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An Intrepid American Hero
Congressional Medals of Honor are shiny and blue. They come in a narrow black box. So, when Sam Coursen was handed one by General Omar Bradley, he really didn't know what was inside. You would have to excuse Sam. He was only fourteen months old. You see, the medal, the nation's highest award for heroism, was given in honor of his father, Lt. Samuel Streit Coursen, Sr., United States Army. If you went to Dublin High School in the mid 1960s, you knew Little Sam. None of you here were lucky enough to have known Big Sam. So, I will tell you his story, the story of an intrepid American hero.
Samuel Streit Coursen, a son of New York accountant Wallace M. Coursen and his wife, Kathleen Howell, was born in Madison, New Jersey on the 4th day of August 1926. Sam was an outstanding athlete at Newark Academy. Sam entered the United States Military Academy in 1945.
Following Sam's graduation from the Point in 1949, he married his sweetheart, Evangeline "Evie" Sprauge, a daughter of Captain Albert Sprague, of the United States Naval Depot at Lake Denmark, New Jersey. More than six decades have passed since their marriage. Evie, as she is known to her friends, remembered, "We had only a few years together and only one year of marriage, but it was the loveliest time of my life and was further blessed by the birth of my son Sam." "He was very good looking and was as nice as he was handsome," Evie fondly remembered. Former West Point classmate Philip Feir said, "I don't know when Sam met Evie Sprague. Never have I beheld a more complete happiness than theirs. My mind goes back to Sam coming down the ramp after receiving his diploma. And, there waiting for him at the bottom of the ramp was Evie. I think at that moment they were completely alone in that vast auditorium. Their marriage was . . . a perfect union."
After his early training at Fort Riley, the Coursens moved to Fort Benning, Georgia for a rigorous round of basic training at the Infantry School. After the war in Korea began in June 1950, Sam shipped out to Asia.
By mid September 1950, the forces of the United Nations, under the leadership of the United States, began preparations for the invasion of North Korea. On October 9, 1950, Sam's 1st Cavalry Division set out on the offensive, with his regiment, the 5th Cavalry, on the right flank. Sam was in his third day as commander of a platoon in Company C. The advance of the 5th regiment was stymied by North Korean positions in a trio of hills, fifteen miles northwest of Kaesong on October 12, 1950.
As C Company moved forward to its objective point, Hill 174, Coursen's platoon entered a camouflaged gun emplacement, one which they thought had been abandoned. When Lt. Coursen heard the cry of one of his men as he was ambushed by North Koreans, Coursen rushed to his aid. Without any regard for his personal safety, the six-foot, six-inch-tall West Pointer found himself entangled in a hand to hand fight with a squad of enemy defenders. When the skirmish was over, seven enemy soldiers were found dead, their heads smashed with the butt of Sam's rifle. Sam was dead too. The soldier, who Sam gave his life to save, was found alive. More important than rescuing a sole soldier, Coursen's dauntless actions neutralized the one impediment to the regiment's advance. The Division accomplished its mission by capturing Kumich that afternoon.
The early American successes wouldn't last long. The fighting was brutal, bloody and vicious, lasting until the summer of 1953. Lieutenants were among the first to die, prime targets for enemy sharpshooters as they scurried about attempting to put their men in position. Thirty-seven of Sam's classmates lost their lives in the war, eleven in the previous September alone.
Sam's body was buried with full military honors in the hallowed grounds of the cemetery at the United States Military Academy.
Sam Coursen hasn't been forgotten by his classmates, the Army, and his friends back in New Jersey. A year after his death, the athletic field at Newark Academy was dedicated to the school's war dead and named Coursen Memorial Field. At Fort Benning, Georgia where his son was born, the Infantry School named a rifle range for Sam. It adjoins one named for Gen. George S. Patton. There is a plaque in Cullum Hall at West Point honoring him, and one at Benning, too. The Baltusrol Golf Club at Springfield, New Jersey awards a silver cup, named for Coursen, to younger members who display the fallen hero's outstanding qualities.
The Army, in 1956, christened the Lt. Samuel S. Coursen, to ferry passengers between Manhattan and the First Army headquarters at Fort Jay, Governor's Island, New York. The ferry boat, which is still operating after fifty-four years, has carried the ordinary and the famous, including Queen Elizabeth and Russian leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.
Sam's roommate, Lt. Philip R. Feir, in a letter to Sam's parents wrote, "One of Sam's finest traits was his splendid sense of humor and optimistic outlook on life. Coupled with his zest for life, Sam had tremendous loyalty and respect for his fellow men."
After Sam's death, Evie remarried to Dr. Wyatt B. Pouncey. Dr. and Mrs. Pouncey moved to Dublin, where Dr. Pouncey practiced medicine at the VA Hospital. They had two daughters, Barbara and Elizabeth.
Some people have called it the Korean War, the "Forgotten War" or the "Unknown War." Too many others dubbed it the "Korean Conflict." Armies stand ready in conflicts. They kill in wars. It is important to remind ourselves, that the killing and dying in Korea should not be forgotten, nor should we ever forget the heroism of Lt. Coursen and thousands of others.
As for little Sam, his father's heroism has inspired him to be the best he can be by leveraging his own talents to become a successful executive with NCR, AT&T, and currently as CIO of Freescale Semiconductor. One of the highlights of his life came in 1999 when his father's classmates invited Sam to come to their 50th class reunion. He heard the stories of the father he never knew and the man whom he has grown to love and admire, the stories of a real American hero.
So, on this anniversary of the gallant death of the father of one of our own, let us all remember that it is well that war is so terrible that we may grow too fond of it. And, when you go to bed tonight, say a prayer for the soul of Lt. Samuel S. Coursen, Sr., who made the ultimate sacrifice for us on a Korean hillside, sixty years ago today.


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posted by Eugenia Loli on Tue 18th Apr 2006 17:49 UTC
Efforts to bring glitzy new graphics to Linux are fueling an old conflict: Does proprietary software belong in open-source Linux? The issue involves software modules called drivers, which plug into the kernel at the heart of the open-source operating system. Drivers let software communicate with hardware such as network adapters, hard drives and video cards.

subset: commoncrawl


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Factotum (US - DVD R1)
Gabe Powers is bored to tears after watching an hour and a half of nothing..
Fac•to•tum [fak-toh-tuhm]
1. A person, as a handyman or servant, employed to do all kinds of work around the house.
2. Any employee or official having many different responsibilities.
In this adaptation of the work of famed author Charles Bukowski, Matt Dillon stars as Hank Chinaski, the fictional alter-ego of Bukowski, who wanders around Los Angeles trying to live off odd jobs which don't interfere with his primary interest, which is writing. Basically he drinks and loses each job due to his drinking. His long time on and off girlfriend, Jan (Lili Taylor), offers little concession, and Hank wanders aimlessly through life.
The film Factotum is a cautionary tale. It cautions against the dangers of alcohol abuse. If you become an alcoholic, according to this film, you don't run the risk of beating your wife and children, but becoming a most boring and stereotyped person. The film also warns of the possibility of aimlessness. A lot. Over and over again the audience is shown the horrors of remaining idle, the terrors of mediocrity. Over and over. For 94 minutes we are cautioned. There are some heavy-handed jokes thrown in to keep us from screaming, but it's mostly about the cautioning.
I know next to nothing about author Charles Bukowski. I've never read any of his books or short stories, I've never gotten around to seeing Barfly, but if this film is any indication then I don't care to remedy myself of this ignorance. If I am to believe this fictional representation of Bukowski is a valid representation of the real life man, he's a self-pitying, self-important brat that only writes in the most trite and clichéd prose. Self loathing can make for a good read and good entertainment (just look at the work of Hunter S. Thompson), sometimes even great art, but here it's simply dull. I only hope that this is the failure of the film, and not its author, because I'd hate to judge to harshly that which I do not understand.
After finishing Factotum I scoured my DVD shelves to find a film more directionless and uneventful that I personally enjoyed. The closest I could come was the work of Jim Jarmusch, who tends to make movies about silence and everyday man's contemplation. The difference between Jarmusch's work (even his worst work) and what Factotum's Norwegian director Bent Hamer has achieved here is in the content. More specifically the fact that Jarmusch tends to actually have content, and though meandering, a final goal to his pictures. Jarmusch's characters are quirky enough to maintain even a basic interest during silent moments. Hamer and Bukowski characters are just uninvolving, depressing, and speak like 12 year old poets thinking aloud. Jarmusch also manages to come across as genuine, whereas Factotum is conceitedly preachy.
I'm pretty sure that Bukowski was an influence on Jarmusch, as both seem to belong to the post-beat, early punk art movements. I say pretty sure because I'm basing this on the little I know about Bukowski and his fans. I'm hoping that this was just a particularly poorly adapted representation of Bukowski, because the last thing I need is his fans drunkenly coming down on me. Well represented or not, Factotum is a lethargic mess masquerading as an 'important' indie flick.
The film is almost a parody, and scenes play out like Saturday Night Live skits making fun of the clichés of modern indie film. In one such scene Hank wakes up, runs to the bathroom and vomits, then returns to the bedroom and begins drinking. After a bit of nothing happening, Jan (the fact that Lili Taylor is basically the indie queen to end them all really helps this agenda, she could easily be the SNL guest host the week this hypothetical skit aired) follows suit, but decides to light up a cigarette, rather than taking a booze hit after relieving her stomach of its contents. After a few more minutes of nothingness, the two speak to each other like melodramatic tweens misquoting Shakespeare, and Hank leaves in what's suppose to be a tragic circumstance.
All the while the camera does not move. I could almost hear the director shouting from the rear channels, "Look, they wake up sick and go right back to their vices! They're trapped in their addictions and don't know how to communicate! It's funny and tragic! New York street cred now, please!".
A lot of people (read: critics) are raving about Dillon's performance, saying it's the best (sometimes only) reason to see the film. I'm really not all that impressed. Playing a dejected drunk who's mad at the world for not appreciating his genius just doesn't strike me as all that hard. Dillon pulls this character off, to be sure, but his supporting cast seemed just as good. I give the most credit to Marissa Tomei as one of Hank's flings, but I've seen better out of her as well. I'm guessing the director's acting notes consisted of demanding nobody got a good night's sleep before filming.
Factotum was filmed in Minneapolis, Minnesota (not even close to looking like L.A., where the film supposedly takes place), whereby I live, so I was able to maintain a basic interest while looking for recognizable landmarks, but had I rented the film for personal viewing rather than watching it for a review I wouldn't have finished it. It was an endurance test from beginning to end, and the last 10 minutes were a massive insult to intellectual filmgoers the world over. The whole thing turns into a sort of ironic Disney inspirational film. The life lesson, in case you missed it throughout the rest of the film's 84 minutes, is: don't be a drunken lay about or life will pass you by. It's this kind of vapid banality that made me hate this film.
There isn't much in the way of visual splendour in Factotum. Most of the film is filmed in real-life settings rather than movie-made sets, so there is a dullness to the compositions. This is purposeful, and works in the context of the film, but it doesn't make for a spectacular DVD transfer. There is quite a bit of film grain, but details are sharp without too much edge enhancement. I only noticed a few compression issues like low-level noise and digital blocking. Colours are well represented, but unfortunately dull. A very average transfer.
Excuse me, could you speak up? I still can't hear you. Everyone practically whispers their way through the film, and even at high volume levels it's hard to discern dialogue. The soundtrack is solid, with really deep and clean bass, but the rest of the film depends mostly on on-set audio, and is not aggressive or impressive. There is a cool effect in the sequences taking place within Hank's crummy apartment, where the neighbouring apartments' noises are recreated. Anyone who's lived in a building with thin walls will recognize the sound of muffled music and arguments. Like the video, overall a very average audio mix.
I'm torn here because I really didn't want to sit through any more of Factotum than I had to, but I really do want to learn more about Bukowski. The 30-minute making-of featurette concerns itself with director Hamer, and the film's production over the story's author. The featurette is a slyly disguised ad for the film, as is the norm with these things, but surprisingly not an English language ad. There's a bit to learn here, but not much. The only other features are a trailer and an ad for the CD soundtrack. Pretty weak. I suppose I'll have to rent Barfly and Live Through This someday.
I can't recommend this flick to anyone with the possible exception of die hard Bukowski fans. I've been told there are quite a few Easter Eggs thrown in for regular readers to enjoy. From my Bukowski ignorant point of view Factotum is an aggressively dull pile of nothing. And this is coming from a guy who gave Battle in Heaven, a real aimless film, a passing grade. The DVD has little in the way of extras, and the A/V quality is nothing impressive. For those not planning on watching the film, I'll reinstall the moral on behalf of the filmmakers: don't be aimless or your life will have no aim. Or something.
Review by Gabriel Powers
Existing Posts
Since Barfly came first I am going to say that it was sad that they had to steal a scene from Barfly. I speak of the introduction of Tomie's character; From spending his last dollars on a drink for her through her having access to a rich friends charge account at the liquor store it was a direct steal of Barfly. Was this done by an alcohol addled writer or the director trying getting the new character moving through the story?
The day I take advice on the maturity of my personal humor tastes from someone calling himself "Chaos Engine" is the day I die. Crawl out of your ass long enough to think about what I wrote, or maybe check out a few more of my reviews, like the ones I wrote for White Chicks or Scary Movie 4. Perhaps you could take a look at my DVD collection to get an idea of my personal taste in humor. Maybe you didn't read the whole review, I'm not sure, but I found nothing subtle about Factotum's humor. I was hit over the head with it for 90 boring minutes. Either learn to appriciate opinions that may differ from your own or quit reading critiques of things you like. Insulting someone you don't know through the anominity of the internet doesn't exactly strike me as particularly mature.
On the contrary, Factotum is marvellously rich in subtle humour, not dick & fart jokes that you're probably used to. I suggest you read one of Bukowski's novels (short chapters, ideal!) or even one of his 20 word poems to gain some sort of an insight into one of the most fascinating authors in 'beat' literature.
Another thing, ending your review with "or something" makes me think you're still in that Beavis & Butthead era. Maybe you need to wait intol your old enough to be able to buy the works of Bukowski.
Another thing, ending your review with "or something" makes me think you're still in that Beavis & Butthead era. Maybe you need to wait intol your old enough to be able to buy the works of Bukowski.
Oh yeah, go for it.
Can I call you names now?
That second pic sure looks like Mineappolis to me.
Seems like a skip for me. Thanks for the review, Gabe. I can't wait to see your reviews of Perth and Sheitan.
Oh, don't worry about pushing, so long as we aren't name calling, this is what the forum is for. The thing that put me off entirely to this film was the end because it seemed to suddenly throw everything in a very moralistic light. The first hour and 20 minutes were just boring, it was the end that ultimately made me decide the film was 'bad'.
I don't think they're supposed to be tragic. It's just a slice of life. It's not supposed to be pitiable or reprehensible. It's really not a morality tale. Bukowski isn't about self-flaggelation (from the discussion I've had with friends of mine and just from watching the film) and beating you to death with "Drinking bad! Getting job great!"
Hamer isn't trying to shove in your face a black and white world where someone who doesn't conform to those norms is both pitiable and tragic. I think it just attempts to depict Bukowski's life without trying to judge him. I think Hamer doesn't make the moral assumptions that you accuse him of.
I don't want to keep pushing it because obviously we differ here.
Hamer isn't trying to shove in your face a black and white world where someone who doesn't conform to those norms is both pitiable and tragic. I think it just attempts to depict Bukowski's life without trying to judge him. I think Hamer doesn't make the moral assumptions that you accuse him of.
I don't want to keep pushing it because obviously we differ here.
the official synopsis said LA. I hope it was wrong. I think it's very much, and very heavy handedly a morality tale. I think the character constantly compromised, unless his goal was to be a jerk, then I suppose he didn't compromise. Beyond my posible misreading of the story's intent, it was still very poorly made and brutally boring. I assumed I'd like it based on its actors, plot and word of mouth, but I actually felt angry by the end credits. Like everything else I review it comes down to personal taste, but even taking other taste into account I think the filmmakers have failed.
Also, I was being a bit tongue in cheek about the whole "drinking is bad thing", I'm pretty sure that the filmmakers didn't intend the characters to be boring but tragic.
Also, I was being a bit tongue in cheek about the whole "drinking is bad thing", I'm pretty sure that the filmmakers didn't intend the characters to be boring but tragic.
I totally disagree with your assessment of the film. Having not read any Bukowski, I still feel that you misrepresent the film's intent and what it portrays. It's not a cautionary tale at all. It's not trying to moralize at all. It certainly deals with mediocrity and one man's trials as he ekes out a dismal existence but that's not any reason to claim that it's saying "Look at this schmuck who never compromised. Don't be like him because this is what it gets you." It's very hard for me to attention a definitive interpretation to the film because much of autobiographical, slice-of-life art is very hard to neatly label and that's part of why I like it so much. It wasn't an amazing movie but it was a good one, I thought. Dillon I thought did a pretty good job.
And I thought it was supposed to take place in Mineappolis.
And I thought it was supposed to take place in Mineappolis.
Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
Disc Details
Release Date: 26th December 2006
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Single side, dual layer
RCE: No
Video: NTSC
Aspect: 1.85:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Extras: Making of, Soundtrack Promotion, Trailer
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Bent Hamer
Cast: Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, Fisher Stevens, Didier Flamand
Length: 94 minutes
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Faced with the challenges brought on by the shifts in the hedge fund industry and the changing regulatory landscape, prime brokers are attempting to differentiate themselves through unique product offerings, as well as their ability to leverage proprietary technologies and organizational efficiencies, according to Ernst & Young LLP's survey of prime brokers, The balancing act: how to navigate the evolving challenges of the prime brokerage industry.
The firm surveyed executives from eight leading prime brokers to explore a variety of topics, including organizational structure, new business (including pricing and lockup agreements), client monitoring and revenue management as it relates to securities lending. The survey reveals trends around how prime brokers manage products, including ETFs, equity reverse repos, stock-for-stock transactions and tri-party structures.
"The prime brokerage industry today is under tremendous pressure to respond to the shifting landscape," said Mark DiMaio, Principal, Banking & Capital Markets, Ernst & Young LLP. "Therefore, the industry is focusing on how to better quantify operational costs in order to increase the profitability margins of new and current clients. Prime brokers need to understand these costs to tier clients effectively."
Key findings from the report include:
Client acceptance process
According to the survey, most brokers (70%) have a formal acceptance process for new clients and take similar steps when considering a new client, such as a pre-qualification and verbal agreement followed by due diligence and approval by the acceptance committee or the senior management group. That said, given the range of hedge fund strategies, client acceptance requires a significant amount of judgment and does not present much opportunity to find efficiencies. However, firms that begin by gaining a better understanding of the potential operational cost of a client under consideration will be best placed to decide whether the relationship will be profitable over the long term.
Client onboarding and monitoring
The survey shows that prime brokers can potentially gain advantages by introducing better technology into the onboarding process. Less than half (44%) of firms surveyed say they use a semi-automated process for capturing data and tracking onboarding progress and completion, and none of the firms surveyed have a tool that configures and integrates all prime brokerage systems with client information and unique business requirements, meaning no firm is able to fully automate client set-up.
Organizational structure
Only one prime broker surveyed is a standalone, separate and distinct business unit. The others work in the same silos that affect the business, such as securities lending, FX and OTC clearing. The majority (57%) of the brokers surveyed have service-level agreements between centralized back-office support and prime business lines and use varying tactics for performing work such as P&L generation, confirmation and affirmation and reconciliation. All participants reported that they use a broker/dealer structure combined with an international entity that allows them to move their derivatives business offshore, effectively reducing their balance sheet burden and lowering regulatory capital.
Liquidity management
Liquidity management is an area that could benefit from better data management processes and technology. The majority (71%) of prime brokers surveyed stated that they do not have a method for notifying their treasury group of large cash inflows and outflows, while the 29% that do, use email and phone calls to inform treasury. However, prime brokers say that they speak with their clients about the best times for cash deposits and how funds expect the prime broker to help to manage their liquidity needs.
Revenue allocation
The survey showed that there is no standard way that prime brokers allocate revenue between the securities lending desk and the source of the long. The survey also found that collateral agreements are usually written into the prime brokerage agreement. However, hard-to-borrow securities require collateral negotiation on a case-by-case basis.
Lockup agreements
More than 70% of respondents surveyed offer lockup agreements, with the most popular terms being 30, 60 and 90 days, though 29% provide lockups for as long as 365 days, depending on the client relationship. A longer lockup is usually granted if a hedge fund has illiquid positions that would make a prolonged period necessary to duplicate positions with another prime broker. Both centralized and decentralized approaches are used to monitor lockups, with the former consisting of dedicated groups monitoring and the latter involving multiple groups each monitoring a different lockup requirement.
Enhanced leverage
Three-quarters of prime brokers surveyed offer margin relief to their clients beyond the Federal Reserve's Regulation T margin limit of 50% through enhanced leverage and portfolio managing. While enhanced leverage levels of 6:1 and higher are possible for large and healthy hedge funds, regulators may still look askance at prime brokers who push the envelope. There was no consensus among the respondents regarding who should monitor the non-cash collateral provided in the enhanced leverage transaction.
Arthur Tully, co-leader of EY's Global Hedge Funds services, concludes, "Firms must learn to adapt to the pressures on fees and the multi-prime trends that have resulted from the changes in the hedge fund industry. While firms have started to recognize these challenges, the survey reinforces the need for brokers to develop ways to better integrate their systems with client's information and enhance their ability to quantify associated operational costs."
About EY
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.
EY refers to the global organization and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.


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Gonzales and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at the National Women's History Month Celebration
Washington, DC March 8, 2006
MS. KAREN P. TANDY: Good morning. I am the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration and it is my honor thank you for being here today and to ask you to please join me in welcoming the Attorney General and Justice O'Connor for today's event. I would like to point out to some special people with us this morning, first, Mr. John O'Connor, the husband of Justice O'Connor, and Mrs. Rebecca Gonzales, the wife of the Attorney General. I ask you now to please rise for the presentation of the Flag by Girl Scout Brownie Troop Number 470 and for the singing of the National Anthem by Ms. Anamer Castrello. You may be seated. Please join me in thanking these very special young Trail Blazers for the future of women, the Brownie Girl Scouts. And, Ms. Castrello, thank you. Thank you for that stirring rendition of the National Anthem. Welcome to all of you today. When I think about our theme, "Women: The Builders of Communities and Dreams," I cannot help but think about some of those little known women from the American Revolutionary period who made it possible for us to have our communities today because of what they did back then in building our great nation. The demure hoop-skirted women of the 1700s were the same women who tricked the enemy. The Red Coats met their match when they invaded the home of Mrs. Murray, a woman known only to us as Mrs. Murray, for Mrs. Murray plied the British generals with enough liquor that the small band of American soldiers were able to sneak past the thousands of British Red Coats.
And these are the same women who served as spies and these are the women who served as spies during that fight for our independence and it was 16-year-old Sybil Ludington who rode on horseback for some 40 miles just to alert the local militia to an imminent attack and by do so she saved our soldiers from certain death. Only one American Revolutionary War veteran is actually buried at West Point and you know, of course, it is a woman, Margaret Corbin. When Margaret Corbin's husband was killed at the battle of Fort Washington, New York, it was Margaret who stepped into his battle station and continued the fight sustaining three gunshot wounds. And, if you searched the Army pension records -- I'll save you from that -if you did search the Army pension records, you would find that the Army awarded Margaret only half the pay and rations of an American soldier because she had been disabled by her wounds. Ah, but it was Margaret who took on the Army before the Continental Congress. And Margaret got not only full pay of a soldier but also a full soldier's ration including the whiskey. The spirit of these early American pioneers clearly was alive centuries later when women would revolutionize our country's way of thinking and create dreams that would become a reality in our time. Women like, of course, Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks who sat down and sparked the bus boycotts that awakened an entire American conscience. And women like Candy Lightner who stood up as the founder of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving and gathered an army of angry mothers to deglamorize drinking and change our entire country's attitudes and laws about alcohol from Hollywood to Congress to our highways. And today, it is the legions of mothers and sisters like Ginger Katz, Kate Patton, and Elmida Perez who have been robbed of their loved ones by drugs. These women are now bringing together grassroots community coalitions across this country and they are bringing hundreds if not thousands of women and other people who have suffered as a result of the loss of people from drugs together on June 8th of this year. They will convene in Washington for a candlelight vigil, a national candlelight vigil, to expose another threat to our national security, the tragic waste of the talent and promise of tens of thousands of young people who die from drugs every single year. And today our women in law enforcement now receive the highest awards for heroism going where others would flee in order to protect and make safe the American community. Women like DEA Special Agent Towanda Thorne who less than five years on the job engaged in a running gun battle with a drug dealer in order to safely secure the release of his hostage.
And today it is said that the combat role of women in the military has been changed forever by the young uniformed women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who are fighting and making the ultimate sacrifice for our American Communities. For more than 200 years, the common theme of all of these extraordinary women ironically has been how ordinary each of them were. Everyday women who didn't set out to change the course of history but who saw a cause, a need or an injustice and through extraordinary courage and determination they built a stronger America. And now it is my honor to introduce to you the son of one such woman, our Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales. Attorney General Gonzales rose from ordinary beginnings, the son of migrant workers growing up in a two-room house with seven siblings all to lead our country during a time of unprecedented challenges to our legal system. Attorney General Gonzales has built an extraordinary record of relying upon the expertise and judgment of women as he leads the Department of Justice in this country. He has placed them in positions of leadership in this department. Right now five of the Department's eleven Assistant Attorneys General are women as are the leaders of the Office of Public Affairs, the Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison, the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee, the Community Relations Service and, of course, the Drug Enforcement Administration. It is an honor for me to lead the DEA and I pleased to be joined in that leadership by the Deputy Administrator Special Agent Michelle Lindhart. Together with 11,000 women and men in DEA we work very hard every day to secure a safe and drug free community for all communities across this country. We have the Attorney General to thank for his strong leadership and support as we do that every day. So, please, ladies and gentlemen, join me in welcoming the 80th Attorney General of the United States, Judge Alberto Gonzales. ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO R. GONZALES: Thank you. Thank you, Karen. I am really delighted to see such a tremendous turnout. I am pleased to be here today with Karen, the first woman to head up the Drug Enforcement Administration and so many other women in leadership at the Department of Justice as we celebrate the achievements of women. It is my privilege to introduce one of the great Americans of our time, Sandra Day O'Connor, a woman of unusual courage and character. And I would dare say there is nothing ordinary about this person. Born a Texan, a Texan forever. Madame Justice, I remain grateful for your taking the time just over a year ago to swear me in as Attorney General. I reflected then on how American greatness arises from its heritage of liberty and justice for all. You are one of the great examples of that heritage and we are honored by your presence today.
There is simply no more outstanding American than Justice O'Connor to speak at our annual recognition of National Women's History Month. This year's them, "Women: Builders of our Communities and Dreams," is particularly appropriate given our recent loss of two great women builders of community and dreams, Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks. As a westerner and a rancher, Justice O'Connor's pioneering spirit has characterized her ground-breaking career. She met employer hostility as an Honors law graduate from Stanford but didn't give up. The pioneer in her spurred her to prove herself. In Arizona, she practiced law and served as a State Assistant Attorney General. She won elected office in the Arizona State Senate and was the first woman majority leader of any state legislature. She served as both an elected and appointed state judge and through all of these public achievements with her husband, John, she raised three sons. We are delighted to acknowledge his presence here today. These contributions to the law and public life would crown any one person's career; but, as we all know, President Reagan asked her to be a pioneer once more, appointing Judge O'Connor a Justice of the Supreme Court in 1981. During her nearly quarter century of service to the court and to the nation, Justice O'Connor helped build a community of women attracted to the law and to public service. It is, of course, impossible to calculate the actual number of lives touched by this remarkable woman and the number of lives that will be influenced by her example. JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR: Thank you. Oh, my. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Attorney General Gonzales, for very kind words; and a pleasure to be here and hear Karen Tandy's remarks as well, and to celebrate Women's History Month. And you might know what I'm going to talk about. I hope you do. A little bit about women's history, and particularly women in the law, if that's okay, since that's what most of the women here, anyway, are involved in. And it seems to me the experience of women lawyers finds its parallels in other fields, and the history is illustrative of the broader experiences of women generally. Now, of course, the early women legal pioneers faced a profession and a society that espoused what they called the cult of domesticity, a view that women were by nature different from men. Well, yes. But it went on. Women were said to be fitted for motherhood and home life, compassionate, selfless, gentle, moral, and pure. Their minds were attuned to art and religion, not logic.
Men, on the other hand, were fitted by nature for competition and intellectual discovery in the world, battle-hardened, shrewd, authoritative, and tough-minded. Women were thought to be ill-qualified for adversarial litigation because it required sharp logic and shrewd negotiation, as well as exposure to the unjust and the immoral. In 1875, the Wisconsin Supreme Court told Lavinia Goodell that she could not be admitted to the state bar. The chief justice said the practice of law was unfit for the female character. To expose women to the brutal, repulsive, and obscene events of courtroom life ‑‑ would shock man's reference for womanhood and relax the public's sense of decency. Now, similarly, in a case you've all heard about, Myra Bradwell of Chicago applied to the Illinois bar for admission in 1869 and was refused. The Illinois Supreme Court said that, as a married women, her contracts were not binding, and contracts were the essence of the attorney-client relationship. The court also said that God designed the sexes to occupy different spheres of action, and it belonged to man to make, apply, and execute the laws. And the Supreme Court of the United States, I blush to admit, agreed. That famous concurring opinion said that, "Man is, or should be woman's protector and defender. The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life." Now, even Clarence Darrow, who was a champion of unpopular causes, said this to a group of women lawyers: "You cannot be shining lights at the bar because you're too kind. You can never be corporation lawyers, because you're not cold-blooded. You have not a high grade of intellect. I doubt you can ever make a living," he said. Now, another male attorney of the same period said: "A woman can't keep a secret." "And for that reason, if no other, I doubt if anybody will ever consult a woman lawyer." Well, now, lucky ‑‑ luckily for us women lawyers today, our female predecessors had more spunk and spirit and wit than they were given credit for. Clara Shortridge Foltz was the first woman lawyer in California, and the first woman deputy district attorney in America, and she showed the mettle of those early women lawyers. When an opposing lawyer said in open court that she had better be at home raising her children, Foltz replied, "A woman had better be in almost any business than raising such men as you."
A New York woman lawyer, pioneer Belva Lockwood, became the first woman admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1879, but to get there, she had to try three times to get a special bill passed in the United States Senate, changing the admission requirements. She used to ride around Washington, D.C. on a three-wheeled tricycle sort of affair, and she would lobby Senators and tell the press she was going to get up a fight all down the line. And in 1994, Belva Lockwood even ran for President of the United States, reasoning that even though women couldn't vote, there was nothing to stop them from running for office, and even without women voters, she got 4,149 votes in that election. Now, we saw another historic first in 1993 with the confirmation of the first woman Attorney General of the United States, Janet Reno. No woman was appointed Assistant Attorney General of the United States until President Woodrow Wilson came along, and Annette Abbott Adams was named. The Justice Department had another woman assistant attorney general during President Warren Harding's administration in 1920. She was Mable Walker Willebrandt from Los Angeles. She was given a job no-one wanted, the job of chief prosecutor of the Prohibition laws. She was known as Prohibition Portia, and she served for nine punishing years at the Department of Justice, and finally returned to Los Angeles to practice law. The first three women to serve as FBI agents were appointed also in the early 1920s, but each of them was subsequently asked to and did resign when J. Edgar Hoover became the director. Well, in my own time and in my own life, rather a long one as of now, the legal ‑‑ there's ‑‑ I have seen a revolution in the legal profession that has resulted in women representing about 40 percent of practicing lawyers in the country today, and slightly over 50 percent of all law school graduates currently. And when I got out of law school, in the dark ages, in 1952, from Stanford Law School, I couldn't even get an interview for a job in a private firm to practice law, and yet I've had the privilege of serving since in a wide number of jobs, including one most recently for about 25 years. Now, women today are not only well-represented in law firms, but they're gradually attaining more positions of political and legal power as well, as you know, but until the percentages of women in Congress and on the bench and in other slots comes closer to 50 percent, I don't think we've totally succeeded, so there's a little more to
do, despite the fact that the progress has been astounding in my lifetime. And that progress has come about largely because of the explosion of that myth of the true woman, and that came about through the efforts of real women and the insights of real men. And released from those former prejudices, I think women have proven that they can do just about any job there is, and that has been reflected also in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. Now, the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791 didn't have much effect on the legal status of women. Its strictures were limited initially to the federal government, of course, and state legislation affecting women was drawn largely from Great Britain, which gave women few property or contractual rights, and only in the case of unmarried women did laws in this country become somewhat more generous than those in England, as far as property management was concerned. And it was not until after the Civil War and the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments that there were national guarantees for certain individual liberties which states couldn't abridge, but even that didn't translate very easily into concepts that benefitted women as a group until the 20th century. And despite the efforts of women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan Anthony and Sojourner Truth, society as a whole, including the Supreme Court, generally accepted the separate and unequal status of women. And in the slaughterhouse cases, in 1973, the Supreme Court said that the Equal Protection Clause should be narrowly interpreted to apply only to laws that discriminated against blacks; and for the first half of the 20th century, the Court continued to defer to legislative judgments regarding distinctions based on gender. In fact, in 1948, not so long ago, the Supreme Court, in an opinion authored by Justice Frankfurter, said that despite the vast changes in the social and legal position of women, the state could unquestionably make distinctions based on gender, and even as late as 1961, 20 years before I joined the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court reaffirmed Florida's practice of restricting jury service to men unless women registered separately. I mean, that's not so long ago. And in doing that, the Supreme Court said: Despite the enlightened emancipation of women from the restrictions of bygone years, and their entry into many parts of community life formerly considered to be reserved to men, woman is still regarded as the center of the home and family life." And it was not until the 1970s that the Supreme Court finally started looking at gender-based legislation a little more closely, and the very first case in which the Supreme Court found a state law discriminating against women to be
unconstitutional was the case of Reed v. Reed. There, the Supreme Court, in an opinion authored by our former Chief Justice, Warren Burger, struck down an Idaho law giving men an automatic preference in appointments as administrators of estates; and Reed signalled a very dramatic change in the Court's approach to gender-based discrimination. In 1976, the Supreme Court made its more careful standard of review of genderbased legislation explicit. It held that sex-based classifications would be upheld only if they served important governmental objectives and were substantially related to the achievement of those objectives. And following that, for two decades, the Supreme Court invalidated on equal protection grounds a broad range of statutes that were gender-based, and the volume of cases in the Supreme Court dealing with statutes on the Equal Protection Clause declined somewhat in the 1980s after I joined the Court, and the cases then coming to the Court were more likely to have arisen under Title 7 rather than the Equal Protection Clause, because by that time, both Congress and many of the states had enacted legislation forbidding gender-based discrimination in employment actions. And in Hishon v. King & Spalding, for example, the Court held that once a law firm makes partnership consideration a privilege of employment, under Title 7, the firm may not discriminate on the basis of sex in its selection of partners. Now, in all of these cases, the Court looked finally with a somewhat jaundiced eye at loose-fitting generalizations and stereotypes that had been relied on in the past, and instead the Court began to ask employers to look to whether the particular person involved is capable of doing the job, and not whether women in general are more or less capable than men. Now, just when the Supreme Court and Congress had adopted these less sanguine views of gender-based classification, the new presence of women in the law prompted a number of feminist commentators to ask whether women have made a difference to the legal profession, whether they have different styles and aptitudes or liabilities. And ironically, the move to ask again these questions of whether women are different in how they practice law has resonances in the past, and more writers have suggested that women practice law differently than men. One surmised that my opinions on the Court differed in a peculiarly feminine way from those of my male colleagues, and the gender differences cited currently are somewhat similar to years past. Listen to some of them: Women attorneys are more likely to seek to mediate disputes than litigate them;
Women attorneys are more likely to focus on resolving a client's problem than vindicating a position; Women attorneys are more likely to sacrifice career advancement for family obligations; They are more concerned with public service or fostering community than within individual achievement; Women judges are more likely to emphasize context and de-emphasize general principles; Women judges are more compassionate ‑‑ and so on. Now, all of this academic writing of course is interesting, but it is a little troubling to go back to the Victorian myth of the true woman, and to compare these notions to Clarence Darrow's assertions in an earlier day. One difference, though, between men and women, not only in the legal profession but generally, still remains. Women professionals do have primary responsibility as a practical matter for having children and doing a lot of the housekeeping that it takes to provide a home, and they spend roughly twice as much time on these cares as do professional husbands. As a result, I think women lawyers do have some difficulties at times managing both a career and a household. I did myself, and stayed home altogether from paid employment for about five years, when my children were very small, and I worried that I would never get another job in the legal profession, that nobody would hire me again, and that turned out to be a myth, I'm glad to say. Well, today, while many women juggle both profession and home admiralty ‑‑ admirably ‑‑ it's still true that the time you spend at home is not likely to be billed to clients or spent in making contacts with professional work and organizations, and women who don't want to be left behind are sometimes faced with a hard choice. They aren't sure whether to marry early, whether to have children at a younger age when perhaps it's a little bit easier. These are hard choices, and I don't think there's a single answer to those. I chose to try to have and enjoy my family and to resume my career path a little bit later, and that was okay. We live a little longer than we used to, so it seems to work out. And the choices that women have to make in this regard are a little different than choices men must make, and it's in recognizing these differences and challenges that the Supreme Court has had its most difficult challenges.
The dilemma is this: if society does not recognize the fact that only women can bear children, then equal treatment ends up being unequal; but if society recognizes pregnancy as requiring special solicitude, it's a bit of a slippery slope back to the protectionist legislation that barred women from the workplace. And the question of when a quality requires accommodating differences is a question that I suspect the Supreme Court and other courts will continue to struggle. I think the current generation is finding new ways to balance family and professional responsibilities between men and women, recognizing gender differences in a way that promotes equality and frees both women and men from traditional role limitations. And not only women, but men, too, have missed out through the division of work and home. As more women enjoy the challenges of a legal career or another career, more men are finding some blessings in taking extra time to nurture and care for the children. I know in my day, my beloved husband John, who is admirable in every respect, couldn't even find the you kitchen ‑‑ much less the washing machine. But times have changed, and that's a good thing. I think we're seeing a lot of change in that regard. So I'm often asked, as if Justice Ginsburg, do women judges decide cases differently by virtue of being women? And I think we both have answered that question in this way, that at the end of the day, a wise old woman and a wise old man are going to reach the same conclusion. So I think maybe that should be our aspiration, that whatever our gender or background, we all may become wise, wise through our different struggles and different victories, wise through work and play, through our profession, and through family. And thank you so much for inviting me here today to spend the hour with you, when we think about the changes that we've all experienced in the role and opportunities for women in my lifetime. Thank you. MS. TANDY: Thank you, Justice O'Connor, your great words of inspiration and the rich legacy you pointed out to us, when we might want to complain, we will remember all of the women who came before us. Justice O'Connor, could I have you stand forward, please? Our great Brownies have a special presentation that they would like to make to you. If you could stand right here, Justice.
JUSTICE O'CONNOR: It's great to have the Brownies here today. You know, when we were waiting for the Presentation of the Flag, we were looking out there and couldn't see anything. And you just haven't reached your full height yet, but we are awfully glad to see you and thank you. Thank you. That's absolutely great. Beautiful. Thank you, Brownies. MS. TANDY: It is now my pleasure to invite Anamer Castrello to perform a musical selection for us. But before that, let me tell you briefly about her background. It is an impressive one by all measure. She is a native of Puerto Rico, a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico. She holds a Master of Arts Degree in Music Education from New York University and a Master of Music and Opera Performance from the University of Maryland. She has won many awards for her performances and has appeared with the Baltimore Opera, the Shakespeare Theater and many other venues too numerous to name here. Please join me in welcoming again Anamer Castrello. That was extraordinary. Thank you so much for lifting our spirits and for sharing your great talent, both of you. Thank you again, Anamer Castrello as well as Daniel Sticko who accompanied Ms. Castrello. Thank you. At this time I would to thank our program participants today, our very special guest and honoree, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Thank you so much for sharing your life experience and history with us. The Attorney General, Albert Gonzales, our Brownie Troop from Fairfax, Virginia, Anamer Castrello, Daniel Sticko as well as all of our co-sponsors. DEA was so proud to be a co-sponsor of today's program, but I want to point out to you that this program is the work of so many and I want to thank publicly all of our other co-sponsors of today, Dr. Paul Cortz and the Justice Management Division, Carl Truscott, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Michael Battle and the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys as well as the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Those were our co-sponsors today and I want to finally thank as well our great musical talent again as well as the Federal Women's Planning Committee, the members of the Attorney General's staff, Marcus Williams, the Acting Director of the EEO Staff of the Justice Management Division and his staff and everyone else who was involved in the planning of today's celebration. This concludes our program. Thank you so much for being here. ###


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The database creation may fail due to the following reasons:
failed to start database : HADB Database creation failed
To determine the cause of the problem, use the Log Viewer and/or inspect the install_dir/hadb/4/log directory. Some possible errors are:
Database Nodes Cannot Be Reached and the Database Does Not Function
This problem may occur due to any of the following reasons:
Shared memory is not configured or the configuration is not working.
Follow the instructions described in the Sun Java System Application Server 8.1 Installation Guide. Remember to reboot the system after configuring shared memory settings.
The physical memory is not enough to satisfy the node requirements. You may see the following error message:
HADB-S-05512: Attaching shared memory segment with key <xx\> failed, OS status=12 OS message: Not enough space.
Verify that shared memory is configured and the configuration is working, as mentioned above.
For production systems, reduce the number of nodes on the host or increase the physical memory on the host.
For test/development systems, reduce the shared memory usage by setting the LogBufferSize and DataBufferPoolSize to a value lower than the default values of 48 and 200MB, respectively. The allowed minimum for these variables are 32 and 64MB, respectively.
The size of a shared memory segment has exceeded the allowed maximum size.
HADB-S-05510: Getting shared memory segment with key <xx\> failed, OS status=22. OS message: Invalid argument.
Verify that shared memory is configured and the configuration is working, as mentioned above.
If shared memory is configured correctly, check whether you have specified any shared memory segment size (LogBufferSize or DataBufferPoolSize) larger than the system-configured maximum value set in the operating system configuration files (shmsys:shminfo_shmmax in /etc/system on Solaris).
There is already a shared memory segment created with the specified identifier:
HADB-S-05515: Shared memory segment with key <segment_key\> exists already.
List the shared memory segments and check. The ipcs can be used to list the segments in UNIX. Windows uses memory mapped files for shared memory. HADB uses the getTempPath system call to get the system-defined temporary directory where these files, named as f_segmentid, are stored.
Check whether there is already another running database or any other program using the shared memory segment with this identifier. If so, create a database with another port base. If there are no running databases or other programs using this segment, free the segment with hadbm delete unused_database.
Check whether the segments are freed. If they are still there, remove them (use ipcrm in UNIX and delete $TMP/f_* in Windows). The file name consists of the f_ prefix followed by the segment_key translated into hexadecimal. For example, if the error message indicates that segment key 15201 still exists, the temp file would be named f_3B61.
HADB-E-05521: Operation on semaphore with key "46025" failed, OS status=28 : No space left on device
This can be caused when the number of semaphores is too low. Since the semaphores are provided as a global resource by the operating system, the configuration depends on all processes running on the host, not only the HADB. This can occur either while starting the HADB, or during runtime.
Configure the semaphore settings by editing the /etc/system file. Instructions and guidelines are contained in the Configuring Shared Memory and Semaphores section of the Preparing for HADB Setup chapter of the Sun Java System Application Server Installation Guide.
The IP addresses of the involved hosts should be fixed. HADB uses the fixed IP addresses present at database creation, so you cannot use dynamic IP addresses (DHCP) for production systems.
The HADB management system is dependent on UDP Multicast messages on multicast address 22.214.171.124. If these messages cannot get through, the createdomain command fails with the following message:
The management agents could not establish a domain, please check that the hosts can communicate with UDP multicast.
Possible causes include:
The agents are running on hosts with several network interfaces on different subnets.
There is a switch on the network that does not forward multicast messages.
There is router on the network that does not route multicast messages with the address 188.8.131.52.
Multicast messages are disabled in the operating system (for example, on Solaris 10).
If the hosts have several network interfaces on different subnets, the management agent must be configured to use one of the subnets. Set the ma.server.mainternal.interfaces attribute.
Configure the needed network infrastructure to support multicast messages.
Some hosts in the host list given to hadbm create or addnodes have multiple network interfaces, while others have only one, and the hadbm create/addnodes command hangs.
For the hosts having multiple network interfaces, specify the dotted IP address of the network interface (for example, 22.214.171.124) to be used by hadb when issuing hadbm create/addnodes. If the host name is used instead of IP address, the first interface registered on the host will be used, and there is no guarantee that the nodes will be able to communicate.
The ma (Management Agent process) crashes for various reasons.
Display diagnostic information by using hadbm listdomain. Typically, the remedy is to restart the failed agent. If that does not help, restart all agents in turn.


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Kanepi rolls in Katowice opener
Katowice, Poland – Sixth seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia returned a winner Tuesday at the inaugural Katowice Open.
The 37th-ranked Kanepi, coming off a lengthy absence caused by an Achilles injury, clobbered Polish wild card Sandra Zaniewska 6-1, 6-1 on the indoor surface at Spodek.
Meanwhile, Slovakian qualifier and WTA newcomer Anna Schmiedlova ousted fifth- seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-0.
Also on Day 2, Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens whipped Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena- Vecino 6-1, 6-1; Israeli lucky-loser Shahar Peer outlasted Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4); Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu overcame France's Mathilde Johansson 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1; Luxembourg's Mandy Minella came back to beat Serb Vesna Dolonc 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; and Italian qualifier Maria Elena Camerin dismissed Slovak Jana Cepelova 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.
This week's top seeds are former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Italian veteran Roberta Vinci. Kvitova will meet Japan's Misaki Doi, while Vinci will face Czech Andrea Hlavackova on Wednesday.


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Reading the forum on your cell phone? There's an easier way. We've enabled a Tapatalk app that makes browsing the forum a whole lot easier. Check it out in the iPhone or Android store if you don't own it already.
there is ice up there that was climbed a couple of years ago by Kurt Winkler
Quote from: Admin Al on August 27, 2012, 09:18:19 pmthere is ice up there that was climbed a couple of years ago by Kurt WinklerYes...that slab comes in occassionally and offers a nice alternative (Pitch 1) to Gully #1 if you want to avoid the slog up the hill!
I have also plunged into that stream, a pretty fun solo
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Art Nouveau on the Norwegian Sea
Just a stone's throw away from the spectacle of Geirangerfjord, Alesund is renowned for its architecture, where turrets, spires and other whimsical Art Nouveau touches give the town its distinctive character.
Featured Voyages
- Departing: 01 July 2019
- Prices from: £4,914 Per Person
- Departing: 08 July 2020
- Prices from: £5,819 Per Person
Mount Aksla
Mount Aksla
From the heart of town, 418 steps lead up to the lookout point on Mount Aksla, which offers splendid views of the town center, the fjords, and the rugged Sunmore mountains. Be sure to refuel with coffee, cakes, and light snacks at the Fjellstua (mountain lodge) before the hike down.
Sunmore Museum
Sunmore Museum
Explore Norwegian coastal culture at this open-air museum. Over 50 well-preserved buildings represent various architectural styles and lifestyles in Norway. The boat collection is quite extensive and includes old Sunmore boats—considered to be the most seaworthy vessels on the Norwegian coast.
Atlantic Sea Park
Atlantic Sea Park
The largest aquarium in Scandinavia, this aquarium has been built into the coastal landscape and has been adapted to feature modern exhibition principles. Large landscape aquariums teem with ocean life from the Atlantic providing a glimpse into life beneath the waves.
Alesund, Norway At a glance
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- 0.16
- 0.16
- 0.11
- 7.94
- 0.40
- 2.35
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Alesund, Norway
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Can You Guess the Celebrity Cleavage?
Who does this set of cleavage belong to? Well, you might recognize her more for her fantastic voice, but she's also got one of the prettiest faces to grace the silver screen in recent years.
This actress is no stranger to both the stage and screen, having acted in big stage productions and feature films. On one occasion, she played a character in a feature film version of a stage production! In fact, you might know her best by this particular role. The character that she played has been heralded the patron saint of the friendzoned.
Can you guess who this golden-throated beauty is?


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The Warmth of Wood: Kitchen Accessory Roundup
My fiance wants to live in a log cabin. In reality, however, we live 2 miles from downtown Austin, and the reality of transforming our house into a cabin is far-fetched. What we've been enjoying, though, is finding beautiful accessories and accents in rich, natural wood! For now, instilling bits of rustic, natural decor here or there will have to do.
- Petrified wood slabs make for beautiful serving trays. For a holiday cheese plate or a dinner party h'ors d'oeuvre, they make a rich statement on the dinner table. The Loaded Trunk, $137.
- Hand carved root bowls are useful for both serving and general decor. No two are alike, and this particular bowl is carved from Chinese Fir. Belacor, $73
- This slab of knotty Alder has magnets added to the back, turning it into a gorgeous natural wood knife rack. Driftedge, $38
- An olive wood mortar & pestle makes ground up mint that much better in your mojito. Looks beautiful on the counter between uses. Muji, $23
- Perfect for a kitchen mat, this Trompe L'oeil rustic wood flor mat is a modern take on a rustic texture! Urban Outfitters, $159
Images: As credited above.


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asta que la muerte nos separe (Till death do us part)" is a major installation by Anaida Hernandez. It focuses on the issue of domestic violence and the murders of 100 women. Based on information collected from police records in San Juan, Puerto Rico, over a three-year period in the early 1990's, it is a dramatic and moving work which has toured in the Caribbean and Europe.
"Hasta que la muerte nos separe" has recently been seen in the Museo de Arte y Diseno Contemporaneo, San Jose, Costa Rica; the Ludwig Forum Museum, Aachen, Germany; and V Bienal de la Havana, Museo de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
The Lehman exhibition is its first showing in the mainland United States. Also on view are two related works by Hernandez--a second installation, "Crucigrama", and illustrations for "Contigo Debajo", created in collaboration with the writer Ana Lydia Vega. The following is drawn from conversations which took place in October 1997 and January 1998.
Susan Hoeltzel: For the last ten years your work has focused on social and political issues--domestic violence, immigration and human rights. "Hasta que la muerte nos separe" was created in response to legislation that was passed in Puerto Rico in the early 1990's?
Anaida Hernandez: "Until Death Do Us Part" is the title of this installation about domestic violence and the women killed. "Until death do us part" is the blessing that the priest gives to couples when they are getting married.
The idea of this work started with the signing of Law 54 which was passed to deal with issues of domestic violence--and is based on the protection of women and the family. The law was signed in 1989 and implemented in 1990. It was the first law in the Caribbean area that dealt with domestic violence issues. And it has been the model for other countries to try and implement their own law. For example, Costa Rica used it as a model.
It was a very important law also for the family in general. What the law basically does is that it characterizes the act of domestic violence as a crime. It includes not only violence against women, but against children, men, and also against elders.
One of the important things about this law was that instead of cataloging every single crime as murder in the first degree or the second or whatever, they started putting it together in a separate category which was domestic violence. And we could count how many people were actually being killed. And that was the way in which new data came in terms of how many cases there were.
In 1992 senators in the government of Puerto Rico started questioning the law and they wanted to change that law. Some senators were accused under Law 54 after it was signed. And then feminist groups understood that the law was going to lose a lot of force, so they really didn't want the law to be touched. I was feeling very enraged. I decided that I wanted to work regarding that situation.
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Opinion: The Anti-Spitzer
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs on how over-leveraged cities hide their debts from taxpayers. Photo: Associated Press
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... the governor Eliot Spitzer wants to become the Comptroller of New York City and here they were forced into ever gets to ... the Comptroller of the state of Texas on Susan Combs thanks for joining us and to be here thank you ... so you might have been on a mission in Texas in the mission is transparency lighting of the voters of citizens know ... what time ... with the government is doing out spending their money where the money is on ... the wall so I think it's fair to say her life as Republicans but at the end of ... the problem and had been lauded by a human groups on the left for this so transparency movement now a ... New York motorists of thinking about ... making a Eliot Spitzer their next of their next comptroller in the city here ... um you know the train yet yet device for the voters of New York is they think about what he wanted the Comptroller and when what should the mission Bay ... I think the Comptroller ... of Lynas's Sydney or foreign state has an obligation to so to oversee the financial landscape take a look at pitfalls take a look at opportunities ... and where ... appropriate we deal blows to the voters is paying the freight and so if you've got a pension problem in the city of New York when the city Detroit if you don't leave it there for the voters are not going well as for awhile ... that they may be paying a big hefty price tag ... so the opportunity is to seize businesses to generate revenues in the nature of that the Financial quality of life is positive and I think that the landscaping to look at not just managing money ... to manage an opportunity in helping these risk now I'm Mr Spencer I would ... have it all make the comment maybe transparency looking at his tenure was not ... the strongest in the ... among other problems but that when he said specifically is that he wants to shake up this office ... and get more involved in the essentially in the running of companies in which ... the New York City pension funds have stakes ... now as a as a guide for small and medium duty business normally and well one of ... Comptroller's a ... CPA a greater role in the big corporate managed not to recommend that in fact now that we don't do that we remains a strategy for the state tax above fifty billion dollars we do not take an activist role ... in managing knows my ability is to ... not invest in them I don't think it's the role of government is to go ahead and get the private sector ... if I see a hazard that I should not be an investment ... okay now I'm ... talking about the Detroit another of ... the public ... of financial woe issue in the news this week God ... you know you you on this mission for transparency I'd I don't know if if that might have helped Detroit in this situation but as you looking at it this I'll ... what's probably a disaster going into bankruptcy the hope that the ... index for ... crops either from the city can can rebound and its act together but the ... info lot says you ... look north and see what's happening in Detroit ... I think the sooner you know this Copel problem the sooner you can find a solution I got a bill written and passed House Bill thirteen which will aid air war pension transparency ... I don't know to what extent the folks who did what the folks the individuals the man woman on the Street understood how bad it was ... it was just a few guys this live are a helpful effect since then and pay the freight either through more taxes ... reduce services I heard about the handle and store in the losing lives ... I think unless you tell the story the true accurate story of a patient I think you do the extraordinary disservice to use as of ... now I'm speaking of which are obviously the of the problem of a ... phony or of non transparent government accounting is goes well beyond that right we noticed a few ... cases in the federal government I can think of my lot entitlement programs stay in one day ... aam is there a way to do well ... did some other reforms you've worked on taxes ... and then bring them nationwide and is there ... is ... no quitting the government and washes already done some of the song was what the ... hell with the federal government's transparent and ... tried but we knew we need a base scoring by the Congressional Budget Office he had to go into the footnotes ... and need the tax will be rosy ... and they needed at a footnote to tell but nevermind ... we we forgot the title by Fabian Society in if I don't go to the diagnosed Adderall eyes oh my goodness I'm in deep trouble so I think it's gotta be not footnotes ... they are to be only a laid bare in Chile up another still if it's not that rosy well the the Congressional Budget ovens they keep putting out these reports ... that this did was make money and then you read right on the other before that I would not counting the defaults on a completely but anyway ... it ... makes sense and Susan thanks for joining us thank you


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Applying Use Cases in Agile: Use Case 2.0, Slicing and Laminating
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To incrementally develop and deliver products using agile software development, requirements are gathered and organized into a product backlog. A requirement technique that is used in agile software development is use cases. Some techniques to apply use cases for managing product requirements in agile are use case 2.0, slicing and laminating.
Shobha Rangasamy Somasundaram and Amol Sharma wrote a blog post about can formal requirement methods work for agile in which they compare the usage of requirements between waterfall and agile software development:
In traditional software development or waterfall process, the following methods are used during the requirements phase - brain storming, questionnaire, modeling, prototyping, observation, focus group, survey, reverse engineering, interview, document analysis, workshop for joint application development (JAD) - collaboration & domain model creation. In waterfall, requirements are sourced from the client, the BA and the product owner, wherein, they interact and prepare the final requirements document. Once the requirements are finalized, they are conveyed to the development team.
(…) requirements in agile are no longer committed to the beginning of the project or limited to a few individuals, but are a perpetual driver for the entire software development lifecycle. Agile does not prescribe any one way to document the requirements, the focus is instead on "just enough" documentation. Details are discovered and unfold slowly only when they are required. The monolithic dedicated "requirements stage" is broken and dispersed, that it now becomes omnipresent, with the same traditional analysis methods, performed throughout the lifecycle.
In their blog post Shobha and Amol provide a detailed description on how to combine roadmaps, use cases and user stories to manage the product requirements.
Andy Hayward explored different requirement techniques in a series of blog post. In when to use user stories, use cases and IEEE 830 – Part 2: Use cases he mentions several use case formats:
Use cases can be written in a highly formal format to describe the process extremely precisely, or in a simple paragraph format, what Alistair Cockburn described as a "Use Case Brief", which is slightly more detailed than a User Story, and there are many variations in between. This gives the analyst a broad range of options to fit her use cases to the project need. Unfortunately, most organizations enforce a standard template for use cases which limits this flexibility.
Breaking down use cases into smaller parts can be difficult as Andy explains:
The problem with use cases is that they usually encapsulate a lot of requirements into one large chunk of information. This makes it hard for development teams to estimate the use case's complexity and plan their work, and hard for the business to provide a meaningful estimation of value or priority. It's possible to break each use case down into a list of 'scenarios' that describe each possible path through the steps, but if you're doing that much additional work you might as well write "The system shall" in front of each scenario.
The webpage use case 2.0 essentials practice provides an overview (based on the Use-Case 2.0 ebook) of how to capture requirements with use case slicing:
- Describe exactly what a software system must do
- Group parts of the requirements together for broad-brush scope management
- Slice the requirements to create well-formed product backlog items and drive iterative development
- Change the priority of what the customer wants at any time
- Produce a simple visual model, and meaningful requirements, that are understandable to developers and customers alike
- Realize the benefits of iterative and backlog-driven management practices such as Scrum, and the IJI Iterative Essentials
- Capture their requirements just-in-time, and in just enough detail, to support their business goals.
You can do use case slicing in agile to incrementally develop and deliver products:
The Use-Case 2.0 Essentials practice starts by finding actors and use cases, and selecting and prioritizing the parts (slices) of the use cases to be developed. It continues by detailing the use-cases slices and more importantly their tests, and then implementing software to meet the tests. It concludes by executing the tests, tracking progress in terms of verified, working software and feeding back the results in order to handle change and better support the team.
Building a product starts with a skinny system as Ivar Jacobson described in his blog post architecture:
[A skinny system] has all significant paths through the use cases (or scenarios); it has all significant subsystems, components, classes, nodes. Usually this skinny system only includes 5-15% of the final code, but enough to demonstrate that the significant elements work. And most important, we know that this skinny system can grow to become the complete system.
In the blog post improving user stories with use cases Richard Schaaf described how use case 2.0 can help to manage the product requirements with use cases. According to Richard, the problems that organizations have with user stories have to do with process that is used to define them:
The issue here is (..) that it is really hard to write User Stories in such a way that they really help and are useful in the long term. What we need is not a replacement for User Stories, but a better way to come up with them.
Quite often, the Product Backlog degenerates over time and this leads to real problems for the teams. If you want to have a really successful Agile organisation, you really need to focus on the process of User Story generation.
He suggests using use case slices to define your user stories:
A use-case slice is a collection of front-to-back flows through a use case, including the associated test cases that is of clear value to the customer. A front-to-back flow is called a use-case story.
Richard explains how you can break down a use case into use case stories, and use them to define use case slices which can be the user stories that we need for our product backlog:
If you did your use-case modelling right, each of these use-case stories has a certain value. A use-case slice is then simply a selection (one of more) of these use-case stories, plus a number of test cases that should be met.
A use-case slice defined in this way meets all the criteria for being a User Story. After all, we know who it is for (the initiating actor), what is requested (the use-case stories and test cases) and the value (derived from the way the use case was constructed). Thus a use-case slice is a User Story and can be used as an item on the Product Backlog.
Some of the advantages of using use case slices according to Richard are:
By putting the use cases in a central position, the focus is always on the entire system.
The level of detail is a discussion item early on, so we end up with just enough detail, just in time.
The definition of a use-case slice ensures that each User Story is a front-to-back Story that actually focuses on value.
Alistair Cockburn wrote laminating not slicing where he describes a metaphor which he calls "laminating":
However, the language is backwards, we are not starting with an elephant, and deconstructing it into slices. We are starting from nothing and constructing the elephant. Having a pile of elephant slices does not produce an elephant. What we want to discuss is the sequence of laminations that produce the best-semblance of an elephant in the least time.
Laminating starts with a walking skeleton:
A walking skeleton is a tiny implementation of the system that performs a small end-to-end function. It need not use the final architecture, but it should link together the main architectural components. The architecture and the functionality can then evolve in parallel.
How can a walking skeleton of a software product or system look? Alistair provides some examples:
What constitutes a walking skeleton varies with the system being designed. For a client-server system, it would be a single screen-to-database-and-back capability. For a multi-tier or multi-platform system, it is a working connection between the tiers or platforms. For a compiler, it consists of compilation of the simplest element of the language, possibly just a single token. For a business process, it is walking through a single and simple business transaction (as Jeff Patton describes in the technique Essential Interaction Design, later in this chapter).
From the walking skeleton you start to laminate outwards as Alistair described in the A-B work split, feature thinning and fractal walking skeletons:
I put part of the feature F on the steeply rising part of the curve, and said, "Just do enough of the feature to be sure you can do the rest of the feature without trouble (that's the A part). Now defer the rest of the feature F (the B part) to the tail of the curve. You know you can grab for B at any time.
Alistair provides several strategies on how you can do the A-B work split to determine and prioritize thin features that you can use to develop your product incrementally:
- The A-B work split says to implement just enough of a feature to be sure you can grab the rest of it at any time.
- Jeff Patton's Feature thinning does something different — he implements enough of the feature to argue that it really works, just isn't very glossly (like having ordinary brakes on a car, but not anti-lock brakes).
- The Walking Skeleton strategy says to get the barely minimal (sub-minimal?) functionality running to establish connections between the parts. Jeff recently expanded that to having a mini – walking skeleton for each story (http://agileproductdesign.com/blog/the_new_backlog.html). Gery Derbier wrote me with the phrase recursive or fractal walking skeletons to describe this, a nice phrase. He says they use them on his project and they like them a lot. I would think so —- It's vaguely related to the A-B work split and hence has risk reduction characteristics. I'm not sure if Jeff has feature thinning in mind with his mini (fractal) walking skeletons, but I think they're possibly slightly different from each other.
How do you manage your product requirements with use cases: Use Case 2.0, slicing, laminating, or in another way?
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Let's find the common ground instead of just what is different!
Ivar Jacobson
Some points for discussion:
1. Are we talking about fundamental differences between slicing and laminating? IMHO no, as you also allude to in your article. In both cases there are good ways of doing slicing/laminating and bad ways. To find good slices we start from the skinny system. As I understand it, to find good laminates, you start from the walking skeleton. Slicing as you do when you slice a sausage won't produce good software. Slicing by finding value flows gives good slices.
2. Is there a fundamental difference between a skinny system and a walking skeleton? Again, IMHO no they are basically trying to do the same thing. We selected the term skinny system to make sure that it was a system that could execute, but with less muscles (10-15% of the completed system). It is still important to build good skinny systems, as it is to build good walking skeletons.
3. Is this discussion primarily a discussion on syntax and less a discussion on semantics? IMHO, yes I think so. The semantic differences are small. When it comes to syntax, having designed languages – both programming and modeling languages - for many years, I have adopted classical language design practices. Select keywords that are neutral to goodness; what is good may vary from application to application, from time to time, etc. For instance you may have good components or bad components, but still components. In some cases you may have to take a chunk of code and make that chunk a component, for instance because you reengineer a legacy system. Thus keep the syntax free from goodness values. As a compromise, I would be happy to say that a good use case slice is found by laminating what needs to be built.
From my past work I have tried to first find what is a common ground and then find what is different. There are most likely some differences, but if we don't find what unifies we cannot move forward and support the users. For instance, UML was such a case. Before UML we had lots of notations and a confused user world. What should a user select? Booch, OMT, OOOSE, etc…. Now, there is no other competition to UML than not using it, and that is fine. I think we should be able to do similarly here: identify what is a common ground and then add the differences as variants on top of that common ground. OK, I will stop here.
At the least we are clearly in agreement that use-cases is a good strategy for working with requirements and test in an agile way.
That is a good start, right?


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The Supreme Court has issued a ruling that gives employers the power to deny women the new birth control benefits of the Affordable Care Act — allowing bosses to force their personal beliefs on employees.
The five justices who ruled against women's health today are out of step with most Americans — the public overwhelmingly supports the birth control benefit by a nearly two-to-one margin. Justice Ginsburg spoke for us in her powerful dissent when she said, "[The court's decision] would deny legions of women who do not hold their employers' beliefs access to contraceptive coverage."
Do you agree? Join the dissent, and send a message to lawmakers, employers, and the Supreme Court: our medical decisions belong to us, not our bosses.
Subject: JOIN THE DISSENT
To The Supreme Court:
To the five members of the Supreme Court who have given bosses -- based on their own personal beliefs -- the power to deny women coverage for birth control:I dissent. Your ruling is an insult to the generations of women who have fought for control over their own bodies and their own futures. It is a step backward, and a threat to the future of women's health and rights in America. To employers like Hobby Lobby, who believe that their personal beliefs are more important than women's fundamental rights:I dissent. Religious freedom means that every person should be allowed to follow her own conscience, whether she owns a company or works for an hourly wage. Women earn health care coverage the same way they earn a paycheck -- and they shouldn't have it taken away because of the personal views of their employers.To the politicians who support the Supreme Court's decision -- and want to go even further to deny more women access to birth control:I dissent. I will continue to fight for the right of every woman to make her own private medical decisions without interference from anyone -- not her boss, not politicians, not the Supreme Court. I call on lawmakers at every level to take immediate action to protect women's access to health care no matter what their bosses say. This is about our health and our lives. This is about our fundamental right to have control over our own bodies. This is about justice. And I'm not done fighting back.
Signed,[Your Name] [Your Address] [City, State ZIP]


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'American Idol:' Mariah Carey Worried Nicki Minaj Will 'Shoot' Her, Beefs Up Security
When it rains it pours! Especially when two divas are going at it at the auditions of "American Idol."
The feud between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey seems to be heating up after Carey revealed that she thinks Minaj will harm her with a weapon, TMZ is reporting.
The multiple award-winning singer told Barbara Walters that she fears Minaj will "shoot her," after rumors were swirling on the "Idol" set that Minaj threatened her.
"Nicki walked off the set and multiple people heard Nicki say, 'If I had a gun I would shoot the b****," Walters said on ABC's "The View," adding that Carey told her over the phone "she can't take a chance" and has "hired extra security."
"Nicki has not apologized and since then they have been together at meetings with producers and judges," Walters added. "After the meeting Nicki said 'I love you but we might fight again," and Mariah responded "No, we will not."
Walters said that Carey feels emotionally unstable but will continue with "Idol" because "she loves the show and loves mentoring the contestants."
On Tuesday, TMZ got their hands on what appears to be a video of the "Idol" auditions in Charlotte N.C., where Minaj is standing up to Carey's "highness."
"I told them I'm not f*ckin' putting up with her f**kin' highness over there," a seething Minaj says in the clip. "I'm gonna knock you out."
According to the entertainment publication, Minaj is very upset with "Idol" producers for instigating the fight between Carey and her.
TMZ says that Minaj thinks producers and some of those in Carey camp want to aggravate the hip hop starlet to draw higher ratings once the show airs.
The publication said Minaj wants the situation to be cut "off at the head" -- so when Carey lashes out at her she will promise to walk off the set to avoid any further confrontations.
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6th Annual Imani Gala
The Sixth Annual Imani Gala, hosted at the Sewickley Heights home of Gwen and Steve Manto, raised $600,000 for the Imani Christian Academy. The Gala also simultaneously raises money for a designated project; this year it was a three-year program for field trips for the students. Four hundred guests enjoyed fare care of Bob Sendall's All in Good Taste Productions, silent and live auctions, entertainment, and a cappuccino and cigar bar by the pool. Photos by David Bachman.Read More


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This dramatic and evocative piece is the perfect soundtrack to game and movie trailers, or other promotional projects. It starts with long sustained violins and a beautiful harp, and then cellos and big orchestral percussion are introduced and the piece builds in intensity to a very dramatic ending.
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Seven Deaths Confirmed in Arkansas
Authorities have now confirmed seven deaths in Arkansas after a severe storm
Category: General News
Radioactive Scraps Found in Hanford Basin Sludge
RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — Hanford cleanup workers found three broken pieces of uranium fuel rods in the sludge of storage basin.
The highly radioactive scraps are about an inch in size. They were spotted by an underwater camera in the K West Basin. The basin held nuclear weapon ingredients that were unprocessed at the end of the Cold War.
The Tri-City Herald reports the last of the fuel was removed last May. Workers were recently measuring the sludge when they spotted the broken scraps. They've been placed in a canister in the basin where any more scraps will be stored as the sludge is removed.
The Energy Department project director for K Basins Closure, Tom Teynor, says care is being taken to protect cleanup workers from exposure to the high-dose fuel.


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US follows Gabon's lead in fight against ivory traffickers
"Gabon was the first country, to send a clear and loud signal that it is determined to put an end to wildlife criminality by destroying its entire ivory stockpile," according to Lee White, head of Gabon's National Parks Agency.
"We congratulate the United States for sending the same signal, which we hope will be heard around the world."
"We also encourage other states to do the same and fully audit and publicly destroy their seized ivory stocks," White added.
Rising demand for ivory – especially in East Asia – has led to an epidemic of elephant poaching across the whole African continent, including in Central Africa, where nearly two thirds of its forest elephants were massacred between 2002 and 2012.
So serious is the crisis that in May of this year United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said that poaching and illegal wildlife trade – with the associated proliferation of weapons, armed gangs and criminal syndicates – poses a threat to peace and security in the Congo Basin.
Gabon's elephants are also being targeted by poachers. And, although it only represents 13 percent of the forests of Central Africa, it is believed to be the home of half of the Congo Basin's remaining forest elephants.
"International law currently bans ivory trade across borders, and ivory originating from seizures or of unknown sources has been and always will be illegal. Also, since domestic ivory trade is illegal in all Central African countries, ivory has no legal market value," according to Bas Huijbregts, head of WWF's campaign against illegal wildlife trade in Central Africa.
"Destroying seized ivory therefore not only raises awareness about the crisis, but ensures that it will be kept out of the illegal ivory market."
"Illegal wildlife trade, is one of the most lucrative illicit international trades. Valued at between $7.8 and $10 billion, behind counterfitting, drugs, weapons, oil and human trafficking," Huijbregts concluded.