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Recent news items about topics related to this year's Reading Together program.
A lot has changed for author Novella Carpenter since the release of her groundbreaking memoir, "Farm City," in 2010.She purchased the 4,500-square-foot plot of land that served as her urban farm in her neighborhood of Oakland, Calif. she described as a "postcard of urban decay."Her "GhostTown Farm," where she grows fruit, vegetables and raises animals, has become somewhat of a tourist attraction. She now runs workshops there and invites people to volunteer to help on the small farm.She also has a daughter, Francis, or Franny, and teaches at the University of San Francisco. (More...)
—Kalamazoo Gazette, April 12, 2014
The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 15 percent of American households are food insecure. This includes 50.2 million homes, where nearly 1 in 4 of the nation's children lives – 17 million youngsters in all and 9.6 million of them under the age of 6.
A six-state, federally-funded research project called "Voices for Food" has been launched to address food security in isolated communities known as "food deserts". In Michigan, four communities will be selected to take part in the project. (More...)
—MSU Extension, March 27, 2014
Just minutes after US Senator Debbie Stabenow is scheduled to speak to the Michigan Commission of Agriculture Thursday morning about the 2014 Farm Bill's hard-won support for small farmers, some Michigan small farmers are planning to make their own last ditch public plea to the commission. (More...)
—Kalamazoo Gazette, March 20, 2014
All across the country, young people who were not raised in agricultural environments are getting involved in sustainable food production. Aliza Eliazarov, a photographer who has long had an interest in environmental issues, decided to document the various manifestations of this movement in her series, "Sustain." "I was curious to see what it looked like, to see what was happening with young college graduates starting CSAs and leasing plots of land or starting urban farms and rooftop farms," she said. (More...)
—Slate Magazine, March 9 2014
The air is cold and the snow is deep, but inside the hoop houses at Green Garden Community Farm the greens are growing. Donna McClurkan talks to Trent and Ruthie Thompson about their year round operation and the slow money that made it possible. (More...)
—Southwest Michigan's Second Wave, March 6, 2014
LATE on Saturday, Feb. 8, news broke of the recall of 8.7 million pounds of beef that had come through a Northern California slaughterhouse. Social media buzzed with tweets and posts pronouncing it the latest example of a dysfunctional industrialized food system incapable of producing safe meat. "Buy local!" "Know your farmer!" "Eat grass-fed beef!"The problem was that this slaughterhouse, the Rancho Feeding Corporation, didn't handle only commodity beef. (More...)
—New York Times, March 2, 2014
"The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra has announced that the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan will support a three-year project, "A Taste of Music: The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra Goes to Market," with a $50,000 grant.'A Taste of Music' combines two notable components of the A2SO's Education and Outreach programming – its ensembles composed of professional A2SO musicians, and its Instrument Petting Zoos." (More...)
—Ann Arbor Journal, February 13, 2014


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Monday, December 30, 2013
The Triple Crown Strikes Back
The new year is fast approaching, as they always do, faster with every year. We are riding a turbulent ascent toward May 3rd. This is the second year of the Kentucky Derby Points System. Hard to believe it's only the second year of this system, controversial as it was and is.
Add to that the New York Racing Association bumped the purse to the Belmont Stakes 50 percent to $1.5 million. An argument can be made that the Triple Crown races are so prestigious that they need no purse increase. Twenty horses will start the Kentucky Derby if they were running for nothing more than two free movie passes.
As it stands, the Derby sits at $2 million, the Preakness at $1.5 million and the Belmont at $1.5 million. That's all well and good. These three races in five weeks are an ideal narrative building window, or the continuation thereof.
The Triple Crown, in essence, is the middle movie in a blockbuster trilogy. It leaves us with the most uncertainty and, by the end, leaves us gripping the couch cushions saying, "Darth Vadar was once capable of intercourse!"
The first movie is the run up to the Derby, a five-month slow burn where 20 teenagers slowly begin to rise from their foal crops like Oklahoma Training Track fog. They rise from all corners of the country, a true national championship. A win in Kentucky almost assures the colt championship honors. It literally took months for Orb to shake his Derby sheen.
They race in Kentucky, Florida, California, Arkansas, Louisiana, New York and New Mexico for a shot to be the only horse alive to be the 12th Triple Crown winner.
Largely we're lucky to see big fields in all the Triple Crown races. The money's nice—there's only so many $1 million races on a calendar—but the prestige is priceless. What we lack is a continuity between all races, something we actually had an abundance of in 2013, something that fed the greater part of the racing calendar.
In 2013, Orb, Will Take Charge and Oxbow ran in all three Triple Crown races when, as recent precedent has indicated, they had no incentive to run in more than two. So many trainers—at the behest of clients, mind you—throw all their eggs into the porous Derby basket.
It's no coincidence that the handlers of these three horses—Shug McGaughey and D. Wayne Lukas—are old timers who like to see their racehorses, I don't know, race. More so with the latter of this pair, for sure.
The Derby got 16.2 million viewers. The Preakness, with a Triple Crown contender on the rise, got 9.7 million sets of eyes. The Belmont, even without a Triple Crown hopeful, got 7.0 million people tuning in. That doesn't include the 200,000 or so who attended the races. So 32.9 million watched the three-year-olds over that five-week span. Nearly 33 million people saw Orb, Oxbow and Will Take Charge run 31.5 furlongs.
That only made them more interesting as they went about their summer campaigns. Orb would take most of the summer off, but Oxbow made it as far as the Haskell before retiring with an injury. Will Take Charge just got better and better and should be Horse of the Year.
While it's nice to see the Belmont's purse jump in value, the real incentive should be on getting more Derby entrants to run in the Preakness, then the more Derby and Preakness entrants to run in the Belmont. That can be a purse incentive like NYRA has for field size with grass races, or two-turn dirt races. To apply it here would mean the more Derby runners in the Preakness, the more dough gets doled out. And with the VLTs subsidizing much of the purse structure in New York, the Belmont's purse incentives could be—and should be—substantial to a sound horse running in all three legs.
Derby runners get preference to starting spots in the Preakness. Derby and Preakness runners get preference for the Belmont.
With 33 million eyes watched three colts run in all three legs in 2013, that builds an interest in the athlete that makes for a profitable viewing experience as the season heads into Saratoga, fall Belmont and the Breeders' Cup.
Story lines don't necessarily pay out at the window, but they get people off their butts and to the track (and, let's face it, don't you want some of that "dumb" money pumping dough into underlays?). It's win win!
Written by Brendan O'Meara

subset: commoncrawl


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The Mikhailovsky Theatre has received an absolutely new production of the classical Sleeping Beauty. The renowned Spanish choreographer, Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Ballet Nacho Duato has told the famous fairytale in his own way, preserving the incredibly romantic and magical spirit of this famous ballet. DuatoÆs style, recognizable even in the classical ballet, his light humour and legendary musicality captivate the audience and retain their attention to the very last second.
Libretto: Nacho Duato after Ivan Vsevolozhsky
King Florestan and Queen are celebrating the christening ofĀtheir daughter, Princess Aurora.The court isĀwaiting for the appearance ofĀthe King and the Queen. Catalabutte, the MasterofĀCeremonies, isĀrevising the guest list. The feast begins. The Lilac Fairy, the godmother ofthe Princess, appears surrounded byĀgood fairies.Frightened servants herald the arrival ofĀthe evil Fairy Carabosse, who hasn`t been invited bymistake ofĀCatalabutte. King and Queen are worried expecting the worst.Enraged Carabosse escorted byĀher monstrous entourage arrives. How did they dare toĀforgether? Carabosse willing toĀrevenge predicts that Princess Aurora will become the most beautifuland the smartest ofĀall the princesses but once she will prick her finger with aĀneedle and die.The Lilac Fairy alleviates the prophecy ofĀCarabosse. Princess Aurora shall not die, asCarabosse wished but will fall inĀaĀdeep sleep and shall beĀawakened byĀaĀyoung Princeenchanted byĀthe sleeping beauty.
Princess Aurora has turned sixteen. King and Queen are celebrating her birthday. Nobleguests are coming toĀthe palace toĀseek Aurora`s hand. The princes are introduced toĀPrincessAurora. She isĀnice toĀall ofĀthem, ready toĀdance with everyone but she doesn`t favour any ofthem. AnĀold lady with aĀstrange thing inĀher hands attracts Aurora`s attention. The Princesstakes the needle from the old lady and starts playing and dancing withĀit. Suddenly she pricksher finger and falls senseless. The old lady isĀthe Fairy Carabosse. She isĀtriumphant.The Lilac Fairy alleviates the prophecy ofĀCarabosse : Princess Aurora shall not die but fallasleep for one hundred years. And everybody inĀthe kingdom will fall asleep after her. InĀonehundred years the Princess will beĀawakened and the magic condemnation will lose its power.
One hundred years has passed. Prince Desire, his friends and courtiers are hunting inĀtheforest. Once Prince Desire isĀalone, the LilacFairy appears. She tells him about the Princess. The Prince isĀlonging toĀsee the Princess inreality.The Lilac Fairy and Prince Desire are sailing inĀaĀboat toĀthe sleeping castle. AĀdense forest isaround them. The evil Fairy Carabosse and her servants are inĀthe garden. Suddenly they hearthe music signifying the appearance ofĀthe Lilac Fairy. Carabosse has noĀmight against theLilac Fairy.Prince Desire finds Princess Aurora. When heĀkisses the sleeping beauty, Aurora awakes.
King Florestan`s palace. The wedding ofĀPrincess Aurora and Prince Desire isĀcelebrated.Many guests are coming toĀcongratulate the newlyweds: the fairy-tale characters, fairies andprinces. The happy newlyweds are dancing. The Lilac Fairy appears inĀthe palace. All her kindpromises have come true!


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It seems like everything's been Call of Duty around these parts lately, no? Considering it's probably going to end up as the year's largest release, I guess you can't really blame us too much. If you don't believe me, check out the reports that Black Ops moved 5.6 million copies and defeated Modern Warfare 2 in day one sales. Yeah, it surprised me, too.
Anyway, the franchise seems to just build on itself every year, no matter who's in charge. Eventually though, it stands to reason that at some point, people will get tired of the same formula. There are only so many time periods to exploit, after all. Which is why it's interesting to hear rumors that Call of Duty's next entry, developed by Sledgehammer Games, will take place in the future. From Gamasutra:
That unit hasn't talked specifically about what it's doing with the franchise. But industry sources say Sledgehammer's Call of Duty will be set in the future and feature, for lack of a better term, space Marines, a very big step for a franchise that has historically based itself on realism.
Could this be the Call of Duty game that is due out next year in 2011? What about the title that the leftovers of Infinity Ward are still working on? Only time will tell, I guess.
What do you guys think about these rumors? Would Call of Duty: Halo be a good direction for the series to go?
Source – Gamasutra


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Forms & Resources
Assessing Department
Click here for:
Phone: (973) 470-5838
Fax: (973) 470-5923
Hours: Mon. through Fri. 8:15 am - 4:15 pm
Municipal Tax Assessor: Matthew S. Rinaldi, CTA, SCGREA
Senior Assistant Assessor: William Schmidig, CTA
2017 Property Tax Freeze Notice
New Jersey Property Taxpayer Bill of Rights
The New Jersey Constitutional mandate to assess all real property according To the same standard of value has been statutorily translated into Assessor's Duty to "determine the full and fair value of each parcel of real property situated in the taxing district at such price as, in his judgement, it will sell for at a fair and bona fide sale by contract" (N.J.S.A. 45:4-23). The Objective is simply to fairly distribute the necessary tax burden among all property owners, based upon the true value of their property.The actual procedure would be for your property to be inspected, measured, and photographed. The sales of properties in your neighborhood are also analyzed so that the current value trends within Clifton may be estimated. Another method to value property is based on how much money it would take, at current material and labor costs, to replace your property with one similar. The standards outlined in the appraisal manual for assessors, prepared by the State of New Jersey, are followed in estimating values.
The appraiser (assessor) has nothing to do with the total amount of tax collected. His primary responsibility is to find the fair market value of your property, so that you may pay only your fair share of the tax burden. The sum of the budget requirements needed each year, by all taxing agencies (the Municipal Government, the County Government and the local Board of Education) determines what is called the tax rate. This tax rate is applied to your property's assessed value.
There are a few New Jersey property tax benefits. There is a $250.00 property tax deduction for veterans or their surviving spouses. To qualify, you must be an honorably discharged U.S. Armed Forces war veteran, or the unmarried surviving spouse of such a war veteran or the surviving spouse of a serviceperson who served in time of war and died while on active duty. There are specific wartime service periods of active duty required for eligibility. Please call for specific requirements. Claim Form V.S.S. must be obtained from and filed with the Clifton's Assessing Department.
There is a $250.00 deduction for senior citizens, disabled persons, or surviving spouses. To qualify, you have to be 65 or over and live in the house that you own as October 1 of the year before the year for which the deduction is requested, excluding, with restrictions, monies received from social security, and some Federal and State pensions. Please call for additional requirements. Claim Form PTD must be obtained from and filed with the Clifton's Assessing Department.


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Deputy Head of History
- Recruiter
- Location
- Enfield (City/Town), London (Greater)
- Salary
- Ark MPS or UPS (Outer London) £27,329 - £38,587 or £40,507 - £43,561, depending on experience + TLR
- Posted
- 02 Mar 2018
- Closing date
- 21 Mar 2018
- Industry
- Schools, Secondary teaching, History
- Job level
- Experienced (non manager)
- Hours
- Full time
- Contract
- Permanent
- Listing type
- Job vacancy
Deputy Head of History
Ark John Keats Academy
Unique opportunity to join an outstanding new school in north London.
Ark John Keats Academy provides pupils from Nursery to 6th Form with a world class standard of education. Our approach is underpinned by our six pillars – A Mastery Curriculum, High Quality Teaching, Strong Discipline, Character Development, Raising Aspirations & Enrichment and Developing Education Leaders.
The academy staff, pupils and parents are incredibly aligned, committed and passionate about our school. We have been graded outstanding in all areas by Ofsted and pupils make rapid progress in a calm, purposeful and happy environment.
In recruiting for the Deputy Head of History role we are seeking the following from applicants:
- A good degree in History or a related subject
- A growth mindset
- High standards of professionalism
- Courteousness
- Record of high quality teaching
- The potential to be an exceptional leader
We are committed to providing staff with high quality and regular CPD. All teachers and leaders have weekly coaching, a weekly whole staff training session, 14 CPD days annually and access to an extensive menu of Ark training programmes for all levels.
In advance of applying please read our website and see our relevant phase briefings (under the vacancies tab).
Flexible and part time working will be considered
For further information, a confidential discussion or for any technical queries please contact Jane Witheford.
Start Date: September 2018
Closing date: Wednesday 21st March 2018
Salary: Ark MPS or UPS (Outer London) £27,329 - £38,587 or £40,507 - £43,561, depending on experience + TLR 2C £2,667
We value diversity and are committed to safeguarding and promoting child welfare. The successful candidate will be subject to DBS and any other relevant employment checks.


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"Savoring the Hamptons," Silvia Lehrer's beautiful, comprehensive cookbook featuring everything utterly delicious about the North and South Forks of Long Island, is a book that needed to be written. Divided into seasons beginning with spring, it is generously interspersed with gorgeous photographs by Karen Wise, and includes a range of recipes from the most famous local chefs, friends, and Ms. Lehrer herself.
The book, which will be available on May 10 (Running Press, $30), feels like a walking tour of the East End, where you stop to meet the winemaker, learn how potato chips are made, and get inspired by a piece of tuna from the fish market. Ms. Lehrer knows the area well, having lived here for almost 20 years. As a member of Slow Food International, founding member of the James Beard Foundation, and cooking teacher, she clearly appreciates and understands all that the Forks have to offer. Her tone is warm, enthusiastic, and authoritative — the man who grows the mushrooms is as revered as the famous chef who prepares them for the summer throngs.
It is probably inevitable that the title would have to include the word Hamptons, as this is the buzzword to attract the outside world. There is also the requisite forward by a local celebrity, in this case, a charming one by Alan Alda. But the book covers so much more than "the Hamptons." Just about every notable farm stand gets a page or two, from Sang Lee and Satur on the North Fork, to Pike's, Round Swamp, and Green Thumb on the South. Roman Roth, the genial winemaker at Wolffer Estate Vineyard, provides a user-friendly guide to pairing wine with food. Many of the recipes are helpfully paired with Long Island wine suggestions. There are contributions from many great restaurants, among them Estia's Little Kitchen in Sag Harbor, North Fork Table in Southold, Fresno in East Hampton, and the Plaza Cafe in Southampton.
Regions like Tuscany, Napa Valley, and the South of France have long inspired cookbooks celebrating everything these places have to offer. The North and South Forks have now gotten the book and the recognition they deserve. The vines that have been growing on the North Fork for decades are now mature. There are cheesemakers on both forks — Catapano in Peconic and Mecox Bay Dairy in Bridgehampton. Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue and Iacono Farm in East Hampton are featured, along with Scott Chaskey of Quail Hill in Amagansett and Mary Woltz of Bee's Needs in Sag Harbor.
Reading the book, you get to know Ms. Lehrer. She is very fond of potatoes and duck and is a crackerjack at creating a recipe from a piece of toro from Cor-J Seafood in Hampton Bays, or some fresh mozzarella from Pasquale Langella in East Hampton, or even a butternut squash that takes a starring role in a risotto whipped up on a cold, snowy night. Her enthusiasm in describing a summer tomato from Marilee Foster's Sagaponack farm is contagious. Figs from a friend's tree in Hampton Bays inspire her to use them in a salad with local cheese and local honey. Recipes for blackfish, porgy, and clam pie provide other clues that this is a truly regional cookbook.
There are other cookbooks written by notable chefs in our area. Anna Pump of Loaves and Fishes has written several with popular recipes from her takeout shop in Sagaponack. Ina Garten, a k a the Barefoot Contessa, has written many, but they are all sensibly aimed at the cook in Your Town, U.S.A.
For those of us who live here and love the food available to us, it is a delight to see such recipes as Jason Weiner's mussels from Almond in Bridgehampton, Max Weintraub's seasonal specialty of scallops a la Provencal from Cafe Max in East Hampton, and A Tale of Two Roasted Fingerling Potatoes from Kevin Penner of 1770 House in East Hampton.
In her introduction to the winter chapter, Ms. Lehrer writes "The Hamptons is as well known for its transient population as it is for its potatoes. Many East Enders have left family behind elsewhere, or in this mobile society we live in, members of local families have left. As a result, our sense of community is different than it was even 50 years ago — it is built [. . .] on the love and dedication to the place while living there. It is a sense of community, of belonging somewhere, that gives any place its distinct character and creates its local flavor."
This is the cookbook for those who revere and respect Long Island's East End. It is the book to send to friends and family far away, with the inscription "This is where we live, and this is why we live here."
Tuna Tartare With Avocado Salad
This recipe by Silvia Lehrer was inspired by a piece of toro, the belly of fresh tuna, that she procured from Danny Coronesi of Cor-J Seafood in Hampton Bays. She suggests serving it as a salad or as a spread for crackers.
Serves four to six.
For the tuna tartare:
5 oz. sashimi quality tuna belly
1 tsp. grated ginger
1 large scallion, thinly sliced (light green and white parts)
2 tsp. sake
Zest and juice of 1/2 large lemon or lime
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
11/2 tsp. sesame oil
For salad:
2 ripe avocados
Pinch red pepper flakes
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 to 6 large leaves of Boston lettuce
Parsley sprigs, for garnish
For tuna tartare, thinly slice the tuna, then stack the slices and mince. Combine the tuna in a bowl with the ginger, scallion, sake, lemon zest and juice, salt, and sesame oil, and stir to mix. The tartare can be prepared up to several hours ahead. Refrigerate, covered, in a suitable container until ready to serve.
For the salad, halve the avocados, remove pits, scoop out flesh with large spoon. Coarsely chop avocados, transfer to bowl, season with red pepper flakes, lime zest and juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss to mix. Place a large lettuce leaf on each of four to six salad plates. Equally divide the avocado mixture over each leaf and top with tuna tartare. Garnish with parsley sprigs and serve.
Note: For ease of slicing, freeze the tuna belly for 20 minutes.
Caprese Salad
This is a delicious way to use Pasquale Langella's fresh mozzarella, now being made every weekend at Food & Co. in East Hampton. You'll have to wait for summer tomatoes, however!
Serves six.
2 red locally grown tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 yellow tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 lb. good quality, fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
12 to 14 basil leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
Kosher salt and pepper
Black Gaeta olives, for garnish
3 to 4 Tbsp. basil purée, for garnish (optional)
Alternate layers of the tomato slices, mozzarella slices, and six basil leaves, dividing equally among six salad plates. Dress each dish with olive oil and a light drizzle of vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Stack the remaining basil leaves, roll like a cigar, and slice crosswise into a chiffonade. Scatter basil leaves over salad. Garnish with two or three olives.
If using basil purée, below, dress the edges of each plate "Jackson Pollock style," gently splattering it for presentation.
Basil Purée
Place one cup packed basil leaves and a quarter cup olive oil in blender or food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste and purée until smooth.


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Supervisor Forms
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Personnel info changes (transfer, title, rate, and status changes, terminations)
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Recruitment and Employment
- Reference Check Questions
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- Recruitment Authorization Form
Application for Employment
- Employment Authorization (Faculty)
- Employment Authorization (Faculty) Fillable
- Employment Authorization (Staff)
- Employment Authorization (Staff) Fillable
- Volunteer Background Check Authorization
- Volunteer Confidentiality Agreement
- Volunteer Information Sheet
Performance Appraisal Program
WC's performance appraisal program provides the opportunity at least annually for an employee and supervisor to engage in a job performance interview which records performance recognition and improvement plans. It assists the supervisors in making decisions about merit increases, promotions and continuing employment. In addition, the appraisal process assists the College and its supervisors in the identification of training resource needs.
Important note: To save PDFs after typing within them, you will need the full version of Acrobat Reader. Contact the OIT Help Desk for more information.
Option 1
Use Acrobat Reader to view, fill-in and print the appraisal forms. It's usually included with web browsers, such as Netscape and Internet Explorer, but if you need it, contact the OIT Help Desk.
Option 2
Use a full copy of Adobe Acrobat (Windows or Mac) to view, fill-in, print and SAVE the filled in form. This will allow you to reopen it later to make changes, or to exchange it with someone else for editing. Adobe Acrobat is keyserved—detailed instructions on using keyserved applications on Macs and PCs are available from the OIT Help Desk.
Option 3
Use Acrobat Reader to view and print the appraisal forms. Fill them out offline, as you would fill out any paper form (ink or typewritten).


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Deryck Whibley is on a mission to recoup his birth name – the singer took ex-wife Avril Lavigne's name when they wed in 2006, and now he wants rid of it.
The Sum 41 frontman decided to legally change his name to Deryck Jason Lavigne Whibley when he tied the knot with the pop singer, but now, three years after their divorce, Whibley is finally getting around to changing his name.
He recently filed a petition in a Los Angeles County Court to drop 'Lavigne' and go back to his birth name, according to TMZ.com.
Meanwhile, Lavigne has moved past their broken marriage at a quicker pace – she exchanged vows with Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger in July.


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Division of Environmental Analysis (DEA) LINKS
- DEA Home
- SER Home
- Environmental Documents
- Contracts for Environmental Services
- About Us
- Frequently Asked Questions
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 17, 2017 9:40 AM
Nepa Assignment
In July of 2012, President Obama signed the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) (P.L. 112-141) into law. Section 1313 of MAP-21 amends 23 U.S.C. 327, to establish a permanent Surface Transportation Project Delivery Program, allows any State to participate and for a State to renew its participation in the program. Through the NEPA Assignment Memorandum of Agreement, Caltrans is now responsible for FHWA's responsibilities under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other federal environmental laws such as the Endangered Species Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.These responsibilities became effective October 1, 2012. Caltrans' Standard Environmental Reference (SER) has been updated to reflect these responsibilities. Chapter 38 of the SER is dedicated solely to NEPA Assignment.
In August 2005, President Bush signed into law a federal transportation
reauthorization bill called the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation
Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Section 6004 of the law amended 23 U.S.C 326 to allow the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to assume the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) responsibilities under the Categorical Exclusion (CE) Assignment Program MOU.
Caltrans is, in essence, the federal agency for those projects where it assumes FHWA's environmental responsibilities.
For questions and comments, please contact:
Dan McKell
NEPA Assignment
Statewide Team Leader
California Department of Transportation
Division of Environmental Analysis
MS 27, P.O. Box 942874
Sacramento, CA 94274-0001
Phone: (916) 653-0974


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Alert 2014-21
Subject: Counterfeit Cashier's Checks
Date: April 22, 2014
Description: Cumberland Federal Bank, FSB
Counterfeit Cashier's Checks of Cumberland Federal Bank FSB, Cumberland, Wis.
To: Chief Executive Officers of All National Banks and Federal Savings Associations; All State Banking Authorities; Chair, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Conference of State Bank Supervisors; Deputy Comptrollers (Districts); Assistant Deputy Comptrollers; District Counsels; and All Examining Personnel
The above-named bank has reported that counterfeit cashier's checks using a correct routing number of 291871226 are being presented for payment nationwide in connection with various online purchase overpayment scams.
The counterfeit checks do not resemble the bank's authentic checks. The counterfeit items may be identified by the following traits:
Counterfeit checks presented to date have been made payable in varying amounts from $1,980 to $3,970. The checks contain a remitter name of Ronald Cole or Shanell Peterson and are dated July 4, 2014.
E-mail correspondence related to this scam has been generated from e-mail accounts under the following names:
For additional information and to verify the authenticity of cashier's checks drawn on Cumberland Federal Bank FSB, please contact Compliance Officer Aubre Snider at 1390 Second Avenue, P.O. Box 338, Cumberland, WI 54829, by telephone at (715) 822-2249, by fax at (715) 822-2279, or by e‑mail at email@example.com.
Consumers who receive counterfeit or fictitious items and associated material should file complaints with the following agencies, as appropriate:
Additional information concerning this matter that should be brought to the attention of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) may be forwarded to
For additional information regarding other types of financial fraud, please visit the OCC's anti-fraud resources page at www.occ.gov/fraudresources.htm.
Ellen M. Warwick


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|Hole 1
|Hole 2
|Hole 3
|Hole 4
|Hole 5
|18th - Par 5
|18th - Par 5
|Robert Karlsson
|Ian Poulter
Hole 1 - 18th - Par 5
Both players hit their drives into the left semi-rough at the first extra hole. Poulter lays up with an eight iron to the right of the water hazard. Karlsson plays a similar shot a little further up the fairway. Poulter's third is a stunning sand iron to just over 3 feet. Karlsson matches the shot, his effort from 75 yards finishing 4 feet way. Karlsson holes, Poulter holes, back to the tee.
Hole 2 - 18th - Par 5
Both players left again off the tee. Poulter plays a good second with a five iron. Karlsson plays up slightly further leaving both players with pitches to the green like first time round. Bit of a mis-hit from Poulter for his third, comes up short and right but still a birdie putt. Karlsson virtually repeats his third shot of the first extra hole, 4 feet away again. Poulter incurred a one stroke penalty before his first putt and his putt for 5 came up short leaving Karlsson to hole for his birdie 4 and the title.


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Chapel Hill: Sports
Storm damage forces Orange to take to the road
Dean Dease's heart sank a bit when he first saw the baseball field at Orange High School the morning after a recent sleet storm swept through Hillsborough.
Dease arrived at the school just minutes after receiving a phone call from Orange agriculture teacher Rusty Waggoner, who had to use a chain saw to carve a path through the fallen trees on the school's campus, trying to reach the hungry animals kept there.
Waggoner told Dease that "it looks like you've got a downed pole hanging on a line."
Dease gingerly made his way along the icy road leading to the school and up to the stadium at the back edge of the campus.
"When I walked up to the stadium and saw it, I got that sinking feeling you get in your gut," Dease recalled.
The large net along the backstop, which protects spectators from foul balls, had acted as a perfect collector for the ice that fell on March 6-7. Getting heavier all night, the net finally collapsed, taking down four support poles with it, snapping each of them in two.
The fallen poles and net damaged the backstop and its fence, tore a power meter off the press box and concession stand and caused some other affiliated damage to the field itself.
"I was just in disbelief," Dease said. "It looked like a bomb had exploded. But it was just Mother Nature.
"It's like that they say: 'You don't mess with Mother Nature.'"
Like almost 250,000 people across the South, the scoreboard at Panther Field was without power, as was the public address system, the concession stand and bathrooms.
The Panthers can still use the field for practice, but they can't play any games at home. In addition to the logistical problems caused by the power loss, they can't get insurance coverage for activities there until repairs are done.
"We've had three contractors come out here, but we haven't gotten any estimates yet," Dease said. Until those come in, Orange can't even begin the repair process.
Orange has been on the road since the ice storm, and is still scrambling to schedule home games at other fields. Some games have been lost in the shuffle.
And Orange can't host any games in the upcoming Hilltop Invitational Tournament, which it has every year since the event was founded 15 years ago. (Durham's Jordan High School will host the HIT games originally scheduled for Orange.)
Finding a field in midseason is a bit like trying to call a restaurant at 9 p.m. Saturday night for dinner reservations. Dease has tried Chapel Hill High School, East Chapel Hill, Duke University, the University of North Carolina, the historic Durham Athletics Park and the newer Durham Bulls Athletics Park, even the USA Baseball Complex in Cary. All are in high demand. N.C. Central and some Durham-area high schools booked up most of the DAP's dates, and the DBAP is undergoing renovations needed for the start of the Bulls' season.
Orange's crucial conference game Tuesday against Cardinal Gibbons was scheduled to be played at 7p.m. at Chapel Hill High School. And Dease was able to schedule a "home" game against Northern Vance for the USA Baseball site. The Panthers will be back in Cary on April 14 to host a visit by Cincinnati (Ohio) Moeller, but even that state-of-the-art site leaves players wanting something more.
"Baseball is baseball. The game doesn't change," he said. "But there's a comfort level playing on your home field, in front of your home fans."


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The Cabinet approved amendments to the Land Tax Act (
Under the present system, homeowners are entitled to land value incremental tax rates of up to 40 percent and can only enjoy the 10 percent rate once in a lifetime when selling a property.
The proposed amendments will need further review by the legislature and are expected to take effect at the beginning of next year at the earliest, the Cabinet said following a regular weekly meeting hosted by Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄).
"These new measures will fit most people's needs in terms of selling and buying new homes," Chang said.
In 2002, the government temporarily halved the land value incremental tax -- a capital gains tax on property transactions -- for a trial period of two years and later extended it by an extra year in a bid to revive the sagging real estate market.
In 2005, the legislature approved amendments to permanently cut the tax by 20 percent, lowering the maximum rate to 40 percent from 60 percent.
The amendments announced yesterday and submitted to the legislature for further approval will allow homeowners to enjoy the 10 percent rate more than once, although some conditions must first be met.
To qualify for the lower tax rate, homeowners must have possessed their household registration at the location for more than six years and must prove they never leased or used the property as an office or for any other commercial purposes in the five years prior to the sale, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement issued later yesterday.
Restrictions also apply to land size, with only land plots measuring less than 45 pings in urban areas and 105 pings in rural areas qualifying for the lower tax rate, the statement said.
Deputy Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (
He said the new regime would mean government losses of NT$6 billion (US$182 million) to NT$8 billion in annual tax revenues.
"But we are quite certain that this new mechanism will reinvigorate the local real estate business," Chang Sheng-ford said after the Cabinet meeting.
He said ministry data showed that homeowners would buy and sell their properties an average of three to four times in a lifetime. This was the main reason behind the decision to amend the law and make it more flexible, he said.
Tax specialists had long argued that in order to make efficient use of the nation's land, the government should reduce the tax rate on land transactions.
However, the new tax measure will be of limited help to the housing market, said Su Chi-jung (
During the past six years, despite the climbing price of land sparked by a sizzling property market, the announced land value -- the basis on which the land value incremental tax is calculated -- has changed very little, with a 3 percent increase each year, Su said.
The raise in the announced land value means that even without the preferential tax system, homeowners did not have to pay much land value incremental tax, he said.
The tax is even slimmer for apartment owners in high-rise buildings, as the share of land they own is even smaller, Su said.
"The incentive is not big enough to push people to sell or buy property," Su said. "Real demand and finance are the priorities for homebuyers in decision-making, not the tax rate."
Lai Cheng-i (
The nation's home ownership ratio is at 87 percent and many homeowners have more than one apartment or house, Lai said.
"The new tax measure will energize sales in the housing market and support the sector," he said.
The move also demonstrated the government's intention to lift the property sector. The positive sentiment should bolster the construction industry and optimism in the sector, he said.


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When his job along with that of his co-worker are threatened, Walter takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined.
You know when you think your life is boring and you starting daydreaming about going in some grand adventure? What if, at some point, you stopped daydreaming and started living?
That's the basic premise of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". Mitty (Ben Stiller) works in the Life magazine, taking care of their photo archive. When the company decides to end the printed version, their greatest photographer send the picture that surmises the quintessence of Life magazine. And that picture is nowhere to be found. With the clock ticking out, Mitty decides to go after the photographer, one of the few friends he has in life and never saw face to face. And that's when his daydreams take him to… live.
Oh yes, it's that kind of movie. The movie about "being yourself", but for grown ups. But that's the thing: It's pretty well done. You can really empathize with Mitty — after all, who don't daydream from time to time? Who wouldn't have a more exciting life? And when he decides to take the leap into "living", it's a daydream who takes him. It's a daydreamer dream! And Stuart Dryburgh did an absolute awesome job in the movie photography. I mean, after watching the movie, I — a recluse person who hates traveling — really thought about doing a trip to Greenland. I mean, Iceland. Whatever.
There is a small romantic plot of Mitty with his co-worker Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), a small friendship with his colleague at the archives Hernando (Adrian Martinez), a small spat with Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott), who is in charge of closing the magazine, the mysterious photographer O'Connel (Sean Penn)… but it's all minor. Everything goes around Mitty/Stiller and he's the focus. And that's one thing I really need to applaud Stiller for: He does a really good job acting and directing. And I need to say this 'cause he's the reason I could never watch more than 6 minutes of Zoolander.
It's one of those movies with the rating of saving-a-cat-in-a-building-on-fire of going-to-space.


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J.Crew always gets you with their damn styling and their fucking colors which are outstandingly bright season after season. My roommate got the newest catalog today and as soon as I opened it I died for the colorblock sweater. It's SO Jil without actually being like, JIL, you know? Then decided I obviously needed the chambray shirt to go under it. I still don't have a long-sleeve denim shirt which is absolutely PREPOSTEROUS if you know how much I love (1) Canadian tuxedos and (2) button-down shirts.
And don't even get me STARTED on what's happening behind the sweater because I'm not paying attention. The sequined skirt is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive so it's like, dudes, don't even show me that shit.
But this sweater? This sweater I really really want. Am I at the point where I'll drop 300 bucks on a sweater that could make all my dreams come true? PROBS NOT, but much like the Biebz, I will never say never.


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I mean, there are a lot of narratives that the press bought into in this campaign. Don't forget the inevitability of the Rudy Giuliani campaign and Fred Thompson's great appeal.... I think the number of times we've been wrong in this campaign is far greater than the number of times we've been right.
--Time's Karen Tumulty (CNN's Reliable Sources, 5/11/08)
Corporate media coverage of election 2008 has fallen into the well-documented pattern (Extra!, 5-6/08) of reporting on the election as if it were a horse-race rather than a democratic process in which real issues were at stake. Not only do journalists organize the election story around the question--not terribly helpful to voters--of who's up and who's down, they largely base their evaluation of the race on shallow image-based narratives that the media construct themselves: Barack Obama is an "elitist" who might not "get the way we live" (Extra!, 7=8/08), while John McCain is a straight-talking "maverick" (Extra!, 5=6/08). Though these tropes are treated by establishment news outlets as self-evident, they usually fail to stand up to any kind of scrutiny.
More often than not, those narratives do little to serve the needs of the citizens whose votes will decide who is in the White House next year. The following list, while by no means exhaustive, is a collection of some of the most enduring and problematic themes of the current campaign.
John McCain's political identity as a straight-talking maverick was cemented by an adoring press corps during his 2000 presidential bid, and the press has clung fiercely to the label in 2008: U.S. News & World Report (4/7/08) declared that "McCain is nothing if not a maverick," Time magazine (1/21/08) dubbed him "a free-ranging, fence-jumping, kick-the-corral maverick," while CBS host Bob Schieffer (7/15/07) called him the "most famous maverick of the last half of the 20th century."
The real McCain bears little resemblance to the media portrait. For a brief time during Bush's first term, he did somewhat fit the "maverick" bill, but he has sharply reversed course on several key issues: Once an opponent of the Bush tax cuts, he now supports them and pushes for their extension; the former critic of religious right intolerance has cozied up to the movement's leaders. In recent years, McCain has been anything but a nonpartisan independent, with a voting record that makes him one of the Senate's most conservative lawmakers (Extra!, 5-6/08).
Rather than rethink their judgment of him, though, the press more often explains away McCain's flip-flops, with the logic that is often hard to follow. Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen (6/24/08) rationalized away his shifting positions:
Here is the difference between McCain and Obama--and Obama had better pay attention. McCain is a known commodity.... We know his bottom line. As his North Vietnamese captors found out, there is only so far he will go, and then his pride or his sense of honor takes over.
Many journalists have likewise long argued that the "real" McCain is more honorable than his political behavior. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof (2/17/08) excused his reversal on ethanol subsidies because "he was so manifestly insincere and incompetent in this pandering that the episode was less contemptible than amusing." Kristof concluded: "In short, Mr. McCain truly has principles that he bends or breaks out of desperation and with distaste. That's preferable to politicians who are congenital invertebrates."
As McCain's campaign tactics turned increasingly negative, many pundits struggled with how to reconcile this "new" McCain with the one they thought they knew. Newsweek's Jonathan Alter (8/11/08) wrote with some disappointment that these tactics were "out of sync with the real guy," that the true McCain wouldn't be able to carry out such a campaign, "because McCain is patently insincere when his heart's not in it, like a little boy who eats his peas when his parents tell him to but remains transparently unhappy about the experience. It's not clear how committed McCain himself is to this latest assault on Obama." For the media, falling out of love is clearly difficult.
The "elitist Obama" line (Extra!, 7-8/2008) has been one of the most common tropes media have promoted throughout the campaign--and one of the more puzzling. In this narrative, a multi-racial former community organizer raised by a single mom is the "elitist" candidate--not his Republican opponent, the son and grandson of four-star admirals and the husband of a multimillionaire.
The case against Obama seemed to gain traction based on two minor incidents: Obama spoke to Iowa farmers about the price of arugula at Whole Foods, and at a fundraiser in San Francisco he described "bitter" working-class voters who might "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them." After that, all sorts of routine events could be transformed into elitism-revealing "gaffes": Obama's low bowling score at a Pennsylvania campaign stop, his ordering orange juice at a diner (MSNBC Hardball, 4/10/08), and even playing a game of pool (MSNBC Hardball, 5/13/08) were all just more evidence of Obama's elitism.
When Obama went on vacation to Hawaii to visit his grandmother, ABC pundit Cokie Roberts declared (8/10/08): "Going off this week to vacation in Hawaii does not make any sense whatsoever.... I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place. He should be in Myrtle Beach, you know."
At times, the main point of such coverage seemed to be to remind voters that Obama is not like most Americans. As New York Times columnist David Brooks put it (PBS NewsHour, 4/18/08), "The larger issue is, what kind of guy is Obama? Is he someone who bowls a 37 and doesn't know anything about the way American people actually live, or does he actually get the way we live?" Maybe it's elite pundits who don't get ordinary Americans, though: Obama came out well ahead when a USA Today/Gallup poll (6/15=19/08) asked which candidate better "understands the problems Americans face in their daily lives" (54 percent to 29 percent) and which "cares about the needs of people like you" (52 percent to 30 percent).
The myth of a "liberal" media is primarily the work of right-wing pundits and activists who have for years "worked the refs" (Extra!, 10=11/92), complaining about media bias in order to try to get the press to take their arguments more seriously, or to cow journalists into backing off. With the nomination of Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, this technique has been perfected; almost as soon as she was introduced to the public, her supporters (inside and outside the McCain campaign) began railing against an elitist media that has supposedly maligned her experience, looks and family background.
The crusade is remarkable because it rests on so little actual evidence. When former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift held a press conference to denounce the media smearing, L.A. Times reporter James Rainey asked her to name the offending outlets. She singled out one blog--Daily Kos--and then wandered away (L.A. Times, 9/4/08).
The complaints sometimes border on paranoia; Fox News host Bill O'Reilly (9/15/08) declared that the New York Times was "hysterical" because the paper "ran a front-page story that said while she was an elected official in Alaska, Governor Palin rewarded her friends and tried to marginalize her enemies. Can you imagine a politician doing that? Somebody gets elected and helps her supporters? How outrageous." Should Palin's political career go unexamined by the media? That would seem to be the argument.
But media seem to buy the notion that there's something unusual about all of this: "No national candidate in modern history, not even Hillary Clinton, has ever been lambasted and lionized in quite the way Palin is," wrote Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz (9/15/08). In reality, Palin has been treated critically primarily over her decision to repeat, over and over again, the claim that she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere project--which is a lie.
At the same time, plenty of media accounts of Palin have been rather glowing; a Newsweek cover story (9/13/08) declared that Palin "both represents average women and transcends them," and that she "is like an action figure: breast pump in hand, baby on her hip, dressed in a power suit and standing at a microphone, giving Democrats hell: Gals can do anything!"
Sen. John McCain is treated by many in the media as an expert on foreign affairs and the military. During the February 2 Democratic candidates' debate, NBC anchor Brian Williams referred to his "vast foreign policy expertise and credibility on national security." The New York Times (3/5/08) similarly dubbed McCain a "national security pro."
Of course, if you measure one's expertise by looking at the key foreign policy decision of our era--the Iraq War--McCain would not seem to be much of an expert at all. McCain's judgments and predictions about the war have frequently been way off base (FAIR Action Alert, 2/28/08)--like predicting an "overwhelming victory in a very short period of time" (CNN Late Edition, 11/29/02). On MSNBC (Hardball, 3/24/03), he predicted that "we will be welcomed as liberators." When Fox News' Neil Cavuto suggested on June 11, 2003 that the conflict might not be over, McCain retorted, "Well, then why was there a banner that said 'mission accomplished' on the aircraft carrier?"
After war broke out between Russia and Georgia, much of the media discussion stressed that this would be to McCain's advantage, though it was not at all clear why McCain's more bellicose rhetoric would be evidence of particular expertise. The New York Times wrote (8/15/08) that the "fluency with which Mr. McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, discusses Georgia, citing the history of the region and the number of times he has visited, lends an aura of commander in chief."
And Time's Mark Halperin wrote (8/14/08): "The Vladimir Putin-backed conflict with Georgia was a three-fer for John McCain: It reminded voters how dangerous the world is, allowed the Republican nominee to distance himself from the more accommodationist Bush administration and let him reinforce his maverick image."
After McCain claimed that the Shiite government of Iran was sending militants to support the militantly Sunni Al-Qaeda in Iraq, NBC political director Chuck Todd said the media's underplaying of the gaffe had a lot to do with McCain's reputation (MSNBC, 3/19/08):
This was not a one-time slip and so, you know, this just shows you how much of the foreign policy experience stuff he's got in the bank, because had Clinton or Obama done something like this, this would have been played on a loop, over and over, and would have absolutely hurt them politically.
For years, the media's advice to Democratic politicians has remained the same: Move to the right to win (Extra!, 7=8/06). Much of the media enthusiasm for Obama has come when the candidate has made real or perceived rightward shifts, on issues like FISA wiretapping or trade policy (Extra! Update, 8/08). While some were critical of Obama for "flip-flopping," for others in the press it was simply smart politics.
The Associated Press (7/3/08) put it: "The likeliest path to the White House cuts through the center of the electorate." CNN congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin (7/2/08) said that Obama could be "expanding his views, trying to reach more people." CNBC chief Washington correspondent and New York Times reporter John Harwood argued that abandoning progressive stances would be the key to Obama's success (MSNBC, 7/1/08):
Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus (7/2/08) celebrated Obama's shift on FISA as "smart politics, yes, but also sensible as a matter of substance.... If Obama is edging toward the center on this, or on free trade, we should praise the flip, not hate the flopper." NPR's Mara Liasson (6/27/08) explained that Obama's apparent softening on NAFTA, along with some mixed messages on corporate tax cuts and capital gains taxes, was part of the "time-worn trek to the political center.... He's sending a message that he is pragmatic and non-ideological."
Since Obama emerged on the national political stage, some media figures have looked favorably at his ability to sideline African-American political figures the pundits just don't like. As Peter Beinart put it in the New Republic (2/5/07): "Today, it probably helps Obama that Al Sharpton, with his 2004 presidential run, became the 'president of black America.' For many white Americans, it's a twofer. Elect Obama, and you not only dethrone George W. Bush, you dethrone Sharpton, too."
ABC pundit George Will (Nightline, 1/3/08) said after Obama's Iowa caucus victory, "The big losers, two big losers tonight are probably Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, representative of those who have a sort of investment in the traditional and, I believe, utterly exhausted narrative about race relations in the United States." Will said months earlier (11/25/07): "On the matter of race, which I think is the least important aspect of him, his election, that's the end of Al Sharpton. It's the end of Jesse Jackson. Great getting-up day in this country." Will also declared (7/13/08) that "this campaign...is closing the parenthesis on the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton school of racial politics.... I wager there are millions of votes who are going to go to Obama simply to close that parenthesis."
For other pundits, Obama was just a distinctly different, and preferable, kind of black politician (Extra!, 3=4/07). As NBC host Chris Matthews (1/21/07) declared:
I don't think you can find a better opening-gate, starting-gate personality than Obama as a black candidate.... I can't think of a better one. No history of Jim Crow, no history of anger, no history of slavery. All the bad stuff in our history ain't there with this guy.
More recently, a cover story in the Sunday New York Times magazine (8/6/08) posed the question, "Is Obama the End of Black Politics?" The question itself is bizarre, but many in the corporate media have eagerly answered in the affirmative.
The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have all but disappeared from the media's campaign coverage. In part this is due to the fact that media have adopted the notion that the troop "surge" in Iraq has worked, and thus what little time is spent discussing that war is spent challenging Obama for having opposed the "surge" (Extra!, 9=10/08). The narrative of surge success has carried over to Afghanistan, where both candidates call for sending additional U.S. forces to that country--all but eliminating an actual debate in the press about whether this is a good idea or not.
At other stages of the campaign, media have seemed bent on coaxing Obama away from his pledge to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq. When the press wrongly declared Obama had changed his mind on Iraq troop withdrawals in July, this non-decision was seen as a smart move. On ABC's This Week (7/6/08), Ted Koppel explained that U.S. troops in Iraq must stay there, and Obama
has come to that realization. He's come to realize you cannot pull all the troops out of Iraq, unless you put them somewhere else. You talked a little bit about Iran and about the dangers in Iran. This is not a time to be saying, yes, we're going to pull all the U.S. troops out of there come what may.
The Washington Post editorial page (7/8/08) cheered Obama's "small but important step toward adjusting his outdated position on Iraq to the military and strategic realities of the war he may inherit." NPR's Mara Liasson declared on Fox News Sunday (7/6/08) that if Obama was backing away from a 16-month phased withdrawal, it would be "what the American people want a commander in chief to do. That might not be what his left-wing base does." Actually, most polls on the subject suggest Obama would have been doing exactly the opposite of what "the American people want"--unless "the American people" is defined as the American corporate media (FAIR Media Advisory, 7/15/08).
One of the most pernicious forms of election season media bias is "false balance," the media's tendency to dish out criticism of dueling politicians in equal measure, no matter the facts. In recent elections, media "fact-check" reporting often bends over backwards to choose an equal number of falsehoods or distortions from each side--which can give voters a misleading impression of the prevalence of political lying when one side is obviously more guilt of exaggerations.
In this election, it is beyond question that that the McCain/Palin campaign has been more aggressively lying in its campaign ads and rhetoric than the Obama/Biden camp. Nonetheless, the overriding media tendency is to blunt that disparity and see the campaign as a series of back-and-forth attacks, as in the USA Today front-page announcement (9/11/08): "Uncivil Wars: White House Campaign Takes Nasty Turn; Charges, Rebuttals Ratcheting Up."
Fact-checking the vice-presidential debate with faux evenhandedness, NBC's Andrea Mitchell (10/3/08) said that Biden "exaggerated" when he "suggested most Americans would be worse off under John McCain's healthcare plan" because "Biden didn't mention that many of the self-insured would benefit under McCain's proposal." Six percent of the non-elderly population has private insurance not provided by an employer.
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (9/11/08) pointed out the media dynamic:
Why do the McCain people think they can get away with this stuff? Well, they're probably counting on the common practice in the news media of being "balanced" at all costs. You know how it goes: If a politician says that black is white, the news report doesn't say that he's wrong, it reports that "some Democrats say" that he's wrong. Or a grotesque lie from one side is paired with a trivial misstatement from the other, conveying the impression that both sides are equally dirty.
They're probably also counting on the prevalence of horse-race reporting, so that instead of the story being "McCain campaign lies," it becomes "Obama on defensive in face of attacks."
Some prominent media voices have more recently begun to speak more forcefully about McCain's record of distortion, including Richard Cohen of the Washington Post (9/17/08) and Time's Joe Klein, who admitted (9/29/08) that the press is generally ill-equipped for this sort of fact-checking:
Usually when a candidate tells something less than the truth, we mince words. We use euphemisms like mendacity and inaccuracy...or, as the Associated Press put it, "McCain's claims skirt facts." But increasing numbers of otherwise sober observers, even such august institutions as the New York Times editorial board, are calling John McCain a liar.
While media progress on this front is commendable, there's still a long ways to go. When CNN reporter Candy Crowley was (9/15/08) asked if the exaggeration was equal on both sides; she said, "I'm not going to be the one to tell you whether it's equal or not."
Corporate journalists are notoriously obsessed with horse-race polls that attempt to predict the outcome of elections, even though the minor fluctuations in such polls weeks or months before the election are largely meaningless. At the same time, opinion polls are a useful if limited tool for understanding public opinion--yet media seem to have little interest in actually using polls to check their speculations about what people are thinking.
There is, for example, very little polling data to support the "elitist Obama" narrative (Extra!, 7=8/08) or the idea that Obama has "trouble" wooing white working-class voters (Extra!, 9=10/08). Many in the media contend that voters still feel like they don't "know" Obama (e.g., Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/28/08; L.A. Times, 8/27/08; USA Today, 1/28/08), yet as the Post's E.J. Dionne wrote (8/11/08): "Despite McCain's longevity in the public eye...a CBS News poll last week found a third of voters still undecided in their opinion of McCain or saying they didn't know enough to form one. (Roughly the same proportion said this about Obama.)"
And as campaign coverage in September revolved around the supposedly remarkable popularity of Sarah Palin, reporters might have paid more attention to polls suggesting that she was hardly the phenomenon the media had made her out to be. Among 11 major polls that compared the popularity of the major White House contenders between August 29 and September 21 (PollingReport.com), Obama had a higher favorability rating than Palin in 10 of them (the other one was a tie); McCain's favorability beat Palin's in all 11 polls. Even Joe Biden came close to Palin's popularity--within a couple of percentage points of her favorability rating or even surpassing it in most of the polls (e.g., ABC News poll, 9/4/08). Thankfully, we were spared the media's analysis of Bidenmania.
For all the complaints about an alleged pro-Obama bias in the national media, one of the clearest examples of the exact opposite came when Obama made the decision to forgo public financing for the general election, which would leave him free to raise as much money as possible. Many reporters and pundits saw this as a reversal from Obama's supposed pledge to take public financing (his actual promise was not as definitive as reporters made it out to be), and he faced significant backlash from the press. Obama was "rigging the system in his favor," according to the Washington Post's David Broder (6/26/08). NPR's Scott Simon (6/21/08) said Obama's decision "raises fair questions about the sincerity of his campaign promises," while ABC's Sam Donaldson (6/22/08) was more succint: "Gag me with a stick."
Reporters who lined up to express such outrage were far less interested in the details of McCain's campaign fundraising, which relies on a system where donors make large contributions through various Republican Party channels (primarily state parties and the Republican National Committee), much of which ends up paying for campaign advertising on behalf of John McCain. The technique (perhaps best explained in the July 3 Wall Street Journal) means that Obama's projected fundraising advantage--which some media suggested could be millions of dollars--might end up being no advantage at all. This is actually something the McCain campaign has predicted (Washington Post, 7/11/08), though these boasts attracted little media attention.
Months later, their prediction seemed to be coming true, as the Post reported (9/17/08) that Obama's perceived financial advantage seemed to be non-existent; Obama must aggressively raise money in order to maintain something close to parity with his Republican rivals. According to one study of campaign advertising (Washington Post, 9/18/08), the campaigns spent the same amount in one week--$15 million-- but while Obama paid for 97 percent of his ads, McCain's campaign paid for less than half of his advertisements, with the Republican National committee picking up the rest of the tab. But on this the pundits who excoriated Obama for his cynical decision months ago are, for the most part, silent.
When it comes to Obama's dubious "associates," it would seem there is no connection too peripheral--or even nonexistent--to merit national media attention.
Much ink has been spilled in recent weeks over assessing Obama's "links" with William Ayers, a Chicago academic well-known in education policy circles, who carried out a handful of nonlethal bombings in protest against the Vietnam War as a member of the Weather Underground. (Federal charges against Ayers in connection with the bombings were dropped in the 1970s.) This despite the fact that Obama has had only passing contacts with Ayers over the years, mostly via the board of a small non-profit; Obama once held a fundraiser in Ayers' house.
This is not the first time that the press has jumped on a story of Obama's dubious "associates" (FAIR Media Advisory, 3/14/08). After the Rev. Louis Farrakhan endorsed Obama's candidacy, Obama was grilled over the issue in a Democratic debate by the late NBC host Tim Russert, even after the senator stated that he denounced Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments as "unacceptable and reprehensible," "did not solicit this support" and gave assurances that his campaign was "not doing anything, formally or informally, with Minister Farrakhan."
The issue of Obama's stance on Farrakhan also attracted national newspaper attention (New York Times, 3/2/08; L.A. Times, 2/27/08; Newsday, 3/3/08; Time, 3/6/08). The press similarly went to great lengths to push Obama to renounce the words of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and devoted considerable attention to Obama's "links" with Tony Rezko, a Chicago real estate developer on trial for corruption, with whom Obama had once had a routine real-estate transaction.
Corporate media have shown far less interest in examining figures from McCain's current political life--people like the televangelist John Hagee, who called the Catholic church a "false cult system" and a "great whore" (FAIR Media Advisory, 3/14/08), and the talkshow host G. Gordon Liddy, a Watergate felon who has instructed his listeners on the best way to kill federal agents (Extra!, 7-8/05).
While many journalists have looked askance (e.g., NBC's Today show, 10/7/08) at the McCain campaign's effort to focus attention on the issue of Obama's "association" with Ayers, others (USA Today, 10/7/08; Washington Post, 10/8/08) have found a strange equivalency in the Obama campaign's recent efforts to highlight McCain's status as one of the Keating Five--U.S. senators who received large campaign contributions from savings and loan executive Charles Keating, then later intervened in federal efforts to investigate what turned out to be Keating's criminal activities.
The difference is that McCain can legitimately be criticized for his own actions in support of Keating--a Senate investigation cited McCain for "poor judgment" in the incident--whereas Obama can't be held responsible for Ayers' wrongdoing, which occurred when the future candidate was in grade school.
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Baltimore News Network, Inc., sponsor of this web site, is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed in stories posted on this web site are the authors' own.
This story was published on October 20, 2008.


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August 31, 2012
UW Students: Join the Dream Project
The Dream Project is run and sustained by volunteer college mentors that visit our schools every week. Currently, there are 392 mentors signed up for Winter Quarter, short of our goal of 500, so we're looking for more mentors to sign up to meet the needs of our students more fully. Check out the list of high schools we partner with here, and know that transportation to and from schools is provided and that commute time is included in all times listed.
Want to help out? If you'd like to join the team, you can take the UW course for two credits by finding a visit time that works for you and signing up for EDUC 360 through MyUW. You can volunteer without receiving credit here. Extra credits or writing credits are available if you wish to participate above the minimum requirements. Please check your schedule for availability to visit Kent-Meridian and Renton high schools (sections F & Q on T/Th morning), as they have the greatest need for mentors.


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White sexy Brianna Ray,Kristen Cameron and Mindy Vix showing their huge brown asses.
Bree and Kristen invited mindy to a lingerie ball. They charged Mindy with the task of getting the lingerie for the Lingerie Ball. They were going to hook Mindy up with a man that night but they couldnt pass up the chance to try Mindy out for themselves first. After trying out a couple different outfits and having Mindy look a their sexy bodies, it was easy to start the pussy licking fun.


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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
Jewish worshippers returning to Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs after Muslims were given exclusive access to the holy site at the weekend reported that the cabinet containing their Torah scrolls had been urinated on.
One Jewish resident of Hebron told Israel National News that he and several other men had to move the cabinet to another part of the room because of the strong smell of urine in the area where it is usually positioned.
Additionally, green Hamas flags were found placed in the windows that mark the burial sites of Abraham, Isaac, Sara, Rebecca and Leah.
The Cave of the Patriarchs is split into Jewish and Muslim sections, as both groups revere Abraham.
Several times a year, the holy site is given over to one or the other group exclusively to mark special holy days. Muslims were given exclusive access to the Cave of the Patriarchs on Friday to mark their holy month of Ramadan.
Another Jewish resident of Hebron said that some damage to Jewish religious articles or the Jewish side of the site is found every time the Muslims take over.
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Our customer support staff is here to assist you Monday - Friday 8:30am to 5:00pm PST, or contact us via email using the form here. Email inquiries are responded within 1 business day.
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TMC wrote:Tarantism wrote:You guys are really underestimating Chris Redman.
No, Redman defeated one of the worst teams of the league in the last play of the game. Ryan would have ended the game by the second quarter.
Look, Redman doesn't suck... much. But relying on him is a really bad idea. And with Turner banged up, he's job is gonna be really tough this weekend.
Redman is good for a backup. And yes I stand by what I said even though he had a tough game.
That being said...I miss Matt Ryan already haha.


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WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. — Major cost cuts enabled drugmaker Merck & Co. to offset continuing generic competition cutting sales of former blockbuster medicines. Merck's first-quarter profit rose 7 percent, trouncing Wall Street expectations.
The maker of the type 2 diabetes pill Januvia said Tuesday that net income was $1.71 billion, or 57 cents per share, up from $1.59 billion, or 52 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding $896 million in restructuring and acquisition charges, net income would have been $2.6 billion, or 88 cents per share — 9 cents better than analysts expected.
In morning trading, Merck shares rose $1.74, or 3.1 percent, to $58.42.
Revenue totaled $10.26 billion, just below the $10.44 billion analysts expected.
Pharmaceutical sales dropped 5 percent, to $8.45 billion, as cheaper generic copycat pills hammered several off-patent drugs that once brought in billions each year: asthma and allergy pill Singulair, allergy spray Nasonex and blood pressure drugs Cozaar and Hyzaar.
Merck's top seller, Type 2 diabetes pills Januvia and Janumet, brought in a combined $1.33 billion, up 3 percent. Sales jumped 10 percent to $604 million for immune disorder drug Remicade, and also rose for HIV drug Isentress and several other products.
Lower sales of nonprescription Claritin allergy pills dragged down consumer health sales 4 percent to $454 million. Sales of veterinary medicines declined 3 percent to $813 million.
Analysts were surprised by the level of cost cuts: 8 percent for administration and marketing expenses and 17 percent for research spending as new research head Roger Perlmutter continues to cut Merck's least-promising programs. Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., reduced its global workforce by 2,000 in the quarter, to 74,000.
"It is a necessary but not sufficient part of their execution strategy," Edward Jones analyst Judson Clark said of the cuts. He said Merck can't keep cutting that much without risk of hurting future growth, and must get key drugs in its pipeline approved to do well.
CEO Kenneth Frazier told analysts during a conference call that Merck has promising experimental drugs in testing for hepatitis C, HIV and various cancers.
"We're excited by our pipeline and what's to come," he said.
Meanwhile, Merck's two tablets for gradually reducing seasonal allergies to grass and ragweed were recently approved. Because patients must start the daily immunotherapy tablets a few months before allergy season begins, Merck said it's now promoting Ragwitek to doctors but it's too late to promote Grasstek this year.
With the recent spurt of proposed acquisitions and asset swaps in the pharmaceutical industry, analysts asked if Merck would do such a deal. Frazier said small deals might be possible, but he's focused on growth through new drugs for unmet medical needs.
"Our preferred (growth) route is through innovation rather than consolidation," he said.
Merck reaffirmed its 2014 forecast for profit of $2.15 to $2.47 per share, prompting analysts to ask why it didn't raise its forecast. Merck said that's because Venezuela may devalue its currency, which would decrease the value of sales there.
"Anytime you see a nine-cent beat, you'd like to see guidance walk up," so Merck may expect a slightly softer second quarter, Clark said.
Follow Linda A. Johnson at www.twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma


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Rams to Face Johns Hopkins in Opening Round of NCAA's
Johns Hopkins University (First & Second Round Host Site) - Baltimore, Maryland
Saturday, November 13th
Farmingdale State (17-4) vs. Johns Hopkins (16-3-1) Game Time - 5:00pm
Hamilton College (9-3-3) vs. Virginia Wesleyan (13-4-4) Game Time - 7:30pm
Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Division III Women's Soccer Tournament bracket has been released by the NCAA and Farmingdale State College will face Johns Hopkins University in the opening round. The Rams will travel to the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland to play on Saturday, November 13th at 5:00 p.m. The second game at the site will feature Hamilton College and Virginia Wesleyan at 7:30 p.m. The winner of each game will square off in the second round on Sunday, November 14th at 6:00 p.m.
Farmingdale State finished the season with a 17-4 overall record (12-0 home) and won their fourth consecutive Skyline Championship. The Rams defeated Mount Saint Mary 1-0 in the title game, earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Rams finished the regular season with a 9-1 record in the Skyline Conference. Sophomore forward Christina Merrill (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) led the way with a team-high 29 points. Merrill has scored eight goals, including three game-winners and recorded 13 assists, while freshman midfielder Sarah Golden (Greenport, N.Y./Greenport) has scored nine goals and tallied eight assists. Junior midfielder and Skyline Tournament Most Valuable Player Katrina Cerverizzo (Center Moriches, N.Y./Center Moriches) has scored two goals, one of which was the game-winner over Mount Saint Mary in the Skyline Finals. Junior goalkeeper Amanda Maass (Mastic Beach, N.Y./William Floyd) started 14 games in goal for Farmingdale State, holding a 0.55 goals against average. Sophomore Stacey Rao (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot) played 11 games in goal and has an impressive 9-0 record in net.
Johns Hopkins is currently ranked 14th in the nation and enters the NCAA Tournament with a 16-3-1 record. The Blue Jays defeated #11 Dickinson, 3-0, earning the Centennial Conference's automatic bid. Johns Hopkins has now captured the Centennial Conference title for the sixth straight year.
For more information about Johns Hopkins University, click below:
For the complete Tournament bracket, click here:
2010 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer National Championship Bracket


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Hi everybody!
I say that sometimes on my blog, too, and it's a sort of private-to-me joke. Very nearly an entirely private joke: I don't have a lot of readers. Compared to some people.
But when I started I had none. Even my wife and my mom needed constant prodding! (In fact they still would, but I gave up on 'em...the traitors.)
These days, a couple of hundred people read each of my posts, and...well, I obviously ain't no Joe Konrath but I find that both flattering and humbling. As it says on my homepage, I'm not sure I even want to be the sort of wildly popular writer who can't respond to his readers. I love the interaction.
Okay, enough about me. (I would've also described myself as a Konrath groupie, but then I'd have had to tell you he doesn't know me from a hole in the ground, and then somebody would raise the obvious question...frankly I neither know nor care what he does with them, and neither should you. Best to let it lie, don't you think?)
Let me tell you what's different about this guest post: I'm not talking about any of my books. I'm not even linking to them. I'm confident enough in my plan for the next year that I can say this: frankly I don't think I need to plug anything here. Also, I don't think it would benefit me much in the long term even if I did.
(I don't think there's anything wrong with self-promotion, by the way. I'm just trying to make a point about an alternative approach to the problem.)
Bear in mind:
1) Reviewers of my books (on Amazon) have generally been quite kind,
2) My first novel sold fairly well for the first couple of months, but
3) Current sales can't even climb out of the...plumbing...to reach the toilet, and
4) My second novel never really sold at all even though I do get nice comments from its few readers (a self-inflicted wound, I think: my sense of humor won't let me change the title, and its cover sucked), but
5) I'm nevertheless pleased as all hell with my writing career just now.
I'm here for the long haul. I need to generate material for various retailers' virtual shelves. I also need to connect with readers. Thing is? I can. It'll just take some work. So, for the near future, I'm going to use that shelf space a little differently than most. Than any, as far as I know, unless you folks want to come along with me. Which you're welcome to do.
All right. I'm coming at this whole writerly ambition thing from a software/entrepreneur background. I've posted about that before, and you can find that stuff if you want to. What gripes me most about the current indie publishing world? Customer lock-in at Amazon. The customers under discussion? We're them. As a business guy I have to say this: it sucks the bottom line.
I mean, let's face it. They've got us. We do our damnedest to send people over there to buy books. And why not? It works. They know who our actual repeat customers are. And they know better than to tell us. Since they also have a huge pool of potential first-time buyers handy, we're convinced we can't afford to take our toys and go home. We play in their sandbox, or—essentially—not at all.
Seriously? Doesn't that bug you? We advertise for them? I grok the necessity, but it's damn well backwards if we want to grow a long-term self-sustaining business for ourselves. Here's the neat part: I think we can improve the situation. I don't even think it'll be all that hard, as long as we're willing to work at it. And no, I'm not just talking about email lists...though I do think they're essential.
Right now I should tell you all about my new guaranteed way to do business without Amazon. That'd be cool. But I'm not going to tell you about a foolproof get-rich-quick scheme for indie writers (though of course I do have one). Nor am I going to tell you about the bright future indies have in traditional bookstores (though I'm wildly optimistic on that score too).
Incidentally, did you follow those links to my site? Sucker! Fun, though, I hope.
Seriously though: it's the counter-intuitive but dead-simple ideas that work. I did a goofy giveaway on my blog a little while back, in which instead of posting download links I personally emailed free e-copies of any book anybody asked me for, one to a customer (obviously on the honor system there), in any format they liked...for 30 days. I put a lot of work into the post explaining it all, trying to make the offer sound enticing. And a ton of work into getting all the books sent within 24 hours of the requests, with personal comments included if the requester had a blog or something. My wife was...supportive and pleased and exasperated as hell by the end of it. Maybe I'll wait till next year to do it again! {8'>
But every single one of the recipients has my personal email address and knows I'll talk to them. I got a few reviews and a few new beta readers out of the deal (and it was fairly recent, so there may well be more coming), but the main thing? Though the overall volume was a small fraction of what I could've done with a KDP giveaway, it was a hell of a lot more fun for all of us. And I think a bunch of these new people will stick with me. If I can continue to earn their attention. My opinion? Joe Konrath can't afford to do this sort of thing. But I can. So, as long as I'm willing to put the work in and I don't let it stop me from writing new stuff, I have a competitive edge. If so, I should use it, huh? My readership, though puny, can grow a lot (in a percentagewise sort of way) from a few efforts like this.
I'm doing another goofy thing in which I'll be writing a story about a character who likes a particular computer game. Oddness ensues. The character is a bit player from my first novel, so there's some potential to help re-goose that one (also the sequel I'm writing ought to help, and so will the first novel's eventual perma-free status).
Thing is, I'm doing this story in semi-collaboration with the game designers. We're going to try some cross-pollination between our audiences. And why not? It should be fun for everybody involved.
But here's my main topic for today: I'm doing something deceptively straightforward, both at Amazon and emphatically not.
1) I'm posting a new free story on my blog every Wednesday. For a year.
2) Each following week I'm publishing them via Smashwords (as freebies) and Amazon (as...well...$.99 specials, pending the elusive price-match).
3) I provide links to retailers on my site so folks who feel the urge will have a handy way to go post a review if they like, or recommend the story to others...or whatever they choose to do.
4) The biggest bit, simple as it is: each and every one of these stories, when posted at Amazon and elsewhere, will include language right on the "book description" page (and in a "Thanks for Reading!" section at the end of the ebook) telling folks about the weekly freebies on my blog. People will see that whether they buy the story or not.
5) Yes, I'm continuing to write novels. Though, yes, at a slower pace.
Essentially? I'm trying to turn the tables on Amazon (to some extent) by using them to place a highly-targeted ad for my blog. Let their recommendation engines roar! Hell, I don't even have to make a sale for this to work. Anybody who finds any of my "Weekly Challenge" stories can: (1) go away, (2) buy the story, (3) at some point buy a story collection including the story they've found, or (4) come play with me at my place today. Or some combination of the above.
Let me ask you...which is of greater value? A $.99 sale, of which I get to keep $.35? Or bringing a reader to my blog, where if all goes well he/she will get in the habit of reading my fiction every week? Possibly even signing up to one of my mailing lists?
Kind of a no-brainer, isn't it? And here's a funny thing—my blog subscription email list, which I put off even creating for a long time, is growing more than three times as fast as my RSS subscriber pool (assuming Feedburner is roughly accurate on the RSS side of things). I had no idea how many people I was essentially turning away until I tried it. Which makes me feel kind of stupid, because I knew exactly how much my email list was worth when I ran an internet startup: essentially it was the only asset I owned that mattered. The same applied when I was doing freelance work, though in that case phone numbers mattered too. I did have a new-release-only list going already, but I was still kinda dumb.
I originally intended to put the stories into KDP Select, and in fact I did that with the first one. But I got pushback via blog comments, Twitter, and email. I can't say how much of that was genuine interest versus frustrated entitlement, but people flat didn't like it when I shut them out via Amazon-exclusive content. So I learned something there too.
Speaking of obvious stuff I missed going into this? Until recently I failed to grasp something so important it's kind of funny. It's out there for all to see, but I think nearly everybody is missing it. Let's recap: Amazon is giving less of a boost to indies (especially via KDP Select) than they used to. Thus, it's hard to sell much of anything unless you have a following or pay for an ad, and you kind of need a following to get enough reviews to place an effective ad. So...what's that mean? Should we panic? No, we should direct our efforts elsewhere. Because Amazon has made themselves much less important to indie writers than they used to be. I'm waiting for other people to notice this and come up with new strategies accordingly.
In fact...if we need to go find readers ourselves in order to get a sales "bump" to kick off Amazon's algorithms, why do we even need Amazon? Not that I'll go out of my way to stay away from their sites, but true fans we find for ourselves are probably at least somewhat portable. Seriously, just today a reader saw a post about some trouble I'd had with Amazon and asked me via email where I'd prefer she get my stuff in the future.
Feel free to discount all of the above. This isn't a success story. It's not a testimonial. I'm just telling you what I'm up to, because I think it will work. Possibly very well indeed. But if it doesn't? It doesn't really matter. I'll just try the next thing.
And thanks, Joe. You helped inspire me to go back to writing fiction. I'll make it work one way or another—this is, or will be, my third career (after professional poker and software development). Neither of the other two was easy to break into. I don't at all mind that I'll need to earn any success I attain in this new area over time. Sounds like a blast actually!
Oh, and if any of you guys are in the place where I used to be? Where you get a lot of value out of Joe's blog but haven't read his fiction? Well, if that's your spot, change it. I've now read most of his fiction. It's also a blast. Those books, I'll plug anywhere.
Did I mention I believe success will come from hard work and a bit of creativity? 'Cause I do. And nobody seems to be stopping me from finally doing what I've always wanted....
Joe: I applaud David for thinking outside the box, but will offer some unsolicited advice: Novels sell much better than short stories. At some point, while releasing a story once a week, consider releasing a segment of a serial novel, so at the end of the year you have a longer work or two. Those can then be put together and sell for $3.99, and you'll make more money in the long run.
Also, I'm a good reminder that blog traffic isn't directly comparable to ebook sales. The first part of the zombie novel GRANDMA? that I'm writing with my son has sold 100 copies since we released it last week.
I'm a name brand with a popular blog and lots of bestselling titles, and that ebook--my latest--is selling lukewarmly. I expect it to pick-up as we add more installments, but so far I'm underwhelmed.
No one knows what sells, or why. Having a well-known name, lots of publicity, a brand, a blog, 10,000 Twitter friends--none of that makes people buy books. All of my experience points to the majority of my books sales due to Amazon's algorithms and website structure (reviews, bestseller lists, also bought, search engines.) Who I am outside of Amazon.com doesn't seem to matter much.
So go for it, David, but keep your expectations modest, and remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. It's smart to increase your virtual shelf space with a lot of content (provided it is good content) and if you can wrangle a novel or two out of your experiment, all the better.