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With Trump withdrawing from the JCPOA and European allies showing no signs that they'll withstand US pressure, the Iran nuclear deal is in danger and the threat of war has increased, says Jamal Abdi of the National Iranian American Council
Story Transcript
AARON MATE: It's the Real News. I'm Aaron Mate.
Making good on a longtime threat, President Trump has announced he's withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal.
DONALD TRUMP: The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen. In just a short period of time, the world's leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world's most dangerous weapons. Therefore, I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.
AARON MATE: Trump has directed his administration to reimpose sanctions that were lifted as part of the 2015 agreement which capped Iran's enrichment of uranium. The deal's other members say they want to keep it, but that will be difficult with the U.S. dropping out. Speaking in Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran will hold talks with the deal's remaining members.
HASSAN ROUHANI: If we come to the conclusion that with the collaboration of five countries it is feasible to attain what the Iranian people wish , despite the views of the U.S. and the Zionist regime, and also, and also the impolite remarks by Trump. We should see whether it is possible to just keep up with JCP O A, and also take steps in line with regional peace and tranquility.
AARON MATE: Joining me is Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian American Council. Welcome, Jamal. Your group has just put out a statement saying that this decision is reckless, and saying that it's put the U.S. on the path to war with Iran. Why?
JAMAL ABDI: Well, to start with you just need to look at the people that are in the White House now. I think Donald Trump entered the White House with an intent to unravel the Iran deal, but largely motivated by his bizarre animus towards Barack Obama. Wanted to undo his legacy. Since then we have seen the people around him who argued against killing the deal at each deadline gradually being shown the door, and the people that have come in, people like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, have long argued for military action against Iran. John Bolton wrote just a couple of years ago that we need to start bombing Iran. He wrote an article, an open memo to Trump about how he would leave the deal. And it included all of these measures that are steps that you would take as you prepare for war.
Fundamentally, though, I think the reason that this puts us on a path to war, it's not just the advisers, it's not just the precarious situation in the region and all the potential tripwires. But it's that Trump has taken diplomacy off the table. He has made it so that no Iranian leader, certainly not Rouhani at this point in time, can enter negotiations with the United States after this black eye that has been given to his administration and to the entire notion that you can engage the U.S. This is an important debate that has that happening in the Islamic Republic for, for years for decades. And I think what Trump did today was he effectively said, he solved that debate once and for all and said no. Negotiating with the United States is a trap. You are going to be weakened by it. And if you take diplomacy off the table, there are measures that fall short of that, sanctions and pressure campaigns.
But the reason that the Obama administration entered negotiations with Iran, it was prepared to make the compromises necessary to get this deal, was that there was a recognition by the Obama administration that we were running out of ways to actually deal with the Iranian nuclear challenge, and we were rapidly approaching a situation in which we would need to either be prepared to live with an Iran that had the capability to break out and build a nuclear weapon without being detected, or we were going to go to war with Iran. And I think now we have once again reduced our options to those, you know, to those two.
AARON MATE: It's worth remembering that Obama did try the route of crippling sanctions first, before diplomacy happened, as you're just explaining. But the fact that those sanctions failed to work, I think, was a big part of the calculus behind the decision to make this deal with Iran, as your colleague Trita Parsi documents in his recent book.
Let me ask you, then, what happens with the sanctions with the U.S. now reimposing them? European allies, Russia and China, also are saying they're committed to the deal, but can they make up for the huge consequences of now the U.S. reimposing sanctions that were lifted as part of the deal?
JAMAL ABDI: You know, not only are we now playing a game of nuclear chicken with Iran, we are now playing a game of, you know, economic chicken with, with Europe and the rest of the world. I think the words coming out of Europe are, are fantastic. The notion that we're going to continue the deal and try to make this work. Rouhani and Iran saying the same thing. I think it's going to be very, very difficult in practice to actually make that happen. If the United States, as President Trump indicated today, really goes full bore with these sanctions and makes it so that European entities that want to do business with Iran are going to be locked out of the United States, if you have Iranian banks designated as, as, you know, on the sanctions list, it's going to be extremely difficult for these entities to do business with Iran. Unless, you know, Europe really does want to stand up to the United States and put blocking measures in place, and really fence off some of these operations.
And that would be a pretty significant undertaking. It's not completely impossible. But I think the signals that came out of Europe in the lead up to this decision, in which you had Macron, you had Merkel coming to the White House and sort of validating, almost, what what Trump was saying, you know, being willing to play ball with this this absurd notion that Trump was trying to fix the deal instead of just kill it. I think that signaled to the Trump administration that they could bully Europe, and Europe was going to take it, and wasn't actually prepared to stand up to defend this deal.
So you know, if I were to place a bet, I don't think that Europe is ready to really stand up to the United States and protect the deal. But I hope that I'm proved wrong.
AARON MATE: All right, so then, we have 30 seconds. What, then, will be, do you think the Iranian government's next moves, and what kinds of pressures are they going to be under now with U.S. sanctions back in place?
JAMAL ABDI: Well, I think this actually makes things, in some respects, more simple for the Iranian government. Whereas the nuclear deal, with the opening up of the of the Iranian economy actually put sort of upward pressure on the government from the population, this now, this move by the United States, I think, will risk creating this rally around the flag effect, and really, you know, sort of takes away that pressure from the population. But this is going to be very tough for the Iranian economy. I think that they're going to look towards China and Russia as their, their main supporters, and hope that they can, as Rouhani said, rely on what he said were the two superpowers in order to keep the economy afloat.
AARON MATE: All right, we'll leave it there for now. Join us in Part 2. My guest is Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian American Council.
AARON MATE: It's the Real News. I'm Aaron Mate, continuing with Jamal Abdi. He is the policy director of the National Iranian American Council.
Jamal, I want to go back to more of President Trump's comments from today at the White House, explaining his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. And in his speech he referenced last week's speech from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
DONALD TRUMP: At the heart of the Iran deal was a giant fiction that a murderous regime desired only a peaceful nuclear energy program. Today we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie. Last week Israel published intelligence documents long concealed by Iran conclusively showing the Iranians' regime and its history of pursuing nuclear weapons. The fact is this was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made.
AARON MATE: That's President Trump speaking earlier today. Jamal Abdi, can you talk about this claim of Trump's that somehow Netanyahu proves something new, that Iran had been hiding its nuclear weapons activities, based on these documents that Israel says was stolen from Iran?
JAMAL ABDI: You know, Netanyahu's presentation was a very elaborate rollout for what was essentially the entire thesis for why we got a nuclear deal with Iran in the first place. I mean, he essentially was making the case that was made 15, 20 years ago about the concerns with Iran's nuclear program and the need to have verification measures in place. I don't think that there was anybody, really, who thinks that Netanyahu revealed anything new. I mean, you know, at least Colin Powell, when he went to the UN, he had a little jar of anthrax. Trump has a PowerPoint presentation by Netanyahu with no new information in it.
I think it's, it's a pretty weak justification for this move. I don't think that he, Trump or Netanyahu, has really managed to convince anybody. And you know, it's, it's also, not funny, but it's interesting that Trump's Secretary of State, when he was being vetted by the Senate, he actually played down the Iran nuclear threat. He said, well, if we leave the deal, there's no threat. Iran's not going to race to build a bomb. And this was after years of people like Pompeo saying that Iran was on the verge of building this bomb. And now Netanyahu trying to inflate that threat. I think this is just, this is a lot of PR nonsense, and I just don't think there's any there there.
AARON MATE: There is some uncertainty, from what I can tell, about what sanctions exactly Trump will reimpose. Is he going to reimpose all the sanctions that were lifted, or is he going to wait until he faces more deadlines to make a decision on those future sanctions. Can you explain what exactly you expect to, Trump to do now, now that he's withdrawing the U.S. from the deal?
JAMAL ABDI: Yeah. Well, I thought it was interesting today. This was sort of the most Trumpian of Trump moves. So you know, a lot of us thought, OK, he is going to begin withdrawing, but he is going to have some conciliatory words towards U.S. allies in Europe, maybe talk about a phasing in of sanctions to provide some time for this so-called fix to the deal to materialize, a gradual ratcheting up of of pressure something on those lines.
Instead he just came out and said it, we're withdrawing from the deal, and the sanctions go into effect immediately. Now, there are, you know, various logistical reasons that the sanctions will actually take between 90 and 180 days to come online. But effectively, this means that if you begin any investment in Iran now, if you don't start wanting that down over the next few months you will then be subject to U.S. sanctions.
So this is, this is immediate. And you know, we were talking all the nuclear sanctions that were lifted under the deal. What kind of gets lost in this entire conversation is that, you know, Iran, even with the deal in place, remains one of the most sanctioned countries in the world. The United States maintains a total economic embargo of Iran which, you know, because the United States has the largest economy in the world, [inaudible] has pretty significant implications. So what this, though, is this means that the United States is slapping back on its secondary sanctions, which are really sanctions against other countries to prevent them from doing business with Iran. And those are going to be, according to Trump, total.
AARON MATE: And in terms of what this means for Iran's nuclear program, I mean, it was the assessment of U.S. intelligence that whatever military purposes Iran may have intended for its nuclear program were ceased back in the early 2000s. And there's some debate whether even Iran ever had a nuclear, anything close to a nuclear weapons program at all. But what do you think Iran will do now? I mean, now, as I understand it, the deal totally collapses and it's no longer bound to admit these intrusive inspections that it has already undergone. I believe it's already been 10 inspections since the deal came into effect. What do you think Iran does vis-a-vis a nuclear program, knowing that, looking to North Korea, for example, that having a nuclear weapon might be its best way to deter the regime change goals that the Trump administration officials have openly espoused?
JAMAL ABDI: Yeah. The lesson continues to be if you've got, if you've got a program, you should take it all the way like North Korea and develop nuclear weapons. Because everybody who ends up turning it over or subjecting themselves to intrusive inspections ends up getting played in the end. So this is not a great development for nonproliferation, or for the notion that you can actually utilize diplomacy to prevent the spread of WMD.
I think for Iran they have a number of options. I don't think Iran is going to cede this card that it now has, which is that it is the reasonable party. It is not the United States that is the fair dealer here. And so I don't expect that Iran would do anything, at least at this point, that is overly provocative, that would then give the United States the upper hand to mobilize the international community against Iran. So I think, you know, at most, you know, the Iranians, they have threatened, you know, we could potentially leave the nuclear deal. We could abandon the additional protocol, which is the enhanced [inspections], or we can leave the nonproliferation treaty completely. I don't think any of that is going to happen, at least not in the interim.
But if it does, you know, Iran does have a lot of measures that they can take short of actually, you know, sprinting out or even covertly developing nuclear weapons. They can claim for medical purposes that they need to go back to enriching uranium closer to weapons grade. They could even say they need to be able to fuel nuclear submarines, and enrich very close to weapons grade. And so you know, regardless of intention, you know, we can have the debate about whether Iran sought nuclear weapons or sought a nuclear weapons capability. But regardless of that, this does, this is a bargaining chip. This is a form of leverage that Iran does have. And I think it's going to treat it as such and try to play this card very wisely and strategically.
AARON MATE: And in terms of the U.S. withdrawl from this deal increasing the chances of war. You have many observers point out that war between the U.S. and Iran doesn't necessarily mean an attempt to overthrow the government in Tehran, but that it will increase tensions in the proxy battles that are taking place, especially in Syria. So already today Israel has announced that it's on higher alert because it detects increased Iranian movement inside Syria, and there are reports it's carried out a new strike, on top of the dozens of strikes it's carried out in Syria over the past several years. Do you think that this announcement today is a signal that the neoconservatives in the White House plan to ratchet up tensions with Iran inside of places like Syria?
JAMAL ABDI: Yeah, I think there's a signal that the U.S. may, may potentially ratchet up some of these measures. You know, the White House, at least before Bolton and Pompeo came on board, was sort of divided between the old hands, the sort of pragmatic hawks like James Mattis, and you know, the people who are urging Trump to be more provocative and sort of reckless. And Mattis is still there, and I think a lot of people view him as this source of confidence, that he's going to talk Trump away from doing anything too stupid. But even Mattis supports confronting Iran's, [inaudible] cracking down on Iranian activities, and stepping up engagement of Iran and Iranian interests in the region.
So I think between the Mattis viewpoint and the John Bolton viewpoint, which is that we need to actually make regime change our policy and that there is no negotiating with this government, which I think was pretty clear he has gotten through to Donald Trump, because that is what Donald Trump effectively said today, I think you have sort of this, this road map to how a war begins. And it starts with Syria, potentially, as a flashpoint, and it ends with regime change inside of Iran. And I think that's probably what some of the people in the White House are thinking is going to be the case now.
AARON MATE: And just to get up to date with what's happening, there are explosions now today being reported in Damascus. I'm reading this from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Explosions reported near, near Damascus. Syrian reports claiming that Israeli jets have entered Syrian airspace, the Israeli army announcing that it believes that Iran is preparing an imminent strike across the border from Syria. That latter claim seems to be very unlikely. The idea, the notion that Iran would strike Israel from inside Syria, when really it's been Israel, as I said earlier, that's been bombing Syria repeatedly over, for several years, increasingly now targeting Iranian targets.
JAMAL ABDI: Ever since Trump took office, the name the game has been to try to goad Iran to do something stupid. To justify, before it was to try to get Iran to do something stupid within the context nuclear deal to justify the United States leaving the agreement and being able to credibly blame Iran, which, you know, the Rouhani government and the Iranians have been very disciplined. This is not the Ahmadinejad government. They have not fallen for some of these traps. They haven't fallen for some of the provocations of Trump, you know, essentially violating the deal, but not in so many words, for many months.
Now I think the name the game may be to goad to Iran to do something stupid militarily. And I don't, you know, I don't see how it is credible that Iran would be lining up these activities right now. It does not make any strategic sense for them at this moment in time, when they have the support of the international community, to then do something provocative targeting Israel. Who knows. But I do, I do think that it's pretty clear that Israel and [inaudible] of our other allies view this as an opportunity to begin to really start to escalate these things, and sort of dare Iran to cross some lines, because clearly now the gloves are off.
AARON MATE: We'll leave it there. Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian American Council, thank you.
JAMAL ABDI: Thank you.
AARON MATE: And thank you for joining us on the Real News.


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Are You Prepared For Government Jobs?
If you are preparing for government jobs, the foremost thing you should ask yourself is whether you are clear about your career choices. You should not be rigid about choosing any particular position, but be surely determined to choose a particular field of job. In the similar manner, it's not just choosing to be in the government sector, but choosing a particular department is also important. So, before applying, you need to be sure whether you want to apply for civic volunteer jobs or SSC Group D jobs. Accordingly, you should prepare and apply.Most of the government recruitment drives offer chances to the interested candidates to apply online. Important information regarding the URLs, dates, and educational qualification can be obtained from a reputed govt. job portal. But solving sample papers and learning to solve mathematical equations are not enough to get a job in the govt sector. You need to know how to prepare yourself for the best. Here is a list of pointers to help you prepare yourself for securing a position in the government sector:Figure out the particular fieldYes, most importantly, you need to choose a particular field of job that you want to do. If you want to be a teacher in a govt school, do not sit for SSC group D jobs. Instead, you should give SSC TET jobs. If only you have a special interest in a particular field, you should follow vacancy information and dates for that particular field and apply accordingly. So, give yourself some time to think and prepare accordingly. This will also help you to get good scores in the exams.Keep a positive attitudeYou must have heard so many times that getting a job in the government sector is very difficult. However, if you keep a positive attitude and work hard towards achieving your goal, nothing is impossible. Yes, for getting a govt job, you may have to go through several tests and screenings. But do not lose hope. Be positive and enthusiastic. This will reflect in your efforts as well as in your body language as you appear before the employer during the interview session.Using the right tools helpUse the right job searching tools and the right govt. job portal for searching vacancy information of your liking. There are a few good online portals where you can genuine and comprehensive information on the recruitment drives by the central or the state governments. You can thus apply on time and also submit appropriate documents. This will make it easier for you to apply for your dream job on time.Prepare well and get readyPrepare yourself for the best performance. Remember, clearing both the written examination as well as the interview is tough and requires a perpetual and deliberate effort. Enrol in an institute that offers training for getting government jobs. Experienced mentors will provide the best tips for cracking both the written exam as well as interview. Be patient and diligent in your approach. You may have to prepare for an exam for months or years before getting successful. It may not be possible to crack any exam at one go. You should not lose hope and try again after an unsuccessful attempt.Improve your communication skillsWhether you are applying for SSC Group D jobs or for SSC TET jobs, you need to have good communication skills. This will help you to score high marks in the interview as well as in the written exam. You must know that candidates with good communication skills are always preferred by the employers. So, develop your communication skills along with practicing sample papers.All these tips will help you to be better prepared for getting jobs in the government sector. You must make it a point to follow guidelines for each vacancy provided on the official websites of the respective departments. Best wishes!

subset: commoncrawl


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SCR-536 Radio
The SCR-536 was a two-way, portable radio used extensively by United States armed forces during World War II. It was known by the name "Handie Talkie." Production on the SCR-536 radio began in July of 1941, and approximately 130,000 of them were built by Galvin Manufacturing Co./Motorola of Chicago, Illinois.
The SCR-536 was waterproof and could be submerged for a period of time without affecting its performance. The radio was turned on by pulling out its antenna, and turned off by collapsing the antenna.
For his work on the SCR-536, Don Mitchell, chief engineer at Galvin, was awarded the War Worker's Award from the Chicago Tribune on September 21, 1944. Galvin was awarded five Army-Navy "E" Awards during World War II, in part to its SCR-536 and SCR-300 radio designs.
Captain Miller is seen using a SCR-536 once his company makes it to the top of the bluff at Omaha Beach.
Conflicting sources indicate that SCR stands for either "Signal Corps Radio" or "set, complete, radio."


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Chicago man charged with Christmas Eve burglaries in Riverside
SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A Chicago man has been charged with a string of Christmas Eve burglaries in west suburban Riverside.
Riverside police were called about 11:30 p.m. Saturday to the 200 block of Woodside Road where a burglary to a motor vehicle was reported, according to a statement from Riverside police.
Officers learned that the stolen items included an iPhone, so they used the owner's Apple account to track it to a man they found running in a backyard with a red bag similar to one that was stolen, police said.
At one point, police lost sight of the man, who went behind a shed and snorted crack cocaine, police said. They caught him in the backyard of a home in the 300 block of North Delaplaine and recovered a number of stolen items from various burglary scenes along the way, police said.
Martin Daniels, 52, was taken into custody and later charged with two felony counts of burglary to a motor vehicle. They learned that Daniels, of the 1300 block of South Komensky in Chicago, rode a bike from Chicago to Riverside and started breaking into unlocked vehicles.
Riverside police said they have tied him to at least four separate motor vehicle burglaries.
Daniels is currently out on parole for a burglary from January in the 5600 block of North Osceola in Chicago, police said. His bond was set at $50,000 at a hearing on Monday.


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This Week's Nutrition News Feed
In this week's news: Restaurant items shed calories; USDA sprinkles on sobering news about salt intake from sandwiches; and a study sleuths out sugar's effects on memory and the brain.
What goes up must come down; that appears to be true even of the calorie counts at big-chain restaurants. A study of 66 restaurants, including McDonald's and Applebee's, conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health determined that new items added to menus in 2013 contained an average of 12 percent fewer calories than those added in 2012. The study's authors say the caloric reduction — about 60 calories, on average — may actually have a "significant" impact on the U.S. obesity epidemic. That is assuming, of course, that people actually order the lower-calorie options.
Sandwiches, those lunchtime staples, are a huge part of the American diet. A new study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has found that, on any given day, about 49 percent of adults across the country consume at least one sandwich, and that sandwiches constitute a surprisingly large part of our caloric and sodium intake. In fact, researchers concluded, U.S. adults get about 20 percent of our total daily sodium from sandwiches, and those who eat sandwiches tend to take in more calories (about 300 more, on average) and salt overall. Because of this, one study co-author encourages "substituting lower-sodium for higher-sodium ingredients in sandwiches," which, she says, "could significantly impact sodium intakes."
Sugar has been fingered as a culprit in a host of health issues, ranging from obesity to cavities to heart disease. Now a new study has linked sugar to memory problems and brain inflammation — at least in juvenile rats. After adolescent rats were fed a sugary beverage by University of Southern California researchers, they had much more difficulty than control groups negotiating a maze, perhaps resulting from inflammation in the hippocampus caused by the sugar. "Consuming a diet high in added sugars not only can lead to weight gain and metabolic disturbances," one co-author said, "but can also negatively impact our neural functioning and cognitive ability."


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Now that the Toronto Fishing shows have concluded along with some recent retailer spring open houses, we look forward to bass season and the upcoming tournaments here in the North. If you happened to stop by our retailers at the shows you may have met Matt Torlee during the show season, and you will know that he has a zest for fishing.
The Rod Glove recently caught up with Matt Torlee to find out a bit more about him and what he has in planned for the 2017 tournament season.
How did you get into fishing? When did you learn?
I used to spend summers at my Aunt and Uncle's cottage on Lake Windigo in Northern Ontario. My Aunt was an avid angler and shared with me her passion for fishing. When I was old enough to take the boat out by myself - I would spend twelve hour days on the water and every night I would make my way back to the dock in the dark. Also, I was a city kid and spent a lot of time fishing the Thames River in London, Ontario. Needless to say, fishing became an obsession for me at a very young age.
What made you want to get into tournament angling?
I remember walking through a park with a friend of mine and coming across a Bassmania tournament weigh-in for Lake Couchiching. I couldn't believe the size of the fish that anglers were bringing to the scales. I was envious and told my friend that one day I would love to get into tournament fishing. In addition to my love for fishing, I always craved the competition that sports offered. Bass tournament fishing seemed like the perfect opportunity to satisfy both of these obsessions. In pursuit of this goal, I decided to join the Simcoe chapter of the Canadian Bass Anglers Federation. In the club, I was fortunate to meet some great people and spend time on the water with some very talented bass anglers. Eventually, I returned to compete in the same tournament that I had witnessed as a spectator in the park a couple of years earlier. Only this time, I would take home a cheque and a trophy for first place.
Who are your biggest influences in the fishing industry?
On the Canadian scene, I have a great deal of respect for guys like Bob Izumi and Derek Strub. Derek is a wealth of knowledge and dominates smallmouth on big water. Bob Izumi has experienced unprecedented success while competing on bass circuits for decades. In Canada, he has pretty much reached legendary status. On the American bass fishing scene, I consider Mike Iaconelli quite influential. He's very talented and his passion for bass fishing is absolutely contagious. I think that the common thread here is that all of these guys care deeply about the sport and are quick to share their knowledge and experience with others.
What tournaments series do you fish and what placements have you had?
In the past, I've fished the FLW Canada, Bassmania, and the Top Bass series. Some highlights include:
- Bassmania - 1st place on Lake Couchiching, Classic Qualifier in 2015, 2016 and Regionals Qualifier in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016
- Top Bass - several top 15 finishes. Cashed a cheque twice on Tri-lakes.
- Big fish winner - Fall Challenge 2014
- Big fish winner - Quinte Bass Champs 2014
- Recent placements in 2016 include: 4th place in the Bassmania Regional Cup IV and 10th place in the Bassmania XX Classic.
Any memorable moments while fishing?
There are so many memorable moments on the water that it's difficult to choose. These moments are what fishing is all about. Once I was fishing a tournament on Lake Eugenia and it was a really slow day. We had five fish in the box totaling 8 pounds. At this point, it looked like there wasn't the slightest chance that we would cash a cheque. We had about ten minutes left to fish before we had to head to the weigh in. My line jumped, I set the hook and culled one of our fish with a 4 pounder. To make a long story short - in ten action packed minutes, we culled every fish we had. We headed back to the weigh-in with only one minute to spare. In the end, we had the biggest bag and placed first in the tournament. It was fantastic that we won the tournament, but more importantly, this experience helped me develop a different mind-set on the water. I began to feel much more confident and I developed the belief that, with perseverance and determination, your day can do a complete 360 in a matter of minutes.
Other memorable moments include: catching my first 5 pounder on Rice Lake, catching my first 6 pounder in the Kawartha's and receiving my first cheque on stage.
How has The Rod Glove helped you on and off the water?
Several years ago I was fishing a tournament on Lake Erie. We had very little time to get to the weigh in. We put our rods in the rod locker and strapped some of them to the deck. The weather was bad and we had to battle three footers on our way back. Needless to say, the ride back was an absolute gong show. When we arrived, the rods, reels, line, and lures in our boat were in a chaotic state. It looked like a bomb had gone off in our boat. Three rod tips had broken and our rods were in such a mess that we had to cut line off of them and re-tie every one of them. A couple of days later, I heard about the Rod Glove – and realized that this was the ideal solution to avoid what had happened to us on Lake Erie. The Rod Glove helps keep my boat organized and saves me valuable time on the water. It's also a great way to protect my investment. Every once in a while I sell my rods. The rod Glove keeps them in mint shape and increases their resale value. I also appreciate the fact that there and many colour options. This helps to me to easily identify my rods and organize them based on technique.
What are your plans for the 2017 season?
In 2017, I'm excited to team up with Richard Hough again to compete in the Bassmania Western Tour.
Hopefully, we will get another chance to compete in the Classic. I'm also looking forward to fishing FLW Quinte with Colin Hunter.
The ultimate goal is to fish in the championship on Tri-lakes with a shot at moving on to compete in the U.S. We will also be competing in the Thousand Island Open for the first time. This tournament offers some stiff competition and promises to be exciting. In August, I will be heading to the 2017 Hank Gibson Qualifier in Petawawa with the hope of making Team Ontario.


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The world changes.
We were at the House of Blues this week. We had a great show with the full band, Chris Giambelluca on bass and Nadim Shehab on drums. Well, I say "great," because it was fun and light and memorable. Perhaps not so great because my voice started to lose itself and jump to other notes I did not want it to go to. Like I was 13 again.
"Sing, sing, squaaaawk, sing, sing."
Anyway. Fun show. Playing with our friends, the Nikhil Korula Band. We walked in and they were sound-checking, we waved hello and set our gear down. We've played with them three times before, they're great guys and we like to pal around; so naturally I felt like a jerkstore when I realized I'd forgotten the saxophone player's name. I turn to Nadim:
"Hey, dude, can you do me a favor?"
"Over the course of the evening, can you figure out the sax player's name. I've met him a bunch of times already. I can't ask his name again. But you can. Will you?"
He goes, "I'll see what I can do," whips out his iPhone, pulls up Nikhil's myspace page, finds the list of band members and delivers, "Aaron Leibowitz."
"Um, well done. Thanks."
The world changes.


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I'm not generally a fan of hotel tours, but I decided to join one in Gamboa. I arrived in town in early afternoon, waited for my room to become available, and headed out into the streets. I found that there was nothing near the guesthouse other than houses built for American employees of the Panama Canal–all the houses were nearly identical. I also watched wildlife cross the quiet, car-less streets.
Fortunately, as my taxi driver got lost finding my accommodation, he stopped at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort (twice) to ask for directions. I remembered the way, and hoped that it wasn't farther than my memory recalled–it was only about a mile.
The resort was beautiful, with a great window looking out at the canal zone and rainforest–I wished I had enough money to stay there for a night. Since I had nothing else to do, I checked out the tour desk for ideas. I found a short aerial tram ride through the rainforest that would leave in about an hour. The price of $40 was reasonable for a few hours and a view that I wouldn't otherwise get.
It was a slow ride in the tram with a family from Spain. The guide had to talk about the vegetation and wildlife in Spanish and English–only half the family understood English.
Along the tram ride, the guide pointed out some wildlife in the trees–a few large iguanas and a well-hidden sloth. I saw much more wildlife on my walk along Pipeline Road. The views of the Chagres River and the rainforest along the Canal zone were well worth the trip. I could also see the Embera indigenous village (definitely needed my binoculars for that). The tour would've been better had it been early morning when the animals are bit more active, but I didn't have that option.
When I arrived back at the resort, I sat at the bar for ceviche and a beer (and plenty of water). By the time I was ready to leave, I asked the staff at the front desk of the Gamboa Rainforest Resort to call a taxi to take me back to my hotel since I wasn't about to walk an unlit street with the potential of running into animals that included snakes. As there were no taxis to call, they offered to find an employee to drive me back in one of the resort's cars (what service!). I tipped the driver what I would've spent on a taxi.
The next morning I went hiking with a couple of biologists who enjoyed playing with wild snakes.


text:
Are You Getting Smarter or Just More Average on the Web?
Posted by Bob Warfield on March 17, 2008
Saw a little blurb on Discipline and Punishment:
The only cure for groupthink is diversity. Social news sites like digg and reddit are diversity-elimination machines so this boat has already sailed.
I've been saying this for a long time. If you're seeking out what the likes of Digg, Reddit, and Techmeme have identified as the "hot" items, you're just making yourself more average. You're opting into group think, and I don't mean the wisdom of crowds. One of the key requirements for crowds to be wise is that they be independent. A whole bunch of people on a service like reddit or Techmeme are just oscillating around the same meme feedback. Very little new is being created there.
Isn't that why you get a bunch of hits from one of those services but little lasting bump up in your ongoing traffic? It's just the lemmings looking for their next meme cliff to step off of.
If you want to get smarter on the web, look for new things that aren't in those places. Spend a few hours on Google deeply researching a topic you're interested in. Find some new sources for information. Add some new feeds to your RSS reader. You won't be disappointed.
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text:
Artists spent a month in South Africa taking pictures on decades-old film engineered with only white faces in mind
David Smith in Johannesburg
Can the camera be racist? The question is explored in an exhibition that reflects on how Polaroid built an efficient tool for South Africa's apartheid regime to photograph and police black people.
The London-based artists Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin spent a month in South Africa taking pictures on decades-old film that had been engineered with only white faces in mind. They used Polaroid's vintage ID-2 camera, which had a "boost" button to increase the flash – enabling it to be used to photograph black people for the notorious passbooks, or "dompas", that allowed the state to control their movements.
The result was raw snaps of some of the country's most beautiful flora and fauna from regions such as the Garden Route and the Karoo, an attempt by the artists to subvert what they say was the camera's original, sinister intent.
Broomberg and Chanarin say their work, on show at Johannesburg's Goodman Gallery, examines "the radical notion that prejudice might be inherent in the medium of photography itself". They argue that early colour film was predicated on white skin: in 1977, when Jean-Luc Godard was invited on an assignment to Mozambique, he refused to use Kodak film on the grounds that the stock was inherently "racist".
The light range was so narrow, Broomberg said, that "if you exposed film for a white kid, the black kid sitting next to him would be rendered invisible except for the whites of his eyes and teeth". It was only when Kodak's two biggest clients – the confectionary and furniture industries – complained that dark chocolate and dark furniture were losing out that it came up with a solution.
The artists feel certain that the ID-2 camera and its boost button were Polaroid's answer to South Africa's very specific need. "Black skin absorbs 42% more light. The button boosts the flash exactly 42%," Broomberg explained. "It makes me believe it was designed for this purpose."
In 1970 Caroline Hunter, a young chemist working for Polaroid in America, stumbled upon evidence that the company was effectively supporting apartheid. She and her partner Ken Williams formed the Polaroid Workers Revolutionary Movement andcampaigned for a boycott. By 1977 Polaroid had withdrawn from South Africa, spurring an international divestment movement that was crucial to bringing down apartheid.
The title of the exhibition, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, refers to the coded phrase used by Kodak to describe a new film stock created in the early 1980s to address the inability of earlier films to accurately render dark skin.
The show also features norm reference cards that always used white women as a standard for measuring and calibrating skin tones when printing photographs. The series of "Kodak Shirleys" were named after the first model featured. Today such cards show multiple races.
Broomberg and Chanarin made two recent trips to Gabon to photograph a series of rare Bwiti initiation rituals using Kodak film stock, scavenged from eBay, that had expired in 1978. Working with outdated chemical processes, they salvaged just a single frame. Broomberg said: "Anything that comes out of that camera is a political document. If I take a shot of the carpet, that's a political document."
Related articles
- As Polaroid fades away, Technicolor tries to innovate (theverge.com)
- Best photography books of 2012 (guardian.co.uk)
- Influences – 10 key photographers (photo-graph.org)


text:
Better control of what SwingWorker does for you
July 5, 2011java swing swingworker EDT
SwingWorker is a great tool and a part of the standard Swing in JDK now. It does crucial job for any decent Swing application – allows us to execute long running heavy tasks on a separate thread in a background and update all of our UI models and components on UI dispatch thread. Otherwise the only heart and pumping engine of Swing UI, event dispatch thread or EDT, will be busy with moving heavy stuff and poor users won't get a change to enjoy your wonderful application, starring at frozen pressed menu items or buttons instead.
It's easy to trust such a great tool and always carelessly call it's execute() method, not worrying what's going on behind the scenes, but this is multi-threading and you better control every aspect of it in your application. So, what's happening when you do something like this?
SwingWorker<String, String> work = new SwingWorker<String, String>() {
protected String doInBackground() throws Exception {
return "";
protected void process(List<String> chunks) {
protected void done() {
When you call execute(), your SwingWorker instance gets executed by itself, and uses internal Executor service, which is fixed size thread pool with 10 threads in current versions of JDK. So if you application is big, and accidentally you have more than 10 background tasks running, all of the subsequent tasks will wait for the next available thread, which may hit the user experience significantly. More than that, recently there was a bug in the JDK regarding SwingWorker not able to execute more than one task at a time.
So looking in the future and expecting your application to grow and even more important, willing to control multi-threading behavior which is crucial to have better user experience with Swing UI applications, it's better to do the execution of all your background tasks yourself. We just need to create our own Executor service, somehow expose it to all UI modules making use of SwingWorker to do background tasks, and whenever needed, change its implementation or debug it if application shows unsatisfactory behavior running a lot of background tasks.
The easiest way would be providing a service created with a help of a factory, something similar to the following:
public interface BackgroundTaskService {
* Executes SwingWorker task.
* @param worker Worker to be executed.
void execute(SwingWorker<?,?> worker);
* Executes Runnable on background thread, it's up to
* Runnable's code to call invokeLater() to update the UI. Do
* not update or work with UI from the Runnable.
* @param work Code to execute on background thread.
void execute(Runnable work);
This interface describes the responsibilities of a service, and we can create concrete implementations, for example, based on cached thread pool which has unlimited number of threads, cached as they get created and re-used when they are freed:
public class CachedBackgroundTaskService implements BackgroundTaskService {
private ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
public void execute(SwingWorker<?, ?> worker) {
public void execute(Runnable work) {
We can of course create other implementations, and even test how an application would work without background tasks by creating special implementation which just calls run() method of the SwingWorker or Runnable. That would definitely demonstrate a nightmare of running complex Swing application all in one event dispatch thread.
The different issue is how to provide all of your UI modules with BackgroundTaskService implementation. That's a well known pattern of Service Locator (e.g.
package com.porty.swing;
import com.porty.swing.service.BackgroundTaskService;
import com.porty.swing.service.CachedBackgroundTaskService;
* Factory which provides access to current implementation of background task service.
* It's instance could be substituted in order to change default library implementation.
* @author iportyankin
public class BackgroundTaskServiceFactory {
private static BackgroundTaskServiceFactory instance;
// we use this implementation by default
private CachedBackgroundTaskService taskService = new CachedBackgroundTaskService();
public static BackgroundTaskServiceFactory getInstance() {
if ( instance == null ) {
instance = new BackgroundTaskServiceFactory();
return instance;
public static void setInstance(BackgroundTaskServiceFactory instance) {
BackgroundTaskServiceFactory.instance = instance;
* Obtains currently used implementation of background task service.
* @return Background task service
public BackgroundTaskService getBackgroundTaskService() {
return taskService;
The other approach would be using some sort of dependency management which is a good idea in general for programming Java Swing UI to be able to alter its behavior quickly. One of the candidates could be Google Guice, easy to use and bind to different implementations.
You can ask what's the need in that additional abstraction level of background executor if we could just share an instance of ExecutorService between all of the UI modules in the application and make sure they all use it to execute their tasks. The good thing is that we can also provide some additional functionality in the new service related only to UI applications, still keeping the execution done by powerful Java Concurrency library. Most of the time we want the progress to be shown to the user, either indeterminate or determinate, depending on how much information is available to the task. Instead of coding the sequence of showing the progress bars and guarantee to hide them when task is done or failed or cancelled we can introduce a handy calls for that and increase simplicity and elegancy when executing UI tasks.
As an example, let's start with indeterminate progress message, non-interruptible by the user, a bit simpler than well-defined determinate progress bar, and definitely simpler than interruption-aware automated task support. Let's add a new method into our background execution interface:
* Executes runnable showing the progress bar with the message until the task is complete.
* @param work Work to be executed.
* @param message Message to be shown
* @param components Components to be disabled while task is executing
void executeIndeterminate(Runnable work, String message, Component... components);
The purpose of this method will be executing the given task in the background thread, under defined execution policy, and while the task is executed, showing the indeterminate progress message of some form, automatically hiding it when the background activity is over. This happens very frequently in Swing/any other single-threaded (or thread-confined) UI toolkit applications. Additionally, we'll allow client programmer to disable set of components when task starts and enabled them back when it ends – pretty frequent activity as well.
Since the method itself doesn't define how final task is executed and only builds common infrastructure, we can implement it in a base abstract class, having concrete implementations to only define how to execute tasks and re-use the complex UI-related framework from it.
First, we need to create a component which will show the indeterminate progress bar somehow. Since we don't know which window or layout to rely on and stay generic, let's use simplistic blocking modal dialog with an indeterminate progress bar and a label with the message. It's part of the Swing Tools project and located in com.porty.swing.dialog package.
* Abstract implementation of the background service with some UI work prepared.
* Has no actual execution code.
* @author iportyankin
public abstract class AbstractBackgroundTaskService implements BackgroundTaskService {
protected Component createProgressComponent(String message) {
BlockingProgressDialog dialog = new BlockingProgressDialog(null, message);
return dialog;
protected void destroyProgressComponent(Component c) {
((BlockingProgressDialog) c).dispose();
These two methods are protected so you can override them and provide progress implementation more elegant and suitable for your application needs.
Then we need to wrap the background call with UI setup and tear down code and execute the final sequence. It sounds simple, i.e. create and show component before running task and dispose it after it's done. Naive implementation could look like that:
public void executeIndeterminate(final Runnable work, final String message, final Component... components) {
final List<Component> uiProgressComponent = new ArrayList<Component>(1);
// disable the components
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
if (null != components) {
// disable components
for (Component next : components) {
// create a progress component
Runnable proxy = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
} finally {
// enable the components back
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
if (null != components) {
// disable components
for (Component next : components) {
// dispose progress component
// execute proxy with actual work
What we do here is schedule UI activities to be run later when all pending events are processed, including disabling the components and creating generic progress component, and then immediately run the task itself (using execute() method which will be defined by concrete execution strategy). To be able to catch end of the task, regardless of anything that happens with it, we create a proxy Runnable on top of it and use finally section to do post-mortem activities, again scheduling UI task for later, to re-enable the components and destroy progress bar component. We don't need any sophisticated concurrency tools here since UI thread and invokeLater() guarantee that first UI task is executed before the second one, so the component will be created and available in the exchange list (we have to use final list – restriction of inner classes access to outer variables).
The beauty of the new method is extreme simplicity and handling of many activities behind the scenes for you – to execute some work with progress and disabling a button while it's executing is one line of code:
getBackgroundTaskService().executeIndeterminate(worker, "Working slow...", b);
You can see some of the Swing FEST automated tests in test package for the services for standard UI.
Moving forward, it makes sense to add determinate progress with a callback which allows updating the progress, and cancellable implementation which honors the interruption policy and supplies a standard interrupt button in the UI which does it.
Remember, you can find all of the articles code and tools, as well as latest additions and changes at project code site https://github.com/ivanporty/swingtools


text:
A Safe Visit Supervised Visitation Monitors – Los Angeles
Our goal is for all to have a safe and fruitful visit that will bring some peace and love to those that need it the most.
A Safe Visit was founded in 2011 with the sole intent to provide dependable, objective and honest monitoring service to those who are looking for some 'peace' in what can be troubled times.
They are Special
Our focus is always to listen to both parents and the courts, to be unbiased and to try and make things a little better for all involved. With our focus to always be on your children, for the simple reason that they are kids, no matter if infants or teens!


text:
A Gathering of Old Men Inner and Outer Images in A Gathering of Old Men In the novel A Gathering of Old Men, Ernest J. Gaines, portrays the Novel through the eyes of individual narrators involved on the events of the day.The novel focuses on a group of cowardly black men who finally stop running and stand up for themselves and years of suffering.There is great difference between the narration of the black and white people.The black men grow through the novel and become individuals and depict their inner pain.The Cajuns do not see nor realize the years of pain and guilt that the black men have carried with them.The story illustrates two worlds, the inner world is the life in Marshall Quarters, the old black men and their family; the outer world being everything outside the Quarters, Fix, the Cajuns, and even the white people. The blacks have an inner family that has experienced similar hardships and treats each other in ways that are considered offensive by those members of the outside world.One of the most prominent examples is his use of the Christian names, given by their ancestors slave owners; and their nicknames.Before each black person narrates they are introduced, "Grant Bello aka Cherry" (41).Throughout the entire novel all black people have a nickname in which they only allow the "inner world" to refer to them.When Yankis confessing the crime of killing Beau Griffin begins to take down the name "Yank.Y-a-n-" and is corrected "Sylvester J. Battly .Be sure to spell Sylvester and Battly right, if you can" (99).The name he wants printed to the outside world is his real name, not the silly nickname his inner ring of friends refer to him as.These nicknames they find harmless by their peers, are offensive by others.When Charlie comes back, now a man, he wants "to have a handle, too-like Mister.Mr. Biggs" (187).This demonstrates the two distinct worlds of the blacks and whites.The nicknames are offensive if spoken by those outside their world.
There are continuous examples through the novel that illustrate the presence and difference in the two worlds.Each of the old men tells a story of pain due to oppression by the white man.These stories automatically separate Mapes, Fix, or even Candy from the world and lives of the men.The common thread that unites these men is their story.Only on this day do they become individuals versus a group, a world with a common thread.They became individuals by telling their story that also depicted the difference in worlds.When Johnny Paul tells his story of the palm-of-Christians he tells Mapes, the outer world, "No, Sheriff, you don't see.You do not even know what I don't see" (89).The black men have diff…..erent experiences and histories that separate them from the outside world.This is constant though the stories.To the Cajuns, the graveyard is more land, but to the blacks it's their ancestors and identity.Without the graveyard, they will not be remembered.Each of the stories is a division between the two worlds.When Charlie returns to his world to confess the he killed Beau, he becomes a man.And says "I want the world to know I'm a man" (187).By admitting his actions and standing up for himself he is proud.Although his action is murder, he still believes the world needs to see him as a man.In the end of the novel Mathu makes the decision to ride with Clatoo and the others that greatly symbolizes the two worlds.The inner world sticks together, especially after they have found their identities. Many of the differences of the two worlds are portrayed by symbols or symbolic statements.Candy refers to the old black men as her people, "I will protect my people" (19).She is not a part of that inner world, possibly apart of Mathu's world, but not the inner world in general.By calling them her people, she claims ownership, which is far in the past.She is white and has not been oppressed by the white men for years.Luke Will and Charlie Biggs represent the extremes of the two worlds.They are the members that take the most outrageous action; therefore, they stand of the symbols that represent the prevention of change and change.They are of two different worlds, and yearns for two different goals.Their speech is also a symbol of the division.When the black men narrate they speak with bad English, for example, Chimley says "Now, I ain't even stepped in the house 'fore that old woman start fussing at me" (32).When narration is from Miss Merle or Lou Dimes the slang is not portrayed.This proves the extent of the division, it is even visible in their speech.The story is set in the 1970's; however, while reading the novel it did not appear as though the civil right's movement had even taken place. This was true only in the inner world, Marshall Quarters, not the outer world where Gil and Cal, "Salt and Pepper", were playing football together.It also portrayed how Marshall Quarters is stuck in the past. Throughout the novel, the distinction of the two worlds become consistently more evident.The entire novel is based on these inner and outer worlds that separate the blacks and whites.These men were not violent, but on this day, they did not to return home without a battle.They were standing up for brothers and sisters, children, and their ancestors who had dealt with years of pain, oppression, and disgrace.On this day they were all men, men who were proud.


text:
Review by Mike Sullivan
Hirokazu Koreeda is a director who has made the move from directing documentaries in the 1990s to now writing and directing films which document human lift. In the 1998 movie after life he told the story of souls, people who have just died, who need to choose their happiest memory to serve as their heaven. They would then experience this memory forever. In 2004 Koreeda began to gain international fame with his movie Nobody Knows which was based on the true story of four children who had been abandoned and who survived for nine months by themselves. This movie won several awards at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. In 2008 Koreeda's film Still Walking focused on a family over 24 hours as they commemorate the death of the oldest son 15 years before.
Like Father Like Son is again in a similar vein of looking at human lives as we see how two families cope when they discover that their sons were mixed up at birth and that each set of parents had been bringing up the child of different people. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and it won the Jury Prize. It was also shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, and the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival. This film stars Masaharu Fukuyama, a musician, singer and actor, and Lily Franky, a popular comedian and actor, as the two fathers of this story and Machiko Ono, film and TV actress, and Yoko Maki, also a film and TV actress, as the two mothers. They are all well-known faces on Japanese TV and bring real experience and depth to their characters and to this film.
Ryota (Fukuyama) is a hardworking man who is married with one child; they are a well off family and keep their child busy with lessons and recitals. One day they are asked to come to the hospital where their son, Keita, was born and are faced with the unbelievable news that their son isn't their son. He was switched at birth with another child. They agree to a meeting with the 'parents' of their real son and the contrast between both sets of parents is clear, compared to the more polished and dignified appearance of Ryota and his wife, Yudai (Franky) and his wife are rather different. As both sets of parents attend the hospital's investigation they discover that the nurse who attended the births did not switch the babies on purpose. She envied Ryota and his wife for their apparent happiness and evidence of wealth, and so she swapped their child with another.
Both families then have to figure out what to do going forward, the hospital gives them advice, but for anyone it is really hard to give away the child you have raised and accept another in his place. Both families spend time together and it becomes evident that while Ryota believes himself to be a good father he pales a little bit in comparison with Yudai whose shop is attached to his family home and who spends a lot of time with his children. Slowly the story reaches the point where they try having their real sons in their own homes, much to the confusion of these young boys.
Koreeda presents a story which is painful to watch at times, it is hard to imagine how people in real life have dealt with this kind of situation and this comes across in the movie. Fukuyama gives an amazing performance by which he presents himself as a father who begins to question his own parenting skills, while never putting us in doubt about how much he loves his son. In the end Koreeda leaves us with questions, but that is within his style.


text:
It is almost 3 in the morning, and insomnia has me up and around. But, at some time today I will be going to Oklahoma City to kidnap my grandson for a couple of days. He won't be home from school until late in the day, but I plan to spend part of my day shopping for a vehicle to help me start a new life in. What I think I need is a van.
I plan to convert it into traveling motel for one with the possible addition of a large dog. I want to use the van to travel for my photographic work, and to work as a street musician. I will make do with a van that has nothing more than the basic necessities to start with, - a driver and passenger seat, radio, a/c and heater, and in decent mechanical shape. It does not need to be a beauty to look at. Actually, I want it to look as plain and simple as possible. This will be a good safety feature.
My life on the road will be kept simple. I will take what I need for the work I plan to do, the clothes that I need for several days on the road, a place to store food, possibly a cook stove, a makeshift desk/table, and a twin size mattress. And, of course I will need room for a tool box, a spare tire and jack. The equipment I will need for my work is as follows:
A.) Laptop, external drive, printer.
B.) Camera bag, accessories bag, studio equipment.
C.) Guitar, 2 amps, accessories bag.
This should be all of the equipment I will need with me to start with. I figure that if I start doing more that extended trips I can purchase a small trailer to store more belonging in until I think it is feasible trade up to a larger camper. But, actually I do consider that I will be better off if I can keep a home available that I can come home too. For the last 3 years I have been a homebody, but for 35 years prior to that I lived in a truck. Now that I have had a taste of a real home I figure I will start missing it again someday, probably sooner than later.
Although I currently hope to one day leave the common world behind and spend the rest of my life on the road I do understand that my best bet is to try to keep my apartment, and start my new life by building my way into it. A couple of important things I need to consider pertains to medical care. I will need to always stay fairly close to a Veterans Hospital, and I will need to be able to get my prescriptions filled which will probably required visiting a V.A. Hospital.
MUSIC - PHOTOGRAPHY - TRAVEL - WRITING: Learn to travel. Travel to learn. A Better World Media Production promoting the work of KB Image and Design.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Obama 2016
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***** This is a small but well-maintained neighborhood park that, although it appears not to be listed as part of the Seven Hills Trails sys...
18-year-old me. ***** I should be getting new glasses via the VA within a week or so. I will not be doing much photography and computer work...


text:
I get this error maybe every couple of weeks. It seems to last less than a second, as the error is fired only by one or two script instances (pages hits), but is fired for each query on the page. There doesn't seem to be any pattern as to the script or queries that the server goes away for, but the queries are usually very small inserts and selects.
I'm running php 5 and mysql 5.0.77. The site is on a dedicated server. It's a fairly powerful machine but the site is getting more and more busy.
What can cause this problem? Is it perhaps something to do with the number of connections on the server? Any settings I should change? I'm using non-persistent connections.
Any ideas?


text:
Scrubs Season 9 Episode 9
Our Stuff Gets Real
Zach Braff is back in his final episode this season as J.D. as he struggles to deal with the fact Elliot is making time to satisfy his man needs. Turk suggests they take a babymoon together for one last chance at happiness before the baby. Unable to convince her, J.D. brings the babymoon to the hospital with the help of Turk, Denise, Cole and Drew.
Meanwhile, Lucy is unable to cut up her cadaver since she got to know the patient before his death. Turk takes her under his wing and teaches her how to get over working on someone you humanize.
Cox faces mortality when Jordan asks him to create a will after her sister's husband dies. It doesn't help that one half of his old patient couple dies. He ends up telling Jordan he can't do it.
- Show:
- Scrubs
- Season:
- Scrubs Season 9
- Episode Number:
- 9


text:
looking at highlights
… at life's cross-roads.
Writing May 2014, and while we Norwegians are looking back at 200 years with our constitution, and celebrating all the incidents over those years, I am looking at incidents and highlights in my own life. There have been a few…
My memory may be playing tricks on me, but high above all the others in my very
personal "ranking of highlights of all times", there is but one.
Frequent visitors to any of my sites have probably figured it out years ago, as it is literally "engraved" all over the place – in the site names.
While looking for a unique and fitting name for my first serious website, I chose my wife's name and launched gunlaug.no. Years later this site, gunlaug.com, came alive, and lately three more sites carrying Gunlaug's name are being prepared.
the highlight of my life
While helping my wife digitize and organize whole series of photos covering her entire life from when she was only a few months old, it became obvious that I had left out too much surrounding my own connection to her from my sites, leaving only her name and some basic information in place.
Really about time I corrected that shortcoming, so here it is
… the highlight of my entire life is my marriage to Gunlaug
Solås – July 19, 1996.
Takes a tough girl to survive that many years alongside me, and, no question about it, tough she is.
That Gunlaug has also survived more than most of what life itself can throw at a human being, both before and after we met, says even more about how tough this little lady really is. And, despite the usual, and a couple of unusual, downs in our relationship, she is still here – alongside me. Unbelievable…
'twas a sunny day in july
Less than one year after we met, Gunlaug and I got married. And that
was the formalized end of my bachelor days.
Good thing I held out that long, as the reward was greater than I could ever have hoped for.
Our marriage started good, and continued even better. Me being her second husband – her first died in 1990, and she being my first wife – and only wife if I have any say on the matter. Aye, life has really been good to me.
getting along…
There are two very strong and independent personalities in our relationship, and it shows. This is definitely not the basis for a quiet and boring life, and it certainly has created an interesting, and mostly good, life for us.
Neither of us are all that interested in astrology, but we know that according
to our horoscopes – me being born in the sign of Aries and
Gunlaug in the sign
of Capricorn – we should not get along at all. Gunlaug and I are what is known as
"incompatible and competing personalities", and there is much truth in that.
Well, there are exceptions to every rule. Not a point in itself to prove that, but all stories have more than one side, and so does people's personalities.
we want to make it work…
From very early on we both realized that differences in personalities were bound to create problems down the road, potentially also some that might be pretty difficult to solve. But, we were open about these things, and decided to try to build a relationship anyway based on what we felt for each other.
We were not kids entering a relationship with unrealistic views on what living together would, or
should, be all about. Our lives up until we met had followed totally different paths, but we both knew
only too well how complex and difficult living together and having to adjust to each other could be.
There are good reasons why I stayed alone for so long, and why Gunlaug's former relationship in practice ended years before her husband died. Certain things simply did not work out in our past, and we knew that if we did not pay attention and took proper care of our relationship, it could happen again.
Different backgrounds and traditions – coming from different parts of Norway, along with our "incompatible personalities", have lead to quite a few misunderstandings and caused numerous problems over the years. Most have simply turned into funny incidents and lots of laughs, once we got around to clear them up.
But, sometimes one or both of us did not notice that we were not understanding and handling
things the same way, so we did not talk and listen as, and when, we should. Or, we simply talked past
each other – bet you have heard that one before.
Staying mostly quiet about fairly minor issues, tends to make them grow with time. One day what was "nothing" to begin with, may have turned into really serious and unmanageable problems.
As could be expected, our marriage has been on the brink of total collapse a couple
of times – what relationship hasn't been there. But, our willingness to
try to understand and support each other, and to find working solutions when our individual
interests and strong wills have clashed, have pulled us through every time – actually on overtime
at least once.
We have learned a lot through these "processes". Most importantly, we have (re)learned, again and again, that getting married in the first place was no mistake.
I think our experiences show that will-power can overcome nearly all problems in
a relationship, and not just create them as is so often the case.
We want our relationship to work, and being open about all that cause problems, and providing plenty of space for each other to evolve and expand on as individuals, have been the main keys to achieve that.
And then there is this powerful thing called love, that, when properly nourished, can grow to achieve the impossible.
no warnings: tough times ahead…
Good thing we cannot see into the future, as having that ability might have caused irreparable damage to our relationship. We might have avoided further contact after our first meetings, based on what would happen in the future … what a terrible thought.
That Gunlaug got hit by, and barely survived, a very nasty medical condition a little over a year after we got married, lead to tough times and caused many problems for us, but it did not disturb our relationship as such much. She would have died if I hadn't been there when it struck, and, if anything, we grew closer through the incident and several years long treatment and recovery.
Gunlaug suffered from limited, but permanent, brain damage after the incident,
making many things in daily life difficult. Her short-term memory isn't working well, and reduced
depth-vision tends to cause dizziness in many situations.
Her personality and will-power was intact though – very much so indeed, so once past the after-treatment we were able to carry on with our lives, and life on the farm, pretty much as planned.
More farm work fell on me from this point onwards, but I like challenges and didn't really mind as long as Gunlaug was more or less alright with the situation.
November 2013 it was my turn to go down, and nearly stay there. Obviously I am still around (or I would not have been writing this), and despite all the unforeseen problems this incident has caused, we are in good spirit and positive that things will turn out alright.
the future looks bright
Writing this blog-post in the spring of 2014, as the grass grows taller and greener day
by day, life could hardly have been any better here at our little farm. Everything looks
good from where I'm standing, even now that the
animals are gone and I am (at least formally) out of work as farm-assistant.
As I revise and expand this post in the autumn of 2014, I am recovering from my close encounter with death last fall, and a round of cancer treatment this summer.
(31.mar.2015) That I have later learned that those responsible for my "cancer treatment" are directly responsible for my near-death experience and most of my medical problems today, does of course not help on my recovery. I won't let them near me ever again, as facing them and their "treatment" is worse than facing death, in my not-very-humble opinion.
Takes time to get back in shape, but at least I am now at a point where I can focus on more important things in life than being ill. Being ill is soo boring anyway…
These days much of my time is spent on building and fixing details inside, outside and
around our newly renovated and upgraded house. Slow going, but good to be busy doing something
useful for a change.
Gunlaug is focusing on learning to use computers and various devices properly for
everyday tasks, despite her brain damage which
still makes learning new skills frustratingly difficult – especially for an impatient
person like Gunlaug. Often she simply can not remember how she did something the day before.
Yes, even after years of trying to learn how to use internet based services, almost every time she sits down in front of her computer, or grab her tablet, she needs some initial assistance to get going. And so what, she is trying the best she can, and for the most part she gets the task at hand done as intended.
Despite health-related setbacks and other obstacles we have run into – lately and earlier, most of what we plan for and set out to do seems to end up better than we thought it would be. As I now write autumn in the year 2014, things are moving forward, and neither of us have much of substance to complain about these days.
Gunlaug and I have now been together since the autumn of 1995, and all in all it has been some great years. Looking back I would not want to change much even if I could.
I simply can not imagine what my life would have been like without this little lady in it. The future is of course something we (still) do not know much about, but we aim at, and work for, many more happy years together, come what may.
Life is fun in our little world up in the hills, and at times it is really, really funny too.
Hageland 01.may.2014
14.may.2014 - released article.
25.may.2014 - populated and linked to Addendum.
01.jun.2014 - opened addendum, and added in-page link to next blog-post.
04.jun.2014 - added a word-cloud image.
05.jun.2014 - added image of Gunlaug & Torstein in Addendum.
10.jun.2014 - minimal revision.
14.jun.2014 - added 7 pictures+text in Addendum.
29.jun.2014 - expanded on some text, mainly in Addendum.
05.jul.2014 - added "lightly enhanced past" text in Addendum.
29.sep.2014 - added wedding img / revised text.
14.oct.2014 - minimal update / revision.
17.oct.2014 - updated image layout in side-notes.
18.oct.2014 - inserted paragraphs about zodiac signs in main article.
19.oct.2014 - rearranged pictures and text in main article and side-notes.
23.oct.2014 - fine tuned "the short story" in side-notes. Revised "getting along" in main article.
28.oct.2014 - added link to short-note about Johnny.
03.nov.2014 - added list of short-notes at bottom of side-notes.
07.nov.2014 - replaced fifth picture in "early glimpses".
10.nov.2014 - added a couple of sentences here and there, and visually realigned a few paragraphs.
23.dec.2014 - minute text-revisions
15.jan.2015 - linked in short-notes-02#p3&#p4
23.feb.2015 - added picture of Gudrun and Arne's wedding, and of me as scout-leader, + some text, in Addendum.
31.mar.2015 - replaced image of Gunlaug at bottom of main article. Inserted comment about "cancer treatment" in last part of main article.
16.jul.2015 - added 'shapes' to some 'radi' images.
31.may.2016 - replaced dead links for astrological signs. last rev: 31.may.2016


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C&G to bring 200K sf mixed-use building to Flushing
Developer plans for 14-story structure with six retail stores, 134 residential units
A 14-story building will be replacing a warehouse at 134-03 35th Avenue in Flushing, Queens, according to a permit application filed with the city today.
Flushing-based owner C&G Empire Realty, LLC, led by managing member Jia Shu Xu, is planning to construct a 206,968-square-foot building at the site. Jon K. Yung of Architect PC is designing the building.
The plans include putting 134 units on the second through the 13th floors as well as 21 hotel rooms on the second through the 11th floors. In total, the application calls for 102,647 square feet of residential space, an 18,072-square-foot community facility and an 86,249-square-foot commercial component. The project will include six retail locations as well as an eating and drinking establishment. The plan also calls for an attended garage with 223 parking spaces.
A representative from C&G Empire Realty was not immediately available on Thursday afternoon.
Before construction can start, the lot, which is currently zoned for industrial use, will have to be rezoned for residential use.


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The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced the authorization of the first breath-based test for COVID-19.
The InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer offers highly accurate test results in about three minutes, without the need for uncomfortable swabbing or collection of hazardous samples. But, before you get your hopes up for a handheld device you can huff into as you head out the door, it's not quite that convenient. The test requires a high-tech device about the size of a carry-on suitcase—demo versions are literally housed in hard-shelled roll-aboard cases—and it requires a trained technician to operate. To take the test, a person has to sit next to the traveling instrument and blow into it through a straw for about 10 seconds.
The instrument inside the luggage is actually performing gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), which is a gold-standard analytical technique to finely separate out the components of a mixture. Generally, GC-MS samples are vaporized and mixed with an inert carrier gas before going through a capillary column, which separates out components by their boiling point and polarity. Then those components are ionized and fragmented and further separated out by their mass-to-charge ratios. The end readout is various peaks on a gas chromatogram, with each peak having a unique mass spectrum, allowing for the unambiguous identification of specific compounds.
For the COVID-19 breathalyzer test, InspectIR looks for the GC-MS signatures of five volatile organic compounds that are associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. The detection of these signatures has been shown to be highly accurate. According to the FDA, a study involving 2,409 people found that the device correctly identified 91 percent of known-positive samples as positive (test sensitivity) and correctly identified 99 percent of known-negative samples as negative (test specificity). The FDA also noted that known-positive samples came from people with and without COVID-19 symptoms and performed just as well in a follow-up study involving the omicron variant.
Exhalant results
In addition, the study showed that the test could produce reliable negative results in populations where infection rates are low. That is, in a population where only 4.2 percent of people were infected, the test had negative predictive value of nearly 97 percent. Although, the FDA cautions that "negative results should be considered in the context of a patient's recent exposures, history, and the presence of clinical signs and symptoms consistent with COVID-19, as they do not rule out SARS-CoV-2 infection and should not be used as the sole basis for treatment or patient management decisions, including infection control decisions."
The test's maker, InspectIR Systems LLC, a Texas-based device company, expects the breathalyzer could be wheeled into doctors' offices, hospitals, and mobile testing sites, where each instrument could perform around 160 tests per day. Because it heats and ionizes each breath sample, there's no infectious or hazardous biological waste that requires device cleaning or disposal afterward. Test takers only need a single-use hygienic straw for sample submission.
But, it's unlikely to be appearing at every corner pharmacy any time soon. InspectIR expects to be able to produce just about 100 instruments per week, the FDA notes. It's also unclear how expensive each test will be at various sites.
Still, the portable, mini-GC-MS is an interesting—and potentially more accurate—rapid test for COVID-19 than the current antigen-based methods that are widely used.
The FDA's authorization on Thursday "is yet another example of the rapid innovation occurring with diagnostic tests for COVID-19," Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement. "The FDA continues to support the development of novel COVID-19 tests with the goal of advancing technologies that can help address the current pandemic and better position the US for the next public health emergency."


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Your Domain is your address on the internet. This is similar to your Real World business address except the registration needs to be maintained with the World Wide Web domain management authorities. If your Domain is not renewed then your Website disappears and your email stops working. This could have a dramatic effect on your business, but do not worry we are here to look after these valuable assets that you own.
The World Wide Web domain management authorities vary according to the Domain extension. For instance a '.uk' Domain is managed by Nominet and a '.com' by Tucows. There are also many rules about who is allowed to register Domains, like France only allow French residents and businesses to register a '.fr' Domain.
At Website Hosting Solutions we have the expertise to manage your domain for you. We work very closely with the Domain Registrars to ensure that your Domains are purchased , renewed and have the correct registration details according to the rules set down.
We maintain a 5 point renewal process to make sure your Domains are renewed in a timely manner and adhere to all your requests as the registrant, even though you may wish to transfer the Domains away from us. We will also advise you on any adverse consequences of any requests you may make.
Today there are many new TLD extensions that you may wish to purchase like our '.solutions' for instance. Use the dropdown below to see TLD extensions that you may wish to own for your business:
Call us today on 01903 790040 or Email email@example.com for further information and prices.


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The 90th Academy Awards Tonight
The Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 4 and many of this year's nominees are included in the MediaMine library. Meryl Streep, nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film The Post, was interviewed by celebrity journalist Reba Merrill about why she became an actress. In addition, nominees Denzel Washington, Willem Dafoe and Frances McDormand were also interviewed by Reba. MediaMine's archive also includes Meryl Streep's official Hollywood Walk of Fame Star ceremony as well as the ceremonies of other nominees Mary J. Blige and Allison Janney.
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Wolverine: Origin
The full story of Marvel's most mystery-shrouded mutant, revealed at last! Long before he became an X-Man, before he was transformed by Weapon X, he was a boy named James Howlett. But what tragedy could strike that would set him on the path to becoming the ferocious Wolverine? Follow young James from a life of privilege and that fateful first "snikt," through the devastating events that rip him from his family and ultimately drive him into the wilderness. There, in the snowy wilds of Canada, the feral young man now known as Logan will encounter another mutant very much like him, also torn between man and animal. One who could be his greatest ally - or his fiercest foe. For when Logan meets Victor Creed, a rivalry for the ages is born!
Collecting ORIGIN #1-6 & ORIGIN II #1-5.
Fresh Comics may earn a commission from purchases made from the links above.
Thank you for your support!


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Popularly called 'Mother of Sustainable Development'; Dr. Gro Brundtland, Youngest ever, Two-time, First & Only Female Prime Minister of Norway, Former Director General, World Health Organisation, Chairman, UN World Commission on the Environment and Development (aka Brundtland Commission) and UN Special Envoy on Climate Change will visit Nigeria in June to headline the 2012 Africa CEO Roundtable & Conference on Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility (AR-CSR™). The event is scheduled to take place at the Tinapa Business Resort, Calabar, Cross River State from June 28-29, 2012, and she will serve as a Keynote Speaker.
In a statement from the conveners, ThistlePraxis Consulting Limited; the UN Special Envoy on Climate Change will be hosted by Cross River State at the Tinapa Business Resort. Graham Sinclair, President, Africa Sustainable Investment Forum and Principal, Sinclair Consult, South Africa will lead discussions at the CEO Round-table this year amongst other speakers.
The 2012 Africa CEO Round-table and Conference on CSR (AR-CSR™), with the theme: 'Sustainable Development: Expanding Economic Opportunities through Public-Private Synergy' is an industry flagship, all-inclusive CSR & Sustainability management event of the year and the first of its kind in Africa. Leaders from a variety of sectors from far and wide within and outside the continent will gather to share their expertise and experiences on an array of Business and Development topics.
ThistlePraxis Consulting Limited, an Assessments and Strategy Firm, is presenting the 2012 AR-CSR™ in strategic partnership with Friends of the Global Fund, Africa (Friends Africa) and CAPPS Consult. The Cross River State Government is also partnering with this agenda-setting event, as Official Host.
This year's event seeks to make a case for responsible public-private synergy as well as illustrate how the content and effectiveness of three contemporary elements of the global economy, that is – corporate social responsibility, the achievement of the millennium development goals and the opening up of centrally planned economies to market forces – are being, or might be, effected by the appropriate 'bottom up' and 'top down' incentive structures and enforcement mechanisms devised by the society of which they are part.
The series of events scheduled to take place include: a high-level roundtable session strictly for CEOs, GEDs, Captains of Industries and Board Chairmen around the continent, followed by a one-and-a-half-day conference that will be open to participation by all interested professionals. Other activities include the Sustainable Solutions Showcase (an exhibition on Sustainability & Sustainable solutions in partnership with the Nigeria Leadership Initiative), Eco-Tourism Tour, Cocktails & Gala Dinner amongst other inspiring and intellectually stimulating activities.
According to the Lead Consultant/CEO of ThistlePraxis Consulting; Ini Onuk; "the choice of Dr. Brundtland is very instructive and is intended to mark the 20th year of the first global platform on Sustainable Development which was inspired by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by our Keynote Speaker and renamed the Brundtland Commission."
The AR-CSR™ platform remains relevant to discuss issues of Sustainable Corporate and Economic Development, Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, as well as the enhancement of a public-private synergy for the attainment of a credible business environment in Africa, through comparing notes, learning new trends and providing support for organizations and practitioners alike on the constantly changing direction of businesses across the world. From a business perspective, the goal of sustainability is to increase long-term shareholder and social value, while decreasing industry's use of materials and reducing negative impacts on the environment.
In further comments, Ini Onuk reiterated the essence of this gathering; "…from a business perspective, sustainable development favors an approach based on capturing system dynamics, building resilient and adaptive systems, anticipating and managing variability and risk, and earning a profit."
African Business and NewsAfrica are media partners to the 2012 AR-CSR™ as well as Nigerian Leadership Initiative, Lagos State Signage & Advertising Agency (LASAA), Khumo Marketing Group South Africa, Connect Marketing Services, JustMeans and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
The last edition of the event with the theme: 'The Business Case for CSR and its impact on African Economies' held in June 2011. Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland and President, Mary Robinson Foundation and Prof. Craig Smith, INSEAD Chaired Professor on Ethics and Responsibility participated as Keynote Speaker and Lead Discussant, respectively.
Participation at the 2012 AR-CSR™ is strictly by registration. More details can be obtained from http://www.ar-csr.com.


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On 04/29/2009 09:11:50 AM Wed, Peter Bloomfield wrote: [ snip ]
Or perhaps Balsa could remember at least the most recent column, and use it to break ties.
OK, that was easy--patched in master. Sort first by your /secondary/ column, say "Date", then by your /primary/ column, say "From". Messages should then be grouped by sender, and sorted by date within groups. Not entirely intuitive, unless you've worked with hierarchical sorts, but workable!


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I'm proud to turn this week's review over to Mary Denman. She's a fellow writer and dear friend and always knows the best writing books! Thanks, Mary.
William Strunk originally wrote and published the book for English classes he taught. He proudly called it "the little book." Why? Because he had distilled the rules of the English language down to a manageable size.
Millions of copies later, we can still learn from the master. He first covers elementary rules of usage—which we all need to review. Remember gerunds? Maybe not, but you still use them. Strunk shows you how to use them properly.
Then come the principles of composition. He teaches about active vs. passive voice, when negatives are stronger than positives, and how to make your words stronger.
Included is a section on misused words and expressions. This section alone will keep you from making mistakes that catch an editor's eye. Need to learn about developing your own style? An approach to style is the section for you.
Still not sold on the value? The book is loaded with concise examples that demonstrate what he means. You could pay hundreds of dollars for a professional to edit your manuscript. Why not buy this book first? It's an interesting read and the benefits to your writing will immediate and tangible.
The difference between good writing and great writing is in the details. While this book doesn't cover plotting a novel, it will help you polish your manuscript or article, eliminating both subtle and glaring mistakes. And that makes this book a gold mine, where you can expect to glean nuggets of style from the first time you pick up this little book.
Mary Denman, a home-schooling mom with 5 kids, has been married to her college sweetheart Todd for 22 years. She began writing professionally a few years ago and has published articles in several magazine, including Focus on Your Child, by Focus on the Family. She's also a published freelance photographer. She has finished her first novel for young adults and is well into the second book of the series.


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As of this week I've tweaked the way the jWAG website functions because I believe another large change is going to take place in Google's SERPs within the next 6 months. My belief is based on some observations, painful realizations, and predictions... but honestly, that's how all my best SEO stuff is formulated, I just don't normally tell you about them until I have proof.
In this case, I'm not waiting for the proof, because it will be too late for you...
Last month wrote a series of Daily Golden Nuggets about blog writing. Everything I shared was in hopes that you would follow my examples and start blogging for business success.
One morning over the past 30 days I had a realization that Google's been insisting on "fresh" content for several years, to the point that jewelry website SEO experts throw around the phrase "content is king" as if they actually understand the depth of impact that Google is creating... and honestly, I didn't realize it either.
Before Google's Panda and Penguin algorithms, many companies, and many unwitting jewelers, were hiring low cost SEO professionals to create fresh original content. Once Panda started munching and Penguin was pecking, much of that "original" content was discredited because it turned out to be rehashing of information that was already on the web.
In the Panda/Penguin wake we now more easily see the good content that was on the web. Businesses are finally starting to realize that you need to do it right, and real employees are starting to write the blogs instead of outsourcing the job to some unknown freelancer.
He comes my epiphany... Google demands the good content; companies finally start producing it themselves; employers ask employees to do the writing; employees try, but suffer through; companies soon realize they need to higher more skilled writers; the demand for skilled writers will increase, which will probably lead to a shortage of writers for a while; ultimately Google's demand for good content will create a new generation of people who can write professionally, or a reeducation of people to learn how to write professionally.
The last time I checked there were more than 700 new book titles published every day. There are a lot of really skilled writers in the world, but Google's insistence for new quality content is going to spur many many more.
The expression "I'm not good at writing" just might not be so common in a few years. But until we get there Google still needs to figure out how to separate the quality writers from the writers who are just hiding behind a veil of secrecy.
Many blogs are written without a "byline," that is, the blog is written but then no one takes ownership of it when it's published. I've never been a support of this method because this is clearly indicative of an outsourced blog post. I feel strongly that, if a jewelry store employee is writing the blog, then their name should be on it. If your blog posts are ghost written, but use your ideas, then you should still put your name on it.
The byline is the first step in establishing the credibility of a blog post. It also helps to develop the professional reputation of the author, and finally, it creates a transparency for your jewelry store. Customers will actually walk in your store asking for that blog writer by name because they want to know more about the topic of that specific blog.
On the jWAG website this week I've changed the byline of all the Daily Golden Nuggets to simply say "by Matthew Perosi." I went back through all the Nuggets and changed the byline from "the jWAG Gold Nugget Team" to remove the veil that I thought was needed 2 years ago.
However, the change wasn't that simple. There's more to it, which leads us to the topic of Authorship... which is the subject for tomorrow's Daily Golden Nugget. Until then think about the subtle differences of how you should be writing your blogs and who's name should be on them.