text:
The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) informs, inspires, and mobilizes Americans to support the principles and vital work of the United Nations. UNA-USA's grassroots membership includes over 125 chapters and more than 12,000 members nationwide who engage in public education and advocacy, promoting strong US-UN relations. As a result of the strategic alliance with the United Nations Foundation, UNA-USA is a leader of the largest network of advocates and supporters of the United Nations in the world.
Becoming a member of UNA-USA links you to a network of like-minded individuals who collectively promote the work of the UN at the grassroots level. Membership also opens access to education, networking, and other national initiatives and programs. Programs include:
- Advocacy – Through their chapters and divisions, UNA-USA members are encouraged to connect with their elected leaders to promote issues affecting the UN.
- Council of Organizations – A network of more than 90 nongovernmental organizations in the US that promote public awareness of global issues and the UN's role in world affairs.
- Global Classrooms/Model UN – A national program and international network that enriches students' lives by teaching global citizenship skills.
- Leo Nevas Program on Human Rights – A campaign that recognizes individuals who advanced human rights with an annual award, and brings together human rights nongovernmental organizations to collaborate with UN officials on how to improve the UN Human Rights Council.
You don't have to be a member to connect with UNA-USA — get the latest news and updates via the UNA-USA social media outlets:
The InterDependent
Global Classrooms

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Back to Basics: State Tax Policy and Economic Development
Remarks to the Heritage Foundation Resource Bank
Chicago, Illinois
April 29, 2004
Panel: "Moving Toward A Market Paradigm for State Economic Development Policy"
Introduction by Sam Staley, President, The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions: "Michael LaFaive is director of Fiscal Policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michael's work on economic development is pretty extensive. The Mackinac Center has been aggressive about covering this subject, and Michael has spotlighted economic development efforts in an issue of the Center's Michigan Privatization Report. Michael's work has also been featured in an American Legislative Exchange Council publication. Michael would outline an economic development strategy based on lower taxes, tax simplification, and improving the overall business climate."
Stay Engaged
Thank you, Sam for your kind introduction. It's great to be here today as I have long wanted to participate as a speaker at a Resource Bank function. That I get to address one of my favorite topics — economic development — makes this panel all the more enjoyable for me.
As Don Carrington skillfully noted, we are engaged in an economic war between the states that has and continues to lead to a misallocation of scarce resources, among other problems. Sam Staley has asked that I follow Don and offer a few thoughts on alternatives to state industrial policy. My remarks, entitled "Back to Basics: State Tax Policy and Economic Development" could also be called "Toward Fair Fields and No Favors" because the alternative to industrial policy involves much less intervention on any particular person or corporations behalf.
As Don has shown, the preponderance of empirical and anecdotal evidence does not support state-level industrial policy, where politicians and their lieutenants — at every subdivision of government — use a wide range of policy tools to centrally plan our economic lives.
This does not mean that states should not compete in other policy areas. Our 50 states do indeed remain laboratories of democracy, but should not act as dispensers of special favors. It is also useful to note up front that companies who pursue these favors are acting rationally in seeking to lower the cost of doing business. But ultimately that works against them because targeted relief from taxes and other burdens makes it more difficult for politicians to lower the burdens for everyone.
The impossibility of successfully planning whole economies was highlighted year's ago by F.A. Hayek, the Nobel Laureate the Heritage Foundation has chosen to honor this year. Hayek, as I am sure you know, is the author of "The Fatal Conceit," among others.
The idea behind the term "Fatal Conceit" is that government officials somehow have the ability to survey the whole of society, grasp it in all its nuance and detail, and reorganize it in a way that would be better than if society had simply been left to its own devices.
State governments face extraordinary knowledge constraints when they presume to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. Of course, private actors face knowledge constraints, too. The difference, of course, is that private citizens — entrepreneurs, for instance — need only concern themselves with information particular to maximizing their own self interest, which in wonderful fashion, most benefits the common good. Which brings me to the policy alternatives that I alluded to earlier.
The phrase "a fair field and no favors" refers to the type of broad-based reforms that do far more to encourage the healthy competition favored by most economists, whereby states attempt to attract businesses by improving their overall climate for enterprise and making state government itself lean, unobtrusive, and inexpensive.
That approach, which plays no favorites among interests, affirms Irving Kristol's observation that economies "aren't machines to be fine-tuned. They're more like gardens to be watered and tilled."
Instead of targeting tax relief to a favored few, states should lighten the tax burdens for all. In Michigan, we have over 100,000 businesses that pay our Single Business Tax, but less than 200 have enjoyed tax relief under our so-called MEGA program, which is designed to encourage firms to expand in or relocate to, the Great Lakes State.
This strategy of systemic changes could also be applied in other ways. For instance, targeted property tax abatements should be abandoned in favor of across-the-board property tax relief. Regulatory obstacles should be lowered to reduce barriers to market entry. Instead of providing job-training subsidies, states should cut the cost of government, which would allow employers to afford their own job training.
Current telecom policy is also a prime example of government missteps in economic development. State officials correctly recognize that businesses factor in the quality — or lack of it — of telecom networks in location decisions. Presuming to know best how to manage the market, state governments have assumed varying degrees of control over broadband deployment.
The federal government, meanwhile, continues to micromanage telecom rates and service offerings. But this regulatory interference has actually inhibited the very telecom investment and innovation that businesses increasingly depend upon.
In arguing for these changes, those of us working at think tanks have a mountain of anecdotal and empirical evidence to draw from.
For instance, in 2001 Terry Buss, the former professor of public management at Suffolk University in Boston, published a literature review of more than 300 economic development studies. The studies of various tax incentive programs reported mixed results, but Buss found that most economic development programs didn't live up to their billing.
It is worth noting that very few of them addressed opportunity cost — that is, the cost of not cutting taxes across the board.
One study warrants mention because it dovetails nicely with Don Carrington's remarks. The Boeing incentive package was put together just eight years after Washington's Department of Revenue did its own study on the value of three incentive programs they had been operating — sales tax deferrals, job tax credits, interest-free loans and outright grants.
The state researchers concluded:
There appears to be little correlation between the amount of tax benefit received by participants in the tax incentive programs and the growth in employment which resulted. Therefore, these tax incentives may not be a major factor in influencing the location process for business.
Evidence does show that general tax policy reform is more successful than those using targeted strategies.
For instance, in his wonderful paper, "The Futility of Tax Competition for Business" Texas A&M professor James Rogers cites scholarly research as far back as the 1950s documenting how variation in general tax policies improve economic well being more successfully than targeted efforts. Rogers underscores the work of economist Charles Tiebout who emphasized the importance of competition among states with divergent tax policies.
Tiebout argued that people may want to choose a high-tax, high-public-goods state because they prefer more highways and parks, for example. But that must be qualified in light of today's "economic war between the states."
That's because high-tax (and high unemployment) locales often use targeted incentives more than low-tax locales to offset the inevitable migration of people and businesses to the low-tax locales.
In Michigan, the Citizens Research Council (CRC) years ago analyzed the use of local property tax abatements and found that tax abatements are more widely offered by local governments with the highest tax burdens.
In other words, tax abatements may be considered necessary to avoid business flight. Of course, other factors are also at play. Low-tax areas may also have great schools and low crime rates that play an important role in location decisions.
Do tax abatements work? Not as much as if local officials simply would have kept taxes low in the first place. CRC has also reported that greater economic growth takes place in jurisdictions where taxes are low and which consequently grant fewer targeted abatements.
CRC also found that "50 percent of high tax jurisdictions experienced low growth, whereas only 18 percent of the low tax jurisdictions and 19 percent of the medium jurisdictions experienced low growth."
This suggests that keeping the economic playing field level and offering no special favors yields better results than the government picking winners and losers through the use of selective tax abatements.
In a similar vein Alan Peters and Peter Fisher of the University of Iowa found that cities with high unemployment tend to offer the biggest economic development incentives, but that such incentives "serve only to offset the tendency of basic taxes to be greater in high-unemployment areas."
Ohio University Professor and Buckeye Institute scholar Richard Vedder points to research (his own included) that "a state wishing to increase economic opportunities and incomes for their citizens will have a low overall tax burden, or at least will lower it gradually over time."
Vedder's study "Taxes and Economic Growth: Should states adopt a safe haven strategy of low tax burdens to foster growth, capital formation and innovation?" analyzed the economic performance of the 25 lowest taxed states versus the 25 highest tax states over a 40-year period. Vedder found that the lower the tax burden, the higher the rate of economic growth (as measured by changes in real total income and real income per capita).
All of this being said, what should state think tank executives and others do to thwart the type of inefficient, targeted economic development strategies championed by states? I would recommend a four-pronged approach.
First, continue to produce commentaries about counterproductive state and local governments efforts to create jobs. A steady stream of hard-hitting analyses not only keeps the press interested in our view on the subject, but it also keeps officials on the defensive.
Second, raise the fairness issue. Most states don't have just one of a particular type of business. The greatest mileage we've gotten from our economic development work is when we have been able to show that existing businesses are harmed when their competitors get subsidies.
Third, be a skunk at the garden parties of the statists. Timing the release of critical reports and press releases in conjunction with ribbon cutting ceremonies or press conferences called to tout the latest state "economic development" efforts generates news coverage that might otherwise be harder to get. It also raises the political costs of staging such events. And as all good economists know, raising the cost will reduce the quantity demanded. It is our hope that politicians will be less likely to indulge in such mischief as the political costs of doing so increase.
Many of you may recall that in September 1995 the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Buckeye Institute collected the signatures of more than 100 economists in 5 Midwest states and appended them to a joint resolution calling for an end to state targeted economic development strategies. We called it "End the Economic War Between the States."
This effort generated a great deal of media attention, and it could be repeated. We must hammer home the point that politicians everywhere swear they can't "unilaterally disarm" but none of them actually proposed a multilateral disarmament.
Fourth, I would be remiss if I did not mention the use of public interest law to change public policy. There is increased interest in litigating for liberty in the economic development arena. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Institute for Justice have filed an amicus brief before the Michigan Supreme Court in defense of private property owners who are being threatened with property seizure by the city of Detroit for its own economic development purposes.
There is also Ohio case, Cuno v. DaimlerChrysler, that could make the use of many targeted tax incentives illegal. The Plaintiffs hold that incentives violate the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
I will conclude my remarks by sharing with you something my late colleague, Joe Overton, wrote about economic growth and development in 1995 because it sums up in a few sentences what I've taken 20 minutes to explain:
Economic growth, productive employment, and economic development are the natural consequences of private enterprise in the free market economy. Free individuals and enterprises, acting to maximize their own self-interest, generate employment, development, and improved standards of living. It doesn't require intrusive governmental intervention or exotic policy schemes, only unexciting, mundane protection of private property and free exchange.
Thank you.


text:
AxoGuard ® Nerve Connector
AxoGuard ® Nerve Protector
Avive ® Soft Tissue Membrane
AcroVal ® NSMTS
AxoTouch ® Two-Point Discriminator
Avance ® Nerve Graft is an off-the-shelf processed human nerve allograft intended for the surgical repair of peripheral nerve discontinuities. Through a proprietary cleansing process for recovered human peripheral nerve tissue, the graft preserves the essential inherent structure of the ECM while cleansing away cellular and noncellular debris.
Avance ® Nerve Graft provides the following key advantages:
AxoGen strives to broaden the research and knowledge base of peripheral nerve injury and repair by identifying what factors "matter" in nerve repair. The links below provide information about how processing and structure of nerve repair options may affect outcomes:
Avance ® Nerve Graft: Processing Matters
Avance ® Nerve Graft: Structure Matters
Avance ® Nerve Graft is a human tissue for transplantation. Avance ® Nerve Graft is processed and distributed in accordance with US FDA requirements for Human Cellular and Tissue-based Products (HCT/P) under 21 CFR Part 1271 regulations, US State regulations and the guidelines of the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB). Additionally, international regulations are followed as appropriate.
This graft is to be dispensed only by, or on the order of, a licensed physician.
Avance ® Nerve Graft is processed nerve allograft (human) intended for the surgical repair of peripheral nerve discontinuities to support regeneration across the defect.
Avance ® Nerve Graft is contraindicated for use in any patient in whom soft tissue implants are contraindicated. This includes any pathology that would limit the blood supply and compromise healing or evidence of a current infection.
Careful donor screening, laboratory testing, tissue processing, and gamma irradiation have been utilized to minimize the risk of transmission of relevant communicable diseases to the patient. As with any processed human donor tissue, Avance ® cannot be guaranteed to be free of all pathogens. Do not reuse or re-sterilize Avance ® Nerve Graft and do not refreeze product if thawed.
CNET también está disponible en español.
Don't show this again
Using watts to gauge the brightness of an LED bulb? Don't.
If you've spent most of your adult life buying incandescent bulbs , you're probably pretty comfortable choosing a bulb by its watts rating.
LED bulbs have come along, though, and introduced the lumens rating. Lumens and watts are different, which can make it harder to figure out what type of bulb to buy.
Luckily, it's simple enough to sort out any confusion.
When buying an incandescent bulb, the watts rating gives consumers a good indication of how bright a bulb is. The more watts, the brighter the bulb.
The rules have changed, though. An LED that uses 60 watts is in no way comparable to an incandescent bulb that uses 60 watts. In fact, a 60-watt LED just may blind you. LEDs are designed to use less energy and naturally have a lower watt rating. This means it's useless to use watts to determine brightness.
To fix the problem, bulb companies have started using lumens to rate bulbs. This gives you a more accurate indication of how much light to expect from an LED.
Measuring in lumens isn't a new concept designed just for LEDs. It's a rating that's been used for decades as a measurement of how much light a bulb (or anything else) emits. It just hasn't been predominantly displayed on packaging until recently. In 2011, the US Federal Trade Commission started requiring manufacturers of compact fluorescent, incandescent and LED bulbs to use lumens as an indication of how bright a bulb will be.
"While watt measurements are familiar to consumers and have been featured on the front of light bulb packages for decades, watts are a measurement of energy use, not brightness," the FTC said in a press release . "As a result, reliance on watt measurements alone make it difficult for consumers to compare traditional incandescent bulbs to more efficient bulbs, such as compact fluorescents."
On packaging, the lumen rating is indicated by a number followed by "lm," the abbreviation for lumens. The higher the lumen rating, the brighter the bulb will be.
The easiest way to figure out what bulb you need is by using an incandescent/LED conversion cart.
Say you normally use a 60-watt incandescent bulb, for example. You would probably want to choose an LED bulb that uses 8 to 12 watts and has a lumen rating of 800 to get the same illumination. This conversion chart will help you find an LED bulb similar to the incandescent you've been using:


text:
Cricket S Myers
Sound Designer
In 2011, Cricket received a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Nomination for her design of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.
Cricket has been nominated for 20 Ovation Awards between 2007 and 2016. The nominations include for Large Theater: Bent, Only Have Eyes For You, Endgame, Play Dead, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Twist Your Dickens, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Little Dog Laughed, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Grace and Glorie, Mary's Wedding, Trying, Norman's Ark, Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Emergency and in Intimate Theater: Bad Apples, Cousin Bette, Battle Hymn, dark play or stories for boys, and The Bachae.
Cricket has been named Sound Designer of the Year mulitple times by StageSceneLA and won the LADCC Kinetic Award for Oustanding Achievement in Theatrical Design in 2015. Cricket was a finalist for the 2005 TCG/NEA Career Development Grant, and in 2003 won the USITT Young Designers Clear-Com Award for Sound design. See a complete list of awards here.
Cricket serves on the Ovation Rules Committee, is a Founding Board Member and is the Western Rep of the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association, and was elected to the Western Region Board of United Scenic Artists Local 829 in 2017.
Cricket received her MFA in Sound Design from California Institute of the Arts in 2003, and was named a "Young Designer to Watch" in Live Design Magazine's April 2007 Issue, and was recognized as "An Artist To Watch" by LA Stage Magazine in September of 2007. Cricket was the Resident Sound Designer for the Celebration Theater from 2005-2008, and the Resident Assistant Sound Designer at the Mark Taper Forum for 3 years.
Selected Reviews:
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo Directed by Moises Kauffman, Richard Rogers Theater, 2011
***Nominated for a Tony Award, Best Sound Design for a Play, and recieved a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound
AP News, by Mark Kennedy
"Set designer Derek McLane presents haunting topiaries of a giraffe, horse and elephant. The hubbub of Baghdad streets and overlapping calls to prayer seep from the production courtesy of Cricket S. Myers and Acme Sound Partners."
Live Design Magazine, by Robert Cashill
"Winning Drama Desk awards for sound and lighting, respectively, were Acme Sound Partners and Cricket S. Myers and David Lander, who are nominated for Tonys besides. The abundant and doomy soundscape, shot through with hip-hop and Kathryn Bostics score, is perfectly matched to Landers multifaceted lighting. Light and audio tear through and reverberate around Derek McLanes evocative set, an imposing door of Islamic design that opens onto those striking topiaries..."
Intermission Magazine, by Deirdre Donovan
"Cricket S. Myers sound and Kathryn Bostics music create just the right exotic atmosphere without being the least bit melodramatic."
See More Reviews here
Cabaret, Celebration Theater, Los Angeles
Read More Here>
The Squirrels, La Jolla Playhouse
Read More Here>
Mutthouse, Kirk Douglas Theater, Los Angeles
Read More Here>


text:
Acne treatment from the inside - out
PuraSkin Total Acne Solution is a naturally derived 3-step solution that focuses internally and externally to target acne effectively.
Nadine Ismiel started her personal journey to research and develop a natural acne treatment that would actually work. This was the very beginnings of what would later become PuraSkin Total Acne Solution. Most other acne treatments only focus on the outer-skin.
A group of participants trialled the 3 acne treatment products Nadine developed and provided their feedback. Within 4 weeks the majority of the trial participants experienced positive changes to their skin. Their skin progressively improved, acne was reduced resulting in clearer and healthier skin.
"I know first hand the pain and embarrassment experienced by acne sufferers. I created this acne treatment product to help myself and I want to share it with you to help you feel confident in your own skin again." Read Nadine's full story...


text:
NE Ind. man gets 1 year for burning kitten
NE Ind. man gets 1 year for burning kitten
FORT WAYNE, Ind. —
A northeastern Indiana man who pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges alleging that he dropped a kitten into a fire has received a one-year prison sentence.
Twenty-two-year-old Matthew Jerome of Fort Wayne was sentenced Monday. He had pleaded guilty in December to two felonies of torturing or mutilating a vertebrate animal and a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to an animal.
The Journal Gazette reports his sentence also bars Jerome from possessing any pets while he's serving one year of probation. He must also undergo a psychological evaluation and complete community service.
Jerome was charged last August after police said he dropped his girlfriend's kitten into a fire. The animal suffered burned paws and had its whiskers scorched off.


text:
The Nikon D3400 Digital SLR Camera has a 24.2MP sensor that captures pictures with amazing clarity. The 100-25600 ISO sensitivity is perfect for low-light shooting and fast moving subjects. Record family movies or dramatic films thanks to the 1080p Full HD capabilities. Use built-in bluetooth to pair your camera with your smartphone for easy sharing. Additional features: no optical low-pass filter, 3.0" LCD, 11-point AF system, 5 fps continuous shooting, plus more!
The AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G lens is a standard zoom lenses covering the 18-55mm range of focal lengths (effective angles of view equivalent to those of a lens with 27-82.5mm focal lengths in FX and 35mm [135] formats). AF-P lenses realize fast and quiet AF operation via the adoption of a stepping motor to drive AF for fast and quiet autofocusing. With Its featured Vibration Reduction (VR) mechanism it provides a camera shake compensation equivalent to a shutter speed 4.0 stops (with testing in accordance with CIPA standards) faster. Lens is compact and lightweight, DX-format compatible, 3.1x normal zoom lens with 18-55 mm focal-length range and f/3.5-5.6 maximum aperture. This lens has two aspherical lens elements that are employed to deliver superior optical performance with minimal lens aberrations. In addition, this lens has a compact and lightweight design with a retractable barrel for excellent portability.
We can only ship to the address we receive from PayPal.
Please make sure you choose the correct address when you make the payment. If you have any questions please contact us before paying and we will be happy to help.
Credit cards
Visa, Mastercard, American Express & Discover. Please call 718-673-2090 to pay with your credit card.
We can only ship to the credit cards billing address.
If you want to ship the package to an address which is not your billing address Please contact us and we?ll make further arrangements for alternate addresses.
Credit cards
Visa, Mastercard, American Express & Discover - You can pay with your LOCAL card. Please call +1.718.673.2090 to pay for your item.
When clicking the Buy-It-Now button or placing a bid you automatically enter into a legally binding contract to purchase the item. Please commit to buy only after you decided to purchase & you are ready to pay.
A minimum 5% cancellation fee will apply to all orders that are not paid or returned for non-defective reasons.
There will be no price protection, if the price of an item changes after purchasing.
We are required to collect state tax from NY state buyers.
If you have received wrong or defective item(s), please ensure that items are returned to us within 14 days in original packaging in brand new and resalable condition. You will be required to contact us for a return authorization form before sending anything back to us.
All returns must include original box, original factory packaging (foam plastic wrappings, etc.) Do not deface original factory cartons or packaging in any manner. We will not accept a return if the goods are not in its original condition.
Do not discard box, until equipment has not been tested.
Whether you are just taking the time to view our products or a buying customer, you matter to us.
Send us a message
Sunday - Thursday 9:00 AM-7:00 PM
Friday 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Extended hours: 9:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Phone 718-673-2090
A RedTag Experience!


text:
The times they are a-changin: Dylan goes Starbucks
By Ronda Kaysen
Bob Dylan, the icon of the anti-establishment left, began selling some of his rarest recordings yesterday exclusively at Starbucks, a coffee shop chain that has come to epitomize the excesses of corporate America for a new generation of leftist activists.
In June, Starbucks announced its intentions to release Live at the Gaslight 1962, an album that includes rare material from a performance at the Gaslight Café in Greenwich Village, and Bob Dylan No Direction Home: The Soundtrack Bootleg Series Volume 7. The Gaslight CD will be sold exclusively at Starbucks for 18 months, while No Direction Home will be available everywhere.
Within hours of the announcement, the blogosphere became inundated with Dylan fans outraged that the mumbling artist who launched his career playing in Village coffeehouses and penned The Times They Are A-Changin would cut a deal with the creator of the venti caramel macchiato.
Reverend Billy, the performance artist minister of the Church of Stop Shopping who spent three days in a California jail last year for exorcising several California Starbucks locations, jumped into the debate in recent weeks. The reverend, a.k.a. Bill Talen, has been circulating a letter to Dylan criticizing him for his recent partnership with Starbucks. The most notable signatory is Kurt Vonnegut, author of the antiwar novels Cats Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five.
In the epistle, Talen blasts Dylan, writing, By dealing what you created in the Gaslight Café to this transnational chain store Starbucks, you make the revolution that will blast from some dark little stage all the more urgent.
Talen is still gathering signatures and expects to forward the letter onto the elusive artist in mid-September. Talen had collected upward of 400 signatures when The Villager spoke with him earlier this week on his way to Burning Man, an annual art festival in the Nevada desert. (Larry Harvey, executive director of Burning Man, also signed the missive.)
Im one of the people who was deeply moved by the early political movement of Bob Dylan. But now its been branded by a transnational corporation and now its officially meaningless, Talen said, speaking on his cell phone outside Café Cole, a noncorporate San Francisco cafe that serves Fair Trade-certified coffee, he noted. Fair Trade is a stringent international criteria for coffee importers.
Starbucks also claims to practice Fair Trade policies, selling a Fair Trade-certified blend in its stores and touting supportive programs for its growers on its Web site and in its stores.
Dylan has a long history of shirking his fan base, dating back to his stunning electric guitar debut at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Even before that controversial performance, he repeatedly changed his tune, evolving from an interpreter of folk standards to a writer of political ballads to an ambiguous and often apolitical poet. And last year, in a move that seemed to trump all others, a grizzled Dylan paraded through a series of Victorias Secret ads, the song Love Sick from his 1997 album Time Out of Mind providing the soundtrack.
Some of his latest critics are well aware of his contrarian nature. Dylan sold The Times They Are A-Changin, his most anti-establishment song, to the Bank of Montreal for use in an ad in 1996, wrote one critic on Starbucks Gossip, a Web blog maintained by media blogger Jim Romenesko. If hes willing to pimp that out for a financial services firm, I cant see why anyone is surprised about a music distribution deal with a fairly upstanding corporation.
Others were more disillusioned by the most recent development in Dylans unpredictable career: Stunned by this. Let down. Going out for an expresso [sic], wrote Ralph on Coolfer, a New York City-based music industry Web site and blog.
Starbucks has been involved in the music business to some degree since 1995 when it first began selling jazz compilations. In recent years, artists long linked with the civil rights movement including Joni Mitchell and Nina Simone have begun to grace Starbuckss muted green coffee houses.
Adding Bob Dylan to the list of Starbucks-endorsed artists was a logical step for the companys musical ambitions. Bob Dylan is truly a legend and one of the most socially conscious artists of a generation, Kenneth Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment told The Villager in a telephone interview. When asked if Starbucks had reached out to Dylan in the hopes that the artists socially conscious image might rub off on the company, Lombard replied, Were looking for great music across all genres.
Lombard attributes the criticism to typical growing pains. When any industry embarks upon change, in essence trying to reinvent itself, theres going to be questions and theres going to be potential resistance, he said, adding later, Change is coming as it relates to how the music consumer is going to acquire their music.
Much of the criticism is less about a coffeehouse hawking CDs, than it is about a corporation with what critics describe as unfair labor practices aligning itself with the man who wrote Blowin in the Wind.
Dylans songs created social change, said Talen. He identified directly with the great causes of his day. For him to deny that, why doesnt he put Starbucks in his name? Why doesnt he brand his name?
Starbucks staunchly disagrees with recent criticism that its labor and trade practices are unfair. The company uses 100 percent-recycled fiber napkins and offers comprehensive health benefits to employees, known as partners, clocking more than 20 hours a week.
Last year, however, a Starbucks in Midtown on Madison Ave. unsuccessfully attempted to unionize its employees with complaints of repetitive strain injuries, erratic work hours and understaffing. When the staff picketed the location on the eve of the Republican National Convention, police officers circled the store, arresting two employees, including the ringleader, Daniel Gross.
Starbucks, as a company, has prided itself and really built a reputation on being extremely fair to every partner thats involved in the Starbucks company, Lombardi said. We will continue to provide a great opportunity for anyone that wants to become a partner.
For activists in the anti-globalization movement, however, Dylans sudden appearance on Starbucks countertops makes one point ring loud and clear: the times have definitely changed.
We need new artists who are politicized, said Talen. We need artists who have a social conscience. If Bob Dylan isnt one of them, his time has passed.
Email our editor
View our previous issues
Report Distribution Problems
The Villager is published by
Community Media LLC.
The Villager | 487 Greenwich St., Suite 6A | New York, NY 10013
Phone: 212.229.1890 | Fax: 212.229.2790
Email: email@example.com
Written permission of the publisher must be obtainedbefore any of the contents of this newspaper, in whole or in part, can be reproduced or redistributed.


text:
Careers at The Drink Nation
The Drink Nation: Director of Marketing
The Drink Nation is an online magazine about drinking culture, focused on providing information and education to the sophisticated drinker. Through daily articles and video segments, TDN highlights all the newest craft beers, wines, and cocktails this nation has to offer, and provides news and opinion on drink-related topics of interest. The Drink Nation is an expansion project of Drink Philly, which was recently deemed the No. 1 Happy Hour Directory in Philadelphia by LivingSocial. In February 2011, Drink Philly and its founder, Adam Schmidt, received the Wharton Entrepreneurship Conference People's Choice Award for best new startup company, a major step up from its modest origins as an Excel spreadsheet shared amongst a few friends. Currently, the other local arms of TDN are Drink Baltimore, Drink DC, Drink Denver, Drink NYC, and Drink Portland. For more information, visit TheDrinkNation.com, follow @TheDrinkNation on Twitter or find The Drink Nation on Facebook.
What we're looking for:
TheDrinkNation.com is seeking a Director of Marketing for our rapidly growing nation-wide web publication. We are looking for someone to handle all aspects of marketing of our organization and we seek a creative minded individual who has proven results of web traffic growth and email acquisition . This position is responsible for developing and executing a company marketing plan to aggressively grow our company's web presence and increase brand recognition. This position will also manage promotion teams across the country in six markets and will require an outgoing and clear communicating and driven individual. We are looking for a professional who has prior and proven performance of growing traffic of a web publication.
- Develop and execute annual marketing plan for all cities
- Plan advertising budget on a semi annual basis
- Grow companies web presence
- Grow website traffic through proven techniques
- Manage social media
- Seek out strategic partnerships
- Manage brand image
- Seek out PR opportunities
- Maintain relationships with press
- Book speaking and in person appearances for CEO
- Develop recommendations to reach new members through desktop and mobile campaigns, including creative and messaging strategy
- Oversee partnership communication with partners to optimize traffic goals, and ensure company is on-target for goals set with partners.
- Communicate on a consistent basis with internal editorial teams to evaluate opportunities for content syndication, as well as manage the syndication process in a timely and efficient manner.
- Develop and execute subscription growth strategies
- Develop growth opportunities to scale traffic to website
- Oversee data reports and analysis as pertaining to partnerships – report weekly to CEO
- Work cross-functionally with internal marketing teams to support CRM and other internal marketing strategies
- Support overall marketing group initiatives, as well as company marketing campaigns as needed
- Manage workflow for interns and staff as appropriate
Customer acquisition:
- Develop email acquisition strategy and grow email subscriber list in all markets
- Design, manage and implement digital subscriber acquisition marketing strategy to ensure that objectives are met to maximum efficiency
- Manage monthly marketing spend using budget as efficiently as possible
Promotion Management:
- Find, book, and manage promo teams and events
- Seek out events for us to send promo teams to
- Assemble and manage promo teams to go to events
- Budget and order promo materials for promo team
- Various duties as assigned
- A bachelor's degree, preferably in Marketing, Advertising or related field
- 5+ years of customer acquisition digital marketing experience in an ecommerce / direct response environment
- In-depth understanding of Facebook's paid advertising platform, paid search, mobile media, affiliate marketing, display media, and sponsored content campaigns
- Expertise in e-commerce operations and digital business strategy
- Agency background or experience working with digital media agencies
- Strategic acumen coupled with a high attention to detail and the ability to audit his/her own work for accuracy and quality
- The ability to work independently, be self-motivated and results-oriented but still be an excellent team player with a strong level of service
- Proven analytical and quantitative skills including a strong understanding of online marketing metrics
- Ability to thrive in a fast paced, entrepreneurial, high-energy environment that requires the ability to multi-task and implement high priority initiatives
- Exceptional written and verbal communication, planning, and project management skills with individuals at both peer and management levels
- Excellent presentation skills as well as proficiency in MS Excel
- Experience with Google Analytics or other web analytics tools
- Basic Photoshop and HTML knowledge
- Experience in Google Docs & GMail
Negotiable based on experience
If interested, email cover letter and resume to workforus(at)thedrinknation.com.
The Drink Nation Seeks Local Editor for Wasington DC, Baltimore, & New York City
The Drink Nation is a family of websites about drinking culture in American cities. Our national site, TheDrinkNation.com, features drink reviews, news, commentary and more. Our local sites contain a directory of all the best bars in the region; listings of upcoming events; and posts and articles about local bars, drink-related happenings and items of interest in the area.
We are currently searching for local editors in Washington DC, Baltimore, MD, and New York City.
If you are:
- an avid fan of great cocktails, craft beer or interesting wines (or, preferably, all of the above);
- well-versed in the ins and outs of your local restaurant and bar scene;
- can write quick and insightful blog posts and articles about the above;
- familiar with social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter;
and want to translate all that into a bit of extra cash, this is the position for you.
As local editor, you will be the point person for your site, writing articles, communicating with bars and PR firms, supplying information on openings, helping with social media and on-the-ground outreach and generally helping spread the word about your site.
Pay will include a base rate for a minimum of six article posts a month, which can be increased by bonuses that are awarded based on traffic generated by your posts and articles.
This is a freelance position.
If interested, send resume and cover letter to firstname.lastname@example.com
Promo Brand Ambassador:
Interested in becoming a brand ambassador? Love to meet new people and learn about things going on in the city? If so, we got you.
We are looking for out-going people who want to work for an explosive company - while learning a ton about marketing, event coordination, and fostering community among site subscribers.
The hours will vary, ranging anywhere from 1 event (2-3 hours) to 4 events a week (8-12 hours) and even more during Philly Beer Week (20+ hours). Compensation will vary depending upon level of experience and availability.
Social Media Intern:
As an FYI, the internship position is unpaid, however it will build great experience in the world of social networking. The position is part-time and will require approx 30 hours a week devoted to working at the Drink Philly office.
The Drink Nation social media intern will:
- create, add to and maintain Twitter lists for @drinkphilly, @drinkbmore, @thedrinknation, @drinkdc and @drinknjshore
- lists will be local bars and restaurants, local press, local drink bloggers, national drink writers, spirits companies, wine companies, breweries, distributors
- curate existing Twitter accounts to trim down following count, if needed
- on Facebook, add other companies, bars and restaurants to page favorites for our respective brands
- post daily content links to Facebook, including tags of any mentioned/relevant entities
- create Facebook photo albums from events and post images with links and tags
- brainstorm on and execute questions/contests for The Drink Nation twitter and Facebook
- think of ways to drive Disqus comments on article posts


text:
When confronted with a situation about which he or she has little knowledge, an inspector or authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) will tend to take a literal interpretation of the applicable code and err on the side of safety. On the surface, this approach seems admirable. But in practice, it sometimes leads to some very strange, as well as expensive and unnecessary, corrective actions, especially in the case of battery installations for network critical physical infrastructure (NCPI). The various codes that govern NCPI installations typically only include a few paragraphs that cover batteries, and it isn't unusual for some AHJs to go years without ever having to approve a battery installation.
Contradictory information. It gets more complicated when an AHJ seeks education about battery systems, only to be confronted with seemingly contradictory information. What is true for one type of battery may not be true for another. The result is a misapplication of a governing code by an AHJ trying to do the right thing but for the wrong reasons.
For example, the National Electric Code (NEC) broadly defines a storage battery as any rechargeable electrochemical type, including nickel-cadmium (Ni-cad), lead-acid, or "other." By contrast, the International Fire Code (IFC) recognizes one single battery technology. It has two chapters on lead-acid batteries — one for valve regulated lead-acid (VRLA) batteries and one for vented (flooded) lead-acid batteries.
When confronted with a battery site that is not lead-acid, an AHJ trying to enforce the requirements of the IFC has no guidance. For example, one of the largest stationary battery installations in North America is a Ni-cad battery system. Potassium hydroxide, the alkaline electrolyte in a Ni-cad battery, can be just as damaging as the sulfuric acid-based electrolyte in a lead-acid battery, and both types can release hydrogen into a room.
A proposal was made to amend the IFC to cover stationary storage batteries instead of lead-acid batteries. However, the governing IFC panel members rejected this proposal because they couldn't correlate the proposed amendment's use in two chapters of the IFC code. In the next code cycle, the IFC may expand its coverage to include other battery technologies. Until then, however, an AHJ will have to decide how to fit the current requirements of the IFC to the specific installation site and its characteristics.
In another example, a mechanical inspector in a large Southwestern city requires all uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems to tie into a dry contact that will automatically shut down battery charging if a room ventilation fan fails. This requirement is meant to prevent the accumulation of hazardous levels of hydrogen. The requirement is partly based on an instance of an explosion in an unoccupied vented-lead-acid battery room where all safety and ventilation equipment had been disabled. This interpretation isn't popular with information technology (IT) and facilities managers who may have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars creating highly reliable, redundant power systems, only to put their mission-critical loads at the mercy of a failed fan or relay. This mechanical inspector required that this feature be included even when given data proved it would take weeks or even months for gas to accumulate to a hazardous level within the volume of the room — certainly enough time to alarm and correct a fan failure. Today's UPS systems can detect and prevent conditions that would allow hydrogen release in the first place, but the contact closure with charger disconnect is still the rule in that city.
This same AHJ makes no distinction between VRLA batteries, which are sealed and release little or no hydrogen under conditions of normal use, and vented batteries, which continually release up to 60 times more hydrogen gas than a VRLA battery under float-charging.
Finally, this misapplication of the governing code by the AHJ is applied to any room that contains batteries, including a data center. The fire code doesn't put restrictions on battery systems with less than 50 gallons of electrolyte, but the mechanical code is mute on the point, so the mechanical inspector puts this rule into effect even on VRLA battery systems with as little as five or 10 gallons of electrolyte. Although his/her decision seems to meet the letter of the code, it misses the intent entirely.
In still another example, the AHJs in many cities require data centers that contain batteries to duct exhaust air to the outside of the building, even though the closest place to do so might be 10 floors away and the room holds sealed, non-gassing batteries. Also, IT environments have specialized computer room air conditioners that have much higher levels of humidity control and dust filtering than ordinary comfort air systems. They also recycle as much air as possible to avoid contamination with outside air. Requirements for special ducting seem to defeat this objective.
An inspector's interpretation can be justified by the NEC Handbook, which seems to say that one should design a facility for worst case failure conditions, in seeming contradiction to the Uniform Fire Code, NFPA-1, which states in Article 220.127.116.11.2.1 that "storage, use, or handling of hazardous materials in a building or facility shall be accomplished in a manner that provides a reasonable level of safety…during normal storage, use, or handling operations and conditions." The IFC, in Section 609, permits VRLA batteries to be installed "in the same room with the equipment they support," provided the system includes "a listed device or other approved method to preclude, detect and control thermal runaway." Mechanical codes make no such accommodation.
Despite changes to the latest versions of both the Uniform Fire Code and the IFC, some AHJs continue to require users to install spill containment barriers around non-spillable VRLA battery systems. For example, at a central telephone office, this requirement cost one customer more than $100,000 to uninstall and re-install equipment. That doesn't include lost revenue during the several days that the central office wasn't in service. In another case, the containment barrier obstructed the opening of a battery cabinet door. In still another case, it made removal of a depleted battery nearly impossible. Finally, at a West Coast site, the AHJ decided that the UL Listing on a piece of IT equipment that contained batteries didn't apply if the room in which it was installed failed to meet all of the requirements of NEC Art. 645 Information Technology Equipment Rooms. The supplier was then required to re-wire interconnect cables inside the listed equipment.
Well-meaning but troublesome. The message of the above anecdotes isn't that AHJs are uninformed or mean-spirited. In every instance, the AHJ was doing what he or she believed to be the safe and correct thing to do. And in every instance, the decision was based on misinformation or misunderstanding of the particular technology.
Even though batteries have been widely used for more than a hundred years, they're still misunderstood and feared by many. As new battery technologies, such as stationary lithium batteries, become commonplace, AHJs will continue to look to the various governing codes for guidance. But if these codes don't address these new technologies, the AHJs will continue to do as they have in the past.
So how does a plant/facilities manager, IT manager, or installing contractor match their installed stationary battery systems with perceived code requirements? The best approach is to have the AHJ fully explain his or her objection and the basis of the objection. Armed with this information, you should contact specialists within the manufacturing community who deal with code issues and the specifying engineer. The response can — and should — be addressed on the basis of case studies and instances in which similar concerns were expressed and were satisfactorily answered within the various code constraints.
McCluer is external code compliance manager with American Power Conversion in New Kingston, R.I.


text:
Registration on MediaCommons is open to any scholar or student of media studies, as well as to media practitioners, activists, and policy makers. Account registrations are subject to approval, in order to avoid spam production. In order for your account to be approved, we must be able to verify your identity, via your email address and your real name and institutional (or other) affiliation.
We reserve the right to deny or revoke accounts of individuals affiliated with organizations (such as paper writing services) whose presence on MediaCommons would undermine the scholarly integrity of the network.
After you fill out this form, you will receive an automated message with your login information; once your account has been approved, you will be able to log in, edit your password and your personal information, and begin posting and commenting throughout MediaCommons.
If you have questions about our account creation policies, please contact us at
MediaCommons: A Digital Scholarly Network | Copyright/Fair Use Policy | Help
Powered by NYU DLTS


text:
Penn Law Faculty Examine Health Care Ruling
July 05, 2012
The U.S. Supreme Court famously has the last word on what the Constitution means, but last week's landmark decision on the Affordable Care Act has launched a vigorous, ongoing conversation about how the health care law will be implemented now that its major provisions have been upheld.
In the aftermath of the decision, we asked Constitutional and health law and policy experts at the University of Pennsylvania Law School to share their insights about what the decision portends for the scope of federal power to meet economic and social problems and the future of the nation's health care system.
Theodore Ruger is a professor of law with expertise in constitutional law and health law and policy.
It is tempting to characterize any Supreme Court case that implicates the outer limits of national government authority in binary terms: as either a net "win" or a net "loss" for state sovereignty. In this zero-sum game the federal government's gain is portrayed as the states' loss, and vice versa. Such a mutually-exclusive conception of state and national power was held by many of our Framers, and remains prevalent in some other federal systems around the world, where the national government's entry into a given regulatory sphere automatically negates provincial or local power over the same matter.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) embodies, and the Supreme Court's ruling last week reflects, a very different conception of American federalism that has become increasingly prevalent in the past half-century. The most important areas of state regulatory jurisdiction today reside within the broad expanse of federal authority, not in the dwindling hinterlands beyond its outer frontiers. Federal and state policy responsibility is concurrent and overlapping, not mutually exclusive. Nowhere is this more true than in the realm of health care policy, where states have retained their leading regulatory role even as the health care sector has grown to account for a sixth of our national economy.
The Affordable Care Act builds on this tradition of overlapping and cooperative federalism: it is a major federal law that reserves a major (and highly discretionary) role for state governments in its implementation and extension. By upholding the bulk of the ACA, the Supreme Court has given a green light to the states to use the ample discretion that the Act affords them in designing and implementing their health insurance exchanges.
The Obama administration has already promised to permit each state "maximum flexibility" in regulating insurance companies within the exchanges, and in structuring the exchanges themselves. Ironically, the greatest risk to state sovereignty contained in the ACA applies to those states that refuse to play ball at all – the ACA provides that states that fail to make any progress in setting up their own unique insurance exchanges will instead have a one-size-fits-all federal version imposed upon them after 2014.
The Supreme Court's ruling on the ACA's Medicaid expansion puts a further choice to states that is no less portentous for it being less clearly coerced: every state now must choose whether to "opt in" to the ACA's expanded Medicaid terms that would require every state to cover almost all persons at or below 133% of the poverty line in return for unusually generous federal matching funding. For opt-in states, the federal government has promised to pay 100% of the cost of the expansion for its first three years, and 90% thereafter. A few states that led the litigation against the ACA will undoubtedly reject this generous deal on principle (some would say spite), thus making a political point on the backs of their poorest citizens. But for most states once the litigation dust settles the deal offered by the ACA may be too good to pass up.
In any event, after the decision last week states can no longer sit on the sidelines and decry the alleged encroachments of the ACA. The statute, and the Court's opinion construing and amending it, have given them concrete and meaningful choices to make. As Chief Justice Roberts said in his controlling opinion: "The States are separate and independent sovereigns. Sometimes they have to act like it."
Kermit Roosevelt is a professor of law with expertise in constitutional law and federal jurisdiction.
It's hard to know what the consequences of the decision will be. The new limiting principles that the Court announced [with respect to the scope of federal power] will probably not be very meaningful unless there's another conservative appointment that creates the will to push them further. The activity/inactivity distinction shouldn't apply to many cases–it's not often that people resisting a law can claim to be inactive–and it doesn't make much sense in this one, since the people being regulated are active, as a group: the uninsured get emergency room treatment and don't pay for it. The spending clause analysis is a little more sensible, although it depends on somehow distinguishing new federal funding from preexisting programs, but it too is likely to affect only a few cases.
It's perhaps more interesting to speculate about why this happened. There's some evidence–the style of the dissent, which uses "we" instead of "I", and some references to Ginsburg's opinion as a dissent–that suggest it was initially a majority. It looks as though Roberts initially voted to strike the law down and then switched sides. I'm not sure why that would have happened. I don't think it's because Roberts really is the moderate and restrained judge he promised to be at his confirmation hearings. If he were, he would have accepted the obviously correct commerce clause justification.
The alternative explanation is that he actually was concerned about the legitimacy of the court and the reaction to a decision that invalidated the entire law (which the four dissenters wanted to do) by a 5-4 party line vote. It seems as though he decided to write an opinion that was as favorable to the challengers as possible in terms of the law while not striking down the law. That may be based on apolitical concern for the court, or it may actually be based on a longer term assessment of partisan political outcomes. But it's not the second coming of David Souter.
Tom Baker is Deputy Dean and the William Maul Measey Professor of Law and Health Sciences. On the day the decision was announced Baker spoke at a Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics roundtable at Wharton Business School.
Some states are a lot more ready than others [to implement the law]. Basically everyone in most states has been holding their breath for months. California, Florida, Maryland, Colorado and Minnesota are moving ahead. A number of more "red" states have been quietly preparing.
The thing to keep in mind is that there is an enormous amount of money available for states that cooperate and, so, even some of the states that were mounting the lawsuits were thinking about how to make sure they got their share of that money if the Affordable Care Act went ahead.
[Setting up insurance exchanges] will be a scramble. This hiccup means that more of the states will have their exchanges run by the federal government because a state might have been waiting for a few months, and a few months makes a big difference. So I think we're going to see a little less variation than we might otherwise have, because the feds will be running the exchanges for that state.
For more insight into the decision, click here for commentary by Professor Ruger, Professor Roosevelt, and Professor Baker.


text:
(COST) Costco Wholesale Corporation Shares Held at Neutral by Analyst
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) continues to be a dominant retail wholesaler based on the breadth and quality of merchandises it offers. The company's strategy to sell products at heavily discounted prices has helped it maintain positive growth amid the beleaguered economic conditions as budget-conscious customers continue to see it as a viable option for low-cost necessities. Having delivered comparable-store sales growth consistently, Costco is well positioned in the warehouse club industry.
Early December, Costco revealed its comparable-store sales data for the month of November. Comparable-store sales for November climbed 6%, after an increase of 7% in October, and reflect comparable sales growth of 6% at its U.S. locations and 7% at international outlets. In the prior-year period, the company delivered comparable-store sales growth of 9%.
A differentiated product range enables Costco to provide an upscale shopping experience to its members, resulting in market share gains and higher sales per square foot. Moreover, the company continues to maintain a healthy membership renewal rate. Costco also remains committed to opening new clubs in domestic and international markets. The company opened 16 net new locations in fiscal 2012, and plans to open 30 new outlets in fiscal 2013. The company's diversification strategy is a natural hedge against risks that may arise in specific markets.
Costco recently came out with its first-quarter fiscal 2013 results. The quarterly earnings of 95 cents a share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a couple of cents, and surged 18.8% from 80 cents earned in the prior-year period. The warehouse retailer's total revenue, which includes net sales and membership fee, climbed 9.6% to $23,715 million from the prior-year quarter, but fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $23,761 million.
The economy is still not out of the woods, and whether 2013 will mark a complete turnaround is difficult to predict unless some concrete steps are taken. Each and every company is vying to survive the downturn and reach the helm.
Costco faces stiff competition from Target Corporation (TGT) and Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), which follows a similar business model that pushes through high volumes of merchandise at low prices in membership-only warehouse clubs. Thus, aggressive pricing to gain market share and drive traffic amid stiff competition, may depress sales and margins.
Moreover, the company's customers are sensitive to macro-economic factors including interest rate hikes, increase in fuel and energy costs, housing market, and unemployment and household debt levels, which may affect their spending.
Given the pros and cons, we maintain our long-term "Neutral" recommendation on the stock. Moreover, Costco holds a Zacks #3 Rank that translates into a short-term "Hold" rating.
COSTCO WHOLE CP (COST): Free Stock Analysis Report
TARGET CORP (TGT): Free Stock Analysis Report
WAL-MART STORES (WMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
About aaroncampbell
Powered by Facebook Comments
Similar Posts: COST | Costco Wholesale Corporation | Target Corporation | TGT | Wal-Mart Stores Inc. | WMT | Discount Variety Stores | Services
RSS feeds: COST | Costco Wholesale Corporation | Target Corporation | TGT | Wal-Mart Stores Inc. | WMT | Discount Variety Stores | Services |
Other Posts by aaroncampbell | RSS Feed for this author


text:
It's Halloween morning and I'm feeling the start of a sore throat. Great. It's sunny outside, but Fall is beginning to turn the morning temps to be a little crisp. Still, we are predicted to be in the low 70's. I'm going to hunker down, at home, and do some serious baking. I haven't blogged a dessert in ages, and I want you to know that I love to bake!
I'm trying to find time to organize a multitude of food photos that I have uploaded from my camera-- but work wears me out and then I'm too tired to blog about. I so admire those of you who blog on a daily basis. How do you do it?? This weekend, that is about to change-- I hope. Please forgive me, as I rewind time two weeks ago to my Oktoberfest party. I wanted to share with you my Mutti's (mother's) very traditional Semmel Knoedel (trying saying that one... KA-NEW-DEL)... well, it's a tough one, but that's as close I can get. To make life easier, I'll refer to them as bread dumplings. They are a childhood favorite, and they go perfectly with Austrian Goulash that is also one of the most requested meals from my two brothers.
This is recipe is similar to making stuffing. The real difference is that you use milk, instead of chicken stock.You want to use a hard roll (French bread will do, in a pinch). Stale works best. The ingredients are very simple: sliced bread, eggs, milk, fresh parsley and salt. I don't measure, but I'll do my best for those of you who rely on that.
For the "dumplings" and pat them together, well.
This yielded six dumplings. These will hold together, better, if you chill these for about 30 minutes...
Cook these in a pot of salted boiling water for about 15-20 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well.
NOTE: I've had a few readers write that their dumplings "fell apart" while cooking them. Be sure that you are using a stale bread-- at least one day old. You do need to work the bread enough, so that the dumplings aren't "loose". In other words, I squeeze the stale bread to mix the egg and hot milk together. Don't use too much milk, either. You want the dumplings to come together where they have a slightly sticky feel to them. I've never had my dumplings fall apart!
This is childhood comfort food... Austrian Goulash and Semmel Knoedel.
The "art" of eating these-- cut in half...
Sometimes, with leftover knoedel, I slice them like cooked potatoes and fry them in bacon and onion, and pour over whisked egg. It's fantastic as a breakfast. But, there are rarely leftovers.
These are very different, and I hope that you would try this very traditional German dish. I recently heard someone say that they don't like German food. I was disappointed to hear that. I wonder... what comes to mind when someone things of German food? Sausages? Potatoes? There are so many different regions of German food, so I hope to share more of my family heirloom recipes with you. I hope to change someone's mindset. At least, I'll give it a try!
(To see how I made Austrian Goulash, click here.)
Off to make chicken soup and to rest so that I defeat this cold that's trying to ruin my weekend.
Have a safe Halloween!


text:
Louisiades Yacht Rally - on again for 2013
Published: 2013-02-25 02:40:00
Topics: Rallies
Countries: Australia , Papua New Guinea
Now in its sixth year, the Louisiades Yacht rally is being held in 2013. There is strong ongoing interest from the local community to host the Rally and there remains strong support from the Provincial Government and the Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority.
Rally Organiser, Guy Chester said "Running the Rally is a lot of hard work, but the smiles on the Louisiades locals faces when we arrive at each of their villages, the welcome and the gratitude for the community aid we offer makes it all worthwhile."
The Louisiades
The Louisiades Archipelago is 100 nautical miles east of "mainland" Papua New Guinea, 520 nautical miles north-east of Cairns. They are truly paradise found, 100 beautiful islands with a friendly people living a very simple life who welcome cruising yachts. The Louisiades comprise sand cays, lagoon reefs, limestone outcrops (up lifted coral reefs) and continental islands with many safe anchorages. With abundant coral reefs there is snorkelling, diving and fishing galore. The local people are exceptionally welcoming to yachts and will paddle out to welcome yachts and, of course, trade.
The Rally
The Louisiades yacht rally has become a major annual event for the community of the Louisiades Islands in far eastern Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The Rally is a cruise in company across the Coral Sea and then four weeks throughout the spectacular Louisiades, with a mix of events and time for independent exploration of the islands and their friendly communities.
After safety and navigation briefings, the Rally leaves from Cairns bringing Australian and international cruising yachts to the islands for a month or so. The Rally Yachts arrive at the uninhabited Duchateau Islands and are often welcomed by local fishermen in their Sailau's (traditional sailing canoes). A few days of rest after the passage and sundowner barbeques then onto the spectacular Panasia Island and its narrow reef entrance and sheltered lagoon. Panasia has a spectacular limestone cave and the nearby little Panasia a skull cave which the yachties visit. The Yachts then move onto Nivani Island for the Panapompom Cane regatta, this involves the traditional sailaus in some serious racing, then the yachties get to sail on the sailaus...then next day it's the locals turn as all the yachts load up with newfound friends for a fun race.
The boats have a week or so of independent exploration, some going to the famous Kamataal "yacht club" before meeting back up for the Bagaman muster, a great singsing day and handicraft market. A beach party at Blue Lagoon and then a traditional lifestyle/cultural day at Pananumarra Island before the yachts move on to the only town, Bwagoia on Misima Island. Formalities are completed and the Misima Showcase Festival is held in the yachties honour! Another week of independent exploration and the sailors meet back up at Nimowa Mission where school and clinic visits, a remote river trip and sports afternoon are planned. The rally concludes with a final party at Wanim Island.
Community Involvement
What makes the Louisiades and the Rally so special are the local people. They put on a huge welcome for Rally yachts and there are many activities and opportunities during the Rally which are truly unique. The local folk have little and whilst happy, live in comparative poverty. The Rally aims to contribute to the community by paying for events and activities and also has a community benefit program. To date the Rally has provides tens of thousands of dollars to support a marine Ambulance, clinics at Nimowa and Paneati, provided water tanks for villages and taken up tons of school and medical supplies and clothes.
All Welcome
The Rally invites monos, multis, power and sail. No-one is "hullist" or "engineist"...well not too much! A wide range of vessels have joined the rally to date. Many monohull yachts from new fibreglass production boats (such as Jenaeaus, Bavaria's, Benateau's and Hunters) to older steel and ferro yachts. Many sailing catamarans have participated with Crowther, Catanas, Perry, Lightwave, Schionning and Leopard among the models. Motor yachts have also participated, with an 18 metre Riviera and 20 meter Crelock having been on two Rallies.
The Rally provides support for those with little offshore experience, and also has proven popular with those with great offshore experience.
Come Along in 2013
The 2012 rally was enjoyed by all, in the words of the crew from 2009 Rally yacht, Tribal: "Its been a life changing experience." The 2013 Rally leaves Cairns (Yorkeys Knob Boating Club) in mid September. Early bird entries close 1 May!
Further Information
The Rally is sponsored by Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority, supported by Yorkeys Knob Boating Club and organised by EcoSustainAbility.
Further information from Guy Chester
W| www.louisiadesrally.com
E| [email protected]


text:
Two New HIV Drugs Win Recommendation as Official First-Line Treatment Options
November 5, 2013
Stribild, a once-daily, single-pill regimen, and Tivicay, a recently approved integrase inhibitor, are now part of the list of "preferred" HIV medications in the official U.S. HIV treatment guidelines. The promotion of both drugs was announced on Oct. 30 by AIDSinfo, an information service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which produces the guidelines via a nationwide panel of experts.
The HHS guidelines were last updated in February 2012. Until last week, only four regimens had been listed as "preferred" for people taking HIV meds for the first time:
Over the past year, however, research has increasingly shown that Stribild, which was approved in August 2012, and Tivicay, which got the green light in August 2013, can be just as potent, and just as safe, as those four options. So, last week, these three regimens were added to the "preferred" list:
The changes highlight the rise of integrase inhibitors as an established, reliable family of HIV meds for first-line treatment. Elvitegravir, Isentress and Tivicay are all members of this relatively new drug class, which has greatly expanded in number in recent years.
The HHS guidelines panel designates regimens as "preferred" based on its assessment that, from the research available, the drugs have been reliably shown to work extremely well, cause few side effects and are easy to take compared to other HIV treatment regimens.
Now that we have seven different "preferred" regimens, that critical question -- "What the heck do I start HIV treatment with?" -- looks more complicated than ever. The answer will usually come down to very specific factors that a person with HIV and his or her clinician need to discuss: the risk of specific side effects, potential interactions with other (non-HIV) medications the person may be taking, number and timing of pills, mental health issues and current HIV viral load, just to name a few. Our growing number of HIV treatment options makes close communication between HIV-positive people and their care providers more important than ever.
Myles Helfand is the editorial director of TheBody.com and TheBodyPRO.com.
Follow Myles on Twitter: @MylesatTheBody.
Copyright © 2013 Remedy Health Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
More From This Resource Center
Related Stories
This article was provided by TheBody.
Add Your Comment:
(Please note: Your name and comment will be public, and may even show up in
Internet search results. Be careful when providing personal information! Before
adding your comment, please read TheBody.com's Comment Policy.)
The content on this page is free of advertiser influence and was produced by our editorial team. See our advertising policy.
Most Viewed Articles


text:
Differentiation Practice and Review (Part 3 of 3)
Unit 3: Formalizing Derivatives and Techniques for Differentiation
Lesson 21 of 21
Lesson 21 of 21
Objective: SWBAT compute multi-step derivatives involving power, product, quotient and chain rules. SWBAT identify intervals of increasing/decreasing and concave up/down.
Big Idea: We conclude the 3 synthesis days providing students much needed time to make meaningful connections among topics and retain their learning.
Math, Derivatives, geogebra, calculus ab, derivative rules, derivatives graphically, local extrema, absolute extrema, multiple derivatives, calculus, AP Calculus, AP Calculus AB
60 minutes
Warm-up and Homework Review
15 min
Resources (4)
expand content
Setting the Stage
5 min
expand content
expand content


text:
Don't get caught empty handed when an impromptu trip to the grocery store strikes! Our nylon grocery bags tote more than your purchases, with custom designed cartoon kitty portraits causing waves of smiles wherever you go. Conveniently fold into compact pouches for storage in your purse or car.
- Nylon
- 16.5" W x 15.5" H x 6" D (42 x 39 x 15.2 cm)
- Folds to 6" x 5" (15.2 x 12.7 cm)
- Imported
Shop Green!
For bulk pricing on quantities of 25 or more, please contact our Customer Service department at email@example.com.
Customer Reviews
- July 20, 2018
These are excellent! They're strong, seem to be water resistant (condensation from refrigerated/frozen foods dries fast) and it's so nice that they fold so neatly into their pouches, making it easy to tuck them in you purse & always have them on hand.
- July 12, 2018
I love these bags. They hold a lot, and because they're soft it's easy to fit odd shapes inside. I kept 1 and gave 2 to friends who also love them. I'm going to get more; a couple to keep for myself and use the rest as gifts.
- June 7, 2018
very good product
- May 21, 2018
I buy these on sale and give them to friends who are still asleep regarding plastic shopping bags. It's still an uphill battle but worth it. I keep several in my purse so I never have to accept plastic from stores. I also took some to our local pet food store. These are a great product!
- May 21, 2018
Perfect gift for all Cat lovers! Going to give mine as gifts for friends, family and cat sitter. Love this site and what it supportss!
- April 26, 2018
Great bags to use as gift bags! I gave one to my niece's daughter filled with books and gifts. Great for cat lovers!
- April 12, 2018
I love shopping bags! I like the character of these bags, they also roll up really nice to carry in my main purse so I have one on hand for any unexpected shopping buys. Very durable, clean up nicely and are a fun piece to carry.
- March 19, 2018
Great product! Strong material. Wipes clean. Folds into its own pocket. Easy to carry a set or two in my purse so I always have bags.


text:
Nashua Riverwalk to see possible expansionBy KIMBERLY HOUGHTON
Union Leader Correspondent
December 31. 2012 11:34AM
NASHUA - City officials this week will review a proposal to expand the Nashua Riverwalk and connect the evolving path to an existing downtown parking lot.
On Wednesday, the aldermanic Finance Committee will be presented with a proposed bid totaling $47,700 for the work. The Nashua Riverwalk is intended to become a nearly 2-mile trail along the Nashua River, which continues to be developed in phases.
"The purpose of this portion of the project is to construct a trail connecting the existing Riverwalk at Jackson Falls Condominiums to the parking lot of Margarita's Restaurant," says a memo written to Mayor Donnalee Lozeau, chairman of the Finance Committee. "The proposed trail will be 8-feet wide by approximately 240-feet in length."
This latest proposal comes about four months after the Board of Aldermen accepted a trail-easement deed along the Nashua River west of Nashua Drive from the Nashua River Holding Company, LLC. The easement adds nearly 4,000 square feet to the growing riverwalk.
The recent acquisition of the trail easement now allows for uninterrupted passage of the riverwalk from Main Street to Nashua Drive. Now, the Finance Committee is being asked to approve $47,700 in funding to connect the trail. The funding - if approved - will be paid with a community development block grant. The city received bids from eight companies to construct the most recent trail connection, with Saint's Landscaping of Nashua being recommended for the work.
Details of the project include a concrete and brick-lined walkway, three solar light lamp posts, two benches with armrests and various landscaping. The Nashua Riverwalk has been included in the city's downtown master plan for nearly three decades, with an ultimate goal of connecting the riverfront to form a 1.6-mile looped walkway along the Nashua River that is convenient for pedestrians and bikers.
"The City of Nashua, its residents and leaders, have envisioned the Nashua Riverwalk for almost 30 years, as noted in the 1983 and 1991 downtown master plans," says the memo.
In order to make the riverwalk a reality, several walkway sections have already been completed, and various public access easements have been deeded to the city.
In the fall of 2010, a portion that links the Nashua Public Library with a trail that extends eastward along the river to a footbridge behind BAE Systems was unveiled. Prior to that, the boardwalk next to Peddler's Daughter was completed in 2006, the Heritage Trail behind the library was finished in 1994, and other sections were constructed in the 1990's.
If the financing is approved, the new path would connect Margarita's Mexican Restaurant with an existing riverwalk path near the Jackson Falls housing complex, and should be completed by June 1, 2013, according to documents on file at Nashua City Hall.
"When these opportunities are available, we should really take advantage of it," Alderman-at-Large David Deane said previously. "I believe this is an important project for the city."
The riverwalk is being funded by a combination of grants. The city was originally awarded $190,000 of HUD Economic Development Initiative funds in 2008 to enhance and improve the area along the Nashua River where the riverwalk is being constructed. The Finance Committee will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Nashua City Hall to discuss this matter.


text:
He Found the Real Alexander
Collected Papers on Alexander the Great
Throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BCE the southern Greek states had an increasingly uneasy relationship with the kingdom of Macedonia. Located north of Thessaly, in the ring of mountains surrounding the wide fertile plain above the Aegean (the site of modern Salonika), Macedonia was widely regarded by its southern neighbors as a primitive social anachronism. It was a dynastic monarchy, at a time when the rest of the Greek mainland (with the exception of Sparta) had long since abandoned kings for a more or less democratic republicanism. Its clan-based inhabitants were regarded as uncouth hillbillies, given (according to the Greek historian Theopompus) to wild wine-swilling parties and to casual sodomy. They spoke a patois incomprehensible to other Greeks, and were sneered at as foreigners.
Whether Macedonians were, in fact, Greek or not is still a matter of fierce debate, which in all likelihood will never be settled conclusively. But that in antiquity southerners such as the Athenians either truly believed they were indeed barbarous foreign hicks, or at least found it politic to so denigrate them by way of active propaganda, is a well-documented fact. The speeches of the bellicose Athenian orator Demosthenes are full of such attacks, and the more powerful the Macedonians became, the more angry his vituperation.
To begin with they had been treated, patronizingly, as a kind of archaic joke; but with the accession in 359 of their dynamic king Philip II, Alexander the Great's father, who combined aggressive military skills with cynically shrewd international diplomacy, the tone changed. Before long Macedonia, far from being a disregardable back- water, had become, with its well-trained standing army and ambitious monarch, one of the leading powers on the Greek mainland. A desperate attempt, led by Athens and Boeotian Thebes, to stop Philip's progress was crushingly defeated, in 338, at the battle of Chaeroneia (the eighteen-year-old Alexander led the crucial cavalry assault). This cost the southern Greek states their freedom, and left them subservient to new masters whom they had been accustomed to mocking as slaves, drunks, and barbarians.
In 336, after Philip had been assassinated by a disgruntled bodyguard, Demosthenes assured his ecstatic Athenian audience that Philip's son and successor, a mere unlicked stripling, would be easily disposed of. Athens watched, horrified, as the unlicked stripling put down the attempted revolt of the city-state of Thebes with contemptuous ease, slaughtered thousands, sold the rest into slavery, and leveled one of the oldest and most renowned cities of Greece to the ground, as though it had never existed.
Thus for the foreseeable future the attitude of Athens and the other southern Greek states toward Alexander—despite the existence, always, of a minority of pliant and willing collabos—was one of deeply rooted and abiding hatred, and this is a factor that always…
This article is available to online subscribers only.
Please choose from one of the options below to access this article:
Print Premium Subscription — $99.95
Purchase a print premium subscription (20 issues per year) and also receive online access to all content on nybooks.com.
Purchase an Online Edition subscription and receive full access to all articles published by the Review since 1963.
Purchase a trial Online Edition subscription and receive unlimited access for one week to all the content on nybooks.com.
If you already have one of these subscriptions, please be sure you are logged in to your nybooks.com account. If you subscribe to the print edition, you may also need to link your web site account to your print subscription. Click here to link your account services.


text:
ANZ's Financial Institutions Group is a specialist team exclusively focussed on providing a solutions driven approach to address the capital, portfolio management, liquidity and transactional banking needs of the financial sector.
Financial Institutions is a global business with an emphasis on ANZ's core markets (Australia and New Zealand), developed markets (Europe, Americas and Japan) and certain emerging markets (Asia).
ANZ's key strength lies in our ability to:
- Draw on leading experts from a wide range of disciplines including capital markets, structured finance, treasury and investment banking
- Structure and deliver creative and sophisticated funding solutions to meet our customer's interests and individual requirements.
Areas of focus
- Banks (global, regional, and investment banks)
- Non-Banks (consumer, and commercial property)
- Insurers and reinsurers
- Pension funds
- Funds (real money, fund of funds, hedge)
Geographic coverage
ANZ's Financial Institutions Group operates across multiple geographies and maintains significant on-the-ground presence in the world's major financial centres of:
- Australia
- China
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Korea
- New Zealand
- Singapore
- Taiwan
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- Vietnam


text:
|San Diego, Calif.
|High School:
|Francis Parker
|Materials Science and Engineering
|Encinitas Wave Volleyball Club
2012: Played in 119 sets...219 kills...0.282 hitting percentage...73 blocks...ranked third on the team in kills and blocks...totaled 10 kills versus Elms (2/15), Milwaukee School of Engineering (3/9), and Fontbonne (3/10)...also had eight blocks at Fontbonne (3/10)...only ace of the season was against Harvard (2/4).
Off the Court at MIT: Majoring in materials science and engineering.
Why I Chose MIT: I chose MIT because I can never back down from a challenge. MIT is the perfect place for me because I can continually challenge myself both on the court and in the classroom. The best motivation is being surrounded by other motivated people, which MIT is full of. Sleep might not always be at the top of my agenda, but by the weekend, it was all worth it.
High School: A 2011 graduate of Francis Parker High School...captain...first team all-county all-academic...first team Western League...first team CIF D-IV...2010 national champion...three-time CIF D IV San Diego section champions...two-time D III Southern California CIF runners-up...four-year varsity letterwinner.
Club: Encinitas Wave Volleyball Club (five years)...Seaside Volleyball Club (one year)...Shorebreak Volleyball Club (one year).
Personal: Son of Leslie Klein...family member sailed at Miami University (Ohio).


text:
The Ninth Annual Las Vegas bike fest which ran the weekend of Oct 1- 4 is now a thing of the past. But if you talked to any of those attending the event they would say they had the time of their lives!
Attendance was right on target with last years' at about 30,000, seems like even a bad economy couldn't put a damper on the fun.
Cashmen Center was the site of the Artistry In Iron competition where some of the hottest and most innovative bike builders from around the country gather to try to prove who is top dog.
Thunderstruck Customs made off with the top honor 'Builder's Choice' award along with a $10,000 prize check. Their bike was an industrial looking red chopper with an air plane like theme.
Harley-Davidson was on hand to give demo rides on its 2010 models. This was one very popular event over the weekend.
Vegas is always the place to be and when you add in 30,000 avid motorcyclists, let's just say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!