratic rule. In others, it has been a crucial catalyst for unseating dictators in favor of democratic alternatives. Theological differences can only explain part of this variation. The same religious tradition may serve as a defense of authoritarianism in one instance but a spark for democracy in another. Political factors play a key role in explaining why religion sometimes supports the status quo but in other instances may fuel revolutionary fervor.
Samuel Freeman
Liberalism in politics is associated with nonauthoritarianism, the rule of law, constitutional government with limited powers, and the guarantee of civil and political liberties. A liberal society is tolerant of different religious, philosophical, and ethical doctrines and allows individuals to freely form and express their conscientious convictions and opinions on all matters and live according to their chosen purposes and life paths. In economic terms, liberalism is associated with an unplanned economy with free and competitive markets, as well as private ownership and control of productive resources.
The basic institutions that are characteristic of a liberal society are constitutionalism and the rule of law; equal basic rights and liberties; formal equality of opportunity; free, competitive markets with private property in means of production; government's obligation to provide public goods and a social minimum; and the fiduciary nature of political power to impartially provide for the public good. Liberals interpret these basic institutions differently. Classical liberalism regards extensive property rights and economic liberties as basic, while libertarians see all rights as property rights and as absolute. High liberalism regards economic liberties as subordinate to personal and political liberties and subject to regulation, with redistribution of income and wealth to mitigate gross inequalities and provide all citizens with adequate resources to guarantee the worth of their basic liberties and opportunities.
The Market for Accountability Journalism
James T. Hamilton
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Please check back later for the full article.
If most voters remain rationally ignorant about the details of public policy, how can politicians be held accountable for their actions? Information markets offer an unprecedented amount of data today to help people in their roles as consumers, workers, and audience members. Yet the stories that help voters hold politicians accountable face a number of hurdles in the market place. Investigative work about public affairs topics is expensive, uncertain, and not always highly demanded. Attempts by candidates to convey ideas through the media faces a conflict between what approaches motivate the marginal voter and what topics are of interest to the marginal viewer. Research in media economics offers evidence on what types of political information gets produced, what the impact of accountability journalism is on the functioning of government, and where market failures exist in the coverage of politics and policy.
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NAMM 2007: VOX Unveil ToneLab LE
VOX packed the incredible amp and effect-modeling power of Valvetronix amplifiers into a portable, easy-to-use, awesome-sounding effects unit that sounds so real, you'll think you're plugged into a collection of real amps! With a new smaller footprint and enhanced direct recording features, the ToneLab LE is not just a floor processor. It's equally suited to desktop home recording. Now one unit can cover it all!
ToneLab LE: Loads of new features
The new ToneLab LE includes a few improvements on its popular predecessor, the ToneLab SE. The first is a new four-mode line out voiced specially for various applications, from direct recording to live performance through a PA system. The "Line 2" amp/line setting features an all-new three band Master EQ section modeled after one of the most acclaimed live mixers ever manufactured. This allows you to EQ the sound of your ToneLab LE to suit any room or sound system. For greater flexibility in recording applications, VOX added an S/P DIF output. Finally, the new ToneLab LE wouldn't be complete without some new effects! A new "metal distortion" sound will satisfy your need for extreme gain. Two new delays, a slap delay and a two-tap delay with tap tempo, add to the ambient effect offerings in the LE. Finally, a new multi-tap chorus gives you independent chorus taps for each of the left, center and right outputs, producing stunning depth and spaciousness.
VOX Valve Reactor delivers true tube sound
The power amp section on the ToneLab LE features our patented VOX Valve Reactor circuitry. This unique technology enables these units to provide the sound, feel and dynamic range that, until now, VOX only possible with amultitude of all-tube amplifiers. The Valve Reactor circuit uses a 12AX7 dual triode vacuum tube, a virtual output transformer and a dummy speaker circuit that simulates the reactive load of a real speaker. It reconfigures itself so that its characteristics are the same as the amps it's modeling (class A, class AB, negative feedback circuit, etc.). This means that all of the nuances of the original amp model including sound, feel, distortion and presence are reproduced.
Sophisticated modeling technology
Starting with VOX's own AC30, the 16 amp sounds range from rare vintage amps to high-end modern amps. From clean sounds to extreme high-gain distortion, these models cover a wide range of tonal possibilities. Cabinet modeling reproduces the acoustical characteristics of ten different cabinet shapes and speaker types.
A range of high-quality effects
The effects are categorized into modulation, delay, and reverb, with eleven types provided for each category. Effects range from stomp box to studio-quality effects and include a rare analog chorus, rotary speaker, and vintage delay/echo. Some effects let you change the output settings (monaural, stereo, or stereo output of wet/dry signals) or the connection order of the modulation, delay, and reverb effects for even more flexibility. There are also 16 pedal effects, including wah, overdrive, distortion, fuzz and acoustic simulator. Easy knob-based editing means that you can easily tweak this rich array of effect types and parameters to your personal taste right on the unit without having to scroll through time consuming menus of parameters.
120 Program memories
The amp, cabinet, and effect settings can be saved into120 program locations. For each program, you can store two channels (A and B) of amp and cabinet settings.There are also 40 preset programs that contain classic settings for each amp model.
More expressive potential
ToneLab LE provides an expression pedal that you can use to control wah, volume and many other effect parameters.You can assign the pedal to control the delay time, modulation speed or depth, or many other parameters, giving you an enormous range of creative possibilities. The QuickAssign function makes it easy to assign a parameter at a single touch.
Superb operability, extreme flexibility
You can assign the control switches to control parameters such as tap tempo, effect on/off, or rotary speed. The LCD screen that displays parameter names and detailed information is back lit for increased visibility. A valve icon shows the number and model of the power tubes used in the original amp that's being modeled. Convenients end/return jacks are provided, which allow you to connect external insertion effects such as distortion or over-drive. You can also switch the insert effect on/off at a touch of a foot switch.
Editing software lets you save and edit sounds
Dedicated editing software for ToneLab LE can be downloaded from www.voxamps.co.uk. This software displays all parameters, making editing even easier, and also letsyou stockpile an unlimited number of your own sound programs and share them with your friends.
Built-in tuner
The Auto Chromatic Tuner has its own independent LED display for excellent visibility. The tuner also provides a mute function for silent tuning on stage.
All the right ins and outs
Perfect for home recording and live performance, ToneLab LE includes everything you need for killer guitar sound. Featuring an S/P DIF optical digital output and MIDI IN and OUT connectors, ToneLab LE offers you plenty of potential and numerous options to expand your system. You can use the effect insert jacks to connect an external effect processor or stompbox, and the headphone out is just what you need for late-night practicing.
Related Products
VOX V847 Reissue Wah-Wah Pedal
About the VOX Wah-Wah
VOX developed the world's first Wah-Wah effect during the '60s in an effort to allow guitarists to emulate the sound of a trumpet being muted — an important musical ingredient of the day. VOX's original Wah-Wah pedal quickly gained widespread popularity and its unique sonic characteristics have encouraged further experimentation by guitarists ever since.…
Web Price:85.00
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Vox footswitch controller for the valvetronix range of amps. Allows you to change channel remotely or bypass the effects. Alternatively, you can use it to access manual mode and channel switch, therefore giving you access to three sounds via the footpedal. The VFS-2 makes an already versatile amp an even more impressive tool.
Web Price:25.00
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It seemed at first like a welcome break from political overload. There's nothing like a juicy sex scandal to relieve election fatigue.
But this one, it turns out, brims with suggestions of military misconduct and questions of national security that have talking heads droning about matters of policy while most of us just want the dope on disgraced generals, the West Point vixen and Kardashian-esque identical twins.
By now, we are all caught up on the basics of the scandal that brought down C.I.A. Director David Petraeus:
The retired general had an extramarital affair with his attractive biographer. She sent threatening emails to a Tampa socialite whom she considered a rival. The socialite's complaint to an FBI agent launched a probe that brought down the general and tarnished his comrade, Gen. James Allen, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Investigators spent months scouring in-boxes and reading thousands of messages. They did not find evidence that national security has been compromised.


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1. severity - noun
· used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather
Synonym(s): badness, severeness
Hypernym(s): intensity, intensiveness
2. severity - noun
· something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters"
Synonym(s): asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness
Hypernym(s): difficulty, difficultness
3. severity - noun
· extreme plainness
Synonym(s): austereness, severeness
Hypernym(s): plainness
4. severity - noun
· excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp"
Synonym(s): severeness, harshness, rigor, rigour, rigorousness, rigourousness, inclemency, hardness, stiffness
Hypernym(s): sternness, strictness
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By the time it's five years old, the average vehicle's value has dropped by about 66%. The editors of Kelley Blue Bookcompile an annual list of those vehicles that best hold their value, based on supply and demand as well as current and projected future market conditions.
The 2011 brand for overall best resale value is Subaru, which are expected to be worth 39% of their purchase price after five years of ownership. The best resale make for luxury cars is BMW, with 37.1% expected value retention after five years.
As for the standouts among specific models, click ahead to view Kelley Blue Book's winners in every category, from subcompact on up to full-size pickup and over to luxury. (Note: Resale values listed are taken from Kelley Blue Book's website and are calculated based on list price, not MSRP.)
By Colleen Kane
Posted 19 Jan 2011


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Frame the Victim
Prosecutors oversold the case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Now they're overselling the case against his accuser.
The Manhattan district attorney's office has filed a motion to dismiss the sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The motion accuses the alleged victim, Nafissatou Diallo, of a "pattern of untruthfulness" marked by "shifting and inconsistent versions" of their encounter in a New York hotel. But the same can be said of the DA's office. Having exaggerated the case against Strauss-Kahn, prosecutors are now exaggerating the case against Diallo. Here are four elements of their story that don't add up.
1. Room 2820. The DA's motion accuses Diallo of "continued conflicting accounts" of the incident. It says she told prosecutors three different versions of what she did after being assaulted: one version prior to June 28, a second version on June 28, and a third version on July 27. But if you read the first and third versions (on Pages 11-13 of the motion), you'll see that they don't differ much: In the third version, unlike the first, she said that after being assaulted in Room 2806 of the hotel, she opened Room 2820 briefly to retrieve her cleaning supplies. The only serious puzzle is the June 28 version. Here's how the DA's report describes it:
[A]fter leaving the defendant's room, she had gone directly into another room (2820) to finish cleaning it. She gave specific details, saying that she had vacuumed the floor and cleaned the mirrors and other furniture in that room. She further stated that after completing her tasks in Room 2820, she had returned to the defendant's suite and began to clean it as well.
This version is plainly wrong: Electronic records show that Diallo opened the doors of 2820 and 2806 in the same minute, which wouldn't have given her time to do all that cleaning of 2820. But did she really tell this farfetched story? In an interview with ABC News, taped shortly before July 24, Diallo attributed the false version to mistranslation. In the 33rd minute of the interview, she said that 1) prosecutors used a different translator on June 28, 2) they asked her if she had spat out Strauss-Kahn's semen in Room 2820, 3) she told them she hadn't, since she had already cleaned that room, and 4) she told them she had opened Room 2820 to get her supplies. It's easy to see how a mistranslation could have happened: Diallo described how she had cleaned Room 2820, and the prosecutors, through the translator, thought she was saying she had done this after the assault, when she reopened its door.
The DA's motion rejects this explanation. It says that Diallo showed an ability to understand English and that she didn't correct the interpreter's translation. It adds that on July 27,
As to the statements that the complainant had made on June 28, she denied making them, and asserted that they must have been mistranslated by the interpreter or misunderstood by prosecutors. But that claim is not believable in light of the extensive follow-up questioning about these events. … Critically, her willingness to deny having made those statements to the very same prosecutors who had heard her make them on June 28 calls her credibility into question at the most fundamental level.
This is hugely important. In this passage, the prosecutors are basically saying that Diallo lied about what happened in a room with them on June 28, and therefore they can't trust her account of what happened in a room with Strauss-Kahn on May 14. But where's the evidence that Diallo delivered the June 28 account as they're reporting it? Did they record the conversation? If so, release the audio or transcript.
2. The Guinea rape. The DA's motion says that in interviews with prosecutors on May 16 and May 30, Diallo described having been gang-raped by soldiers in her native Guinea. The report says "she offered precise and powerful details about the number of her attackers," their mistreatment of her daughter, and the scars she got from the assault. Then, on June 8 and 9, she "admitted to prosecutors that she had entirely fabricated this attack" as part of her application for U.S. asylum. This, according to the DA, shows a dismaying "ability to recount … fiction as fact with complete conviction."
That's pretty damning. But in the fine-print footnote below this denunciation, the DA says that in her June 9 and June 28 interviews, Diallo
stated that she had indeed been raped in the past in her native country, but in a completely different incident than the one that she had described in her earlier interviews. Our interviews of the complainant yielded no independent means of investigating or verifying this incident.
In other words, she did not say that the rape was "entirely fabricated." She changed the details. That doesn't excuse her dishonesty. But it does narrow the extent to which she has shown a willingness to lie—not to mention the obvious difference between sending an innocent man to jail and distorting a bygone rape by unnamed assailants to get asylum.
And that, in turn, raises questions about the DA's candor. In a June 30 letter, the DA's office said Diallo "states that she would testify that she was raped in the past in her native country but in an incident different than the one that she described during initial interviews." In the motion to dismiss, however, the DA calls her second account of the rape a "completely different incident." By inserting the word "completely," the DA's office bolsters its claim she "entirely fabricated" the rape. On what basis does the DA justify this inflation of its allegation? The motion to dismiss cites no further interviews with Diallo, and it admits that the DA hasn't investigated the purported Guinea rape. The only basis for saying she lied is her retraction. But we have no idea how much of the initial account she retracted. Let's see the details.
3. The phone call. On July 1, the New York Times described a phone call Diallo received from an incarcerated friend a day after the Strauss-Kahn incident:
Investigators with the Manhattan district attorney's office learned the call had been recorded and had it translated from a "unique dialect of Fulani," a language from the woman's native country, Guinea, according to a well-placed law enforcement official. When the conversation was translated—a job completed only this Wednesday—investigators were alarmed: "She says words to the effect of, 'Don't worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I'm doing,' " the official said.
The leaker wasn't named. But in an affidavit filed yesterday, Diallo's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, reports a strikingly similar characterization by prosecutors:
On June 30, 2011, Assistant District Attorneys Daniel Alonso and Joan Illuzzi-Orbon called [Diallo's] counsel and stated that [she] had been captured on tape talking about [Strauss-Kahn] with that prisoner a day after the sexual assault and said words to the effect, "Don't worry. This guy has a lot of money. I know what I'm doing."
Four weeks ago in the DA's office, with the aid of a Fulani interpreter hired by the DA, Thompson listened to the recording of the phone call and emerged with a very different account. He said that 1) Diallo received two calls but didn't place any, 2) she never brought up Strauss-Kahn's wealth as lawsuit bounty, 3) her friend did so, but she told him to stop, 4) she mentioned Strauss-Kahn's wealth and power only in the context of fearing him, and 5) when she said, "I know what I'm doing," she was talking about her safety, not about legal strategy. This fits the account Diallo previously gave to ABC News.
The DA's motion to dismiss offers no substantive rebuttal to Thompson's description of the phone call. Instead, it says that after Diallo "professed to have no interest in obtaining money" from the case, she "had a recorded conversation with her incarcerated fiancé, in which the potential for financial recovery in relation to the May 14, 2011 incident was mentioned." A footnote adds that two translations of the call were "materially similar in their discussion of making money with the assistance of a civil lawyer." From this, the DA concludes that her "disavowal of any financial interest is relevant to her credibility." And a "law enforcement official involved in the investigation" tells the Times, according to the paper's paraphrase, that the phone call "signified another episode of Ms. Diallo's not being forthright."
Not being forthright? That's rich. First these officials told the Times that Diallo essentially said: "This guy has a lot of money. I know what I'm doing." Then, when the recording didn't match their description, they rephrased everything in the passive voice—there were "discussions" in which money "was mentioned"—so that they could obscure who said what and continue to imply that she had undisclosed financial motives.
The official who says Diallo wasn't forthright about the phone call also tells the Times that there can be (this is a quote) "no question as to the substance of the conversation." Really? That sounds like more passive-voice fudging to me. Let's hear the conversation. The DA has the recording. Release it.
4. The bank transactions. The motion to dismiss says Diallo "failed to disclose a stream of cash deposits—totaling nearly $60,000—that were made into her checking account" by people in four states. (It doesn't say how many people made these deposits.) It says Diallo affirmed that her friend had sometimes asked her to withdraw cash from the account and deliver it to his business partner. Given the sums involved, the motion conveys incredulity that she "claimed not to know how much money had gone through her account in this fashion."
That's funny, because the DA's office apparently didn't know how much had gone through the account, either. On June 30, the Times reported that according to "well-placed law enforcement officials," various people had "made multiple cash deposits, totaling around $100,000, into [Diallo's] bank account over the last two years." Now that number is down to $60,000. If the first number was wrong, why should we believe the second?
I still wouldn't convict Strauss-Kahn, given what we know so far. But I wouldn't exonerate him, either. I certainly wouldn't do so based on this shifty, unsubstantiated, heavily spun report from the DA. We've already been suckered once by these prosecutors. Let's not make the same mistake twice.
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February 12, 2011
Celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Bay View by sending its love and light to a prisoner behind enemy lines. One prisoner writes, "The Bay View has been a source of inspiration and life for me. It enables me to see people still care and Blacks are still fighting for justice."


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Bbgun tried to fix it. Let us know if it's still wonky.
LOL....To Be Determined.
We know it's just a matter of time before both of them get hurt, we just have yet to see what will be ailing them this time around.
What do tbd's mean?
vBulletin Skins by Bluepearl Skins


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- AltCar Auto Show
- Beijing Auto Show
- CES Auto Show
- Chicago Auto Show
- DC Auto Show
- Detroit Auto Show
- Frankfurt Auto Show
- Geneva Auto Show
- LA Auto Show
- NAIAS Auto Show
- New York Auto Show
- Paris Auto Show
- Philadelphia Auto Show
- SEMA Auto Show
- San Diego Auto Show
- Shanghai Auto Show
- St. Louis Auto Show
- Tokyo Auto Show
Auto Show: 2013 New York Auto Show
2014 Mitsubishi Mirage: New York Auto Show
What is it?
Mitsubishi is reviving the Mirage name for an all-new entry-level model. The 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage will be offered only as a 5-door hatchback. Power comes from a tiny 1.2-liter 4-cylinder engine, which is rated at 74 horsepower and 74 lb-ft of torque. A 5-speed manual transmission is standard, while a CVT automatic will be optional. While the Mirage's fuel economy hasn't yet been rated by the EPA, Mitsubishi expects the Mirage to achieve aroun 37 miles per gallon city and 44 mpg highway.
How much?
Pricing isn't official, but we expect the Mirage to start around $13,000.
When can you get it?
The Mirage should reach Mitsubishi's U.S. dealers sometime in fall 2013.
Add it to your shopping list because...
The 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage will be one of the least expensive new cars available, and while its 74-hp 4-cylinder isn't a powerhouse, it offers great fuel economy. Also, despite its low price and compact 148-inch length, the Mirage still has a practical side. It offers four full-size doors plus a hatchback with space in the back for cargo. Inside, the Mirage will even offer a touchscreen infotainment system -- an unexpected but welcome bonus at its budget price point.
Other cars to consider:
Chevrolet Spark: The Spark is Chevy's newest ultra-small subcompact. Slightly smaller than the Mirage, the Spark starts under $13,000 with shipping and uses an 84-hp 1.2-liter 4-cylinder engine. Gas mileage with the standard stick shift is 32 mpg city/38 mpg highway.
Mazda2: The subcompact Mazda2 is slightly more expensive than the Mirage and its closest rivals. In the Mazda2, a 100-hp 4-cylinder pairs with a manual or an available automatic transmission. The result is a base price around $15,000 and gas mileage of 27 mpg city/35 mpg highway.
Nissan Versa: The Versa is also among the cheapest new cars available. Power comes from a 109-hp 4-cylinder that gets 27 mpg city/36 mpg highway. Unlike the Mirage, the Versa offers a 4-door sedan bodystyle. It starts around $12,500.
Used Ford Focus: The Focus is a good choice for drivers who want a slightly bigger car. Starting around $17,000, a new Focus is more expensive than the Mirage. But lightly used models will offer a similar price and more room without a huge sacrifice in fuel economy.
Used Honda Fit: The Honda Fit also comes in a 5-door hatchback bodystyle. Powered by a 117-hp 4-cylinder, it uses a 5-speed manual or an available 5-speed automatic. Prices start around $16,000, making the Fit a little more expensive than the Mirage -- but used models should be in the same ballpark.
See all New York Auto Show news.
Looking for a cheap new car like the Mitsubishi Mirage? Tell us in the comments.


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Use of Incentives to Retain Drug Users in HIV Therapy (Incentives-2)
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01488942
Recruitment Status : Active, not recruiting
First Posted : December 8, 2011
Last Update Posted : November 6, 2017
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
In many urban centres including Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, there is a high rate of HIV infection among users of illicit drugs. Among drug users who present to care and start highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), retention in care and adherence to their treatment regimen may be less than optimal. Given the known benefits of HAART on both the individual and populational levels, new strategies are required to help retain HIV-infected drug users on HAART.
Contingency management (CM) is a strategy to affect behaviour by providing a reward (e.g. money) to reinforce the desired behaviour. CM has been used with success in other areas of medicine (e.g. smoking cessation, weight loss) and in the drug using population, but has not been established as a means to improve retention in HAART programs.
The proposed research primarily seeks to assess the effectiveness of monetary-based CM in retaining HIV-infected drug users in HAART programs. 240 HAART-eligible subjects will be randomized in a 2:1 ratio to either receive (n=160) the reinforcer or to a control arm (n=80). All subjects will receive HAART and standard care, and those randomized to the reinforcer arm will receive escalating reinforcement initially for attendance at each clinic visit (until month 6 after starting HAART) and subsequently (until month 12 after starting HAART) will receive an escalating variable reinforcer for each month in which a plasma viral load less than or equal to 100 copies/mL is maintained.
Our hypotheses are that drug users initiating HAART and randomly selected to receive a reinforcer for attending clinic visits then maintaining monthly virologic suppression during the first 52 weeks after HAART initiation will be significantly more likely to achieve virologic suppression at 52 weeks, will have a significantly longer duration of sustained virologic suppression during the first 52 weeks, and will be significantly more likely to maintain virologic suppression at 72 weeks after HAART initiation, than those not offered a reinforcer.
|Condition or disease
|HIV Infection
|Other: monetary reinforcer
|Not Applicable
Once HAART has been initiated, participants will be expected to be assessed at weeks 1,2,3,4,6,8,10,12,14, and 16. Detailed adherence and dispensing records for all antiretroviral medications for each participant will be maintained. Adherence will be assessed primarily on the basis of pharmacy refill records, as well as self-report. Subsequently participants will attend monthly clinical follow-up visits at weeks 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, and 52. Standard laboratory monitoring will be performed at that time, and will include complete blood count (CBC), differential, basic chemistry, liver and kidney profile, as well as CD4 cell count and plasma HIV-1-RNA level, consistent with current care guidelines. All patients will also undergo urine toxicology screens at baseline and quarterly (weeks 12, 24, 36, and 52) in order to assess any effects of engaging in HAART programs on substance use. Follow-up will also include an adverse events assessment (ADE) from a standardized list of signs and symptoms noted by either the patient or practitioner or identified through laboratory testing. At baseline and each quarterly visit, participants will complete the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) where a score of 16 correlates with risk of depression. This tool has been validated in our population in a prior study. Participants will also complete the Addiction Severity Index questionnaire, a validated instrument used to examine severity of psychosocial problems in seven domains including drug and alcohol use . Composite scores are derived, and higher scores reflect greater problems. Past 3-month versions of the HIV Risk Behavior Scale will also be administered at baseline and at quarterly visits. This scale assesses injection drug use and sexual behaviors, and responses are coded on a 6-point scale with higher values indicating higher risk.
Participants who are randomized to receive a reinforcer for clinic follow-up will receive the reinforcer at the end of each clinic visit. When the reinforcer is linked to plasma viral load, subjects in the reinforcer arm will be notified within a week of the plasma viral load result, and of any reinforcement earned. Subjects can elect to come in at any time to receive the reinforcement, or they can wait until their next monthly appointment and receive the earnings at that time.
For participants who do not present for laboratory and clinical follow-up within two weeks on either side of their scheduled quarterly visit, an extensive investigation into the client's whereabouts through street outreach as well as a search of hospital records for hospitalization and the provincial vital statistics database for possible deaths will be prompted. Those who discontinue therapy or who are lost to follow-up at or before 52 weeks will be considered therapy failures in the analyses.
A final visit 24 weeks after the week 52 visit will be performed. This will involve the same procedures as the quarterly study visits during the first year, including standard laboratory tests and urine toxicology, ADE assessments, and CES-D, Addiction Severity Index and HIV Risk Behavior Scale questionnaires. Participants who fail to present for laboratory and clinical follow-up within 2 weeks of the expected date of this visit will be sought as described above.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|139 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating the Role of Contingent Reinforcement in the Engagement of and Retention of Drug Users in HAART Programs
|Study Start Date :
|December 2012
|Estimated Primary Completion Date :
|March 31, 2018
|Estimated Study Completion Date :
|March 31, 2018
Experimental: monetary reinforcer
Subjects randomized to this arm will receive an escalating reinforcer initially for attendance at each clinic visit (until month 6 after starting HAART) and subsequently (until month 12 after starting HAART) will receive an escalating variable reinforcer for each month in which a viral load at or below 100 copies/mL is maintained
Other: monetary reinforcer
The protocol will follow an escalating schedule of reinforcements tied to clinic visit attendance for the first 24 weeks, after which the reinforcers will take the form of an escalating variable reinforcement schedule in the form of fishbowl prize draws linked to maintenance of suppressed viral load for the remainder of the 52-week study period. In addition, a reset function will be incorporated by which the reinforcer will be rolled back to an initial lower value if clinic visits or viral load targets are not met. This will be rapidly scaled up again once targets are met.
Other Name: contingency management
No Intervention: no reinforcer
All subjects will receive HAART and standard medical care, but subjects in the control arm will not receive monetary reinforcers.
- proportion of subjects achieving virologic suppression (plasma viral load less than or equal to 100 copies/mL) at 52 weeks after HAART initiation. [ Time Frame: 52 weeks after HAART initiation. ]
- duration of sustained virologic suppression during the first 52 weeks after HAART initiation. [ Time Frame: during the first 52 weeks after HAART initiation. ]Virologic response will be defined as the percentage of follow-up time with plasma viral load less than or equal to 100 copies/mL.
- proportion of subjects achieving virologic suppression (plasma viral load less than or equal to 100 copies/mL) at 72 weeks after HAART initiation. [ Time Frame: 72 weeks after HAART initiation. ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|19 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Adults at least 19 years of age.
- Have used illicit drugs (heroin, cocaine, cocaine/heroin combinations, methamphetamines, injectable morphine and codeine, but excluding isolated marijuana use) at least once in the past three months.
- Eligible for, and willing to initiate HAART. To be eligible for HAART, participants must have CD4 count at or below 350 cells/mm3 at the HAART eligibility screening visit and/or significant co-morbidities identified in current international guidelines (hepatitis B/C co-infection, HIV associated nephropathy, high risk for cardiovascular disease)
Exclusion Criteria:
- No history of active drug use as defined above.
- Pregnant women.
- Receipt of HAART for more than 6 months within the preceding 12 months.
- Persons in recovery from gambling addiction (due to the element of chance in the CM intervention).
- Persons acutely intoxicated at time of consent.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01488942
|Canada, British Columbia
|St. Paul's Hospital, VIDUS and Incentives study office site, 611 Powell St.
|Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
|Principal Investigator:
|Mark Hull, MD
|University of British Columbia
|Principal Investigator:
|Julio SG Montaner, MD
|University of British Columbia
|Responsible Party:
|Mark Hull, Clinical Associate Professor, University of British Columbia
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01488942 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
1R01DA031043-01 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
H11-00514 ( Other Identifier: University of British Columbia )
|First Posted:
|December 8, 2011 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|November 6, 2017
|Last Verified:
|November 2017
Keywords provided by Mark Hull, University of British Columbia:
medication adherence
patient compliance
antiretroviral therapy, highly active
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases


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