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Eight hours a day, five days a week, for three weeks each year, Jennifer MacEwan is forced to ignore the job she was hired to do.
Eight hours a day, five days a week, for three weeks each year, Jennifer MacEwan is forced to ignore the job she was hired to do.
As a counselor at Westwood Middle School, she and her colleagues are tasked with preparing and distributing FCAT materials in the weeks leading up to the test.
Arguments about the test's validity aside, one thing's for sure: Huge amounts of time and effort go into administering the FCAT every year.
It's up to each school's principal to decide who puts the testing materials together. Assistant principals and curriculum specialists often help out.
But for the most part, the burden falls on school counselors.
That's not because they don't have enough work already. School counselors provide much more than conflict resolution — they offer emotional support, help students through anger and behavioral issues, assist with special needs students, give college and career advice, provide curriculum support and even set up home visits and family interventions when necessary.
"It's not that the guidance counselors don't do a lot of stuff," said Steven Stark, director of research, assessment and student information for Alachua County schools. "They certainly do, it's just that they're the easiest ones to put it on."
By law, anyone handling FCAT testing materials must have a professional certificate in education, Stark said. That means only teachers, counselors and school administrators are allowed to handle the test.
And preparing testing materials is a full-time job, one that prevents the counselors from doing what they love: working with students.
The kids come walking down the hall, wanting to chat, then see the pile of test booklets in the FCAT prep room, MacEwan said. They stop, sigh and walk away.
When they come back after testing is over, she said, "It makes us so happy."
FCAT prep happens year-round, but there's extra emphasis after winter break.
Across the district, FCAT eats up two to three weeks of counselors' and other school employees' time spent organizing the test, two weeks of testing and a couple of days packing up all the materials.
At the middle and high school level, most students take tests in multiple subjects, translating into thousands of pieces of testing materials at each school.
Each test booklet must have a label with a student's name, plus the student's test security number, which corresponds with the teacher administering the test and a room number.
Seating charts, made by each teacher, must corroborate the security numbers.
Test coordinators must also arrange accommodations for students who require them.
To ensure the security of the test, the Department of Education prohibits schools from opening materials until a week before testing begins. The time frame creates extra stress for coordinators at the largest schools.
"It's not a complex task," Stark said. But, "it's a time-consuming and a tedious task."
If anything doesn't match up when it gets back to the state Department of Education after testing, the school must investigate, resulting in school employees spending even more time away from teaching or counseling.
The advent of computer-based FCAT testing hasn't helped much.
Erin Camizzi, one of two counselors who prepare testing materials for the 560 students at Newberry High School, said computers make the two weeks of testing more streamlined.
However, Stark said each school must verify that all its computers comply with state requirements and take time out of classes to give students computer practice tests.
Computer-based testing is the same amount of work to organize, he said. It's just a different animal.
All that time away from counseling can have a negative effect on students, says Bill Goodman, director of guidance for Alachua County schools.
In Alachua County, he said, about half of all public school students qualify for free or reduced-cost lunch. "That in and of itself tells me the need for various levels of support."
If a school has only one counselor and that person is busy preparing FCAT materials for two to three weeks during what many students find to be an incredibly stressful time, Goodman said, the teachers and assistant principals who take over the counseling roles are not the ones who are best trained to provide emotional and behavioral support.
"To me, those things are equally as important for kids to get while they're transitioning through school," he said.
The negative effect of that varies by the level of support each child needs to be successful.
The district certainly has a large proportion of students who will do fine on their own, Goodman said, but there's probably an equal number of students who suffer without support.
And the counselors themselves?
They suffer, too, said MacEwan and Jill Kanji, another school counselor at Westwood Middle.
MacEwan's chiropractor expects her in his office more frequently during FCAT season.
Many coordinators say they get grouchy, and their spouses and friends have learned to leave them alone while testing is going on.
When the test is over, they celebrate.
"We do the part of the job that we love," Kanji said. They talk to their students.
Contact Erin Jester at 338-3166 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Our 5 favorite nursing memes on Tumblr this week
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|Episode Description
|Wednesday, Dec 5, 2012 - 3:30 AM
"Economic Cycles (What Goes Up Must Come Down)"
Trends in the economy go up and down. Learn how trends can affect a business. Discover how you can protect yourself against negative effects and plan for the positive trends. D
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France justice ministry rejects Noriega request to be treated as POW
[JURIST] The French Justice Ministry on Thursday denied a request from former Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] to be treated as a prisoner of war (POW). Noriega currently awaits trial in France on money laundering charges. Justice Ministry spokesperson Guillaume Didier said that Noriega will not be treated as a POW [AFP report] because the charges are based on breaches of common law not related to military service. Being treated as a POW would entitle Noriega to special treatment under the Geneva Convention [ICRC backgrounder], but Guillaume says conditions of French prisons are consistent with the requirements of the Geneva Conventions regardless. Noriega was already sentenced in absentia [Reuters report] to 10 years in jail by a French court in 1999, but under French law is entitled to a new trial.
Earlier this week, Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli [official profile, in Spanish] said that his government will seek the Noriega's extradition [JURIST report] to face charges of human rights violations in Panama. Also this week, a French judge ruled that Noriega must remain in custody [JURIST report] until his trial. Noriega arrived in France Tuesday morning after being extradited [JURIST report] from the US, where he had served a 17-year sentence on drug charges. He had fought extradition [JURIST report] from the US since 2007. Last month, the US Supreme Court declined to reconsider [JURIST report] Noriega's petition to stop the extradition process. The US State Department had indicated that it was satisfied that France will treat Noriega as a POW [JURIST report] if Noriega was extradited to that country.


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Taken 2 (US - DVD R1 | BD RA)
We have early art for DVD and Blu-ray releases of the Liam Neeson film
News by Tom Woodward
lee09 Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: United States Posts: 954
S-H-I-T, I said it.
matt86 Member Join Date: March 2008 Location: United States Posts: 868
This looked awful and this is super fast even in todays world. I didn't like the first one so I skipped this all together. U wonder why they don't just aim for the R rating from the get-go. I get sick of these movies because laim neeson is basically a superhero who keeps getting out of tight situations one after another, it's very annoying. U can either have fun with a premise like this or make it fair and unpredictable.
DirkToesfeld Member Join Date: November 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 110
So, basically, Mini Liam is shooting Big Liam right in the arse in this one?
vegeta84 Member Join Date: August 2011 Location: United States Posts: 31
So no unrated on DVD? Or even the DVD copy in the duel disc? Regular DVDs still sell more Blu, so what idiot at Fox came up with the idea of neglecting a big portion of its market?
Nightmare Member Join Date: January 2012 Location: United States Posts: 117
Never saw the first one nor did I want to see this one it looks like same as the original from what I read .PASS
djblack1313 Member Join Date: April 2006 Location: United States Posts: 529
i very much liked the first movie and i enjoyed part 2 as well. it's not as good as the 1st film nor is it as dark in themes/tone but it's worth watching. you can tell they edited several kills in this. without spoiling anything there's 2 supposed-to-be-epic-ish/important deaths at the end that were so weirdly framed/edited that i (and MANY other people i later found out online) couldn't tell how the person/people in question died. LOL. i loved that the awesome Famke Janssen was in this movie (much more than the first film) and Maggie Grace was pretty good. Liam is pretty much always awesome. that goes without saying.
NickMichalak Member Join Date: November 2005 Location: United States Posts: 195
I initially avoided seeing this because I was convinced to hold out for an unrated cut on DVD. Now, there will be no unrated cut on DVD. Of course, all the reviews I saw made the film entirely displeasing to me. So, it's hardly like I had the desire to see it any more, but now, for certain, I won't be seeing it without an unrated cut on DVD.
saccyind Member Join Date: November 2008 Location: India Posts: 72
I KNOW ONLY ONE THING That Liam Neeson ROCKS BIG TIME HE IS A LEGEND.
Monkey Boy Member Join Date: June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 399
The thing is Vegeta84, I would pay a bit more for a limited edition DVD with all the extras. That's a market they turned their backs to.
David Blackwell Senior Member Join Date: February 2004 Location: United States Posts: 2,824
I'll be getting the Blu-ray. the action was good, but the suspense wasn't there like in the first TAKEN
Michael Cordwell Member Join Date: July 2005 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 662
Liam Neeson hasn't done a decent movie in years. HOW he is getting these big Hollywood roles is beyond me. Doesn't help that these new movies he appears to be loving making over and over again are terrible, terrible popcorn trash. Can we get another "Schindler's List" or "Michael Collins" soon please Liam? Then maybe I will be able to take you seriously again.
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About Martin Freeman(Click Here To Hide)
Martin Freeman is an English actor. He's recently been cast in the role of Bilbo Baggins for Peter Jackson's two-part film prequel The Hobbit (2012 & 2013).
In 2010 Freeman starred alongside Mandy Moore as the character of her husband, Alvin Finkel, in Swinging with the Finkels.
He's also known for his roles as John in Love Actually, Tim Canterbury in the BBC's The Office, Arthur Dent in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Mr. Madden in Nativity!.
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Within a few weeks, the embattled and belittled California Legislature will take one of two actions:
* Approve state Sen. Abel Maldonado's nomination by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to be lieutenant governor because that's the smart and right thing to do.
* Or reject the nomination in another exhibition of petty and partisan politics.
"This Legislature is in public disrepute, and one reason is they all hate each other," says Tony Quinn, political analyst and former GOP legislative advisor. "This is a chance to reduce the partisan bile."
"Hate" may be a tad strong. "Fear" is probably more precise in this era of musical-chair term limits. The Capitol is full of competitors.
It's impossible to predict how the Democratic-dominated Legislature will treat the moderate Republican farmer from Santa Maria, who's still relatively young at 42, has a heartwarming "only in America" immigrant story and would be in solid position to eventually run for governor if he can get elected No. 2 next November. Big "if."
Right now, it's not a burning issue in the Capitol. Legislative leaders are busy drafting education "reforms" that would qualify California for hundreds of millions in federal stimulus dollars. They're also facing yet another gargantuan budget deficit. Those things are important to people. The lieutenant governor's job is not.
In fact, the lieutenant governor's office should be abolished. Its only real purpose is to provide a replacement for a resigning governor. That hasn't happened in 56 years, not since Gov. Earl Warren was named chief justice of the United States.
At the very least, the governor and lieutenant governor should run as a ticket, a la president and veep. Schwarzenegger and Maldonado agree.
"Imagine Barack Obama campaigning for healthcare and Joe Biden running around saying it's a mistake," Maldonado says.
A Schwarzenegger-Maldonado pairing would be a de facto ticket. "I'm going to do everything in my power to sell the governor's vision every single day," Maldonado says.
OK, but your office would have little power, I note. He counters that he has been in the Senate minority, without a leadership role, "yet managed to make my position relevant on every big issue."
That's because he is a pragmatic centrist whose vote usually has been attainable by Democrats -- and also is the most adept horse-trader in the building. The bartering has irked many Republicans and exasperated some Democrats. But that's the way the system is designed because of a two-thirds vote requirement on money bills.
Maldonado's biggest acquisition has been an open primary ballot measure, long sought by both him and Schwarzenegger. Liberals deeply resented being forced to vote for that in February. But they did as partial payment for Maldonado's vote to raise taxes, which angered conservatives.
"I upset people," Maldonado agrees, "but California is not bankrupt today. California is not sending out IOUs."
Maldonado plans to run for lieutenant governor next year regardless of whether he's confirmed by the Legislature. Pitching Schwarzenegger from a soap box is one thing. What if he's elected and a Democrat -- Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown -- becomes the next governor?
"Then I'll be working with Jerry Brown," he says. "If I have a disagreement, I'll talk to the governor in private. But I'm not going to be campaigning around the state beating up on a governor, Democrat or Republican, just to get press. That's not productive for the people. It's got to stop."
Obviously Maldonado was not mentored by former Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a constant Schwarzenegger basher who vacated the office after winning a congressional seat.
To be confirmed, Maldonado must survive both legislative houses. If they neither confirm nor reject him by Feb. 16, he would take office automatically. But most likely, the Legislature will exercise the power it possesses -- and probably shouldn't.
A governor, on his own, can fill a U.S. Senate or county supervisor vacancy. He also should be able to fill a vacant statewide office.
Moreover, if Democratic Senate leader Darrell Steinberg's initial "grave doubt" about confirming Maldonado has any credence -- which it doesn't -- the governor also should be able to fill vacant legislative and congressional seats. Steinberg complained that Maldonado's confirmation would require spending $2 million on a special election to replace him in the Senate. Can't afford it, he intimated.
Come on, senator! There seems to be a special election to fill some vacancy every other month. Want to really save money? Eliminate all special elections.
But money isn't the real problem for Democrats. Their problem is that confirming Maldonado would give him a head start on winning the lieutenant governor's race.
Steinberg apparently feels he needs to protect Democratic Sen. Dean Florez of Shafter, who's also running for lieutenant governor. But Florez's bigger problem is another Democratic contender, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.
This isn't only about partisan politics. It's also about
politics. Two conservative Republican senators are running: Jeff Denham of Atwater and Sam Aanestad of Grass Valley. Maldonado threatens their ambitions.
But his rejection by the Legislature could turn Maldonado into a martyr with added appeal for Latinos. And he could become a message carrier for anti-Sacramento voters.
It would be particularly dumb for Democrats to dump all over a Republican who has fought with them in their foxhole. That would send a lousy message about the rewards of bipartisan cooperation.
The smart thing would be to confirm Maldonado. He may be too moderate to survive a GOP primary anyway.
Democrats could contest his vacated Senate seat in a special election. It's competitive. Win that and they're within one vote of a two-thirds majority.
But Democrats aren't confident they can capture that Central Coast seat in a low-turnout special election in what could be a Republican year.
They should do the right thing anyway: Confirm a decent, qualified guy and avoid another self-inflicted wound.
Legislators need to inject themselves with some antitoxin against partisan poison and stop spreading the virus.


text: Hiya, ELs. I work as the Head of Children's Services/Teen Services Librarian for the Ridgefield Library, a public library in Ridgefield, CT. Prior to getting my ILS from Southern Connecticut State University three years ago, I was an audio engineer for a public radio station. But too many pledge drives took their toll and I wanted to change my life. After discovering that I could get my degree through an on-line program, I jumped at the chance. It's been the best decision I've ever made. Readers Advisory is my first love, but I enjoy a challenging reference question and find great satisfaction in putting patrons together with information they need. I'm heavily involved in the Nutmeg Children's Book Award - where students are the people with the power to choose the book they think is the best - and hope to get heavily involved with the Printz Award at some point. Contact me at: firstname.lastname@example.com or AOL IM: dioriog


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'Buffalo is an extremely loyal organization, but changes need to be made on the coaching staff. The team has already picked up Ruff's option for next year, but an assistant coach who can specialize on the power play is sorely needed. Without diving into a total roster examination right now, a power-play defenseman and a No. 1 center would make this team one to be reckoned with next year, including in the playoffs.'
You are here: Home / SabresBeat / Management Wraps Up Postseason


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Movie Description(Click Here To Hide)
The very first installment in the seven-part horror series, directed and co-written by James Wan and starring Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover, Michael Emerson & Tobin Bell. Like the franchise, this 2004 picture profiles a serial killer so deranged that his M.O. involves anonymously torturing his victims into playing sadistic games that he feels will ultimately teach them the value of life--via survival or death.
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MDRS Web Cams
Outside hab cam
Outside hab South cam
2nd floor West
2nd Floor East
EVA Rm
1st Floor East
2013-14 MDRS Crews Crew 131 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Commander Jason Kring, Ph.D. Crew 132 Mars Society Team Commander Nick Orenstein Crew 133 University of North Dakota Commander Paula Crock Crew 134 Mars Team UK [United Kingdom] Commander Ashley Dale Crew 135 RAR Team [Czech Republic] Commander Ondrej Doule, Ph.D. Crew 136 Mission to Mars UCL [Belgium] Commander Corentin Liber Crew 137 Team Nippon [Japan] Commander Hiroyuki Mirajima, Ph.D. Crew 138 Mars Society Team Commander Jamie Guined Crew 139 Lone Star Highlanders Commander April Andreas, Ph.D. Crew 140 Team Peru II [Peru] Commander Hugo Aguero Crew 141 Mars Society Team Commander Alejandro Diaz, Ph.D.
Heavens-Above for Hanksville, UT
Please donate TODAY to help support our mission.
If every visitor so far had paid $1USD this expedition would be ALL paid for.
Note: this pics are fed only as our resources permit.
If the laptops are needed elsewhere the pics won't be updated till later.
Also our internet connection leaves something to be desired.
This page 'should' refresh every 3 min with new pics.
and Betty Skov at Logitech
MDRS Web cam site hosted by Free Mars, a project of MN SFS.
Photos by Ben Huset
Last revision Mar 15th, 2012
by Ben
Counter started Feb 7, 2005 -
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Champlin News
Local news for Champlin, MN continually updated from thousands of sources on the web.
Champlin news is powered by NewsRank ®
21 Shockingly Ridiculous Alibis That These People Somehow Wanted Us To Believe
These 29 Disheveled Stars Out In Public Are Almost Unrecognizable
How Did These 1960s Stars Look In Their Prime Vs. Decades Later?
RIP: 29 Tragic Times Entertainers Lost Their Lives While Performing
20 On-screen Couples With Zero Chemistry In Real Life
29 Stars Who've Had Nose Jobs - Or Did They?
29 Hilarious Pics Of Stars Looking Extra While Doing Ordinary Things
35 'Celebrities' Who Don't Deserve To Be Famous
23 Film Characters Hollywood Didn't Want You To Know Were Gay
Surprising Stories Of Celebrities Before They Were Famous
Stars Who Were Discovered In The Weirdest Ways
Updated: Thu Aug 30, 2018 06:49 pm
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Police: No question there's foul play in Norwood death
Police: No question there's foul play in Norwood death
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —
Sacramento police said there is no question foul play is connected to the discovery of a woman in her 70s found dead in her apartment.
"There were obvious signs of trauma on the victim's body," said Doug Morse, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman.
The woman, who lived alone at the Willow Tree Apartments, was found dead in her apartment by family members Wednesday, police said.
"During the day yesterday I heard footsteps on the roof ... Last night, my neighbor heard sounds like someone was injured," said a neighbor who knew the victim but asked not to be identified.
Police are not releasing any other details about the investigation.
The Sacramento County coroner has not yet released the name of the victim.


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When a rampaging bushfire tore through Australia's Warrumbungle National Park, home to Siding Spring Observatory, it spared all of the telescopes but destroyed the homes of several staffers — the author's among them. But this anecdote shows that there can be a glimmer of humor even in the midst of such devastation.
As reported here early this week, on January 13th a devastating bushfire swept through portions of Australia's Siding Spring Observatory. The many telescopes there escaped serious damage, but several other structures were destroyed. My partner, Tanya Smith, and I were unfortunate enough to lose our house to the fire. As we waited in Coonabarabran's disaster-recovery center, I recounted the following ironic anecdote to some friends who were likewise affected.
Last October, Tanya and I flew to Europe to visit one of her daughters. Shanna was then working on North Uist, a small island in the far northwest of Scotland, the country where I was born and grew up. After our visit we flew back to Australia. The trip back included an overnight stay in Amsterdam, so for convenience we stayed at the "Yotel" within Schiphol airport. It features tiny cubicle rooms — which, apparently, weren't small enough to prevent me from leaving my new Akubra dress hat on the only shelf in the room. That's where the saga really starts.
How do you get a hat in Amsterdam to a rural town in New South Wales, Australia? Mailing it would work, of course, but I feared the hat might get damaged. Perhaps, I thought, there might be a safer but more circuitous route. Many European amateur astronomers would be flying to Australia to witness November's total eclipse of the Sun in and near Cairns, and there the hat could be handed to one of the many eclipse-chasers from Coonabarabran. Alas, I failed to find anyone flying out of Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.
The solution came after I received an unrelated email from my longtime acquaintance Jaap Vreeling. It turns out that he now works in Amsterdam, and he knew that fellow Dutchman Govert Schilling was coming for the eclipse. Unfortunately, I soon learned that Govert was already in New Zealand. A few further email exchanges led to no solution — until a box unexpectedly arrived in Coonabarabran containing the undamaged Akubra!
I was so grateful, and I asked Jaap how I might repay him. All he wanted was a photo of me wearing the hat to round off the saga. Since it's now midsummer Down Under, a hat may be appropriate, but a T-shirt and shorts was insufficiently dressy. So, despite the blazing Sun in our extended heat wave, I put on my Sunday finest. But the photo didn't turn out very well, so I planned to retake it eventually.
On January 13th, that hat — along with our house, sheds, and all contents — were destroyed in the devastating fire. We escaped with our dogs and our lives but very little else. (What little warning we got came from hearing a firefighting helicopter fly overhead.)
So the best I can do is a recreation with the one hat I just happened to have in the car when I drove off: an old Siding Spring Observatory tourist floppy hat. Sorry, Jaap!
Let me add one thing more: Tanya and I have the resources to rebuild, but others are much less fortunate. Anyone wishing to aid the victims of the Coonabarabran bushfire can do so by donating either to the Warrumbungle Shire Council Mayor's Bushfire Appeal or to the ANU Siding Spring Observatory Fire Staff Emergency Relief Fund.
Rob McNaught ranks among the most prolific all-time discoverers of asteroids and comets. (His 50th comet discovery came in 2009.) In recent years he's found them on images taken with the 20-inch (0.5-meter) Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory.


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Long Term prepares to close
Plan in place for GMH residents, workers.
Gothenburg Memorial Hospital is moving forward with closure of its Long Term Care facility.
GMH administrator John Johnson said the facility is offering at least five relocation options for residents—including Gothenburg's Hilltop Estates and Care Center—and helping employees find other jobs.
Long Term Care employees, residents and their families learned about a week ago that the skilled nursing facility at Gothenburg Memorial Hospital would close Sept. 30.
On Tuesday, Johnson said 16 residents will be relocated in a facility that has beds for 31.
"Our numbers have been down for quite a while," he said.
Severance pay is also being offered to full- and part-time employees.
Johnson said 20 to 22 employees will be laid off, noting that GMH hosted a job fair for those workers last week.
"We've also offered applications and information from other facilities in the surrounding area including Hilltop," he said.
Staff positions will be eliminated and work schedules will be adjusted according to the number of residents, Johnson said.
Johnson said they've not yet determined what to do with equipment and furniture although officials will work with the Nebraska Secretary of State in disposal of equipment.
During a meeting on June 9, hospital board members
Find the complete story in our print edition. Receive the entire issue of the Gothenburg Times on-line in PDF format each Wednesday for only $25 per year. Call 308-537-3636 to subscribe.
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TAMPICO – Rules were rules at the Dutch Diner.
In 1992, the Secret Service contacted then-owner Stan Headings with a special request: clear out the banquet room for former President Ronald Reagan on Mother's Day.
The kicker: The agency wouldn't say for sure whether Reagan would even drop by.
"I had a big long conversation with them," Headings recalled during a recent interview. "We got into a squabble. I was supposed to bow down.
"They said Ronald Reagan might come. They didn't want to say for sure for security reasons," said Headings, who opened the Dutch Diner in 1981. "They wanted to reserve the whole back room. I said no."
Reagan's visit to town wasn't made public, although the Daily Gazette in Sterling caught wind of it and published a story that the former president was likely to visit. His official schedule included only a commencement speech at his alma mater, Eureka College in Eureka, the day before.
Sundays were busy at the Dutch Diner – especially when it was Mother's Day. Headings already knew customers would be in line. He couldn't have empty tables in the back room while customers were waiting.
"I told the Secret Service that I would not discriminate against other customers for [Reagan's] sake. They got a little huffy. They asked if there was another place to eat. I told them there was a tavern down the street that served chicken," Headings said.
Later, the Secret Service called a waitress. Reagan would dine there after all.
It seemed natural for Reagan to choose the Dutch Diner, Dutch being his nickname. Many believe the restaurant was named in Reagan's honor. That was only part of the reason, Headings said. The other was that his wife, Alta, was Pennsylvania Dutch.
On May 10, 1992, Reagan and his wife, Nancy, flew in to the Whiteside County Airport. They went by motorcade to Tampico, where he was born 102 years ago today.
He attended morning services at Church of Christ, to which his mother belonged.
The Rev. Clarke Devore preached to 75 worshippers. Reagan didn't want to speak. But Devore, who retired from the church last year, couldn't resist asking the former president to say a few words.
Reagan acknowledged his mother's charitable work in the church. He noted how she fed people at their house.
"We were not flush with worldly goods in my youth, but my mother always found someone worse off than we were," he said.
Almost as if apologizing, Reagan said: "I can't tell if this is the exact same building my mother brought me to church in. The reason I can't remember is that it was 70 years ago."
It was the same building.
He told the congregation he didn't want to interfere with the service anymore and sat down.
The church presented the Reagans with Bibles. And Devore, now in his mid-90s, told members that when he started with the church in 1968, it had members who knew Reagan's mother.
'He wasn't very talkative'
With crowds watching behind barriers, Reagan went to the Dutch Diner. His waitress was Fran Pearson, who is still a Tampico-area resident.
"He wasn't very talkative, but he was very pleasant," Pearson told the Daily Gazette at the time.
Nancy got the chef's salad and ate part of her husband's fruit cocktail. Reagan had turkey, mashed potatoes, iced tea and raisin pie.
Two days earlier, the Secret Service picked up the menu. Agents ordered for the Reagans and staff beforehand. They also checked the kitchen.
Headings, now 73, was asked to join the Reagans for the meal. He declined. His restaurant, he said, needed all hands on deck.
But Headings, who sold the Dutch Diner in 1995, got to meet the couple. Reagan seemed like he was glad to meet people, Headings said, but the Gipper didn't say much. He noted the way Nancy dressed and how she carried herself.
"Everything on her was perfect and in place," he said. "Everything she did was perfect, the way she shook her hand. For a hillbilly like me, I supposed that kind of impressed me."
'Disappointed, but I wasn't upset'
Afterward, the former president went to the Reagan birthplace museum.
"I think he was pleased and I think Nancy was pleased at what we had done," museum operator Helen Nicely told the Gazette at the time.
Hard feelings lingered in Tampico after Reagan didn't include the town in his itinerary when he dropped by Dixon, his hometown, in 1990.
"I can appreciate how he couldn't do everything before," Nicely said in the 1992 interview. "I was disappointed at the time, but I wasn't upset."
In 1994, Reagan announced publicly that he had Alzheimer's. He faded from public view and died in 2004.
He never returned to Tampico or Dixon.
A 'loud, wet kiss' in Tampico
TAMPICO – How did Ronald Reagan view his birthplace?
Not too well, if his official biographer, Edmund Morris, is to be believed.
In a 2011 New York Times column, Morris, the author of "Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan," wrote about the Gipper's 1976 visit to Tampico during his unsuccessful campaign for president.
"Nancy Reagan loyally accompanied him, although a depressed village on the Illinois corn flats was not her kind of place," Morris wrote. "Somehow the town's least desirable citizen managed to infiltrate the receiving line and welcomed her to Tampico with open arms and a loud, wet kiss.
"He was hustled off by outraged aides while she searched for a Kleenex, and that part of Illinois was declared terra non grata on her husband's future itineraries."
Amy McElhiney, who ran the Reagan birthplace museum some years ago, wasn't happy with the way Morris described Tampico in his 1999 book, according to a 2003 story in the Chicago Reader, an alternative weekly newspaper. The author referred to the Whiteside County town as the "home for the homely." He called the congregation at the Church of Christ when Reagan visited in 1992 a "corn-fed lot."
McElhiney told the Chicago Reader she didn't like Morris' description of Reagan recoiling at seeing his humble birthplace in 1992. She considered that an insult to Paul Nicely, who worked hard stripping the wallpaper, refinishing the woodwork and going to antique shops to find furniture appropriate to the early 1900s.
"He did not recoil," McElhiney told the Reader. "He enjoyed seeing his birthplace."
Birthday party today in Tampico
TAMPICO – The 102nd birthday of Ronald Reagan, Tampico's native son and the 40th president of the United States, will be celebrated from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today with open houses and tours at the Tampico Historical Society Museum and the Ronald Reagan Birthplace Museum.
Refreshments will be served.
Contact Joan Johnson at 815-622-8705 or email@example.com for more information.


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Old, odd and unique. That could be an antique shop, the collection of postcards with this article, or the owner of a business. Actually, it describes all three.
All his life, Laddie Vana collected old things that interested him … mostly really strange objects. By the time he decided to retire at the youthful age of 49, he had a garage or two full of treasures. "Weird stuff just appeals to me," claims Laddie.
For a while after retirement from IBM, he volunteered at senior centers but his passion remained "the hunt" to search out more and more junk – scratch that – antiques. The time came when there wasn't a choice. Lots of his cache had to be sold to make room for added collections. "I sold one item and I was hooked. I couldn't wait to sell more," he said.
The result became a shop on Clinton Street in Binghamton, N.Y., named Old, Odd and Unique. Laddie's first inclination would be to sell only "guy gadgets" such as old cameras, tools, trunks, hunting and fishing items and rusty "what is it" things, and he does have a galaxy of gizmos. However, he has a knack for knowing what will sell and has something for everyone from lamps and jewelry, to photos, paintings, books, ephemera and war items. This is an antique store the way they were before the intervention of cyber space – wood floors, tin ceiling, lots of miscellaneous bins to rummage through and the distinctive smell of the past. The Internet can never match hands-on browsing with the odor of history wafting on vintage dust motes.
It doesn't hurt that Laddie radiates charm and knowledge about all kinds of antiques and collectibles. He casts a wide net when searching for stock. A human skeleton previously used for ceremonies in a fraternal lodge was snapped up after only a few hours in the shop display window. Do you want a 1920s megaphone or a Chinese musical instrument called an er woo, or a radio from a WWII Japanese plane? He's got at least one of each.
A graduate student from Columbia University, Nathaniel Bouman considered Laddie's shop so intriguing that he used the store as background for several scenes in his film Blood of the Hog. Nat wrote and directed the short movie as part of his thesis in the MFA program. "My brother bought me a fantastic, portable phonograph and a small collection of 78s at the OOU. I went to the store myself and fell in love with the place. A set decorator could spend weeks and thousands of dollars creating a space with the same kind of atmosphere. This store is part of what inspired me to write the script we filmed on the site. There was an interesting shot pretty much anywhere we turned the camera," claims Nat.
Another claim to fame for Old, Odd and Unique is the number of well-known people who make the store a destination whenever they are on the East Coast. The late Bo Diddley often stopped to peruse vintage musical instruments.
If all this isn't enough to stimulate interest in finding your way to this shop redolent of another era … contained within the vintage walls is an artifact of great movie-making history. Reigning proudly in a neighboring annex is the prow of a boat used in the Spencer Tracy/ Kathryn Hepburn movie, The Keeper of the Flame made in 1942. Yes, just the prow, currently occupies a front window. A few more pieces of the same water craft languish in the back of the store waiting for a new owner with a very large, empty space to fill. The proud history of the boat, built in 1905, includes being commandeered for use as a launch during World War I.
Out of this picturesque jumble also came an unusual postcard series of World War II propaganda cartoons produced to encourage Americans to disparage and defeat the Axis. They are definitely designed to make a point, sometimes with a bayonet. The cards are in nearly mint condition and came with the original advertisement. Beware, this series of cards was printed in the days when it was still OK to ridicule enemies of America.
Old, Odd & Unique is located at 93 Clinton St., Binghamton, NY 13905. Visit www.oldoddandunique.com for more information.


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The other day Paul Neilson wrote a simple post making predictions about SQL Server in the Cloud. That got a response from Denis Gobo talking about a few things that need to happen before we can really take advantage of SQL Server in the cloud.
Most of my work takes place in the cloud. Actually it's half my work, but I had an interesting experience yesterday.
I was working along when bandwidth slowed to a crawl. Pages wouldn't load, even Google took a minute to bring up their lightweight home page. My tweets wouldn't post, Outlook would freeze while checking email, etc. Normally that isn't the end of the world since I do write quite a few things offline, using Live Mesh to synch files among my two different machines.
My process is typically to write offline, load the content into the SQLServerCentral site, and then once it's up there, delete it from my local files so I can keep them pruned. Writing 5 or 6 editorials a week, every week, means that if I keep too much stuff around locally it's very hard to remember what's gone out the door. Maybe that's not the best practice, and I'm actually rethinking that now.
In this case, however, I needed to get the podcasts prepared for the next day. So usually I open the data online and use it to shoot the podcasts.However I couldn't get to my application online, so I couldn't get the podcasts done! As the day wore on, and this was over hours, I stressed more and more, and ended up getting worried. Luckily I had one piece of content still on my machine, as well as a few more that weren't scheduled.
So I worked with those, got work done, and moved on. Today bandwidth is better, and things are moving along smoothly. But I've seen bandwidth issues at companies before, and if you are too dependent, or don't have backups, than what do you do?
If SalesForce.com goes down, it makes major news because it effectively slows or stops work from being done for a lot of customers. Is that any different than a server going down inside your company? What if your databases were hosted somewhere and things went down?
The advantage of the cloud is that there should be a bit more expertise and effort put into making things more reliable. There are many companies, including two of mine (JumpstartTV and End to End Training) that host their servers in a data center, relying on the Internet for access.
While I'm nervous, and I think the insurance industry really needs to become more involved in ensuring security is well developed here, I do see SQL Server moving to the clouds. I think there need to be a lot of companies offering this, like we have lots offering web hosting now. That has become almost a commodity offering now where you can easily move your application to another company if you have issues.
I'm not as aggressive as Paul since I think there are a lot of tools that need to be built and some maturity in the SQL Server platform, I think that a very full featured SQL Server offering is still 3-4 years away and I can't see a large percentage of companies avoiding buying servers for a decade. I'd predict that we'll see more "internal clouds" in companies in the next 3-5 years where you won't necessarily connect to a particular server, but a URL in a cloud somewhere.
sqlserver://salesdb anyone?


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New Fagatele Bay Educational Kiosks unveiled
(PRESS RELEASE) —Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, in collaboration with the American Samoa Department of Commerce, invites the public to experience two new educational kiosks highlighting the importance of marine resource protection in American Samoa.
The kiosks are located in the waiting lounge at Pago Pago International Airport, and Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center (near the records/payment window).
"These are the first educational kiosks in the territory," said Gene Brighouse, sanctuary superintendent. "We are thrilled to be able to provide the people of American Samoa with an exciting new tool to explore and learn about our marine environment."
Underscoring the sanctuary's commitment to outreach and education, the kiosks provide a visual and interactive showcase of the sanctuary's underwater treasures.
With the click of a button, users can obtain extensive information about marine species and habitats, and learn about various sanctuary activities, educational and outreach programs, research projects and resource protection programs. The kiosks also include a "Kids Corner" where children can see and learn about marine life in a fun and entertaining way.
Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects and preserves a fringing coral reef ecosystem nestled within an eroded volcanic crater on the southern coast of Tutuila, American Samoa. It is the smallest and most remote of all the national marine sanctuaries and is the only true tropical reef in the program. The site is uniquely rich in both natural resources and cultural heritage. Fagatele Bay provides a home to a wide variety of animals and plants that thrive in the protected waters of the bay.
NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries co-manages the sanctuary with the American Samoa Government, through the American Samoa Department of Commerce, and works closely with communities adjacent to the sanctuary, all within the context of Samoan cultural traditions and practices.
NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration urged a federal court Friday to dismiss a damage lawsuit over the drone-strike killings of three U.S. citizens in Yemen last year, including an al-Qaida cleric.
In a court filing, the Justice Department said the issue is best handled by the government's political branches, not the judiciary.
U.S.-born al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, an al-Qaida propagandist, were killed in a drone strike in September 2011. Al-Awlaki's son, Abdulrahman, was killed the following month.
The lawsuit filed by relatives of the three charged that senior CIA and military officials violated the Constitution and international law when they authorized strikes by the unmanned drones. It named as defendants Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, then-CIA Director David Petraeus and two commanders in the military's Special Operations forces.
The suit seeks unspecified compensatory damages.
"Courts repeatedly have recognized that the political branches, with few exceptions, have both the responsibility for — and the oversight of — the defense of the nation and the conduct of armed conflict abroad," the Justice Department said. "The judiciary rarely interferes in such arenas. In this case, plaintiffs ask this court to take the extraordinary step of substituting its own judgment for that of the executive."
The government said the lawsuit is "rife with separation-of-powers, national defense, military, intelligence and diplomatic concerns. Judicial restraint is particularly appropriate here, where plaintiffs seek non-statutory damages from the personal resources of some of the highest officials in the U.S."
The lawsuit was filed in July by Nasser al-Awlaki — Anwar's father and Abdulrahman's grandfather — and by Sarah Khan, Khan's mother. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights. The suit claimed that none of those killed posed a concrete, specific and imminent threat of serious physical injury; that "means short of lethal force" were available; and that the government did not take "all feasible measures to protect bystanders."
"Plaintiffs thus invite this court to determine whether an individual in Yemen whom the executive branch had already declared a leader of an organized armed enemy group, and a foreign operative of that group, posed a sufficient threat to the United States and its citizens to warrant the alleged use of missile strikes abroad within the context of an armed conflict and the executive's national self-defense mission," the Justice Department responded. The government said that situation was rife with political questions.
"A judicial finding that the alleged strikes were illegal would show a lack of deference regarding policy choices made by the political branches," the government said. "It would take the judiciary well beyond its traditional role and would thrust it into the realm of policymaking."
At the time of the September 2011 drone attack, President Barack Obama had declared al-Awlaki's killing a "major blow" to al-Qaida's most dangerous affiliate and had called him "the leader of external operations for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula."
"He directed the failed attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009," Obama said referring to an incident at Detroit. "He directed the failed attempt to blow up U.S. cargo planes in 2010. And he repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women and children to advance a murderous agenda."
The year before al-Awlaki's death, a judge threw out an earlier lawsuit filed by his father seeking to prevent the U.S. from targeting his son. In that ruling, U.S. District Judge John Bates said he didn't have the authority to review the president's military decisions and al-Awlaki's father didn't have the legal right to sue to stop the United States from killing his son. But Bates also said the "unique and extraordinary case" raised vital considerations of national security and for military and foreign affairs.
Follow Fred Frommer on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ffrommer


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Rutherford, McConnaughay raise money for food pantries
The 12th Annual Kane County Farm Bureau Food Check-Out Challenge Monday at the Jewel-Osco in Batavia featured state Treasurer Dan Rutherford and State Sen. Karen McConnaughay raising more than $2,200 combined for the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry and Food for Greater Elgin.
The event was held in conjunction with National Food Check-Out Week, and also kicked off the farm bureau's Million Meal Challenge, with the goal of reaching the equivalent of 1 million meals provided to area food pantries through hunger relief efforts.
Rutherford filled his cart with $1,174.56 and McConnaughay had $1,033.17.
Farm bureau-sponsored shopping sprees have donated thousands of dollars in groceries to local food pantries. The shopping spree compliments the farm bureau's Harvest for ALL program, where farmers and non-farmers contribute crop proceeds, cash and in-kind donations to food pantries of their choice.
To learn more about Food for Greater Elgin, click here.
To learn more about the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry, click here.


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Beatley Library: 7:30AM-10:00PM
LibraryAbout the LibraryHours
Notice: A current Simmons ID is required to access the building after 7:00pm on weekdays, after 5:00pm on Saturday, and all day on Sunday.
At the end of the semester, due to space constraints, the Library is open only to current Simmons students, faculty, staff, and alumnae/i. If you require special research access and do not have a Simmons ID or alumnae/i card, please submit an access request at least 2 business days in advance.
Beatley Library Level 1, 617.521.2784, firstname.lastname@example.com
Beatley Library Room L-220, 617.521.2441
Appointments Recommended (email the archives)
Simmons University community members can tap in with their ID cards during hours the library is closed.


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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — State lawmakers say it's time to raise grant amounts for Minnesota's low-income families.
Democratic Sens. Chris Eaton, from Brooklyn Center, and Minneapolis Rep. Susan Allen have bills that would double the monthly grant for the Minnesota Family Investment Program, which has not increased since 1987. The maximum grant for a parent and child is currently $487 per month.
About 100,000 Minnesotans get checks from that program every month, and Minnesota's Welfare Rights Committee says 70 percent of them are children. The program only gives cash assistance to Minnesotans with children.
Several lawmakers tried living on $51 for a week — the budgeted amount for one person in a week — to illustrate the need to increase the grants. Eaton and others said that challenge was impossible.


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Questions about iPhone in Japan
- I am currently a WebOS user and have been waiting for the next iPhone come out this fall to make the switch. However, my wife is being transferred this summer by the Navy to Japan for 2 years. I would still like to get the iPhone 5 (or whatever it will be), but have quite a few questions:
1) Do foreign carriers work the same way as VZW, ATT, etc? 2 year contracts, data/voice plans, etc?
2) I assume I can get an iPhone with English text there, but will it have all the same capabiliities as the iPhone here? For instance...Google Maps? Will it show me maps in English or Japanese?
3) Will I be working with a much more limited app catalog? I assume there are some apps that just won't work like watchespn app. Will I have access to ANY of the same apps as here, or will it be all Japanese apps? Probably a stupid question, but I thought that app catalogs vary from country to country.
Any other info anyone can throw my direction will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!04-19-2012 09:05 AM
- Wow...looks like I'll be the first American to ever own an iPhone in Japan!04-19-2012 03:50 PM
- If you want to buy your iPhone in the US before you leave, you'll need to purchase it unlocked direct from Apple. Although there are CDMA carriers in Japan, neither Sprint nor Verizon can/will unlock.
You will maintain your US iTunes account, although you can get a second account in iTunes Japan. As an English speaker, you'll probably want to just stick with your US account.04-19-2012 06:35 PM
- Dreading the move from WebOS Nation now more than ever...04-20-2012 12:24 PM
- I am an iPhone 4S owner living in Japan. I saw this post linked to from iMore.com and created an account just to answer this question.
Being a foreigner living in Japan is a little rough for the first month while you apply and wait for your 外国人登録証明書 (Gaikoku-Jin Touroku Shoumeisho). Once you've received it you'll be able to get a cell phone. Things might change a little since they are switching to a new system for tracking foreigners starting July 9th. I'm actually waiting for the new application to arrive in the mail.
The contracts work somewhat the same in Japan as they do in the US. They are two years and you can choose from various voice and data plans. Softbank and AU KDDI are the two official carriers here and both offer パケ放題 (pake houdai) which is unlimited plans. AU KDDI is catching up to Softbank in terms of supported features. Before the iPhone 4S launched in October last year, Softbank was the sole service provider. Up until last week AU KDDI didn't support facetime, visual voice mail, mms and iMessage. They've recently added support for all of the above mentioned features and I believe they are now offering the exact same set of features.
In Japan AU KDDI is known for being the best for getting service anywhere while Softbank is the known as the worst for coverage of the three main carriers (Au KDDI, NTT Docomo, Softbank) but between the two that support the iPhone Softbank has faster 3G speeds.
AU KDDI is who I chose so I don't know if Softbank offers this or not. You pay 0 yen when you sign your contract. They split the cost of the phone into 24 months and they add it to your monthly bill. It felt really weird walking about of the store with a fully functional iPhone and not paying anything for it. You can opt to buy Applecare for your phone and they will divide the cost of it into 24 months and tack it onto your monthly bill. I opted out. One other note about Japan in general, Connivence stores live up to their namesake. You can buy concert, bus, and train tickets, as well as pay your bills. I pay my phone bill at the 7Eleven just down the street from where I live.
iOS itself supports many different localizations and languages so you can set your Japanese phone to be English. Google maps checks your localization settings. If it's set to English, it will display all the streets in Both Japanese and Romaji which is how you spell Japanese words with the roman alphabet.
You will not need to set up a Japanese iTunes account. I'm using my American account. I even restored my 4s from an iCloud back up. That being said, there are some services in America that don't exist in Japan such as Yelp. There's an equivalent called Hot Pepper Gourmet, but you'll need to be able to read Japanese because they don't have an English Localization. Also Siri works in English in Japan, but it does not yet support location services. So if you say I'm hungry it won't show you a map with nearby restaurants.
One thing to note about the Japanese iPhone or any Japanese phone with a camera attached to it. It is required by law to disallow the user from turning off the camera shutter noise. This is to prevent perverts from taking up skirt pictures. Even if you put the ringer switch on the shutter noise will go off.
Lastly, I highly suggest you get your iPhone in Japan rather than buying an unlocked one in the US and brining it to Japan. Before moving to Japan I thought I'd be smart so I bought an unlocked iPhone 4 and took it to Softbank to buy a SIM card. They were all happy to help but after looking up the IMEI number and discovering that it was an American bought phone they turned it down. Their policy is to only accept Japanese iPhones. I was shocked at first but then found out that it was because the American iPhone allows you to turn the camera shutter noise off. I was able to use my Unlocked iPhone on NTT Docomo's network and I'm sure it's because it's not an officially supported phone and they don't know about the camera noise. On the downside, since I didn't buy one of their phones I wasn't able to receive the same discount toward the voice and data plans so my monthly contract was really expensive. So when AU KDDI, offered 10,000 Yen cashback for switching it was a no brainer.
Sorry for the wall of text. I hope that answers all of your questions. Where in Japan are you moving to?04-21-2012 02:53 AM
- Hi Justin,
Your post is one of the only useful posts I have found on the iPhone in Japan matter. I am in a similar situation where I am going to Japan on a Working Holiday Visa for a year. I hope that I can continue and stay longer if I can by getting sponsored.
I'm from the UK and am looking at getting an iPhone5. My original idea was to buy the handset in the UK as I want it to travel with, and I thought that I would simply be able to load it with a prepaid SIM and just pay for calls, messages and data as I go, much in the same way I did in Australia. I checked with Apple as well, and they have said that the European model of the iPhone5 will in fact be able to work with LTE networks in UK and Japan. SO far so good. It looks like I was going to buy the iPhone in UK and take it with me...
However, the thought of the warranty hit me. If I buy the iPhone5 in the UK and take it with me, if anything goes wrong with it while I'm in Japan, I'm a little screwed. i won;t be able to get much help in Japan. So then I started looking at getting the phone in Japan instead....
I was informed again by Apple that you can't buy unlocked iPhones in Japan. So I started googling 'iPhones in Japan' and I quickly learned that it isn't as simple as getting a prepaid plan out in Japan. It seems that the best way of getting the iPhone is to take out a contract where you pay a monthly fee for the iPhone (which is peanuts!!) and then pay for the services on top of that for each month. So now I'm really confused on what to do and have the following questions, Hope you can help answer them:
1. If I'm originally on a WHV and only there for a year, will I be able to get an iPhone5 contract with either Softbank, AU etc or will I be rejected?
2. If I am accepted for a 2 year contract, If I have to leave after a year, can I cancel the agreement?
3. If I take an iPhone5 out with me to Japan, will be able to get a prepaid calling, messages and data plan? with no contract?
4. If I take an iPhone5 out with me to Japan, can I instead get a contract (the same as the iPhone5 plans they all offer) but not pay the extra for the device?
In short, I just need to know whether I should buy my iPhone5 in the UK to use out in Japan, or wait till I get out there and get a iPhone5 contract if I can, or go out to Japan with no iPhone5, maybe get a new Touch instead and wait for a year and see if I get sponsored and then look at getting an iPhone5 contract....
Which would you advise?!
Your help would be greatfully received!
Craig01-18-2013 08:45 AM
- Hey Craig,
Regarding the warranty you don't need to worry about where you bought the phone. If you take it to any apple store world wide they will help you. That said there are only 7 apple stores in Japan 2 of which are in Tokyo. I've been to 6 out of the 7 and they all had English speaking staff. I speak Japanese and it always shocks me when someone walks up to me and speaks to me in English while I'm browsing the store. If you make a genius bar appointment you can request English support.
My information might be a little dated since I didn't upgrade to the iPhone 5 last year so I'm not aware if things have changed. I will try to answer your questions the best I can. It's the weekend here so if I pass by a cellphone shop while out on my errands I may pop in and ask some questions for you.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. If you plan to buy an iPad I would suggest you don't buy it in Japan. Japan is the only country where you can't buy a 3G/LTE iPad without a contract and on top of that it's sim locked.
When and where are you moving? I'll let know you where your closest apple store is.
Justin01-18-2013 10:52 AM
- You can't turn off the shutter sound because of pervs? Crazy.01-19-2013 09:19 PMLike 1
- Thanks so much for all of your information! Yours is the first useful post I've found. I had a question about the iPad. You said not to buy it in Japan... I'd like to have one that is 3g enabled to be able to use over there. We are going over on a 1 year job contract which could end up being up to 5 years. Would I be able to buy the iPad in the states and then use one of the 3g networks in Japan? Thanks!05-17-2013 12:37 PM
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School closings: With more empty spaces in its schools than Toronto has seats in its domed stadium, Southwestern Ontario has no easy way out of the tough math.
If the two cartoon kids in the Chapman's Ice Cream logo were real, they'd be pupils at Beavercrest community school in Markdale.
After all, the Southwestern Ontario company is trying to spare the low-enrolment school from the chopping block.
The town's biggest employer, the ice-cream maker has waded into an agonizing issue for many in Ontario — the battle to save half-empty schools — after staff at the Bluewater District school board recommended closing the school, southeast of Owen Sound.
But what makes this fight different is cash — money outsiders are willing to pony up to save the school.
Beavercrest, with 192 pupils, is less than 40 per cent full.
"Losing the school — it might not be a quick a death for this community, but it would still lead to the eventual death of Markdale," said Ashley Chapman, the company's vice-president.
Chapman's pledged $2 million to save Beavercrest, which has been at the heart of the Grey County town of 1,300 for more than 65 years.
Toronto-area developer Parataxis matched that amount. First, the businesses offered to buy the school. Then, they toyed with building a new one. The municipality chimed in, the community too. In April trustees voted to give the school a one-year reprieve while they weigh its future.
"This place — this town called Markdale — has helped us build what we've built in 44 years of business," Chapman said. "We need the school in town so we can keep people in the area."
Beavercrest's backing is unique, but its story is not. The school so many in Markdale are fighting to save could be anywhere in Ontario.
Across Ontario, enrolment is falling and old schools are getting older. But for hundreds of under-used schools, no amount of community grit and gumption can change the cold hard demographics — or the costs — that have put them on a death bed.
Over the last 20 years, Ontario's $24-billion education system has lost more than 102,000 students — more than the entire population of Chatham-Kent.
Provincewide, there are nearly half a million surplus spaces in schools.
For a system with just under two million kids, that's essentially one empty desk for every four with kids.
In Southwestern Ontario, there are nearly 55,000 surplus spaces — more than enough to fill Toronto's Rogers Centre stadium.
Staggering figures, they're also a huge financial hit to school boards.
So, how did we get here, and is there a way out?
The first question is easy: The education system ballooned with the post-war baby boom, but now must serve a province with fewer kids than seniors.
Trickier, is how to get out. With hundreds of half-empty schools still on the books, including in big cities, no one — not even with a provincial election coming next year — is promising a quick fix for the gut-wrenching decisions facing school boards.
"Generally speaking, they're funded for the number of students that they have, which means it's difficult for boards to maintain schools that are under-utilized," said Doug Reycraft, a former Southwest Middlesex mayor and chair of the Community Schools Alliance, a rural school advocacy group.
Empty spaces in schools aren't just a rural issue: The Toronto District school board is dealing with about 58,000 of its own.
But Reycraft, a former teacher and former Liberal MPP, said community schools like Beavercrest are often hit the hardest.
"If you close a school in London or St. Thomas, there's a good chance there's another school 10 or 15 minutes away. But if you close a school in a rural community that only has a single school, it means an increase in bus time for students," he said.
Decades of families having fewer children and of governments playing politics with schools — including temporary bans on closings, policy reviews and changes — have contributed to the issue.
"We basically have a bunch of schools that were built to support a population boom in the 1950s and '60s," said Jack Ammendolia, a Mississauga-based education consultant who's worked for several Southwestern Ontario boards.
"Come the early 1970s," he said, "fertility rates basically fall off a cliff" — starting the erosion of the school-age population.
The latest national census underlines that, citing "continuously low" fertility rates since the 1970s and reliance on immigrants for population growth.
But there's another big reason school-age kids are in short-supply.
"You went through this whole generation where, between the boom and the echo was this bust," said David Foot, a University of Toronto demographer and economist who's made a career of tracking the baby boom. "And then there were fewer mothers to have kids 20 or 25 years later."
Boomers' children — their 'echo' — are now having kids, but they're mostly under age six.
"That means there's hardly any 12-, 10- or eight-year-olds around, but there's quite a number of two-, three-, four-year-olds," Foot said.
The new generation won't save the schools built for the boomers, Foot noted. Many are more than 50 years old and not up to modern needs.
"You have schools that are too big, in some cases. You have schools in the wrong place, compared to how people have settled, and you have schools that can be in bad condition, as well," added Ammendolia. "That's sort of the trifecta — wrong size, wrong place and bad condition."
There's no clear or easy way out, said Ammendolia.
Complicating the issue, some boards have both falling enrolment in some schools and overcrowding in others.
Running a school comes with fixed cost and a provincial funding system — often criticized — that hinges on enrolment. Even though $200 million is earmarked to help remote schools or ones facing falling enrolment, it's not nearly enough to save all doomed schools.
"The funding formula is incentivizing boards to close schools and that's got to stop," said London MPP Peggy Sattler, the NDP education critic.
Mergers and closings, often with new consolidated schools built, are the go-to options for boards — but that doesn't have to be, some say.
Community centres combining adult education programs, day cares, libraries and the like, can help to fill under-used schools, alternatives the government encourages boards to pursue. But when those options are exhausted, trustees have to make tough calls.
"Sometimes, school consolidation might be the answer," said Ammendolia.
With seniors expected to make up nearly one in four Canadians by 2031, Foot has another idea: Bring aging boomers back to the schools built for them.
"I used to say turn the schools into seniors' apartments. Let the local hospital buy the school and use them as outpatient clinics," he said.
"That keeps the buildings alive in the community."
Recently announced 10 public sessions to tackle rural education needs. Sessions scheduled May 23 in Amherstburg, May 24 in Thedford, May 25 in Markdale.
The Liberals are also urging school boards to weigh options, where possible, other than closing or merging schools.
Progressive Conservatives
Want a school-closing moratorium, pending a review of provincial guidelines.
New Democrats
Want a ban on school closings until Ontario's education funding and other guidelines are reviewed.
The fallout since 1998, unless otherwise noted, for Southwestern Ontario boards:
Thames Valley District
Empty spaces: 14,933
Schools closed: 47; opened, 16
Enrolment: Down 5,453
London District Catholic
Empty spaces: 3,631
Schools closed: 7; opened, six
Enrolment: Down 1991
Lambton Kent District
Empty spaces: 8,489
Schools closed: 17; opened, two
Enrolment: Down 8,263
St. Clair Catholic
Empty spaces: 1,884
Schools closed: 15; opened, two
Enrolment: Down 4,211
Huron-Perth Catholic
Empty spaces: 739
Schools closed: 1; opened, two
Enrolment: Up 1,282
Avon Maitland District
Empty spaces: 5,081
Schools closed: 22; opened, three
Enrolment: Down 5,994
Bluewater District
Empty spaces: 5,465
Schools closed since 2002: 6
Enrolment since 1998: Down 7,781
Bruce-Grey Catholic
Empty spaces: 38
Schools closed: 0; opened, 0
Enrolment: Down 19
Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic
Empty spaces: 1,564
Schools closed, opened: N/A
Enrolment: Up 369
Grand Erie District
Empty spaces: 6,233
Schools closed: 31; opened, four
Enrolment: Down 4,587
Greater Essex County District
Empty spaces: 6,516
Schools closed since 2000: 19
Schools opened since 2007: 10
Enrolment since 2003: Down 3,773
Windsor-Essex Catholic
Empty spaces: 2,919
Schools closed: 21; opened, two
Enrolment: Down 5,923


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Olivia Becker
After posting a breakout week, Liberty attacker Olivia Becker has been tabbed the Crons Brand Big South Lacrosse Freshman of the Week for the first time in her young career.
Becker joins fellow attacker Michaela Rich as the two Lady Flames to earn the Freshman of the Week honor this season. Rich has garnered the award twice.
Becker made starts in each of Liberty's three games last week, after starting just one of the previous nine contests. The freshman capitalized on the opportunities, tallying a career-high three goals on Friday in the Lady Flames' Big South opener at Campbell. Becker needed just three shots to score the three markers.
The Round Hill, Va., native came right back on Sunday in Liberty's win at Presbyterian College with her second hat trick in as many games. Becker also chipped in a ground ball and secured a career-high four draw controls. Becker finished the week with six goals, nine shots, three ground balls and three draw controls.
Becker and the rest of the Lady Flames (2-10, 1-1 Big South) return to play on Friday when they host Big South leader High Point at Liberty Lacrosse Field. Game time against the Panthers is set for 4 p.m.
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So I got one of those adapters that make my laptop work with these freakin European receptacles. Now I give you your weekly Movie Guns. Better late than never, right?
Now, there's a caveat. My laptop cannot do video capture, but my home PC can. I worked on capturing frames for four days and did not get to the end of the movie, so this week's post is not 100% complete, but it is close. The movie I decided to cover is Tears of the Sun. I found this movie to be quite believable, and it has plenty of guns; more than you might think.
Starting off we have this 1911 that a rebel leader uses to execute the Nigerian presidential family. There's not enough of it to get the make:
A team of Navy SEALs jumps in to recover an American doctor, Dr. Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), and the SEAL leader, Lt. Waters (Bruce Willis) is holding this Colt M4 with an Aimpoint optic:
Notice the tape on the bottom of the magazine which helps draw it out of his Load Bearing Vest (LBV).
As the SEALs prepare to leave the Cstholic mission with Dr. Kendricks, Lt. Waters leaves this Walther PPK with the priest who refuses to leave:
The little Walther doesn't help the priest any, and these rebel troops barge into the mission carrying AK 47's and an RPG 7 that doesn't have a rocket:
Later, while the SEALs are moving a group of refugees to safety, one of them is seen with this M72 LAW in his back, and another is carrying a Remington 870 shotgun with shotshell saddles:
The SEALs reach their extraction site where the SH60 Seahawks touch down to pick them up. One of them can be seen with M60 mounted at the door:
Toward the middle of the movie, the SEALs find a village where the local rebels are executing the people. They decide to intervene. Before the attack, one of the SEALs is holding a Sig P226:
As they crawl into possition, a AK 47 can be seen on the back of one of the SEALs:
Lt. Waters initiates the attack with a suppressed H&K Mk23 Mod0 pistol in what is probably the only documented use of one:
Here, 'Red' (Cole Hauser) is also using the H&K MK23:
as well as 'Link' (Johnny Messner), who fails to notice that his slide is out of battery:
One of the refugees saves Lt. Waters life by blasting an attacking rebel with this SKS:
When the SEALs find out that one of the refugees is transmitting their possition, 'Flea' (Chad Smith) takes him out with a M21 wearing a Leupold MRT Mk4 scope:
At the end of the film, the SEALs get into a firefight with the rebel forces, and Lt. Waters fires back with his M4 which doesn't have the lens covers on the Aimpoint flipped up:
'Red' and 'Flea' are fighting with their M60 and M21:
The rebels answer back with AK's and this RPG 7; this time with a rocket loaded:
The last weapon I managed to capture is this Colt M4 with M203 grenade launcher carried by 'Zee' (Eamonn Walker):
That's it this week. If you like big firefights than this movie is for you. Bruce Willis plays a believable SEAL team commander, and his team carries an arsenal of weapons. Check back sometime and I may have an update. As for next week; it doesn't look good. If I can figure out how to capture images from film on this laptop I will be in business.


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Here is the statement issued by Amanda Knox after Italy's highest criminal court overturned her acquittal in the slaying of her British roommate Meredith Kercher. The statement was issued Tuesday by Knox family spokesman David Marriott.
"It was painful to receive the news that the Italian Supreme Court decided to send my case back for revision when the prosecution's theory of my involvement in Meredith's murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair. I believe that any questions as to my innocence must be examined by an objective investigation and a capable prosecution. The prosecution responsible for the many discrepancies in their work must be made to answer for them, for Raffaele's sake, my sake, and most especially for the sake of Meredith's family. Our hearts go out to them. No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity."


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Baseball, golf, girls soccer
Mexico Bulldogs baseball team put another win under their belts Tuesday with another conference win defeating the Marshall Owls 6-3.
The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when the Bulldogs broke lose and scored 4 runs. The Dawgs came back in the fourth adding 2 two more runs and never gave up the lead. The Owls scored all 3 of their runs in the sixth inning.
Senior Matt Ridgway recorded the win. He pitched 5 innings, struck out 4 and walked 1. Elijah Robinson came in to pitch the last 2 innings, striking out 1 and allowing 1 walk.
"The guys came out early offensively and put the ball into play," said MHS Coach Keith Louder. He added the team needs to produce more runs and if they generate 5 or more runs in a game they have chance to win more ball games. "Getting 6 runs was the best news as a whole," remarked the coach.
The defense is still "good" said Louder. Even with three errors, only one of those errors was critical, allowing a run.
Sophomore Cody Creed went 2-3 on the night with 2 RBIs and 1 walk. Sophomore Austyn Sampo was 2-3 with 2 stolen bases; and junior Frank Nickoley was 1-3 with 1 RBI.
The Bulldogs improved their record to 3-3 overall and 2-3 in conference play.
They return to action Thursday at Centralia and this weekend will play in the Marshall Tournament.
Marshall: 3R, 7H, 2E, 8LOB.
Mexico: 6R, 6H, 2E, 4LOB.
The JV game ended in a tie in seven innings going two extra innings (JV games are 5 innings).
For Mexico D'Milo Nunnelly, Gavin Jones and Tyler Warmbrodt each had a hit.
The JV record is 5-0-1.
GOLF: Mexico varsity and junior varsity competed Tuesday against North Callaway and Southern Boone. Even though Southern Boone provided the low individual round of the season (Walker Kesterson with 33, 3 under), both Mexico's varsity and junior varsity fired back with season lows as a team to win match honors.
"The boys saw again today how important it is to pull together as a team and play for a greater cause even though in the game of golf it's easy to get caught up in one's own score," said MHS Coach John Knipfel.
Varsity team scores include: Mexico 166, Southern Boone 167, and North Callaway 174.
Mexico, 7-5, returns to action today in the Southern Boone Invitational.
Vincent Perll 40.
Jordan McNeil 40.
Austin Kelsay 41.
Alex Bledsoe 44.
Brock Lunceford 45.
Junior varsity team scores include: Mexico 186, Southern Boone 209 and no score for North Callaway.
Brock Fuemmeler 47
Brandon Oligschlaeger 45
Brad Hutchinson 46.
Lucas Handlin and Jared Melton 48.
The JV record is 15-2.
GIRLS SOCCER: The Mexico Lady Bulldogs have some work to do on their defense, remarks MHS Coach Brad Ellebracht.
"Our approach defensively is not what it should be. When you score 4 goals, you should win that game 100 percent of the time."
The Lady Dawgs scored 3 goals in the first half, and were leading at the half 3-2. The final was 5-4 Kirksville.
Scoring for Mexico were juniors Bailey Reed with 3 goals and 1 assist; and Keagan Riddick, 1 goal.
Mexico returns to action Thursday at Fulton. This weekend they will participate in the Moberly Tournament.
Mexico's schedule times and opponents for the tournament include: Saxony Lutheran, 4 p.m. Friday; Hannibal, 9:30 a.m. Saturday and Father Tolton, 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
The junior varsity also lost 2-0.


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A white, rich, preppy bitching girl who lives in Chatham, NJ. If they don't get what they want, they bitch and backstabb till they get it. Not every girl in Chatham is a "chatham girl" but whoever is should be shot, stabbed and burried in Mikail Batogs backyard.
Why is that Chatham girl taking a knife and stabbing her friend in the back with it?(clever clever)
by antiprep January 12, 2005
Slutty, bitchy, and in need of a good smack in the face. Chatham girls rove in packs, consuming all people who may get in their way through whatever means possible. They can be found bitching at others, consuming raw flesh, wearing pink, blue, white, or black North Face jackets, sucking cock, and of course are easily recognized by the growths protruding from each side of their head, often know as iPod headphones, and the festering trail of herpes and cash they leave behind wherever they slither.
See Chatham.
See Chatham.
Look, a Chatham Girl! Quick, get the camera!
No, her head is still partially visible out of her ass. She must be from Madison.
No, her head is still partially visible out of her ass. She must be from Madison.
by Therapist February 04, 2005


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The Pope's anniversary: Viewing him through different lensesEDITORIAL
March 15. 2014 9:23PM
The one-year anniversary of Pope Francis last week had much of the liberal American media continuing to put their own spin on the man and the Catholic Church he leads. It is amusing to watch.
From day one of his papacy, some in the media have attempted to shape the Pope's every word and gesture to comport with their own liberal agenda. It is akin to their obsession with horse-race political polls. Easier to report how potential candidates fare in polls than to examine their positions on issues.
Some in the media want the Pope to renounce church teachings on gay marriage, priestly marriage, and, no doubt, any marriage.
They would like nothing better and are probably praying (we use the term loosely) for Francis to come out for abortion on demand.
Last week, some news outlets seemed terribly confused and exasperated that an American poll (yes, back to polls) showed that Francis has not moved the needle at all on the number of Catholics in the U.S. After all they have done to build this guy up as the liberal liberator of the downtrodden dogmatics, they seemed genuinely disappointed that people weren't signing up en masse.
It doesn't work that way. Different people will see what they wish to see in this new Holy Father. We will simply wish him, and the Catholic Church, the best in this season of Lent.


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Michael Tran/FilmMagic
Christina Applegate is many things — including an Emmy-winning actress, a cancer survivor and a philanthropist.
But there's another side of the Anchorman star that nobody knew about … until now!
According to the actress, she's a total dance mom to her 3½-year-old ballet dancer, daughter Sadie Grace.
"Sometimes I'll find myself watching her in class, and I'm like, 'Oh my God, you're so being a dance mom,' " Applegate, 42, told PEOPLE at the Fourth Annual Celebration of Dance Gala presented by The Dizzy Feet Foundation on Sunday.
"I'm sitting [there] in my head going, 'Why isn't she pointing her foot that way?! Someone needs to go in there and fix her foot!'"
Applegate, who can no longer dance herself because of injuries — but still occasionally guest-judges on So You Think You Can Dance, grew up with an extreme passion for the sport.
"It was my secret thing I did that nobody knew I did," Applegate shares. "I could go to classes and not have anyone bother me. And I did it for years up until I got pregnant with my daughter."
As soon as Sadie was born, the new mom knew she wanted to pass her love of dance on to her little girl.
"I now have to live vicariously through my daughter," says Applegate. "I watch her and help her speak through her body — channel her emotions and her joy through her body. [I help her] get grounded, get all that stuff out."
However, there is a fine line and even Applegate realizes she has been known to occasionally cross it.
"I was stretching her point today. I was like, 'Let me stretch your point a little bit, Sades. Not for any particular reason — just giving you a little massage.' I tricked her!" she admits.
— Matthew Cole Weiss


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Mariners send INF Alex Liddi to Orioles
The Seattle Mariners traded infielder Alex Liddi to the
Baltimore Orioles on Saturday and exchanged signing slots for
international players.
The Mariners designated Liddi for assignment on June 28, meaning
they would have to trade him or release him if he rejected the
Liddi played in eight games for Seattle, going 1 for 17. He was
designated when second baseman Brad Miller was called up from
Triple-A Tacoma.
Liddi spent most of the season with Tacoma, batting .263 with 11
homers and 43 RBIs. The Mariners originally signed him as an
international free agent in 2005. He is the first Italian-born and
developed player to appear in the majors.
By swapping signing slots, the Mariners have freedom to spend
more money if they choose to sign an international player.


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Stocks drifted near the unchanged mark on Thursday as investors postponed big bets before the November employment report on Friday, but technology stocks rose on gains in Apple and Broadcom.
Monthly payroll numbers, to be released by the Labor Department, are expected to show a sharp slowdown in jobs growth because of superstorm Sandy.
Continue Reading Below
Broadcom boosted other semiconductor companies a day after it forecast fourth-quarter revenue at the high end of its target range due to slightly better-than-expected sales in its mobile business. Shares rose 1.9 percent to $32.97.
The S&P technology index was the best performing of the 10 major S&P sectors, gaining 0.36 percent. The PHLX semiconductor index rose 0.5 percent.
Apple was up 1.4 percent after losing as much as 3.7 percent at the open. The stock suffered its biggest one-day drop in four years on Wednesday due to concerns about higher capital gains taxes in 2013 and the company's market share in the tablet market.
Apple Inc's rank in China's smartphone market fell to No. 6 in the third quarter as it faces tougher competition from Chinese brands, research firm IDC said.
Broader moves were limited, however, as traders focused on the "fiscal cliff" debate. About three weeks remain before a series of tax increases and spending cuts would begin that could slow growth. Legislators are trying to come up with a deal to avoid some of the negative effects on the economy while still reducing the U.S. budget deficit.
While Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives insist that raising tax rates on the rich is not negotiable, some GOP lawmakers now see it as inevitable to avoid the fiscal cliff.
"As we get close to the last two weeks, things will pick up," said Gordon Charlop, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York. Congress and the White House will have final discussions near the end of the year about how to handle the "fiscal cliff," he said.
Without action from Congress, tax cuts on capital gains and dividends will expire at the end of 2012, which has contributed to selling certain stocks that have done extremely well in recent years, such as Apple.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 7.93 points, or 0.06 percent, at 13,026.56. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.14 point, or 0.01 percent, at 1,409.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 8.31 points, or 0.28 percent, at 2,982.00.
Sirius XM Radio shares rose 1.4 percent to $2.81 after its board approved a $2 billion stock repurchase and declared a special dividend, giving a big payout to its largest shareholder, Liberty Media , which rose 2.3 percent to $108.87.
Garmin shares rose 4.5 percent to $41.49 after Standard & Poor's said it would add the navigation device maker to the S&P 500 index. Garmin will replace R.R. Donnelley & Sons after the close of trading on December 11.
(Editing by Kenneth Barry)


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Below is the latest in a continuing series of guest reviews. Our reviewer this time out is E. Sedia, whose novel According To Crow was released by Five Star Books in May. Her short fiction has appeared in Analog, Fortean Bureau, and Lenox Avenue, and other venues.
Zoran Zivkovic's The Fourth Circle has been much praised as an intelligent and complex work; for the most part, I found this description accurate. The book is huge in its scope, bouncing across different worlds and epochs. It combines science, religion, and breathtaking imagery into a wonderful read.
In this novel, several storylines are loosely woven together -- all deal with "closing the Circle", or establishing contact between several different worlds. Main storylines take place in widely divergent times and settings: first, there is Rama (a computer program with a surprisingly shrill and female personality) and Sri (her creator and a Buddhist scientist.) The two of them move to an abandoned Buddhist temple in the jungle, and soon are joined by others -- a monkey who accidentally impregnates Rama, Archimedes, Stephen Hawking and other scientific and fictional figures.
Another storyline describes trials of a (Russian?) medieval fresco painter's assistant, an old man who is both fearful and adoring of his master (whose tortured spirituality reminded me a lot of Andrei Rublev.) The assistant describes a struggle between God and devil in his Master's art, and we are given a convincing account of events filtered through a deeply religious worldview.
The third is the last case of Sherlock Holmes; it takes place in an alternate universe, where Holmes is a real character, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a librarian.
Additional storylines are less prominent, and deal with different beings -- spheres, anthropomorphic multi-limbed wolf packs, disembodied intelligences; all are as bent on breaching the wall between the worlds as the main players.
And therein lies the first problem I have with this book -- while the many storylines are fascinating, they don't quite fit together. There are many strange and wonderful things happening, and saying, "Look, they all happen for the same reason" was not quite enough to tie the disparate threads together.
Nonetheless, I quite enjoyed the frequent shifts in space and time. Also, puzzling out all the underlying symbols became a game. Circle obviously provides the main symbolic engine, and it appears in many forms -- Archimedes' famous circles in the sand, roulette wheels, circles of hell, Ludolph van Ceulen's obsession with calculating all digits of pi, black holes, singularity, etc. The book explores both mythological and scientific significance of circles, and uses them as a universal sign capable of bringing different worlds together. The book's structure is full of turns and dead ends, huge and labyrinthine, and I spent many happy hours poking around in it.
My second problem was related to the female characters of the book. When they were not saintly archetypes (Mariya), they were delusional, hysterical, shrewish, or any combination thereof. The only two female protagonists drawn with any sort of clarity were Rama (the computer program) and Sarah (caretaker in the Stephen Hawking episode); both were unbearable. The author leads us to believe that in both personality flaws were due to reading too many women's magazines or romance novels. In the case of Rama, her creator wanted her to have a feminine personality, and presumably achieved it by feeding the program a decade-worth of Vogue. Rama herself constantly refers to her feminine intuition and other stereotypical female characteristics; at the same time, she perceives herself as an organized and logical being. She's a caricature at best.
Sarah fares no better -- soaps and romance novels for her are what magazines are for Rama, and her perception of reality is ultimately distorted by them. I suppose it wouldn't bother me so much if there were a single sane female in this book, but no such luck. Women in this book come in two flavors: unattainable ideal of beauty and wisdom, or a delusional shrew.
Despite these flaws, the book is well worth reading. It is sprawling, bursting with ideas and images, lies so marvelous that they convince with their sheer audacity. It is difficult to put down, or to dismiss it as anything less than a major work.


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Clearance Sale Designer Leather Handbag Purse Ladies Hobo Shoulder Tote Bag Women s Top Handle BagGray Gray -
DURABLE MATERIAL: Outer Material is made of genuine Cowhide Split Leather, the lining material is durable fabric, which make handbag more durable. Shoulder strap is made of synthetic leather.
PRACTICAL STRUCTURE: 1 Main Pocket + 1 Compartment with Zipper Pocket + 1 Sandwich Zipper Pocket + 2 Inner Vertical Pockets.
HIGH-END HARDWARE & LINING &CLOSURE: Classic pale gold hardware combined with fabric lining makes up pretty and trendy handbags for you. Metal buckle opening closure keeps your handbag safe.
VERSATILE APPLICATION: Two carry ways, top hand, single shoulder. Stylish and simple appearance makes it particularly suitable for formal occasions, business, shopping and traveling.
DIMENSIOINS and WEIGHTS: (L) 12.2 x (W) 5.51 x (H) 8.27 inches, 2.12 pounds. The shoulder strap lengthens 60.24 inches. You could use this roomy handbag to store long wallets, cell phones, triple folding umbrellas and some other tiny daily gadgets, and this lightweight handbag is easy to carry.