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With the many benefits that raw honey offers, this has become an essential item in my home. Check out this article to see five common and beneficial uses for honey. I recently was introduced to the Mohawk Valley Trading Company which offers an extensive variety of seasonal raw honey as well as a selection of other related products including, beeswax, beeswax candles, maple syrup, and handmade soaps. All products are made in the USA with their base location being in Utica, New York.
Raw Honey
The Mohawk Valley Trading Company offers a selection of seasonal wildflower honey products. I received both the Summer Wildflower Honey and Autumn Wildflower Honey and was impressed by the large 1 lb size (just $10). I also like that they package their honey products in glass containers.
Summer Wildflower Honey: From April thru mid-late August, hives are on both slopes and the surrounding area of the Southern Kuyahoora Valley & Central Mohawk Valley regions of Upstate New York.
Autumn Wildflower Honey: From late August thru October, hives are on both slopes and the surrounding area of the Southern Kuyahoora Valley & Central Mohawk Valley regions of Upstate New York.
Mohawk Valley Trading Company offers 100% pure, all natural, yellow, unbleached, and filtered beeswax from their exclusive hives. You can either purchase a 1 oz bar for $2 or a 1 lb block for $13. This beeswax smelled amazing and I can't wait to melt it down for use as either a candle or lip balm!
Beeswax Candle
This shop offers several varieties of beeswax candles that are perfect for around the house or given as a gift. They are hand poured and dipped with pure, all natural, unbleached, yellow beeswax produced by their bees in the USA.
Handmade Soap
With so many conventional soaps being loaded with chemicals, this company's handmade soap is a great alternative. All of the ingredients used in their soaps are all-natural and free of synthetic and artificial fragrances, dyes, detergents, and preservatives. They are instead formulated with goat's milk, various botanical sources, and organic hemp seed oil, olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, castor bean oil, and/or avocado oil.
Maple Syrup
Mohawk Valley Trading Company offers maple syrup in a few delicious varieties including: Grade A, Robust, Dark, Pure Maple Syrup. They are also available in two sizes of glass bottles: 32 oz glass bottle ($30) and 16 oz glass bottle ($15). This tasty syrup has become a new favorite in my family!
To learn more and shop Mohawk Valley Trading Company's full product line head over to: www.tenonanatche.com.
Mohawk Valley Trading Company would like to give one lucky reader all of the products mentioned in this review! Enter by 1/27 for your chance to win! a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: Thank-you to Mohawk Valley Trading Company for providing complimentary products. Although I received these products free of charge, all opinions expressed are my own and not influenced by any form of compensation. All giveaways are free of charge, no purchase necessary to win. Giveaways are not affiliated with or endorsed by Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Peace Love Organic Mom is not responsible for any prize not fulfilled by the sponsor or damaged during shipping. See full disclosure policy in tab above.


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Raptivity is an interaction tool. Its target audience is the rapid content authoring tool market, but while it tries to hit it, it also misses at many levels.
Don't get me wrong, this is a product that offers some really great features, but it constant pitching within the product to upsell, becomes irritating, so much so, I easily can see someone blasting it into recycle bin space.
Welcome to Confusion
The solution I looked at was their base, Raptivity Essentials and it comes with a "select pack" called "Zest", which for some reason on their pricing is shown as a separate option.
Raptivity calls their product an interaction tool with templates, games, simulations, etc. According to the site the solution comes with 245 interactions.
This is somewhat erroneous. In order to achieve that, you have to buy all their packs and the HTML5 pack. But, in order to buy any of the additional packs, you must first own either Essentials or Zest.
Oh, one other thing. Before you use the product, you must have Flash 8.0 installed (minimum) and Net Framework 2.0 (which they provided a link).
- Preview in Real Time, while you are customizing your interaction, game, simulation, activity, etc.
- Extensive help on each screen, explaining what the interaction is, benefits, and explanation, inc. highlighted words for more info
- Interaction views and selections include "Bloom Taxonomy, Gagne Nine Events, Keller's ARCS model, Experimental Learning
- SCORM 2004/1.2, AICC, 508 and SWF
- Preview before selecting the interaction you want, includes option to expand to full screen, and really robust
- A lot of interactions, the Essentials pack comes with 35
- When starting a new interactivity, begins in a Wizard mode and then upon completion goes into customization mode
- Has a spell checker – which is great, may of these products including some RCATs don't
- Essentials has interactions that beat Articulate's interactions
- Saving to Favorites is easy, but my Learning theories – while interesting – i.e. you can create your own learning theory – really serves no purpose
- Essentials pack – comes with two Glossaries options and two FAQ – when did those become full interactive experiences that stimulate learning?
- Interactions include: Brainteasers, Presentation Aids, Interactive Diagrams, Surveys, Flow Diagrams, Software Sims, Glossary, Interactive Questions, SCORM Objects, Miscellaneous (more on this in a sec)
- Offers two views – Thumbnail or Explorer – think drill down
- The main interface, where you customize your interaction, is okay, some of it could be better – space issues
- Output interface is solid, again not phenom, but solid
- On the top of each interaction before you select it – identifies the capabilities that are included: import/export, snap control, audio, enhanced editing options, section 508
- Comes with four fonts – the standards
- Multiple category views – perhaps too many
- Upsell to other packs – you see in their description of the interactivity you select, and also in the right panel on additional information
- Previews of templates, interactions that do not come with your pack. Example: Under the Knowledge category, they list 36 interactions, 27 are previews available in other packs, 9 are in your pack
- Upselling – did I mention this? I couldn't decide if the product was geared to me creating interactions or buying more of their products – definite distraction
- One category lists "Synthesis" yet, in the Essentials pack there aren't any – so why is it in there? Oh yeah, it is one of the learning models
- Is it SCORM 1.2 or 2004? One of the interactions says it is only for SCORM 1.2, yet when you go to output and select SCORM 2004, it says it worked
- Video files are .FLV only
- In one view – the customization view, the icon for sound, when clicked says parameters, not sound – yet in the other modes it's sound
- Raptivity interface is in English only. For the interactions, within the text box, you can type in another language, but everything else remains in English
To start Raptivity, you click on the shortcut on your desktop. Yes, this is a desktop solution and not SaaS.
After clicking the button, you go right into the product.
You are provided with three options
- Recently Customized Interactivies
- Customize Interactivity – two choices: new interactivity, open existing interactivity or interactivity samples
- Introducing Raptivity – includes help
To create a new interactivity, select "New Interactivity". Next you will select from the interaction models. There are quite a few to choose from. The default is the thumbnail view.
Interaction Screen
It appears as a window, with the left side identifying all the interaction categories. The center of the screen specifics on whatever you selected on the left panel
Interaction Categories (default: Thumbnail)
- All Packs – the default screen, shows you want packs you have. The base is Essentials
- All Categories – identifies the interaction models, whereas you click on them and it shows the interactions that you for that pack. For essentials you have brainteasers, presentation aids, interactive diagrams, surveys, flow diagrams, software sims, glossary, interactive questions, overview visuals, SCORM objects and Miscellaneous
- All Select Packs – Zest is shipped with Raptivity
- All Select Categories – In this case, it is the Zest interactions: Jazzed up presentation, encourage exploration, reinforce learning, test knowledge, get feedback and provide ready reference
- All Interaction Models – everything that is in the Essential Pack
- Bloom's Taxonomy – which shows the sub categories – knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation – it should be noted that under each sub category thumbnail it shows all the interactions, not the one you just purchased. You will know this because it says "preview". Knowledge 36 interactions, 27 were preview – that means you got 9 in your Essential pack
- Gagne's Nine Events
- Keller's ARCS Model
- Experimental Learning
- My Examples – your most customized interactions are saved – thus reducing time to replicate
- My Favorites – same as above, but excluding the word "customized" – to me it seems redundant, I would ditch my examples and hybrid the two together
- My Learning Theories – Yep, create your own. To begin you click "new learning theory" and then become the next Gagne or whomever
I don't know about you, but I was physically exhausted going through them all.
At times it seemed to be too many choices, and since many replicated what you saw on previous choices, confusing. A simple way to do this, make it simple. This is just one of the examples of where Raptivity tries too hard to be many things, and instead creates challenges that honestly are unnecessary.
Select your new interaction and begin
The interaction opens up a "wizard window", which identifies the interaction you selected, and helps you setup the interaction.
After you finish, the next screen is your customization screen. This is not your edit screen, from which to work from.
On the top of the screen is the toolbar
- New
- Open
- Save
- Delete
- Preview
- Publish
- Help
The center of the screen is the interaction, from which you customize. It is a real time preview window, so any changes you make will appear quickly. I personally liked this feature, and I wish in general content authoring tools would have it in conjunction with the view in browser window.
The left side is your tree, in hierarchy fashion. Below that, is your target size – which you can change, because its default is 715×500.
Oh in the center of the screen, you can switch to different views, including thumbnails. This is also where the sound icon, when clicked becomes a parameters window.
Edit mode -Now this is the screen you edit your customization
The toolbar on the top of the screen changes and on the right of the screen is this extensive help section.
The middle is your interaction, and below that is where you can begin your customizations. I am unsure why they decided to put the most important part of the editing at the bottom of the screen, especially when it often requires you to scroll down to continue the editing, and not place this on the left side of the screen.
The editing includes the ability to change the background colors, change text, add images – in some cases change the image from the initial interaction, add music or audio.
Each change you make is seen in real time on your preview screen. When you are satisfied with your interaction and test it out, click "save" and then you are ready to publish.
- Javascript, Flash Shared Object
- Output up to LMS
- File options: Single Flash, Multiple File Format or Mobile output
While Raptivity offers a variety of pricing, based on which pack you choose, they do offer four main options. A discount is available, but only if you are a non-profit, government or in the education sector.
- Essentials – $795 USD, comes with 35 interactions
- Zest – $395 USD, comes with 12 interactions
- Standard (package)- $1,999 USD comes with Essentials, and the Standard packs (SP1, SP2, SP3)
- Himalaya – $4,250 USD, comes with Essentials, Standard, Booster 1 and all Turbo packs
Note: In order to add any of the TurboPacks, Standard Packs or Booster Pack 1, without purchasing the Standard package or Himalaya, you must first buy either Essentials or Zest. Additionally, the HTML5 pack is a stand alone pack, so if you want it, you must purchase first one of the four listed above.
They do offer premium support for a fee, but the site never states what that includes.
Bottom Line
Raptivity, has an identity problem. While it offers a lot of interactions it equally contains a lot of unnecessary steps to go to the screen you want to work with – the edit screen.
The point of a RCAT simulation tool or as they put it an interaction tool, is create a user friendly product in an easy and engaging way. Sadly, Raptivity fails at even achieving this premise.
While the Essentials pack does a decent job, I'm pretty sure no corporate person is going to want the "smiley face" interaction as part of their learning toolbox.
Unless they are running a circus.
E-Learning 24/7

subset: commoncrawl


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Peace demands challenging Israel's exceptionalism 12May11 May 13, 2011
by Omar Barghouti - The Huffington Post - 12 May 2011
Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League repeats the mantra that by advocating comprehensive Palestinian rights, including full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel and the UN-sanctioned right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes from which they were forcibly displaced, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is "de-legitimizing" Israel and threatening its very "existence." This claim is frequently made by Israel lobby groups in an obvious attempt to muddy the waters and to push beyond the pale of legitimate debate the mere statement of facts about and analysis of Israel's occupation, denial of refugee rights, and institutionalized system of racial discrimination, which basically fits the UN definition of apartheid.
Specifically, what is often objected to is the demand for full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel. One can only wonder, if equality ends Israel's "existence," what does that say about Israel? Did equality destroy South Africa? Did it "delegitimize" whites in the Southern states of the U.S. after segregation was outlawed? The only thing that equality, human rights and justice really destroy is a system of injustice, inequality and racial discrimination.
The "delegitimization" scare tactic, widely promoted by Israel's well-oiled pressure groups, has not impressed many in the West, in fact, particularly since its most far-reaching claim against BDS is that the movement aims to "supersede the Zionist model with a state that is based on the 'one person, one vote' principle" — hardly the most evil or disquieting accusation for anyone even vaguely interested in democracy, a just peace, and equal rights.
In this vein, right after Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) in 1967, the great Jewish-American writer I.F. Stone presciently wrote:
"Israel is creating a kind of moral schizophrenia in world Jewry. In the outside world, the welfare of Jewry depends on the maintenance of secular, non-racial, pluralistic societies. In Israel, Jewry finds itself defending a society in which mixed marriages cannot be legalized, in which non-Jews have a lesser status than Jews, and in which the ideal is racist and exclusivist."
Had he lived long enough, Stone would have seen far more damning evidence of this "schizophrenia" in the everyday discourse of Israel's apologists in the U.S. With every racist law that passes in the Israeli Knesset, they go into high gear to stifle awareness and any possible denunciation of it in the public arena, leading to an absurd situation where, compared to most U.S. media sources, major Israeli papers have become much more tolerant of opinions that sharply criticize Israeli policies.
The job of defending Israel and guaranteeing the ongoing flow of billions of U.S. taxpayers' money into its coffers despite its multi-tiered system of oppression has only become more precarious in view of the Arab democratic spring and Israel's subsequent loss of its most loyal "ally" in the region, the former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. With Arab publics asserting their rights and insisting on democratic governance, the near future may well witness the rise of freely elected Arab governments, especially in Egypt, that are far more in sync with popular demands for supporting the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. Israel is terrified at this prospect, as it would further undermine its status as a state above the law of nations.
Though it still commands indisputable influence in Congress and a menacing sway that helps it to muzzle debate over Israel's increasingly indefensible flouting of international law and basic Palestinian rights, the lobby was rocked by recent scandals and allegations of espionage for Israel which have shattered its once invincible image in the American mainstream. An important consequence of this near-fall from grace has been that the myth, long cultivated by the lobby, that U.S. and Israeli interests fully converge is starting to crack.
John Mearsheimer, expert on the Israel lobby, explains, "The combination of Israel's strategic incompetence and its gradual transformation into an apartheid state creates significant problems for the United States. There is growing recognition in both countries that their interests are diverging …." The head of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus, and Vice President Biden have both admitted that Israel's policies towards the Palestinian people are undermining U.S. security. Even the head of Mossad statedbefore Israel's parliament last year that "Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden."
Irrespective of the debate on Israel's true value to the U.S. establishment, grassroots campaigns for Palestinian rights have been gaining considerable ground in the U.S. since Israel's war of aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip in 2008-09. Advocating freedom, justice, and equality for all humans, irrespective of identity, the non-violent, Palestinian-led, global BDS movement has grown at an impressive rate, shedding a bright light on the exceptionalism with which Israel is treated in the U.S. The fact that BDS categorically and consistently opposes all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, has further extended its reach into the Western mainstream.
Despite substantial investments of money and projection of intimidating power, the Israel lobby has largely failed, to date, to quell the spread BDS activism on US campuses and in liberal circles. Realizing this, several lobby groups have resorted to McCarthyesque measures to bully academics and cultural figures into toeing the line set by the lobby regarding Israel, a tactic that has backfired and led to alienating a burgeoning group of Americans, especially younger Jewish Americans.
Having largely lost the battle for hearts and minds at the grassroots level in several key European and other states, and due to a significant rise in negative ratings of Israel in the U.S. public, Israel's lobby groups in the United States are desperately trying to safeguard Israel's impunity. Cognizant of the circumstances and dynamics that marked the final stages in the struggle against South African apartheid, Israel is only too well aware of the dire consequences of its militarist, unjust, and patently discriminatory policies being exposed to the U.S. public, its last bastion of popular support around the world. Without challenging Israel's exceptionalism, however, the prospects for comprehensive and sustainable peace based on justice will remain dim.
Thank You.


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Next month is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride month, an international season of parades, cultural festivals and street parties celebrating gay rights. But amid all the good cheer, tensions are rising over a controversial issue that is splintering LGBT communities. Around the world, major pride events are being used as battlegrounds to combat what some pro-Palestinian, progay activists are calling pink washing: Israel's promotion of its progressive gay-rights record as a way to cover up ongoing human-rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza.
The accusations stem from efforts over the past half-decade by the Israeli government to weave the country's gay-friendly policies including national hate-crime laws, employment protection for LGBT workers and openly gay military service into its larger national-rebranding strategy, in the hopes of redirecting its global image away from politics, terrorism and the occupied territories. "The Israeli government and its propaganda organs ... insist on advertising and exaggerating its recent record on LGBT rights ... to fend off international condemnation of its violations of the rights of the Palestinian people," says Joseph Massad, associate professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University in New York City.
Nonsense, counters Ido Aharoni, Israeli consul general in New York City and former head of the Brand Israel project. "We are not trying to hide the conflict but broaden the conversation," he says. "We want to create a sense of relevance with other communities."
Although its foundations lie in decades of political struggle, the pink-washing movement has recently kicked into high gear. In June 2010, gay-pride parade organizers in Madrid banned a contingent of Israeli marchers in response to the deadly Gaza flotilla raid weeks earlier. That same month, activists protested the Israeli government's co-sponsorship of San Francisco's Frameline LGBT Film Festival. In March this year, the pro-Palestinian group Palestina protested a conference in Stockholm featuring Israeli LGBT cultural figures. And at the Berlin gay-pride parade on June 25, the Israeli delegation will reportedly promote Tel Aviv rather than the country as a whole in an attempt to avoid provoking anti-Israel sentiment.
On the other side of the issue, activists and the authorities who support Israel are pushing back against the antipink washers. In March, a planned Israeli Apartheid Week event at New York City's LGBT Community Center was canceled after loud opposition from local pro-Israel groups. And in Toronto, the Queers Against Israeli Apartheid has had to pull out of the July 3 pride parade after the mayor's office threatened to withhold funding for the parade.
While it may seem unusual, the conflation of LGBT politics with the Middle Eastern politics is somewhat inevitable. Jews have traditionally been at the forefront of historic LGBT-rights battles, while the gay community has long played a prominent role in the antioccupation movement. But what is surprising about the pink-washing movement is the relatively muted response from Jews themselves. A few New York Jewish groups did protest February's planned Apartheid Week event. But most major Jewish advocacy organizations, like the Anti-Defamation League, have stayed silent.
Much of that inaction is down to demographics: support for Israel is strongest among more-conservative American Jews who in general would neither be involved with the gay community nor publicly protest its anti-Israel activism. At the opposite extreme, progressive Jews typically back LGBT causes, but their progressiveness also extends to their opinions on Israel. As some of Israel's harshest critics, progressive Jews are inclined to back pro-Palestinian groups and often even form their core leadership. As a result, American Jews on every part of the ideological spectrum are unwilling to provide a counternarrative to the anti-pink-washing movement.
"As part of a minority group themselves, there is great ambivalence [among American Jews] about combating anti-Semitism on the left particularly when it comes from other minority groups," says Kenneth Marcus, head of the Anti-Semitism Initiative at the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in Washington, D.C. "The organized Jewish community is good at standing up against far-right hate groups, but has been far less successful in defending itself against nontraditional forms of anti-Semitism."
Over in Israel, meanwhile, community leaders seem to view the debate as a problem for their country's image abroad that has little to do with LGBT issues at home. "Rather than openly opposing international anti-Israel LGBT groups, the gay community in Israel has essentially ignored the pink-washing issue," says filmmaker Yair Qedar, whose recent movie Gay Days is the definitive history of the Israeli LGBT civil rights movement. "This is a real shame because LGBT rights are something Israelis should be proud of for ourselves, our neighbors and all peace-seeking people." By making Israel out to be a "pink leper," says Qedar, the anti-pink-washing movement "ultimately serves homophobia far more than dialogue and peace."
As Qedar suggests, the real danger of both pink washing and the anti-Israel opposition is their potential to distract both camps from the long-term goal of peace. Each side fails to recognize core and perhaps, constructive truths about the other: Israel does have some of the world's most progressive LGBT policies, yet it's also mired in an illegal, militarized West Bank occupation. These two realities not only can but already do co-exist between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea.


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Thank you for viewing the delivery gallery below, and please don't hesitate to let me know any questions or input!
For any additional inquiries, prints, or issues, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com. Thanks!
Turkey Slide Jam 2016
The Turkey Slide Jam presented by Sector 9 brings together the San Diego Downhill Skateboarding scene for a thanksgiving skate event.Read More


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Alright...this week's color combo is my doing (Lori) and I cannot *wait* to see what colorful, bright, cheery projects y'all come up with! Summer IS coming, right?! This is what I had in mind when creating the color combo....since is it the last Thursday of the month, that means PRIZE WEEK! Our wonderful Leanne is offering up this prize:
This is my card (Lori) using the bold, bright, cheery colors:
Here are the creations from the rest of the lovely Design Team:
Please leave a direct link to your post here. :)


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NASA, April 16, 2014: Earth's poles are separated by four oceans, six continents and more than 12,000 nautical miles.
Turns out, that's not so far apart.
New data from NASA's AIM spacecraft have revealed "teleconnections" in Earth's atmosphere that stretch all the way from the North Pole to the South Pole and back again, linking weather and climate more closely than simple geography would suggest.
For example, says Cora Randall, AIM science team member and Chair of the Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado, "we have found that the winter air temperature in Indianapolis, Indiana, is well correlated with the frequency of noctilucent clouds over Antarctica."
Noctilucent clouds, or "NLCs," are Earth's highest clouds. They form at the edge of space 83 km above our planet's polar regions in a layer of the atmosphere called the mesosphere. Seeded by "meteor smoke," NLCs are made of tiny ice crystals that glow electric blue when sunlight lances through their cloud-tops.
AIM was launched in 2007 to investigate these "night-shining" clouds, to discover how they form and to learn about their inner chemistry. As is often the case, however, when exploring the unknown, researchers found something they weren't even looking for: teleconnections.
"It has been a surprise," says Hampton University professor of atmospheric and planetary science James Russell, Principal Investigator of the AIM mission. "Years ago when we were planning the AIM mission, our attention was focused on a narrow layer of the atmosphere where NLCs form. Now we are finding out this layer manifests evidence of long-distance connections in the atmosphere far from the NLCs themselves."
One of these teleconnections links the Arctic stratosphere with the Antarctic mesosphere.
"Stratospheric winds over the Arctic control circulation in the mesosphere," explains Randall. "When northern stratospheric winds slow down, a ripple effect around the globe causes the southern mesosphere to become warmer and drier, leading to fewer NLCs. When northern winds pick up again, the southern mesosphere becomes colder and wetter, and the NLCs return."
This January, a time of year when southern NLCs are usually abundant, the AIM spacecraft observed a sudden and unexpected decline in the clouds. Interestingly, about two weeks earlier, winds in the Arctic stratosphere were strongly perturbed, leading to a distorted polar vortex.
"We believe that this triggered a ripple effect that led to a decline in noctilucent clouds half-way around the world," says Laura Holt of the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. "This is the same polar vortex that made headlines this winter when parts of the USA experienced crippling cold and ice."
Holt took a careful look at meteorological data and found that, indeed, there was a statistical link between winter weather in the USA and the decline in noctilucent clouds over Antarctica.
"We picked Indianapolis as an example, because I have family living there," says Randall, "but the same was true of many northern cities: cold air temperatures on the ground were correlated with NLC frequencies high above Antarctica two weeks later," she says.
The two week delay is, apparently, how much time it takes for the teleconnection signal to propagate through three layers of atmosphere (the troposphere, stratosphere and mesosphere), and from pole to pole.
It is a complicated topic, but this much is clear: "NLCs are a valuable resource for studying long-distance connections in the atmosphere," says Russell, "and we are just getting started."
Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
More information:
Electric-Blue Clouds Appear over Antarctica -- Science@NASA
Meteor Smoke Makes Strange Clouds -- Science@NASA
Strange Clouds at the Edge of Space -- Science@NASA


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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Cam Newton era is over in Carolina, as the Panthers released the 30-year-old quarterback after nine seasons.
The move became a mere formality after the Panthers made it clear last week they were moving on from Newton by giving him permission to seek a trade and then agreeing to a three-year, $63 million contract with free agent quarterback Teddy Bridgewater about 90 minutes later.
On Monday night, Newton posted on his Instagram account that he was "hungrier" now because he is "unemployed."
"Cam has meant a lot to this organization and the Carolinas," Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said in a statement Tuesday. "Everyone saw his performances on the field. I had the privilege of seeing how hard he worked off the field, and his commitment to this team when no one was watching. He's the ultimate competitor and it physically hurts him to lose. He willed this team to victory on many occasions and will always be considered one of the greatest players in the history of this franchise."
Hurney added: "His contributions to this team, this community and the game of football will leave a lasting impact on our organization."
The breakup did not end well.
After the Panthers announced Newton was free to seek a trade, the QB took to Twitter, posting a message directed at the front office that read, "Stop the word play!! I never asked for it!! There is no dodging this one; I love the Panthers to death and will always love you guys!! Please do not try and play me or manipulate the narrative and act like I wanted this: You forced me into this."
Given the inevitable outcome of a Newton-Panthers breakup, it was not surprising that no teams were willing to trade for Newton.
Newton now becomes a free agent and can sign with another NFL team immediately.
The move frees up $19.1 million in salary cap space for the Panthers. They'll have to absorb $2 million in dead cap money.
Panthers All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey thanked Newton on Instagram Tuesday, posting, "You changed the way I approach the game and put the fun back in it for me. I'll always owe you for that. I speak for the Carolinas when I say thank you for all memories and smiles you brought us. Love!"
Newton joined the Panthers in 2011 as the top pick in the draft after winning a national championship and the Heisman Trophy at Auburn. He stepped in right away as the team's starting quarterback and threw for 400 yards in each of his first two starts.
Newton went on to throw a franchise-record 29,041 yards and 182 touchdowns in nine seasons with the Panthers and ran for 58 touchdowns, the most ever by an NFL quarterback.
His best season came in 2015 when he led the Panthers to a 15-1 record in the regular season and an NFC championship when he threw for 3,837 yards and combined for 35 touchdowns en route to earning league MVP honors.
But Newton struggled in a 24-10 Super Bowl loss to the Denver Broncos and was widely criticized for not jumping on a loose ball after a strip-sack by Von Miller late in the game. Afterward, a downtrodden Newton answered questions about the loss with abbreviated answers before abruptly walking out of the interview session.
Newton became a fan favorite on the field in Carolina early in his tenure, endearing himself to young fans by pretending to rip apart his jersey like Superman during touchdown celebrations and then giving the football away to young fans.
RELATED: Texans Coach Bill O'Brien Allegedly Compares DeAndre Hopkins To Aaron Hernandez
On the field, he used his chiseled 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame to run over defenders in Carolina's zone-read offense and his strength and elusiveness to turn almost certain sacks into runs for first downs.
But during his tenure in Carolina he was hit more than any quarterback in NFL history — which may have taken a toll on him physically.
He had surgery for a partially torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder last offseason after struggling to throw the ball more than 20 yards downfield in the second half of the 2018 season. He returned to the field last summer in training camp, but injured his foot in the third preseason game at New England. He battled back to start the first two regular-season games, but it was evident he wasn't the same player and was eventually placed on injured reserve where he had surgery for a Lisfranc fracture.
He lost his last eight starts for the Panthers.
Questions remain about Newton's health moving forward, which could limit his options in free agency especially with doctors currently unable to put players through medical examinations because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"They could've did this two weeks ago," tweeted former Panthers wide receiver Torrey Smith. "Terrible timing for a Qb."
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Wood Works (CD)
Wood Works (CD)
P2 Prisen 2015 – Årets danske cd-udgivelse
Den Danske Strygekvartets kærlighed til den traditionelle, skandinaviske folkemusik er snart lige så kendt som kvartettens fornemme greb om det klassiske repertoire. Nu udgiver det danske ensemble, som i disse år er huskvartet hos både Lincoln Centre Chamber Music Society og BBC Radio 3, albummet Wood Works på både CD og LP. Her præsenterer kvartetten deres yndlingsmelodier fra den nordiske folkemusik – bl.a. det brudestykke fra Fanø, som i en videooptagelse er nået vidt omkring på YouTube og Vimeo med over 50.000 afspilninger.
Også tilgængelig på LP.
Wood Works
We are in the tiny village of Sønderho on the island of Fanø. It is the westernmost Danish island, and the wind lashes the shore relentlessly. Today is the third Sunday of July – it's 'Sønderho Day', a local day of celebration, music and dance. From the village hall the sounds of fiddles can be heard, and people are dancing round and round for hours. The music is simple, yet with a touch of exotic melancholy.
In the forests of southern Sweden we find Lasse. He is a traveling fiddler and he provides the music for festive occasions. Lasse is poor, so he will play you some music if you give him a meal. As he can't afford new strings for his violin, he tunes the ones he has down to make them last slightly longer. His claim to fame is a waltz he is always playing; a little melody that people enjoy dancing to. Sometimes Lasse plays it to himself while sitting alone in his wooden shed.
Up in Norway a young man has just returned from his Grand Tour of Europe. While passing through the Rhineland, he picked up a very popular dance that everyone danced in the elegant salons. He doesn't know the name of the dance, so he simply calls it a 'Reinlender'. Wanting to introduce it to his friends, he writes a couple of tunes to accompany the new dance.
Folk music is the music of all the small places. It is the local music, but as such it is also the music of everywhere and everyone. Like rivers, the melodies and dances have flowed slowly from region to region: Whenever a fiddler stumbled on a melody, he would play it and make it his own before passing it on. You don't own a folk tune, you simply borrow it for a while.
On this recording we have borrowed and arranged a selection of tunes that are all very close to our hearts. We perform them as a string quartet, one of the most powerful musical vehicles we know of. The string quartet is a pure construct: Four simple instruments made of wood. But in all its simplicity
the string quartet is capable of expressing a myriad of colours, nuances and emotions – just like folk music. Our idea is to marry these two simple but powerful things; the folk music and the string quartet. Normally the string quartet has been reserved for the classical masters. Now we want to see what happens when we let the Nordic folk music flow through the wooden instruments of the string quartet.
Does it work? We hope so. And remember: We simply borrowed these tunes. They have already been returned.
1. Ye Honest Bridal Couple / Sønderho Bridal Trilogy – Part I (5:10)
We set out in the fog covering the Faroe Islands. A lonely violin plays a traditional Faroese wedding song. After a while we reach the Danish island of Fanø to immerse ourselves in Part I of the Sønderho Bridal Trilogy, a set of three sønderhonings that dates back some four hundred years.
2. Sekstur from Vendsyssel / The Peat Dance (4:02)
A Danish sekstur is a lively dance that closely resembles the Irish jig. The Peat Dance is a Danish reeltune. Thus this is a Danish version of the traditional Irish jig-reel set.
3. Vigstamoin (3:20)
Vigstamo was a small farm in the Gudbrand Valley in Norway, and Vigstamoin was the man who lived there. This tune is a springleik – a local version of what we in Denmark call a polsk.
4. Waltz after Lasse in Lyby (4:42)
Lasse lived in Lyby in Sweden's Skåne region and he was a travelingfiddler playing for food. He was known for often playing this simple little waltz.
5. Ribers #8 (2:59)
Ribers #8 is a polka: A dance that originated in central Europe and, somewhat confusingly, has nothing to do with the polsk or polska. This is one of the happiest Danish tunes that we know.
6. Sønderho Bridal Trilogy – Part II (3:10)
Notice the exotic colour of this sønderhoning. Some people believe that the people on Fanø learned their melodic twists from visiting sailors.
7. Five Sheep, Four Goats (4:30) feat. Mads la Cour, flugelhorn
Rune stumbled on this little Danish tune with its strange name and liked it so much that he came up with an arrangement for three string quartets.
8. O Fredrik, O Fredrik (4:15)
Our cellist Fredrik is a tough Norwegian sailor. His childhood friend Johannes Rusten wrote this catchy tune and dedicated it to him.
9. Ack Värmeland, du sköna (3:16)
An old Swedish folk song. The title was given in the 19th century and celebrates the beauty of the Värmland region.
10. Easter Sunday / Polsk after Rasmus Storm (4:23)
We pair a polsk from 1989 by Danish fiddler Poul Bjerager with an old polsk we found in a handwritten collection of tunes from the 1760s by Danish sailor and fiddler Rasmus Storm.
11. Jässpodspolska (2:54)
Here is a nice little polska (Swedish for polsk) from the region of Dalarna in Sweden.
12. Old Reinlender from Sønndala (3:06)
The title indicates that this dance came to Norway from the Rhineland. In Denmark we call this type of tune a schottis. Did it come up north via Scotland or Germany? Not so important, perhaps. The funky possibilities of the tune inspired us to make this arrangement.
13. Sønderho Bridal Trilogy – Part III (3:40)
This is dance music, but inspired by the unique tonal colours of the music our good friend Nikolaj Busk made a very contemplative arrangement of this final part of the Sønderho Bridal Trilogy. After all the excitement of reels, polskas, sheep and goats, we are back at the island of Fanø, disappearing into the Atlantic fog.


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2012 Suzuki V-Strom 650 Test
When it comes time to select an adventure touring motorcycle, there is a temptation to yield to the compulsion to go big. There are a good number of liter-plus choices in the genre, though considerably fewer in the mid-size range.
Even though the Suzuki V-Strom 650 is a stalwart mid-size adventure tourer, save for optional ABS in 2006, the bike has not been updated since its introduction in 2003. While that stagnation has not prevented the bike from doing well on the showroom floor, some new competition over the last few years meant a modernization was happily inevitable.
The process began in 2008, with the goal of making what Suzuki describes as "The Comfortable Adventure Tourer." To realize this goal, Suzuki engineers started virtually from scratch in redesigning the V-Strom 650.
Retiring the previous powerplant, Suzuki took the Gladius 650 V-twin and reworked it for the V-Strom. Changing the cam profile, the new V-Strom motor has more aggressive valve timing than the previous edition, though not as sporting as the Gladius. The objective was to pump up the midrange and increase fuel consumption efficiency.
We don't have mpg numbers on the old V-Strom 650, though I extracted about 44 miles out of each gallon of fuel on the new V-Strom in a very wide variety of conditions'Äîurban to rural, interstate to dirt road. Suzuki claims a fuel efficiency increase of 10-percent for the new bike, which enabled the engineers to shrink the tank capacity to a bit over five gallons. That, in turn, allowed for a narrower tank profile, offering opportunities for ergonomic improvements' the dominos fall. It's time to ride.
Beating the standard V-Strom off the production line is the all-new V-Strom 650 ABS Adventure, which is an accessorized version of the standard machine. There is no better place to test the capabilities of the new 650 Adventure than the diverse roads around North Carolina's Little Switzerland in the Blue Ridge Mountain range of the Appalachians.
As a bonus, I had the comfortable 101-year-old Little Switzerland Inn as a centralized base near the southern end of the legendary Blue Ridge Parkway in the Pisgah National Forest. If that isn't tantalizing enough, Bill Kniegge of highly regarded Blue Strada Tours (reviewed in our June/July 2009 issue) provided the indispensable local knowledge needed to make sure I was able to put the V-Strom through every possible challenge.
Many riders may know the Blue Ridge Parkway as a haven for RVs, minivans, blue hairs, and overly eager beaver Blue Ridge Parkway Law Enforcement Rangers. That, of course, is on-season. Riding the Blue Ridge Parkway in early November is a revelation.
Virtually devoid of anything other than the very occasional local, the Parkway is left to you, your motorcycle, and countless falling leaves fluttering across the high-quality pavement as autumn takes dead aim at winter. With no cross traffic and few transition roads, I was able to set my own pace on the V-Strom 650 Adventure with Kniegge leading the way—a finer personal guide you will not find.
As a street bike, the V-Strom 650 Adventure is a perfectly capable machine, as long as you work with the understanding that it is a 645cc V-twin pushing over 500 pounds, plus rider and cargo. Fast, it is not, though the V-Strom is remarkably friendly to ride.
Straightaways are few and far between on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This sort of road puts a premium on cornering capabilities and easy transitions, and the new V-Strom 650 shines in these conditions. Even with the 19″/17″ Bridgestone Trail Wing tire combination, the bike is willing to rock the twisties.
Cornering clearance is generous, and the Bridgestones will accommodate your desire for whatever lean angle you choose. Handling is impeccably neutral and predictable, and the six-inch travel suspension—which has been tightened up a bit and only adjustable for preload—rejects wallowing and uncertainty.
For a motorcycle marketed as an adventure machine, it is highly confident on pavement. Slaloming between corners, the V-Strom 650 has no resistance to changing direction. Nothing happens quickly or slowly; the bike reacts instinctively to your input.
When coming too hot into the corner, the ABS works flawlessly, though not transparently. Still too fast? Just lean a bit more; the V-Strom always seems to hold a little bit of handling in reserve.
To be sure, the tame motor helps make this possible. It is easier to make a bike with less horsepower handle well. Having said that, the liquid-cooled DOHC mill is not a dog. The power is in the midrange, so shifting the six-speed transmission is often optional. The V-Strom's motor does not rev quickly, though it pushes incessantly. It is ideal for its intended use; exclusive sport riders can choose a Gladius instead.
The silky power delivery is achieved through smoothing out the combustion process. Ten-hole fuel injectors and twin iridium spark plugs per cylinder further the goal.
I have always liked the feel of the Suzuki Dual Throttle Valve system, which smooths out the throttle response, and it is welcome on the V-Strom 650. As is often the case, the success of the motor is the result of many small, individually indistinct efforts.
Out on the open road, the V-Strom 650 Adventure can certainly hold its own. Trying to make-up some time as darkness was falling, I was cruising at 90 mph without stressing the motor. No, there is not a lot of power in reserve at that speed, though the overdrive sixth gear keeps revs low.
In general, the V-Strom's short-stroke 90-degree V-twin motor is remarkably free of vibration or steps in the power delivery. The sun did set before returning to the Little Switzerland Inn, however, and the new headlights show the way admirably on moonless unlit roads.
The new instrument panel is easily read, day or night. The large tach is analog, with your speed and transmission position reported by a large LCD. New and welcome is an ambient thermometer, and a small light that warns you when the temperature hits freezing.
Considering it is a 650, it can be called upon as a straight tourer. The aluminum panniers are high capacity, particularly the left box, which doesn't have to make room for the muffler. Despite the fact that Suzuki moved the muffler in, the panniers are mounted quite wide. They aren't custom made for the 650 Adventure, and require a Rube Goldberg mounting frame for attachment.
From behind you can see that they are mounted at an unappealing angle, so there is no styling advantage that comes with an integrated look. The latches lock securely, though you can't leave them unlocked' a bit of an inconvenience. Consider them practical, though a bit of an eyesore on a bike that looks quite nice unadorned. Many will probably opt for the standard V-Strom and add Suzuki's accessory resin sidebags, which fit much better.
A top box with a passenger backrest can also be easily installed onto the integrated luggage platform for maximum carrying capacity. While a passenger would be comfortable, and there are nice molded handholds, we would be looking at the V-Strom 1000 if we were routinely riding two-up.
Suzuki redesigned the V-Strom's seat, and it is a winner. High-end in appearance'Äîred stitching and an appealing V-Strom logo'Äîthe seat treats your rear end with respect thanks to it being 25-percent thicker than the previous version. The taller seat gives your legs a bit more room, which is welcome for touring.
Narrow in the front to make it easy to touch down at a stop, the seat is wide in the back for great support, plus there is a rise for the passenger that gives you something to push back against. It is a sit-and-stay perch, rather than one you move around on. There are two accessory seats – one taller, one shorter – that allow ergonomic personalization.
Attention was also paid to air management, from top to bottom. The fairing and windshield have been redesigned for more protection. The amount of wind that gets through is just right for an adventure tourer. The windshield is three-way adjustable, though a tool is required to accomplish this. A mini-deflector on the top of the windscreen is hand-adjustable and allows you to fine-tune the airflow effectively.
Suzuki fielded complaints about engine heat on the earlier V-Strom 650 and has done some serious redirecting. The stylish faux-carbon fiber front fender directs air to the radiator, which now has vents to move the air away from the rider's feet. Behind that, the oil cooler has been replaced by a liquid cooled heat exchanger at the exposed oil filter's base.
The heat deflection is effective, and I found myself wishing for a bit of warm air flowing over my Sidi Cobra boots, which are more sport than adventure. The fairing did its job, so even when the early morning ride temps were in the 40s, the AGV Sport Telluride jacket, pants and gloves kept me warm in conjunction with GatorSkins thermal top, pants, glove liners and neck gaiter. Next time I'll have to try some GatorSkins boot liners. The Vemar Jiano EVO TC helmet's integrated visor was perfect for changing light conditions. Proper apparel makes all the difference.
Back at the Little Switzerland Inn, enjoyment can be had at the Fowl Play Pub, and dinner at the Chalet Restaurant. Though the restaurant's menu is lacking in local flavor, the Cajun prime rib I consumed was tender and tasty. The Main Lodge room I stayed in was very clean, though appeared a bit rustic at first sight. However, it had a modern bathroom and speedy Wi-Fi is free, a nice lifeline in a rural setting.
Groups of motorcyclists can look into the Diamondback Lodge at the Switzerland Inn. An eight-bedroom, eight-bath cabin (all en suite), it has a common room with a fireplace. Outside, season permitting, there are hot tubs and a swimming pool. Another motorcyclist-friendly feature is covered parking for the motorcycles right outside the Diamondback Lodge.
Blue Strada Tours offers pre-planned itineraries, or Kniegge can cook up a delicious custom ride of his own. As the Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS Adventure has pretensions of off-pavement performance, a ride on a dirt road was in order. Curtis Creek Road, which joins the Blue Ridge Parkway with US Route 70, showed the Adventure to be reasonably adventurous.
The primary limitations to the V-Strom 650 on dirt are the street-focused tires and the always-on lightweight Bosch ABS. Careful application of the throttle is mandatory, and the smooth V-twin obliges if given thoughtful input.
In a straight line, feel free to throw a little roost in gravely areas, and take it easy through corners. If gravel roads are likely to be a common occurrence, Suzuki's accessory under cowling would be a good idea to protect the vulnerable oil filter.
Even with the standard steel engine guards, you do not want to drop the bike. The taut suspension evens out rough spots in the road, though not enough to keep one of the right pannier latches from exhibiting a chronic rattle.
As enjoyable as the V-Strom 650 was before, the 2012 version is a significant upgrade. The Adventure version is a highly adaptable machine that works quite well within its wide limits. The motor pulls better than it screams, and that is as it should be. The handling is all about predictability and nothing about pushing envelopes.
Long distances can be travelled, either through scenic twisting mountain roads or on a droning interstate. The V-Strom plays well in traffic, yet is happy to fling itself through corners in rural locales. It is a primarily solo sporting tourer that will gracefully accept the introduction of gentle dirt roads to the ride itinerary.
Enjoying a rich diet of single-purpose motorcycles that excel nonpareil at one particular skill makes it easy to forget the simple pleasure of a motorcycle with few boundaries. Putting some saddle time in on the 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS Adventure reminds us that flexibility can be a wonderful thing.
Story from previous issue of Ultimate MotorCycling…to view the digital edition, click here.


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How about some Ward-O-Matic Holiday Stamps?
Thanks to Dani of Rubber Soul, I've got my own line of holiday stamps! Check 'em out! They were a lot of fun to draw.
I drew a whole lot more for this collection, but Dani had to edit down to those particular stamps that would make it fun & easy to be able to tell a story. You know, it's not easy coming up with stamps that are simple and clear enough to be able to tell a story. I credit Dani with her extensive knowledge of stamp making to be able to select from my drawings a great collection of fun holiday-themed images you see here. I mean, there were some that I thought would be perfect for stamps, but Dani knew what she was doing. I trusted her. And the stamps are very well made. Great job, Dani! I'm so happy to be a part of this endeavor with Rubber Soul.
We're hoping that if there's enough interest with this collection then I'll do some year round stamps. Dani and I have been coming up with some other neato themes that could see the light of day after the holidays.
I'm thinking of doing a giveaway, but not sure about how to go about doing this. Need to talk with Dani about it first.
But right now, I'd like to put this out there: if any of you guys buy some of these stamps and create your own cards (or anything) featuring these stamps, please email me pictures of your creations! I'd LOVE to see what you guys come up with!
9 comments:
I told you before in flickr, I LOVE THEM!!!ReplyDelete
They're great! how about some sort of tutorial-making-of on stamp making?ReplyDelete
They are completely awesome!ReplyDelete
Well, Alberto, I would but making stamps is Dani's things, not mine! She hand-makes them herself after she receives my artwork. Pretty impressive.ReplyDelete
Glad you guys like 'em!
My fav is the stylish girl with the presentReplyDelete
- AnonymousNovember 15, 2009 11:38 PM
thank YOU ward! it's been a pleasure working with these designs, oh, and of course you too :)ReplyDelete
hey, and as far as a contest or something, i'll give you anything you want. how fun!
Ward my brother! We must be related....ReplyDelete
Happy to have stumbled upon your blog, and your stamps. What a treat.
I'll be back when I have more time to explore.
'till then....
- AnonymousNovember 19, 2009 9:44 PM
too cool! i'm stoked for trying them, and i hope you don't mind hat i posted about them on my blog.ReplyDelete
l-o-v-e stamps, l-o-v-e christmas.
They're beautiful - nice work!ReplyDelete


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Blog comment of the day: Here's how the Army screwed up its museum situation
From a suspiciously well-informed "Unicorn": Some facts: First the Army doesn't actually own enough in the way of museum worthy artifacts to fill a central museum even if one were to be built. Most of the nation's preserved history at arms was accomplished by the far larger militia in whose states that history was and ...
From a suspiciously well-informed "Unicorn":
Some facts:
From a suspiciously well-informed "Unicorn":
Some facts:
First the Army doesn't actually own enough in the way of museum worthy artifacts to fill a central museum even if one were to be built. Most of the nation's preserved history at arms was accomplished by the far larger militia in whose states that history was and is preserved (see for examples the Ohio Historical Society or the New York 69th ).
With the exception of the West Point teaching museum (on the old Ladycliff campus) the central Army and its general staff actually have very little in the way of artifacts. What does exist in the 1/3 of the Army that is active is: a) mostly WWII or after and that b) firmly in the hands of fort, camp and station museums that are 501 C3 outfits which have been in existence for years and have become part of the local communities' tourism base, as well as touchstones to unit identity (see for example the Airborne Museum). Over the decades of dreaming of a super army central museum there have been more than a few attempts by the Army general staff to gather "their" collection by demanding those "local" collections be made available for the to be built central facility. The reactions were predictable: "hell no" is a fair summary of those responses.
What the active Army does have is a large collection of art, mostly bad, all WWII and some after (including a vast store of really, really bad Nazi art ironically preserved aside Norman Rockwell pieces) that never sees the light of day. They are so protective of it that whenever a senior general or civilian asks for some to decorate their offices, it is supplied, but as a very expensive on cardboard fake (see the portraits of the former Army Secretaries and Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon – all are on card board fakes – the real "art" is in secure storage. The explanation for this is to prevent any of it being harmed should the Pentagon be attacked again. In case you were wondering, it is all housed in a high rise and high rent building in downtown DC just off of K Street. Go figure.
Second, the history of the many aborted sites for this central museum could be a novel in itself. In spite of a wealth of evidence that large scale museums only thrive (generating visitor traffic sufficient to cover the huge cost of a big central facility) when they are near other tourist attractions, making them part of a "destination experience" (see Disneyland), the Army has always tried to find out of the way places far from other things. This is best exemplified by the location of the moment – in the middle of Ft Belvoir, a place where even the local county commissioners say there is so much traffic it is impossible to get to, and there is zero else to do nearby making it a most UNdestination experience for tourists.
The previously aborted sites (the Mall, the Marriot Twin Bridges etc) each have their own sad tales; the current location was selected after the Army declined the opportunity to obtain for ONE DOLLAR the southern half of the Washington Navy Yard (then empty). Completely build out ready, this huge site had acres of land to build on, to parade, river front access for ducks etc, located adjacent the Navy's National Museum, close to two interstate highways, a Metro stop at the front door, the Capital barely 5,000 feet away, etc, etc. In short, this was a museum location of unbelievable potential. Instead the Army general staff convinced Louis Caldera and his Chief to trade that site for something at Belvoir (with John Warner in exchange his support) for several Stryker brigades that the Army was going to get anyway. You can't make this stuff up.
Unicorn out
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There is no person more central to Washington's bailouts of Wall Street than Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. As President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he oversaw the federal bailout of Bear Stearns and under former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Getihner designed the original bailout plan for the American International Group (AIG). As Treasury Secretary, Geithner has enthusiastically assumed full authority over the $700 billion TARP fund first secured by Paulson under President Bush and he has continued to wield it in the same haphazard manner as his predecessor.
Considering these facts, one might think that the Obama administration would be shy about making the personification of Washington's Wall Street bailouts the front man for their supposed financial reforms. But no, Secretary Geithner took to the op-ed pages of The Washington Post yesterday to make the case for the President's version of finance reform. After a brief defense of his TARP management, Secretary Geithner writes:
As the Senate bill moves to the floor, we must all fight loopholes that would weaken it and push to make sure the government has real authority to help end the problem of "too big to fail."
Crucially, if a major firm does mismanage itself into failure, the Senate bill gives the government the authority to wind down the firm with no exposure to the taxpayer. No more bailouts. Instead, we will have a bankruptcy-like regime where equityholders will be wiped out and the assets will be sold.
But does the Senate bill's "bankruptcy-like regime" solve the "too big to fail" problem? No. In fact it makes it worse. What the Dodd bill actually does is create a new $50 billion fund to be used in "emergencies" for restructuring firms deemed too close to bankruptcy. And who gets to decide when there is an emergency and which firms are too close to bankruptcy? You guessed it: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The Dodd bill is thus nothing but a permanent extension of Secretary Geithner's TARP powers.
But not only does the Obama administration's finance plan further empower the exact same bureaucrats who failed to prevent the last crisis, it also makes it more likely that those same institutions that made risky bad bets before will make the exact same mistakes again. MIT professor and 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown author Simon Johnson explains how promised government bailouts increase the moral hazard that leads to "too big to fail" policies: "Creditors had only limited incentives to watch over major banks. Ordinarily, creditors should demand high interest rates on loans to highly leveraged institutions. However, the expectation that large banks would not be allowed to fail made creditors more willing to lend to them." By establishing a permanent Geithner-controlled "emergency" fund, Wall Street creditors will know they never have to watch over their counterparts: if things go bad, their buddy Geithner will have their backs.
Responding to conservative arguments that their finance reform plan encourages, not discourages, future bailouts, White House blogger Jen Psaki wrote yesterday: "The reality is that there's a clear choice in this debate: to stand with American families or stand on the side of the big Wall Street banks and their lobbyists who are defending the status quo." Problem is, it is "the big Wall Street banks" that are supporting the Geithner permanent bailout plan. In their annual letter, current Goldman Sach's CEO Lloyd Blankfein and President Gary Cohn make the case for more Washington regulation. And as The Washington Examiner's Tim Carney documents, Obama raised about a million dollars from Goldman Sachs employees and executives in 2008, the most any politician has raised from a single company since McCain-Feingold. And the Obama administration employs many Goldman alumni/lobbyists including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, White House economic advisor Larry Summers, and Treasury Chief of Staff Mark Patterson. So who is really on the side of the American people and who really is doing the work of Wall Street lobbyists?
Quick Hits:
- The agreement signed by 46 countries at the end of the White House's Nuclear Security Summit yesterday is completely voluntary and President Obama later admitted that despite his efforts, he could not promise that China and other major powers would enforce sanctions on Iran.
- Defense Secretary Robert Gates disputed claims that Iran was mere months away from a nuclear weapon, instead reassuring Americans that the Iranian regime was "at least a year" from becoming a nuclear state.
- Israeli and U.S. officials allege that Syria has transferred long-range Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
- By a 14-point margin (39%-25%) more American voters believe the Supreme Court is too liberal than too conservative according to Rasmussen Reports.
- The Obama administration's new regulation making only unionized firms eligible for federal contracts will cost taxpayers 10%-20% higher construction costs on all federal projects.


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WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. shipment of petroleum and petroleum products by rail increased 16.8 percent for the week ending Aug 10. year-on-year, an industry group said.
The Association of American Railroads said total weekly carloads of 288,803 for the week ending Aug. 10 was 0.2 percent lower than the same time last year. The AAR said grain deliveries were down 11.4 percent, though six of the 10 commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2012.
The 12,726 carloads for petroleum and petroleum products, which represents about 8.2 million barrels of oil, was 16.8 percent higher year-on-year, the industrial group said Thursday.
The Energy Department said this week there is a growing supply of crude oil on the West Coast that can't be accounted for by production, imports or other means. It said this "unaccounted-for" crude oil was likely headed West by rail.
Oil production in the United States has increased to the point that it's straining existing pipeline capacity. The State Department, in a draft assessment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, said rail should be considered when gauging the project's national interest.
Read More
- Crude oil supplies slide
- North Dakota sets oil, gas production records
- Green war declared against Keystone XL
- Keystone XL review 'transparent'
- U.S. energy sector providing job boost
- Oil supplies slip modestly
- Critics say review of Keystone XL pipeline is 'tainted'
- Nebraskans challenge Keystone XL laws
- Crude oil supplies rise modestly


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How many are the lies that Egypt's military regime has forwarded concerning its role in attacking and killing Egyptian demonstrators since it usurped power a year ago?
There were, for instance, the lies concerning the Maspero massacre, where the military slaughtered Christian Copts who were protesting the constant attacks on their churches—including by running them over with armored-vehicles.
Despite all the video evidence [apparently now removed by YouTube], the military regime insisted that it would "never, never" run over civilians; that the very idea was "impossible, impossible!" It even showed a video of a military-vehicle running amok, claiming it was hijacked by Coptic protesters (it was later revealed that an Egyptian soldier was, in fact, inside driving).
More recently, Mohamad Tantawi, the head of the military—and de facto head of Egypt—insisted that the widely circulated video of soldiers beating, stripping, and kicking a female protester is "entirely fake"—a ludicrous assertion, even if Jimmy Carter supports it.
Who is the latest victim to be scapegoated for the military's crimes against its own citizenry? None other than the U.S.A.
Ongoing accusations that American officials were involved in killing Egyptian civilians have prompted the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to deny it through a January 27 press release:
As we have stated in previous press releases, there is absolutely no truth to reports that U.S. embassy employees or diplomats were involved in hit-and-run incidents using U.S. diplomatic vehicles, injuring or killing protestors in January 2011 in Cairo. There is also no truth to statements alleging that the keys inside U.S. diplomatic vehicles are coded and can only be used by U.S. Embassy employees. On January 28, 2011, however, a number of our U.S. Embassy vehicles were stolen. After these vehicles were stolen, we heard reports of their use in violent and criminal acts. If true, we deplore these acts and the perpetrators. Egyptian authorities have conducted an investigation that has led to the recovery of some of these stolen vehicles.
Who is behind these accusations? The military? As mentioned, it did make similar accusations against Coptic protesters, saying they hijacked and manned the military-vehicles that ran over fellow Copts at Maspero—only to be exposed as lying by Al Dalil.
While it is not altogether clear who is behind these accusations—this report indicates a lawyer of a former Egyptian official being tried, while older reports mention "communiqués"—it is, of course, the military regime that stands to gain by this latest case of blaming the other.


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34 S.Ct. 175
58 L.Ed. 38
DANIEL W. BAKER, Plff. in Err.,
BRAINERD H. WARNER. NO 41. DANIEL W. BAKER, Plff. in Err., v. BRAINERD H. WARNER. NO 42.
Nos. 41 and 42.
Argued November 5, 1913.
Decided December 22, 1913.
The plaintiff, Baker, United States district attorney for the District of Columbia, sued the defendant, Warner, for libel. Briefly stated, the complaint charges that:
The Washington Jockey Club owned a race track in the District where races were run and bets were made and in January, 1908, the plaintiff, as district attorney, had obtained from the grand jury an indictment charging one Walters with betting at this race track, contrary to the statute against gaming in the District. A demurrer was filed, which was sustained on March 11, 1908,—the court holding that the laying of bets on horse races, at this track, was not a violation of the act of Congress, which, as appears by reference to the statute (D. C. Code, § 869, 31 Stat. at L. p. 1331, chap. 854), only prohibited such betting and bookmaking within 1 mile of the boundaries of the cities of Washington and Georgetown. The plaintiff immediately took an appeal from this judgment in order that the court of appeals might determine whether such betting at such place was a violation of the gaming law of force in the District.
Shortly after the appeal, the Spring Meet of the Jockey Club began, being advertised to continue until April 14th. On the opening days of the Meet there were bookmaking and betting; but the complainant alleges that the plaintiff, 'conforming himself, as it was his duty to do, to the law as judicially construed by the supreme court of the District, did not issue warrants for the arrest of or present to the grand jury any persons for betting on the horse races.'
It is further alleged that at this time Warner was a candidate against Pearre for the nomination for Congress from Maryland, and, on March 28th, Warner composed and published, of and concerning the plaintiff, and of and concerning the office of the plaintiff, in a Washington newspaper, a certain false and defamatory libel. The article need not be set out at length, but the communication, after characterizing a speech by his opponent as undignified, proceeded to say that it was not wanting in dignity so much as for a judge of the District, 'who, with the United States district attorney (meaning the plaintiff), went to Rockville (meaning the town of Rockville, county of Montgomery, state of Maryland) last Saturday (meaning Saturday, the 21st day of March A. D. 1908) to attend a conference of Mr. Warner's (meaning defendant's) enemies, and determine what ammunition was needed to defeat him.
'The question now is, Where does the money come from in the contest against Mr. Warner? (meaning the defendant.)
How about the race track?
'meaning thereby, . . . that the said plaintiff entered into a conference with others for the purpose of determining what funds were necessary, and how same should be raised, to be used in the campaign in behalf of Pearre, and meaning . . . that the plaintiff was and is corrupt, in not presenting to the grand jury and prosecuting before the courts of the District, persons laying bets upon the contests at the race track, in consideration of contributions of money in the contest against the defendant from some company or person interested in the race track or the contests carried on thereon.'
The defendant filed a general denial, and, after a trial, there was a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. Motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment were overruled and the case taken to the court of appeals, which held not only that reversible error had been committed, but that the judgment should have been arrested. In No. 41 the case is here on a writ to review that ruling. To avoid any question as to the finality of that judgment of the court of appeals plaintiff sued out another writ of error (No. 42) after the judgment had been arrested in the trial court.
Messrs. Frank J. Hogan and Henry E. Davis for plaintiff in error.
Messrs. J. J. Darlington and W. C. Sullivan for defendant in error.
Statement by Mr. Justice Lamar:
Mr. Justice Lamar, after making the foregoing statement of facts, delivered the opinion of the court:
The plaintiff, who was United States district attorney for the District of Columbia, sued the defendant in an action for libel, and recovered a verdict for $10,000. The court of appeals (36 App. D. C. 493) held that the judgment should have been arrested, for the reason that the publication was not libelous per se, and was not shown to be defamatory by any averment of fact in the inducement or in the colloquim.
The publication was not libelous per se. The meaning of the article and person to whom it referred was so ambiguous that, in order to constitute a cause of action, it was necessary to set out extrinsic facts, which, when coupled with the words, would show that the writer charged the plaintiff with corruption in office. Accordingly, the plaintiff, in the inducement, averred that he was district attorney, charged with the duty of prosecuting violators of the law against gaming, and had procured an indictment against one for betting at the Washington Jockey Club, which indictment had been quashed, and, pending the appeal, and conforming to the ruling of the court, he had instituted no other prosecutions: That, under these circumstances, the defendant had published of and concerning the plaintiff, the article which is set out in the complaint.
There were general allegations that the article was written concerning the plaintiff in his office as district attorney, together with general statements in the innuendo that the defendant meant to charge him with corruption in office. There was, however, no distinct averment as to the meaning of those particular phrases in the publication on which the cause of action was really based. The court of appeals thereupon sustained the defendant's contention that the complaint was defective because of the failure specifically to allege what, as a fact, the words meant, and to whom they referred. It further held that the absence of such specific averments was not supplied by the general statement in the innuendo that the defendant meant to charge the plaintiff with a crime. This was based on the rule that it is not the office of the innuendo to set out facts, but rather to explain what is ambiguous, or to state a conclusion which, to be effective, must be supported by averments, definitions, references, or other facts alleged in traversable form in inducement and colloquium. It is, however, unnecessary to discuss the sufficiency of the complaint, which, even if defective, was amendable. The defendant did not demur, but joined issue, the case was tried by a jury, a verdict for the plaintiff was rendered, judgment was entered, and the defendant then moved in arrest.
Such motions are not favored. In considering them, courts liberally construe the pleadings, giving the plaintiff the benefit of every implication that can be drawn therefrom in his favor. Sentences and paragraphs may be transposed. The allegations in one part of the complaint may be aided by those in another, and if taken together, they show the existence of facts constituting a good cause of action, defectively set forth or improperly arranged, the motion in arrest will be denied.
In the present case the defendant was put on notice of the extrinsic facts surrounding the publication. The statements in the innuendo, even if misplaced, may, after verdict, be treated as substantive allegations of fact, given by transposition their proper position in inducement or colloquium. The verdict cured the defects, if any, in the complaint, and made it improper to arrest the judgment. Stanley v. Brit, Mart. & Y. 222; M' Claughry v. Wetmore, 6 Johns. 82, 5 Am. Dec. 194; Brittain v. Allen, 13 N. C. (2 Dev. L.) 124; Tuttle v. Bishop, 30 Conn. 80; Nestle v. Van Slyck, 2 Hill, 282. In answer to these decisions the defendant cites Ryan v. Madden, 12 Vt. 55, and other cases, to support his contention that the motion in arrest should have been granted. But those decisions announce what, in Bloss v. Tobey, 2 Pick. 330, was admitted to be a hard and technical rule,—one which, we think, has been modified by modern and more liberal rules of pleading and practice in the Federal courts and in those of most of the states.
The plaintiff, Baker, had a judgment in the trial court. The defendant, Warner, took the case to the court of appeals on various grounds, most of which were sustained. The plaintiff then brought the case here, assigning error on some of those rulings, but not on others. But we are not limited to a consideration of the points presented by the plaintiff, but, this being a writ of error from an intermediate appellate tribunal, must enter the judgment which should have been rendered by the court below on the record then before it.
While we reverse the order to arrest the judgment, we affirm the ruling of the court of appeals that there was an erroneous instruction on a matter material to the case and harmful to the defendant. The trial judge, summarizing the facts, charged that if the jury found from the evidence that plaintiff was district attorney; that in the District there was a race track where races were run and bets were made, which some claimed could have been prevented by prosecutions instituted by the plaintiff, and that he did not, in fact, prosecute such persons; if Warner was a candidate for Congress, and the plaintiff supported Pearre, his opponent, and the defendant, Warner, wrote and procured the publication of the article set out in the complaint,
'then you are instructed, as matter of law, that the said article is libelous and your verdict should be for the plaintiff, and the only question for your determination is what amount of damages the plaintiff is entitled to recover by reason of the publication of said article.'
This was error, since it was for the jury, and not for the court, to determine the meaning of ambiguous language in the published article. Where words are libelous per se the judge can so instruct the jury, leaving to them only the determination of the amount of damages. Where the words are not libelous per se, and, in the light of the extrinsic facts averred, could not possibly be construed to have a defamatory meaning, the judge can dismiss the declaration on demurrer, or, during the trial, may withdraw the case from the jury. But there is a middle ground where, though the words are not libelous per se, yet, in the light of the extrinsic facts averred, they are susceptible of being construed as having a defamatory meaning. Whether they have such import is a question of fact. In that class of cases the jury must not only determine the existence of the extrinsic circumstances, which it is alleged bring to light the concealed meaning, but they must also determine whether those facts when coupled with the words, make the publication libelous. Van Vechten v. Hopkins, 5 Johns. 219, 4 Am. Dec. 339. The meaning of the words was in dispute, and as that issue of fact was not submitted to the triers of fact, a new trial must be ordered.
This conclusion makes it unnecessary to consider the other questions in the case. The judgments of the Court of Appeals are reversed and the cases are remanded to that court with directions to reverse the judgments of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, and to remand the case to that court, with directions to grant a new trial, and for further proceedings in conformity with this opinion.


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By Judy Reed
Over 500 people filled the meeting room and foyer of Solon Township Hall Thursday evening to hear the personal stories of both current and former staff and board members of Cedar Springs Public Schools and how they have been affected by the policies of Superintendent Dr. Laura VanDuyn.
Several of the speakers were in tears as they told their stories in public for the first time, despite fears of retaliation.
VanDuyn was hired to be Superintendent four years ago, but a movement within the community to get her to resign or for the board to give her a vote of no confidence has been steadily growing. An online petition has garnered just under 1,900 signatures, and paper petitions with signatures will be presented at the next Board of Education meeting on March 26.
Mary Graf, an elementary teacher for 41 years, said she has worked for seven superintendents and several principals over the years. She said there would always be change, but also there has always been mutual respect and collaboration with the administration. She remarked that now there is no collaboration, and that teachers now feel repercussions if they don't completely agree with something or question anything. She said that happened to her last spring during a PLC on reading. There was a lot of tension in the room, and she said she tried to clarify how the teachers were feeling. The next week she received a letter from her administrator saying she had been unprofessional. Graf said her administrator had not even been in the meeting. When she met with him about it, he told her he was forced to write the letter.
Former board member Jan Wallace spoke about consultants, noting that the district had spent $300,000 over 15 months. "Do you wonder why our district has to consult outside experts so often?" she asked. Wallace added that $115,000 of that was spent on the Orange Frog program, "which teaches the staff to learn to be happier." She felt they could have used that money on the deteriorating roads on campus.
Wallace explained that when she was on the board, they looked at privatizing busing, and met with the staff to talk about it. "This board didn't do that. They had a consultant come in to help," she said.
Former board member Ted Sabinas talked about being locked out of the meeting on privatization of transportation; the fact that once he was on the board, staff and administrators told him they were not allowed to talk to him; and that all three elementary principals, two assistant principals, and the athletic director had all left in the last three years. He also noted that the Superintendent received a 3 percent raise while the staff did not receive a raise.
Long time teacher Joan Boverhof spoke about the relationship between the teachers and administration eroding. She said that the board, administration and teachers union used to work together as a team but that was not happening now.
Teacher Brett Burns, who also president of the teachers union, said the union has been trying to repair the relationship with the board but they aren't listening. He likened it to a child coming to him and saying he was being bullied and him ignoring it, and then the same thing happening again, and him not doing anything about it. "I am begging," he said. "We are hurting. When are you, the community, and the board going to acknowledge that we are human?"
Secretary Mary Gardner was in tears as she shared an ordeal she faced about being forced to administer shots. She steadfastly refused, as she has a fear of needles. It was something nurses used to do. She finally got a lawyer involved.
Teacher Erin Cairy spoke about taking leave just before school started. She said the administration never reached out to her. Although she emailed a letter to be sent to the students who were supposed to be in her class and their parents, it was never sent. She also emailed asking how she could help the new teacher, but that went unanswered. She said she returned this year, and many questions she's asked about programs, such as iready, have been taken as being negative.
At one point during the meeting, moderator Todd Norman asked the group how many were hearing these stories for the first time. Almost half the room raised their hand.
Teacher Libby Metiva said that the board of ed has said things that have wounded, but they have also been manipulated. "How can we help them? All of you are influencers. I'm asking all of you to help empower and influence the board members to take back Cedar Springs."
Superintendent VanDuyn gave the Post a statement about the petition.
"As superintendent, it is my promise to the community to make the best decisions I can to ensure our students have an exceptional educational experience while keeping our district financially stable. Our students should have a top notch school system to develop and grow. I am saddened by this petition as I am fully committed to making CSPS the best place it can be. My daily motivation and priority continues to be serving the students and families of CSPS."
To watch the entire video of the community meeting, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68xfuX_Ulsw&feature=youtu.be


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Borgund Hyttesenter og Camping
Borgund Hyttesenter & Camping is nicely located in the Lærdal Valley with steep mountains beautiful nature. Offers Fishing in the Borgundfjord
Welcome to Borgund cabins and camping! Our campsite is a full service site with a cafè, beautiful views and great camping facilities. Whether you arrive with a caravan, a camper van or wish to pitch your tent, our campground acommodates all needs. Electricity, fully equipped service buildings and cabins for rent. It is common sanitary facilities with shower, toilet and laundry room with new washer. What to do? Our river offers great Trout fishing, the Borgund Stave Church is a short drive away. We also have a fine playground with a trampoline for the kids. Where are we? We are situated in Lærdal by the main E-16 road, 500 metres past the Borgundstunnel , 25 km east of the village of Lærdalsøyri and 20 km east of the world's longest tunnel, Lærdalstunnelen, and 7.5 km west of Borlaug. Flåm is a 50km drive away from our site. Restaurant:
On our meny you will find a selection of fastfood in addition to some traditional Norwegian food. We also have mineral water, coffee, ice-cream etc.
Last updated: 09/08/2023
Source: Visit Sognefjord AS
Borgund Hyttesenter og Camping


text:
The story begins with Yggdrasil, a popular online game which is quietly shut down one day; however, the protagonist Momonga decides to not log out. Momonga is then transformed into the image of a skeleton as "the most powerful wizard." The world continues to change, with non-player characters (NPCs) begining to feel emotion. Having no parents, friends, or place in society, this ordinary young man Momonga then strives to take over the new world the game has become.
It still exists!
Chat still exists! To use chat, all you have to do is sign in to your free Animegg account!
You can create an account here!


text:
Do What You Love and . . .
Vicki Hinze
For years, we've heard: Do what you love and the money will follow. For most of us, that advice has proven true—and false. Why both? Because there's another aspect to the advice that should be included but is often omitted. The whole of the advice should read:
Do what you love and do what needs doing, and the money will follow.
Regardless of what it is you love enough to invest in as your career, if you don't do the things you need to do to assure your success, then odds are against your efforts meeting with success. In other words, you love it but must also prepare and work for what you love.
An example. Let's say you want to be a writer. You love writing, and so you write. But you have no idea how to structure a story, or to build characters, or to develop a plot. You just write. The results are you create a book that is almost unreadable because what was in your mind when writing isn't what's on the page. And what is on the page doesn't translate well for readers. Result? No money.
So you do what needs doing. You study story structure, characterization, and plotting. You read to see how successful writers do these things and then you rewrite your book, incorporating all you've learned.
Now you have a readable book. And more of what you envisioned during the writing has translated onto the page. Result? Better book…but no money.
Why? Because you didn't know what you didn't know so you didn't do all you needed to do. You loved writing. But for the money to come, you must write to sell.
So you do what needs doing. You look at other books that have sold well and figure out why they sold well. Then you take what you've learned and incorporate it into your book. Result? A better book with more commercial market appeal…but no money.
Still no money? Why not?
Because you love writing but you still haven't done all of what you need to do to understand how the publishing industry works. What do you actually do with a completed book to sell that book? Do you find an agent? How do you go about doing that? Do you try to find a publisher? How do you go about that without an agent? Do you become an independent publisher? How you do that? Throw the book up on an online bookseller and hope for the best? In any of these choices what needs doing? Because until you do what needs doing—yes, you know what's coming next—no money.
There is merit in doing what you love. As someone once said about that, if you love what you do, you won't work a day in your life. Full credit to that person for sharing that insight. But while you won't feel as if you're working, odds are you'll work harder than you've ever in your life worked. You just won't mind because you love doing it. Because you're passionate about what you're doing, and passion fuels your enthusiasm.
On occasion, you'll hear about the new writer who wrote a bangup bestseller and fell into the right place at the right time with the right project and became an overnight success. But it's far more common to hear of the writer whose overnight success took about six years and a handful of books to get lucky. The career was built, one book at a time and grew along the way.
The more you do what needs doing, the greater your odds for success in earning a living at doing what you love. People used to call that paying your dues or learning the ropes. Depending on your chosen field, some called it an internship, or time as an apprentice. By whatever name you call it, loving what you do requires you to do what needs doing to help achieve your objective: to do what you love and earn a living. That's the bottom line.
* * * * * * *
© 2016, Vicki Hinze. Vicki Hinze is the award-winning bestselling author of nearly thirty novels in a variety of genres including, suspense, mystery, thriller, and romantic or faith-affirming thrillers. Her latest release is The Marked Star. She holds a MFA in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Theocentric Business and Ethics. Hinze's website: www.vickihinze.com. Facebook. Books. Twitter. Contact. Subscribe to Vicki's Monthly Newsletter!