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One girl's twistedly fantastic interpretation of what the hell is really going on in those tribes.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Brandon: Lucifer's Nephew
As I always like to thoroughly research my blog posts before delivering them to the world, I approached this next Survivor in a very scholarly manner. I went down to my local library (Google) and punched in "Lucifer's Nephew". In addition to several photos of books with titles such as "Lucifer In Heels", "Lucifer's Shadow", and Lucifer's Lost Lover" (which should arrive in about 4-7 days), I was inexplicably directed to an inordinate amount of Pokemon sites. Apparently, "Lucifer's Nephew" is an ambitious young comic writer within the Pokemon community. After a mysterious hiatus (from his challenging Pokemon message board duties), Lucifer's Nephew is back and he's hard at work on a new comic about a young boy rebelling against the monastery that raised him from birth. Could this young boy be Brandon Hantz? I sure hope so.
In case you missed that, I said "Hantz". Yes *sigh* another blasted Hantz is going to delight our screens this season. Apart from being born into the wrong family, Brandon is 19 years old. If you know anything about me, you know that I detest teenagers competing in Survivor. They're flighty, unfocused, immature, and should be working at the local DQ instead of wasting my time. In addition to not being old enough to drink, young Brandon is already a father. Condoms, children, CONDOMS!
This teenage baby daddy who works on oil tankers and cites Jesus as his personal hero also loves guns, hunting, and shooting things. Ok, that makes sense. His mission is to prove there's a softer side to the Hantz clan, but from what I can tell he's equally as hot of a mess as is trollish uncle. *thunder clap*
Let's check out what Young Hantz has to say for himself. Please to enjoy:
*yawn* I see nothing remarkable here. There may be some minor drama when Dimples outs him as one of Lucifer's kin, but, other than that, I'm hoping he's out quickly and the Hantz curse is finally put to rest... until the end of time - which, according to my calculations, is December 21, 2012.
Posted by Colette Lala at 12:09 PM
Labels: brandon hantz, survivor, survivor south pacific
2 comments:
- DiabolicalSeptember 1, 2011 at 8:09 AM
I actually physically yawned during that. I wanted it to end at about the 30 second mark but he kept just going on and on and on. I'm thinking he's going to do something stupid to get him voted out of the game...something so embarrassing that Russel disowns him and refers to him forever more as "dumb arse".ReplyDelete
all I say is blah.ReplyDelete
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Four Brilliant High Schoolers Win Trip To International Science Fair
by Thomas Guengerich
SOCORRO, N.M., April 6, 2009 – More than 300 future scientists presented their research projects at the New Mexico State Science and Engineering Fair on Saturday in Socorro.
Four high school students won all-expense paid trips to the International Science and Engineering Fair in late May in Reno, Nev.
Nikita Bogdanov, Alexander Kendrick, Gabriel Joachim and Hee Sung Park were the top winners at Saturday's event at New Mexico Tech.
Bogdanov, from Albuquerque Academy, won for a project titled "Can you do the water walk?"
Kendrick, who attends Los Alamos High School, presented a project titled "The Underground Radio II."
Joachim, from Cibola High School, researched "Identifying Habitats of Poison-Dart Frogs: Local Equipment and Frog Distribution."
From Carlsbad High School, Park exhibited his work: "Antibiotic-Producing Characteristics and Speciation of Bacteria in Parks Ranch Cave."
The complete results are available on-line at http://www.nmt.edu/mainpage/news/2009/SF2009winners.pdf.
The four grand prize winners join two dozen other young scientists from New Mexico who won entrance into the international event at one of six regional science fairs held in March.
More than 200 New Mexico Tech students and professors served as volunteer judges.
The Science Fair also awarded more than $100,000 in awards, prizes and scholarships to various competitors.
Media: Results are also available as Word documents, listed by order of hometowns or in alphabetical order by winners' names. To have a Word document emailed to you, please contact Thomas Guengerich, New Mexico Tech News Service.

subset: commoncrawl


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Activision Ready to Rumble to Reclaim Sales Record from GTA 5
Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 5 destroyed the previous record for biggest entertainment launch, surpassing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops sales with ease. But that doesn't mean Activision is willing to give up the crown that easily.
The success of Grand Theft Auto 5 didn't really catch anyone by surprise. As one of the most anticipated games of the past five years, that it was able to blow past $800 million on day one, with the $1 billion mark surpassed not long after. Of course, the previous sales kings over at Activision may not have been so thrilled. They had not one, but two different games eclipsed by GTA 5 in the span of just a few days.
"Congratulations to the team at Rockstar for their success," Activision's UK senior brand manager Kevin Flynn told MCV. "We look forward to getting the record back before the next GTA title." Considering there's a new Call of Duty game released every year, Activision's chances seem fairly strong. However, sales for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 weren't quite up to snuff compared to the previous entries. Call of Duty: Ghosts pre-orders are tracking below expectations, but with the launch of next-gen consoles, there's a chance there might just be too much Call of Duty on the slate for 2013.


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23 August 2010
Planning Our School Year
And have I told you about my new school planner, The Well-Planned Day? I am positively giddy with delight! I usually have to wait until January for all the joy of filling in a new planner/calendar. This year I got it early! Like I said....giddy!
I debated for a while about what type of homeschool planner to use this year. Last year I sort of made my own using a three-ring binder and online downloads. It worked great as a school planner. However, it didn't contain my personal calendar so I was constantly having to check and update two different things.
My wonderful new planner combines not only my calendar and school planner, it also throws in a place for menu planning and (perforated!)shopping lists! This will save me so much copy paper. It also has pages to help me make a weekly and monthly housekeeping schedule, too.
The only improvement that I've made to this calendar is to add my very own tabs for each month (with my free sample of *super sticky Post-its*). This saves me so much time as I add dates to the calendar.
I'm looking forward to getting our schedule all mapped out. That first day of school is coming quickly!
5 comments:
- Kirsten said...
I bought the planner too and boy, how do I love it! I wish it had a To Do for mom, but I just put my post it notes on it and it works even better. Do you have any good advice for a 4 year old boy...who does not sit still but for moments? I am going to send him to Mothers Day Out 2 mornings a week so that I can work uninterrupted with the girls. Who is your friend up here that you asked for yesterday?
- August 24, 2010 at 8:34 AM
- Lora @ my blessed life said...
Post-it notes make everything better, don't they?!
- August 24, 2010 at 10:08 AM
This is my first year homeschooling, but I also bought this calendar. Although we don't begin school until Monday of next week, I already love my calendar. It was worth every last penny. I like your tabs...good idea!
- August 24, 2010 at 2:20 PM
- steviewren said...
I've never planned out anything that thoroughly in my whole life. Post-it notes stuffed into my purse are about as good as it gets with me.
- August 24, 2010 at 3:48 PM
- Samba aka Dawn said...
I just got mine in the mail and I LOVE it too!!! But I never thought of adding the tabs...that is a brilliant Idea... thanks for sharing...
samba in sac
- August 25, 2010 at 1:24 AM


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A little update:
this is why I started welding: i had my wrought iron fence powder coated. The powdercoat guy lost my gate. Instead of buying a new gate, or have someone make one I thought, since i always want to learn how to weld, why not give it a shot? I have a bunch of hand me down OA stuff laying around, so I just went at it. Here's the gate i built, the picture was taken a week ago, the gate now has hinge and first coat of primer. I'll take more pictures tomorrow.
3/4" x 1.5" rectangular tubing on outside. inner "sticks" are 1/2" square tubing. The frame is OA welded, the inner sticks are mig welded (borrowed a mig welder from a friend of a friend)
Yes, sandals. I'll put my welding shirt on for photo-op, but I refuse to put my boots on for the picture.
these are my first few welds from a month or so ago (try not to laugh too hard, i know some of you made snotty welds on your first try ) :


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Sketching in Hardware 2
A summit on the design of/with physical computing toolkits.
SOLD OUT! Come back in December for Sketching 3 news.
June 23-24, 2007
Mechanics' Institute Library, San Francisco
The act of sketching defines and redefines boundaries. Everyone who makes sketches, whether on paper, in software or, increasingly, in hardware. Sketching may begin with an idea, but the process fundamentally changes that idea. Sketches identify both what an idea is, and what it is not. They serve as histories and illustrations. Sketching tools simultaneously help and constrain the possibilities of sketching. Make a new sketching tool and new boundaries appear, while old ones dissolve.
This year's theme is Boundary Conditions
Through discussion, experience and sketching we will examine the boundaries in developing physical computing: boundaries between components, between standards, between making objects and creating experiences, between cost and sustainability, between the expected and the unorthodox, and between creator and toolkit.
Sketching in Hardware 2 will be a two day meeting of people intimately involved in this field to discuss the ideas, methods, challenges and potential of physical computing technologies.
The program from Sketching in Hardware 1, June 2006, includes links to notes and many of the presentations given there.
The summit will be held on June 23-24, 2007 at the Mechanics' Institute Library in downtown San Francisco . The Mechanics' Institute Library is the oldest library on the West Coast and a cornerstone of the technological development of San Francisco , which became a major worldwide center of innovation in metal, mining and shipping, rivaling today's Silicon Valley in its impact on the world.
The conference hotel is the Executive Hotel Vintage Court.
Dinner on Saturday, June 23 will be at Cafe Bastille, with drinks at House of Shields beforehand.
A map with all of the conference locations is available here.
Mike Kuniavsky: mikek (at) sketching07.com


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Welcome to UAB Nutrition Trends. We are the Nutrition Sciences Department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). We want our Nutrition Trends website to be a place for our local and national communities to have a conversation about food, nutrition, and health. We don't tell you what to eat. We give you what you need to make your own informed choices.
You can now watch us on YouTube!
- Find Kale Recipes Here!
- Good Day Alabama Viewers: For the IBS diet information you recently saw, click here for the FODMAP diet! Go all the way to the bottom of the column for the printable list. Also read Dr. Beth K's blog!
- Find out how writing down what you eat can help you lose weight. Print your own food record too!
- See UAB obesity experts on the national news!
- Find out the latest nutrition news and facts about food
- Meet some of the people who work at UAB Nutrition Sciences on our "Face Space"
- Join in on the conversation with Beth Kitchin PhD RD twice a week on her blog "The Kitchin Sink"
- Visit other health and nutrition sites on "Healthy Links"
- If you live in or near Birmingham, find out about studies that you may want to be a part of on "Programs, Clinics, and Studies"


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Attorney general: Don't sweat summer utility bills
Take steps to be energy-efficient and save money on cooling costs
LITTLE ROCK -- As temperatures rise, so do utility bills for many Arkansans who rely on air conditioning to keep them cool during the hot summer months.
The cost of cooling a home is one of the single largest utility expenses. In Arkansas, a survey of residential electricity consumption determined that cooling a home accounted for about one-fourth of annual costs.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways that Arkansas consumers can stay cool and save money on their utility bills. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel issued this consumer alert today with advice on how Arkansans can lower utility bills during the hot summer months.
"It's almost as difficult to handle the triple-digit utility bills as it is the triple-digit temperatures we experience during a typical Arkansas summer," McDaniel said. "Obviously, utility costs will be higher than normal during periods of extreme heat, but there are some effective and inexpensive ways to save money and keep the house at a comfortable temperature, too."
McDaniel shared this advice from Energy Efficiency Arkansas, a partnership between the Arkansas Energy Office and Arkansas-based utility companies:
* Think about buying reflective window coatings to help keep sunlight from adding heat to the home, since more than 40 percent of the heat that builds up in a home enters through the windows.
* Set the thermostat no lower than 78 degrees while at home. When away from home, set it at least five degrees warmer. (Consumers reduce cooling costs an average of 3 to 5 percent for every degree higher on the thermostat).
* Keep heat-producing interior lights turned off during the day.
* Keep drapes closed to keep out the sun's heat. Plant shade trees to further reduce solar impact.
* Use weather stripping on doors and caulking to seal windows. (Approximately 25 to 40 percent of all energy used for cooling and heating is lost from leakage).
* Install a programmable thermostat. These can save between $70 and $115 annually on utility expenses.
* Change filters monthly on heating and air-conditioning units. Dirty or clogged filters slow down the cooling process and cause the system to operate inefficiently.
* Keep in mind that ceiling fans cool people, not rooms. Turn ceiling fans off when a room is not occupied.
The Energy Efficiency Arkansas website has many more suggestions for consumers who want to save on utility bills and improve energy efficiency in their homes. Visit www.EnergyEfficiencyArkansas.org.
In addition, some Arkansans may be eligible for the federally-funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which provides assistance in paying utility bills. Most of that money is allocated to low-income elderly consumers and individuals with disabilities, as well as to other eligible consumers as funding becomes available. Local community action agencies have more details on the program. Visit www.acaaa.org for more information.
To contact the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division, visit www.GotYourBackArkansas.org or call (800) 482-8982.


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Meet Janet Mefferd, The Go-To Radio Host For Anti-LGBT Hate Mongers
Blog ››› ››› LUKE BRINKER
Janet Mefferd has become one of talk radio's most relentless purveyors of homophobia, using her eponymous program to provide a platform to fringe anti-LGBT activists and to spout her own bigoted, occasionally conspiracy-minded views.
Billed as a "distinctively Christ-centered" host, Mefferd came to talk radio after a career in print journalism, during which she wrote for newspapers including Chicago's Southtown Economist and The Dallas Morning News.
After Mefferd had worked in Christian radio for two decades, Salem Radio Network syndicated The Janet Mefferd Show in 2010. Her show - touted by Salem as "mainstream, faith-based Christian radio"- is heard on more than 100 stations nationwide. Mefferd has scored such prominent conservative guests as businessman Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, National Organization for Marriage (NOM) President Brian Brown, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN).
Despite Salem's avowals about Mefferd's "mainstream" credentials, her show routinely serves as a welcoming forum for the nation's most extreme anti-LGBT activists and hate group leaders to spew venom and misinformation.
Scott Lively
Pastor Scott Lively, head of the anti-gay hate group Abiding Truth Ministries, can always count on a warm reception when he's a guest on Mefferd's show. Lively is a self-styled international crusader against homosexuality, meeting regularly with activists and lawmakers around the world to push for anti-LGBT legislation. When Russia enacted horrific laws banning the dissemination of so-called gay propaganda this summer, Lively expressed satisfaction that Russian lawmakers had followed the advice he offered during an extensive visit to the country in 2006 and 2007. Meanwhile, Lively faces a human rights lawsuit over his alleged complicity in the crafting of Ugandan legislation imposing the death penalty on gays.
Mefferd - who insinuated in August that a Satanic plot may be behind the lawsuit against Lively - invited him on her show in September to discuss his legal woes. In his interview, Lively called homosexuality "the moral issue of the End Times." For good measure, he also smeared the gay Ugandans whose livelihoods are jeopardized by the kind of legislation Lively champions. They're "really just dupes," Lively charged, of "the hard-left, Marxist ideologues" waging war against conservative Christians like Lively himself. Mefferd agreed, calling the lawsuit a "Soros-funded" effort.
Peter LaBarbera
Peter LaBarbera, president of the anti-gay hate group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, has a penchant for making apocalyptic anti-gay statements, drawing criticism from LGBT activists and moderate-toned conservatives alike. But he appears to be a Mefferd favorite, appearing regularly on her program to denounce LGBT people as pedophiles and Satanists.
In fact, if you're familiar with any of LaBarbera's outrageous remarks, there's a good chance he made them on The Janet Mefferd Show. In a November 2012 interview on the show, he cited the election of openly gay Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and the popularity of the television program Glee as evidence that the U.S. is "falling apart." LaBarbera stoked fears about an all-powerful "gay mafia" in a September 2011 appearance on Mefferd's show. In the same interview, he declared that "homo-fascism" is a real and growing threat, driven by "raw bigotry and hatred."
Such comments have earned LaBarbera a reputation as one of the most outlandish anti-LGBT activists in the country, and Mefferd has helped spur them on. When LaBarbera appeared on her show in July 2011, Mefferd listed examples of where "the invasion of the gay agenda" has occurred, including "family, military, schools, leisure and entertainment," as well as "the medical field, our tax money, and most stunning, the church."
LaBarbera replied, "Well, first of all, sounds like you're doing my job better than I am, congratulations!" He continued to say that these examples indicate "Satan's point of attack on the United States of America."
Brian Camenker
Brian Camenker, president of the anti-LGBT group MassResistance has equated gay people with Nazis, compared pro-LGBT policies to Jim Crow laws, and asserted that LGBT activists prey on vulnerable children. In other words, he's an ideal Mefferd guest.
In an October 14 appearance on her show, Camenker told Mefferd that there's an epidemic of gay couples entering businesses and "fondling each other" to test owners' tolerance levels and possibly file anti-discrimination lawsuits. This kind of baseless allegation prompts quizzical head-scratching among those outside the right-wing media bubble, but generates howls of outrage from Mefferd and Co.
Randy Thomasson
As the debate over California's Proposition 8 intensified, Randy Thomasson, president of the anti-gay hate group Save California, wanted to play a prominent role in the campaign against marriage equality. That he sought such a role was hardly surprising. His history of anti-LGBT commentary is extensive; Thomasson has compared LGBT educators to Adolf Hitler, called LGBT people "less than animal," referred to a fellow guest - a transgender man - as a lady during a CNN appearance, and asserted that homosexuality is inherently "unhealthy" and perverse. Not wanting to be associated with such a bombastic figure, Andy Pugno of the anti-equality Protect Marriage coalition refused to work with Thomasson, saying that he "represents the extreme fringe."
Thomasson's rhetoric might be too extreme for even professional equality opponents, but Mefferd has no such qualms. He has appeared on her show to condemn California's ban on discredited ex-gay therapy programs as the "devil's work" and a ploy to promote "the homosexual lifestyle."
Pacific Justice Institute
Most recently seen making up a story about a transgender teen harassing fellow students in the restroom, the right-wing Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) is not discredited in Mefferd's eyes. The group's leadership, after all, reliably delivers the anti-LGBT talking points listeners have come to expect from Mefferd's guests.
On October 10, PJI President Brad Dacus appeared on Mefferd's show to assail LGBT History Month as an effort to make children and the larger society "numb" to gay behavior.
The Family Research Council
The Family Research Council (FRC), a virulently anti-LGBT hate group, has earned that dubious distinction largely thanks to the remarks its leaders make on Mefferd's show. FRC President Tony Perkins told Mefferd in August 2011 that homosexuality "is essentially man shaking his fist in the face of God."
In one especially misinformation-laden appearance in July, FRC senior fellow Peter Sprigg falsely claimed that sexual orientation and gender identity are conscious choices, that it's "unclear" whether the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) applies to religious institutions, and that there's no "particular evidence" that LGBT people experience employment discrimination.
Liberty Counsel
Liberty Counsel, a right-wing legal organization, employs some of the most vicious anti-LGBT minds in the business, including President Mat Staver and Vice President Matt Barber. Barber has told Mefferd that LGBT activists want to "criminalize Christianity," that he will "go to jail" instead of recognizing "counterfeit same-sex marriage," that statistics on anti-LGBT violence are all "nonsense," and that reports of "ex-gay" therapy causing depression and suicide are "politically motivated." And because no anti-LGBT case is complete without a slippery slope argument, Barber has taken to Mefferd's show to predict the acceptance of pedophilia and bestiality thanks to LGBT equality.
Staver, meanwhile, has appeared on Mefferd's show to call Scott Lively a "peaceful" man, despite the human rights lawsuit brought against him, and to engage in ignorant transphobic rants that would be laughable if real individuals weren't the target of his hateful rhetoric.
There's a reason Mefferd seeks to legitimate the views of hard-core anti-LGBT activists. Her own statements reveal she's convinced that the LGBT equality movement seeks to destroy the pillars of the country - faith, freedom, and family.
Not surprisingly for a woman who sees President Barack Obama as a latter-day Stalin, Mefferd espouses a set of decidedly conspiracy-oriented political views. According to her, the LGBT movement isn't simply pushing for equality; it's part of a concerted pagan bid to "wipe out Christianity." Anti-discrimination policies move us ever closer to becoming a "tyrannical culture." Mefferd wonders whether there will come a "day when every Christian who supports real marriage might be made to wear a yellow patch on the sleeve, a 'badge of shame' to identify us as 'anti-gay haters.' Kind of like the Jews in Nazi Germany."
Mefferd claims she's giving viewers a "Christ-centered" look at issues like homosexuality, but her own words belie such assertions, revealing a woman whose distaste for LGBT people is rooted in unfamiliarity and feelings of disgust. When a group of Indiana high school students sought to organize a second prom where gay and lesbian couples wouldn't be permitted, Mefferd took up the students' cause. Gay rights, Mefferd said, should not "trump the rights of Christians" who do not wish to see gays. "I know this isn't politically correct," Mefferd said, "but not everybody wants to see that."
After CNN host Anderson Cooper came out in 2012, Mefferd warned viewers that they might vomit listening to the story. God may have given Cooper "an ability to love," Mefferd went on, "but not that kind of love." "[T]hat kind of love," she declared, is "a lie from the pit" of hell. It follows, Mefferd believes, that if the Supreme Court ever finds a constitutional right to marriage for same-sex couples, the country can expect divine wrath.
Salem's syndication of Mefferd's show has given her and her anti-LGBT guests a soapbox from which to engage in malicious attacks on LGBT people and the movement for equality. The Janet Mefferd Show offers professional bigots and hate group figures the opportunity to air their narrow-minded views without the discomfort of pushback, no matter how fact-deprived their claims are. Call it what you will, but "mainstream" is the last word to describe Mefferd's daily offering of bitter animus.
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Statement by Dr. Shirley Chater,
Commissioner of Social Security
March 9, 1995
Now, please, in the order of the witnesses, Dr. Chater, please. Dr. Chater, of course, being the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration; and David Koitz, a Specialist in Retirement and Social Policy, Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress; and the Honorable Jim Slattery, former colleague of ours in the House, and a very able legislator I worked with personally and enjoyed thoroughly, the Chairman of the Childhood Disability Commission of Washington, DC.
Dr. CRATER, PLEASE. STATEMENT OF HON. SHIRLEY S. CHATER, COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, WASHINGTON, DC, ACCOMPANIED BY DR. SUSAN DANIELS, ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONER FOR DISABILITY
DR. CRATER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. May I introduce to you Dr. Susan Daniels, to my left, who is our Associate Commissioner for Disability.
It is a pleasure to be here today. I thought it might be most helpful to you if I simply reviewed the significant disability growth that has occurred, talk a little bit about the reasons for that growth, and t hen share with you some of the measures that we want to pursue to maintain costs and to address this growth. I will, of course, submit to you my full written testimony for the record.
First, let me talk about disability program growth. I want to make it clear now that the administration shares your concern about increases in disability program participation.
You have heard that since 1989 the number of disability beneficiaries for both programs grew 47 percent, from 5.4 million to 7.9 million. In the SSDI program, the growth was 37 percent, but in the SSI disability program the growth was 53 percent. Consequently, the annual benefits grew 72 percent, from $33.8 billion in 1989 to $58 billion in 1994.
Now, we have been working hard to determine some of the causes for the increase. We conducted a number of studies and have concluded that the causes of the increase have to do with economic and demographic trends, as well as some program-specific factors that have been leading contributors to the increasing applications, as well as to the decreasing terminations-the number of people who go off the rolls.
So, first, if I might, I would like to talk about the causes of the increase in applications, and I direct your attention to the chart to my right. The unemployment rate is the single largest factor affecting application rates for the SSDI program. This occurs, for example, when severely impaired workers who were working despite their disabilities lose their job and then apply for benefits.
We saw this factor come into play during the recession of the early 1990s, as you can see from the chart. Similarly then, this recession put more people into poverty, increasing the universe of potential eligibles for the Supplemental Security Income program.
Two demographic factors are significant. First, the baby boom generation is aging and more of its members are reaching that time in their lives when they are increasingly vulnerable to disability.
Second, an increasing proportion of women have worked long enough now to be insured for Social Security disability, and they 19 . are coming on the rolls. We believe that these trends will continue to be a source of program growth in the future.
Now, I also mentioned some program-specific factors that have also stimulated an increase in applications. For example, legislation and court decisions have resulted in changes that have attracted more applications.
The classic example is the 1990 Supreme Court decision in the case of Sullivan v. Zebley, which expanded the number of children eligible for SSI benefits. I would also cite as an example the 1984 Congressional mandate which caused us to revise the criteria for evaluating disability, particularly involving mental impairments.
Now, if I might, let me turn to decreasing terminations, that is, the decreasing number of people who come off the' rolls. At the same time that applications have been increasing, terminations have, indeed, been decreasing.
Some of the reasons are as follows. One, more applications and awards to younger people with mental impairments. Now, why should that make a difference? Well, these people are physically healthier than older recipients and, therefore, they live longer and they stay on the rolls longer.
Second, the increasing number of baby boomers on disability rolls has lowered the average age of disability beneficiaries.
A third reason, is the increase in disability awards to women, who have a greater life expectancy than men and so, of course, they would stay on the rolls longer.
Now, SSA has taken some initiatives to take care of some of the problem. As I said, we are concerned about this growth in disability benefits and we want to, and are, taking some specific actions to address the factors which are under our control.
These are addressed at some length in my written testimony, but I would like to just mention to you two of them now. The first, is CDRs, the continuing disability reviews. On the chart you can see that in 1995 and 1996 we are going to do many more CDRs.
First, we are determined that the only people who receive benefits should be those who meet the legal requirements for receiving them. Toward that end, our proposal to do continuing disability reviews is very much intact.
The Administration's fiscal year 1996 budget includes a request for sufficient funding so that we can increase the number of CDRs, as you see on the chart, to 431,000, which represents a threefold increase over 1994.
A second strategy that I would like to point out to you has to do with our employment strategy. We know that less than one-half of 1 percent of the individuals who receive Social Security disability insurance ever leave the rolls to go back to work, and we want to address this problem. So we are developing a plan that will address current disincentives and will restructure the way we help our beneficiaries return to work.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I want you to know that this Administration shares your concern about the growth and we have, accordingly, launched some initiatives, including the two that I just mentioned to you. I want you to know, too, that I look forward to working with you and your committee on these issues. Of course, I am always pleased to answer your questions.


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911 Mountain Avenue, Berthoud(970) 670-6042
Junk King of Fort Collins/Boulder
May 12, 2018
Welcome to the Featured Monthly Investor section, designed specifically to recognize those Berthoud Area chamber investors who not only reap the benefits of Chamber participation, but also contribute back for the good of the entire community.
Our April 2019 Featured Monthly Investor is Wanda Zimmerman. You can learn more about her and her contributions to the Berthoud Area Chamber.
Our April 2019 Featured Monthly Investor is Larimer County Economic & Workforce Development. You can learn more about them and their contributions to the Berthoud Area Chamber.
©2014 Berthoud Area Chamber of Commerce | 970-532-4200 | 428 Mountain Avenue, Berthoud, Colorado 80513


text:
The impetus behind integration in the public school system was, of course, equality in the classroom. That's what Oliver Brown had in mind for his little girl. That's what the Supreme Court had in mind when it ruled in Brown v. the Board of Education.
Walter Bowser, right, and two unidentified members of the Huntington High School football team circa 1967. But life goes beyond the classroom, especially in the formative years of life. There are after-school activities ranging from the varsity football team, which draws thousands of fans on Friday nights, to clubs that meet in relative anonymity. African-American athletes had their status to help gain acceptance in predominantly white atmospheres. Not so with members of the Latin Club. The first sign of integration in high school athletics wasn't seen until the early 1960s, almost a full decade after the Brown decision. Five years later, the changing times were evident on the playing fields and courts across the Peninsula. Into the 1970s, seeing blacks and whites competing with and against each other had become commonplace. Yet progress was slower for other activities. The cheerleading squad at Suffolk's John Yeates High was all-white until 1969, and it took pressure from the NAACP to break that color barrier. Integration led some schools to cancel their proms, others to stop ranking graduating seniors. But change was in the air.
By Dave Johnson
When he became the first African-American student at Newport News High in 1963, only a year after JFK had dispatched federal troops to enforce integration at the University of Mississippi, Eric Burden found surprisingly quick acceptance. Then again, he was a gifted football player who had become friends with the team captains.
Legendary coaches Thad Madden of Huntington and Charlie Nuttycombe of Newport News - one black, the other white - were close friends for decades. By no coincidence, their two schools - one all black, the other predominantly white - enjoyed a strong relationship.
And when court-ordered busing led to tension in 1971, the football team at Ferguson and basketball team at Warwick helped unify their schools and maybe even their city with championship seasons.
Sports, it has been said, offers a reflection of society. But sports also can affect society, or at least nudge it along.
"It was all about athletics bringing everybody together," said Ted BaCote, an assistant under Madden from 1961-71. "I think athletics changed integration."
Ten years after the Supreme Court ruled segregation illegal, high school athletics on the Peninsula was separated by race. There were the Group 1-A white schools - Newport News, Hampton, Ferguson, Warwick, Kecoughtan and York. And there were the black schools - Huntington, Carver and Phenix.
Officially, students were given the option of choosing their school - "freedom of choice," it was called. But integration, both in the classroom and on the playing fields, remained a dream.
"It was a very emotional time," said Victor Hundley, who became the first black to enroll and play football at Ferguson in 1963. "The city at that time, even though life revolved around the shipyard where blacks and whites worked together, was a different place."
Change was gradual, and three school years were particularly instrumental.
1964-65 - A color barrier broken
Today, approximately 85 percent of the Peninsula District's football players are African-American. Time was when that must have seemed as likely as a man walking on the moon. In the fall of 1962, more than 200 young men suited up for the six teams on the 1-A level - the equivalent of Group AAA today. Every one of them was white.
"My kids now, they look at the team pictures with all those white guys and they laugh," Hampton coach Mike Smith said. "The black guys and the white guys, they just laugh."
Funny or not, that's the way it was.
There were a few black athletes at 1-A schools in the early 1960s. At least four African-Americans ran track during the 1962-63 school year. Kecoughtan had four blacks on its 1963-64 basketball team. Yet football, which had by far the largest fan following, remained one color.
In the fall of 1964, four black players - Eric and Larry Burden at Newport News, Linwood Talton and Victor Hundley at Ferguson - broke through on the 1-A level. There was little resistance and no media hype.
In scouting a preseason practice at Newport News one August afternoon, the Daily Press reported the following: "Eric and Larry Burden were seen scooting around the ends in a manner not unlike a scared jackrabbit trying to dodge shotgun pellets." A few days later, the newspaper ran a picture of Ferguson coach Wayne Begor kneeling with four of his players. One was Hundley.
There was never any mention of their race or historical significance.
"That wasn't talked about back then," Hundley said. "We're talking about it here in 2004, but you didn't talk about that back then."
Nor was there any resistence. Four years earlier, all-white Oscar Smith High in Norfolk had canceled a basketball game against Norview, which had just become integrated. But Sept. 18, 1964 - the night Hundley, Talton and the Burdens made history - passed without incident. Newport News beat York, Ferguson lost to Hampton, and that was it.
Hundley began Ferguson as a 9th-grader in the fall of '63, becoming the first African-American in the school's history. He played halfback on the JV team that year and moved up to varsity for the final two games. He remembers returning a punt or two, making him, it is believed, the first black to play for a previously all-white school on the Peninsula.
Hundley started at halfback from his sophomore season on. As a senior in '66, he scored 17 touchdowns and made the all-district team. His time at Ferguson wasn't all Hallmark material, yet he won people over. When he graduated in '67, his classmates voted him Mr. Valentine and Best Dancer.
"I think playing football had a lot to do with how I was accepted," he said. "Along with the touchdowns came a certain amount of fame."
Eric Burden had a similar experience across town. In the fall of 1963, he became the first black to attend Newport News High when he transferred from Huntington as a sophomore. Virginia High School League prohibited him from playing that football season, but he participated in every practice. Almost immediately, color wasn't an issue.
"Eric was respected by all his peers," said Nuttycombe, the head football coach at Newport News High from 1961-69. "It wasn't like he was trying to do anything - things just happened. Coach Madden had told me, 'You're going to like this young man.' And everybody did. Within a week or two, he was one of the guys."
Larry, two years younger than Eric, came aboard as a freshman in '64. Eric emerged as a star and in his senior season made first-team all-district. His highlight was a 65-yard punt return for the game's only touchdown in a 7-0 victory over Warwick. The Typhoon went 7-2-1 in 1965 and was crowned the inaugural Peninsula District championship.
To the black community, the Burdens became pioneers.
Wendy Hill (bottom), and Diane Parsons appear in the 1971 John Yeates High School yearbook. Hill was the first black cheerleader at John Yeates High School in Suffolk. After a battle involving the NAACP to get on the squad, Hill said she feels like she opened the door for other African-Americans to join the team. By her senior year in 1972, Hill was co-captain, and one other African-American girl cheered for the school. "They were probably the perfect ones to go there and integrate," BaCote said. "They did a very good job of going to Newport News High and representing the black race. They were like pace-setters."
In the fall of '65, the Peninsula District had at least six black football players, including the first three at Hampton High. York had its first African-American player in '66 - 12 more followed a year later when James Weldon Johnson, the county's all-black facility, was converted into an intermediate school. By the end of the decade, blacks comprised at least one-third of the district's football rosters.
"Believe it or not, and I found this out in the last couple of years: My friends were so proud of what I had done that they actually compared me to Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks," said Eric Burden, now 56 and living in Fort Washington, Md.
"But I don't think of it as a distinction. It's something that just happened, and I happened to be the person it happened to," he said. "It's not a feather in my cap, or anything. It would have eventually happened to somebody else if it hadn't been me."
1968-69 - The merger
In 1966, Hampton won its last six games to finish 7-2-1. The Crabbers blew out their last five opponents by a combined score of 212-13 and clinched the district championship with a 55-6 pounding of Newport News on Thanksgiving Day.
Huntington won all 10 of its games, outscoring the opposition 340-52, and were declared state champions. The Vikings were led by star quarterback Walter Bowser, who threw for 29 touchdowns and became the first black to be named the state's high school player of the year.
Which team was better? Because they played in two different leagues, we'll never know.
Hampton, like the rest of the Peninsula's predominantly white institutions, played in the Virginia High School League. Huntington - along with Carver, Phenix and Bruton Heights in Williamsburg - was one of 90 black schools that competed under the arm of the Virginia Interscholastic Association. The two organizations were completely separate. But hardly equal.
"I can remember watching Eric McCaskill running hurdles in the hallway because we didn't have a track at that point," Bowser said. "I was probably the first black player who got any media attention. Still, Newport News, Ferguson and Warwick were out on the front page, and we were relegated to the third page."
Leroy Keyes might be the best running back the Peninsula has produced. He remains Purdue's all-time leading rusher with 3,635 yards, was the runner-up to O.J. Simpson for the 1968 Heisman Trophy and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Yet at Carver in the early 1960s, he was barely known outside the black community.
"You'd look at the paper on Saturday morning and there'd be something on a kid from Warwick who rushed for 102 yards," Keyes said. "Yet a kid in our conference would rush for 300 yards and it wouldn't get publicized. Or, if it did, it was on the last page."
Crossover competition between the VHSL and VIA was rare. In 1961, the track teams at Huntington and Newport News competed in the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. In '64, the Vikings dominated the Northern Virginia Relays in Alexandria. Huntington's mile relay team of James Melvin, Darryl Clark, Ray Pollard and McCaskill set a meet record in beating Hammond High, the defending VHSL champion.
The inaugural Peninsula Relays in 1967 featured eight teams from the VHSL and four from the VIA. Huntington won a meet-best four gold medals - two by Cecil Pugh, who beat the great Doug Dickinson of Newport News in the broad jump and triple jump. (Dickinson got his revenge two years later with five first-place finishes as the Typhoon edged the Vikings in the first dual meet between the schools).
In the fall of 1968, the VHSL and VIA merged. Huntington, Carver and Pembroke (formerly Phenix) joined the Peninsula District that fall. With James Blair, Denbigh and Bethel having been added since the 1964-65 school year, the Peninsula District had grown to 12 members. In the first game pitting a predominantly white school against a former VIA institution, York beat Pembroke 14-6 behind Jimmy Dieck's two touchdown passes.
"It became a racial situation, blacks playing whites," said Tommy Reamon, a Carver running back who was a junior that season. "I thought it was quite tense, but exciting."
Neither able to play a full Peninsula District schedule, Huntington finished 6-2-1 and Carver went 4-4-1. Having started the process of joining the VHSL earlier, Pembroke, now integrated, played nine district games and finished 2-7.
Hampton finished 9-1, its lone loss coming out of district to Highland Springs. The Crabbers outscored their eight PD foes 229-14. A year later, they went 11-0 and won their fifth of 16 state championships.
"Everybody knew each other, so it was more like neighborhood vs. neighborhood," said former Hampton star Teddy Powell, who transferred from Phenix prior to his junior year. "It was a great blend of people coming together."
1971-72 - A time for change
In April, the Supreme Court upheld a controversial measure to bus school children in order to help achieve integration. That led to a tense summer throughout much of the nation - the Peninsula included.
In the months leading up to the beginning of school, it was announced that Huntington, Carver and Newport News would be converted into intermediate schools. Students would be reshuffled to either Ferguson, Denbigh, Menchville or Warwick. On the first day of school, already nervous parents awoke to the news that a bomb had gone off at a school in Chattanooga, Tenn. But here, the biggest problem was the expected confusion and a couple of buses running into each other.
Madden was shifted from Huntington to Warwick, which had finished 5-5 the previous season. Nuttycombe had left Newport News a year earlier to take over at Menchville; his replacement, Harlan Hott, moved to Ferguson. Each coach inherited a make-shift roster made up mostly of kids they had never met.
The change in demographics was dramatic. In 1970, Ferguson's 34-player roster included only one black. A year later, 25 of the Mariners' 45 players were black. Among them: running back Tony McCright, wide receiver Ronnie Moore and future NFL lineman Larry Bethea.
Ferguson, which had gone 2-8 the previous year, became a clear favorite. Jump-started by a 32-14 pounding of Hampton in the second week, the Mariners finished 9-1 to win the district championship. It was one of eight winning seasons in Ferguson's 34 years of competition. And it united the school.
"I think it helped that we were a good football team," Hott said. "That seemed to pull the school together. I don't remember any racial problems at all. And when we started winning, it seemed to flow to the student body."
Few schools in the state that year went through a bigger metamorphosis than Warwick. Of the 324 seniors in the graduating class of 1971, none were African-American. But the following school year, the racial makeup had changed to 60 percent white, 40 percent black, according to Warwick's yearbook.
Although there were no major incidents, the transition wasn't completely smooth. The first week of class, about 50 white students staged a walk-out. A controversy arose when some black students objected to the school's longstanding nickname - Farmers. After a vote the first week of class, Warwick became the Raiders.
In Warwick's history to that point, there had been one black player on the varsity basketball team. But through busing, the Raiders had a completely different look for the 1971-72 season. Of the 13 transfers on that team, 11 were black.
"Almost every single good basketball player in the city, by complete accident, ended up at the same high school," said guard Tyrome Best, who came from Carver. "You had Newport News, Huntington and Carver sending their best players to the same high school. I remember the first day of practice there were 40 guys trying out for the high school team. It was the most intense competition I've ever faced."
Warwick's best player was Kenny Baker, a white shooting guard who had arrived from Newport News. Integration in the schools only solidified his every-day life.
"I grew up in the downtown area playing against the kids from Huntington and Carver," Baker said. "My father always told me: To be a good basketball player, you have to go down to the East End and play with the kids down there. They played a tougher brand of ball down there, which I liked."
Playing up-tempo basketball, the Raiders won their first 13 games. Warwick finished 16-2 to win the regular-season title and swept the district tournament. In the Eastern Region opener, the Raiders rallied from 11 down at the half to beat Lake Taylor 77-71. The next day, Tony Ellis scored six of his 15 points in overtime as Warwick clinched a state berth by defeating York 41-37. But the run ended six days later with a 66-64 loss to Hopewell in the state semifinals.
The Raiders finished 21-3, but their accomplishments went beyond that. In a poll taken by the yearbook that year, 65 percent of the student body said the basketball team's season helped ease the transition during a difficult period.
"We united the school like nothing else could have," Best said. "All of a sudden you looked up and we were 8-0, 10-0, 13-0 ... I think it created a united school like nothing else could have done. And that's not in hindsight - that was something you noticed right away."
Lost community
Not every change through integration was for the good.
Huntington and Carver high schools were no more. Their students were shifted across town to one of four destinations, their coaches and administrators sent elsewhere. Records, pictures and trophies disappeared.
"That community spirit that you had when you only had Huntington and Carver in Newport News, now you had to divide that spirit into one, two, three different areas," said Reamon, who became the head coach at Warwick in 1996. "The first couple of years were very interesting, and a lot of issues went into play in athletics."
"When Huntington and Carver played on Friday nights, those games actually were major social events," Bowser said. "That no longer exists in Newport News because the games are played in Todd Stadium. That's a shame."
But integration, they know, had to happen. The bigger issue was always equality in the classroom, not atmosphere at Friday night football games. Still, athletics was a driving force.
"Sports was a big mixing pot for the transition," Hampton's Powell said. "It was a great blend of people coming together."
Begor, who became an assistant principal at Ferguson after his coaching days, remembers one of the first days of school in September of 1971. A black kid and a white kid got into an argument at lunch - one had cut in front of the other in line. In a matter of seconds, fists were flying. Considering the climate at the time, it could have been a disastrous moment for racial relations in the school.
Instead, the fight was quickly broken up. The peacemakers were two football players - one white, the other black.
"The white kids saw a black kid who was for law and order just like they were," Begor said. "The black kids saw one of their own stepping in and taking charge. That moment really solidified things for us. From that day on, the blacks and the whites really meshed together. And they saw that together, we were much better than when we were separated."


text:
The Hon. William J. Baer
Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Whomever Has The Thankless Job Of Sorting Through Worthless Letters to Assistant Attorney General Baer:
My name is Joe Konrath, and I'm a professional fiction writer of more than forty books.
I'd like to apologize for the group who call themselves Authors United, who recently sent you a letter pleading for you to investigate Amazon.
To be blunt, Authors United are a bunch of whiny little babies with overblown senses of entitlement, and they deserve derision, ridicule, mockery, and contempt, and my tone in this letter of response will reflect that. They're wasting your time with their nonsense, and they only speak for a tiny fraction of professional writers. I'm truly sorry you have to deal with them.
I don't know if you're required to take their bogus complaint seriously, or if you can simply dismiss their bad logic, ridiculous examples, and outright lies. If you've already seen through their nonsense, you can stop reading this letter right now, and toss it into the garbage on top of theirs.
But, if their letter prompted you to seek more information about Amazon and its role in the publishing industry, maybe I can save you a bit of time by explaining a few things.
For the past fifty years, a handful of big publishers have functioned as a cartel, controlling the majority of what has been published. They did this by having an oligopoly over paper distribution. If a writer wanted to get their work into a bookstore, the only way to do so was to sign a contract with them.
My best guess is that out of every 1000 books written, only 1 was published. That meant 999 out of 1000 books were effectively deep-sixed, prevented from ever reaching the public.
Those writers lucky enough to be picked by a publisher were forced to sign one-sided, unconscionable contracts that required giving up rights for the length of copyright (the author's life plus 70 years), among other onerous terms such as non-compete and termination clauses, in return for poor royalties. All publishers offered the same, lockstep terms, and writers had no choice but to accept them, or never reach readers.
In short, the publishing industry effectively censored the majority of writers, and screwed most of the rest.
But there were a few exceptions to the abuse. Over the years, some authors were lucky enough to become bestsellers, which gave them tremendous wealth.
Some of these writers signed the Authors United letter you received.
As successful members of the status quo, these rich jerks want to retain their spots in the pecking order. Except, now they have an obstacle in their way.
By putting the customer first, Amazon has grown to become the largest retailer of books in the world. They've done so by offering a wide variety of books at low prices, coupled with terrific customer service. They also, almost single-handedly, invented the ebook market, which readers love.
At first, publishers liked this new revenue stream. The publishing cartel thought they could control the price of ebooks the same way they controlled the price of paper books. A hardcover book costs less than $2 to print, but publishers stamp $29.95 on the cover (what other industry puts prices on their products?) and expect retailers to sell it for that amount. They wanted to do the same with ebooks.
Amazon, realizing that ebooks had no printing, warehousing, shipping, or delivery costs, rightfully felt ebooks should cost less.
Publishers didn't like that, eventually colluding illegally to force Amazon to accept their pricing structure, keeping the price of ebooks high.
The DOJ wisely spanked the publishers for their collusive ways. But a small group of boneheads, acting out of greed or stupidity or a combination of the two, still want to blame Amazon for their problems.
I'm going to go through their short letter and explain why they're wrong. Their nonsense in italics, my counterpoints in regular text.
From the beginning of our nation, Americans have understood the central role that open and competitive markets play in promoting freedom of expression and protecting our democracy. The country's founders, Congress and the Supreme Court have repeatedly made it clear that a concentration of private power over any marketplace of information is incompatible with American ideals of liberty, free speech, and the unfettered flow of ideas.
Amazon earned its current market position by innovating, offering a wide selection and great customer experience, and keeping prices low. But Amazon's power is only a result of people choosing to shop there. Insisting that Amazon controls the "marketplace of information" is ridiculous. There are thousands of bookstores in the US, and thousands of online retailers that sell books. Amazon doesn't control anything.
Today a single company, Amazon, has gained unprecedented power over America's market for books. We are not experts in antitrust law, and this letter is not a legal brief. But we are authors with a deep, collective experience in this field, and we agree with the authorities in economics and law who have asserted that Amazon's dominant position makes it a monopoly as a seller of books and a monopsony as a buyer of books.
At least they admit they aren't antitrust experts. But that doesn't excuse them for misunderstanding what "monopoly" and "monopsony" mean, or from wasting your time.
According to published figures, this one corporation now controls the sale of:
• More than 75 percent of online sales of physical books.
• More than 65 percent of e-book sales.
• More than 40 percent of sales of new books.
• About 85 percent of ebook sales of self-published authors.
Amazon is not a monopoly. They have plenty of competition, including Apple, Google, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Kobo, Smashwords, Scribd, Oyster, and more than 2000 independent bookstores.
And even if Amazon were a monopoly, its 20 year track record has shown a consistent effort to keep prices low.
You can guess why publishers, and their lackies, don't like this tactic.
With its own traditional imprints and its near-total control of self-publishing, Amazon has also become the largest publisher and distributor of new books in the world.
This is a very important point. Remember those 999 books out of 1000 that could never reach readers because the publishing cartel rejected them? Amazon allows those authors to self-publish those titles, and make them cheaply and easily available to the public. And now those authors that the publishing industry passed up are outselling the books published by the major publishers. Visit http://authorearnings.com for the figures.
In recent years, Amazon has used its dominance in ways that we believe harm the interests of America's readers, impoverish the book industry as a whole, damage the careers of (and generate fear among) many authors, and impede the free flow of ideas in our society.
This is bullshit.
Amazon has allowed more readers access to more books than any other company in history.
Amazon hasn't damaged the career of any author. They don't have the power to. They've certainly never targeted authors, or retaliated against authors who have spoken against them. Look at all of the Authors United signatories; all of them have books for sale on Amazon.
The only fear Amazon has generated is in publishers--overpaid middlemen who refuse to innovate, collude rather than compete, and are no longer needed because Amazon and its retail competitors have broken their oligopoly by allowing writers to reach readers without them. And a small minority of authors who Big Publishing has made rich don't like this.
Amazon has no control over ideas in our society. They don't control the Internet. Or the media. Or the government. Or the content of books. Or the distribution and sale of books.
Amazon is a retailer that readers, authors, and publishers choose to deal with. No one is being forced to deal with Amazon, and Amazon has scores of competitors.
Amazon, to pressure publishers over the past eleven years, has blocked and curtailed the sale of millions of books by thousands of authors;
First of all, Amazon can't block book sales. As a retailer, it has the freedom to decide what it wants to sell, and for how much. To suggest that Amazon somehow sent out an armed militia to prevent a book from being sold is insane.
Amazon, during its dispute with Hachette in 2014, appears to have engaged in content control, selling some books but not others based on the author's prominence or the book's political leanings;
What Authors United doesn't mention is that Amazon's contract with Hachette had expired months earlier. It was under no obligation to sell Hachette's titles, but it continued to do so in good faith. As negotiations dragged on (and you can guess what they were about--Hachette wanted to control the price of ebooks and charge more for them), Amazon no longer stocked some Hachette titles, and no longer offered pre-orders for some Hachette titles. After all, why should they stock or sell books when they might not be able to negotiate a new contract?
Authors United also failed to mention that on three different occasions, Amazon offered to monetarily compensate Hachette authors for lost sales while Hachette dragged its feet during negotiations. Hachette rejected Amazon's offers.
Amazon has used its monopsony power, and its ability to threaten punishment, to extract an ever greater share of the total price of a book from publishers;
Wait a second... a retailer negotiating with a supplier violates anti-trust laws?
Of course it doesn't. But Authors United doesn't let facts get in the way of a good story.
If you're curious, this is how the current ebook payout structure works:
Amazon gets 30% of the list price of an ebook.
Authors get 17.5% of the list price of an ebook.
Publishers get 52.5% of the list price of an ebook.
Compare this to self-published authors, who get the full 70% of list price.
A much better argument is that Big Publishing used its oligopoly power to keep author royalties low. Since no publisher ever offered authors higher royalties, authors had no choice. It didn't matter if a writer went to Penguin or Hachette, both offered the exact same royalty rate. And it didn't matter if a reader bought a Penguin or a Hachette book, they were both the same price, conveniently printed on the cover.
this has resulted in publishers dropping some midlist authors and not publishing certain riskier books, effectively silencing many voices;
This is just plain ridiculous. No author is being silenced. Any author who has been dropped or rejected by a publisher can self-publish on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords, Scribd, Oyster, Google, Apple, etc. And they'll make much better royalties doing so.
Publishers do not create content. Writers create content. Publishers are overpriced middlemen. Once they were essential to authors, because of their paper distribution cartel, and they took terrible advantage of us. Now, thanks to companies like Amazon, publishers are nothing more than a very expensive value-added service.
Amazon routinely sells many types of books below cost in order to acquire customers for unrelated lines of business and to drive less well capitalized retailers - like Borders - out of business.
Amazon did not drive Borders out of business. Lousy management put Borders out of business. And loss leaders aren't illegal. Twenty years earlier, Crown Books became the third largest chain in the nation by discounting books.
This practice, extending over many years, has caused price deflation across the industry and reduced the amount of revenue available for publishers to invest in new books, thus depriving readers of wider choice;
See what they did there? This isn't about authors. Amazon's insistence on low prices for its customers is hurting publishers. Which is great, in my opinion. Publishers have parasitically lived off the blood of tens of thousands of authors over the last five decades. The alternative Amazon and its competitors present--self-publishing--coupled with Amazon's ongoing efforts to make books affordable and available to everyone in the USA, has broken Big Publishing's stranglehold on writers and readers.
Before, readers could only choose books that Big Publishing selected, at the price Big Publishing insisted upon. Now, we finally have a free market, with competitive pricing and previously unavailable books able to reach readers.
Amazon offers readers more choices, not fewer. Publishers were the ones depriving readers of choice. Publishers were the ones marking up the cost of books over 1000%. Publishers were the ones preventing writers from reaching readers.
And now publishers are hurting? Boo hoo! Get the hankies! But even if every publisher in the world went out of business, it wouldn't deprive readers of choice, because writers can reach readers without publishers.
Amazon routinely uses its market power to steer readers toward its own books and away from books published by other companies;
Hold on, can businesses be forced to sell products they don't want to sell?
Penguin Putnam is the largest publisher in the world. They've used their market power to steer readers toward their own books, and away from mine. Can the DOJ go after them for me? Please?
Amazon dictates pricing to self-published authors, requiring them to price their books within a specific range or be subjected to a 50 percent cut in royalties.
Translated: Amazon incentivizes authors to keep ebook prices within a certain range by offering them higher royalties for doing so. Authors can choose a 35% royalty, or a 70% royalty.
Contrast this with publishers, who offer no choice; authors are stuck with 17.5% of a price the publisher sets.
So for a $3.99 ebook, a self-published author on Amazon earns $2.78. A $3.99 ebook published by a Big Publisher earns the author $0.68.
The present inaction by regulators is not in keeping with the history of government response when a single company has come to dominate a venue for communication. In the 20th century, Congress repeatedly passed laws that prevented a concentration of ownership in vital informational markets, including newspapers, radio and television.
Amazon is not an information market. Amazon does not control authors or books or readers. Amazon is under no obligation, legal, fiscal, or moral, to sell anything.
But the precedent for this thinking extends back to the First Amendment and in 19th Century law. In 1866, long before the creation of antitrust law, Congress passed the Telegraph Act, which blocked a private company from gaining monopoly control of this very first electronic medium of communication.
Amazon is not a utility. Readers, authors, and publishers choose to deal with Amazon, and it is completely voluntary. Readers, authors, and publishers also can choose to deal with Amazon's many competitors. Amazon doesn't prevent that.
The courts have regularly found that existing antitrust laws can and should be used to protect information markets from private monopoly. Justice Anthony Kennedy, in the 1994 Turner Broadcasting v. FCC case, articulated the reasoning. He wrote: "Assuring that the public has access to a multiplicity of information sources is a governmental purpose of the highest order, for it promotes values central to the First Amendment… The First Amendment's command that government not impede the freedom of speech does not disable the government from taking steps to ensure that private interests not restrict, through physical control of a critical pathway of communication, the free flow of information and ideas."
So, by selling more books than any other retailer, and allowing more books to be published than any other time in history, Amazon is somehow controlling information?
As far as I know, other than certain types of pornography, Amazon sells practically every book ever written, with the exception of those authors and publishers who freely choose not to sell on Amazon.
Should those publishers and authors be forced to sell their books on Amazon, because Authors United apparently thinks Amazon controls the the free flow of information and ideas in the USA?
It's also worth noting that Amazon allows third-party sellers to sell books on its website, effectively competing with itself. So if Amazon ever did decide it didn't want to sell a certain book, third party sellers could still sell it on Amazon.
For example, if Amazon hadn't reached a contractual agreement with Hachette and stopped selling Hachette titles, third parties could still sell Hachette books on Amazon. This makes it impossible for Amazon to block anything.
Americans are just as opposed as ever to seeing private interests gain control of any marketplace of information. In February this year, the FCC, responding to the strong consensus view of the American people, ruled that no private interest should be allowed to manipulate the flow of information across the Internet, and established rules for "net neutrality."
This example actually made me chuckle. So Authors United supports the idea that there should be no government regulation of the Internet, yet it is demanding government regulation of Amazon.
Really? They don't see the irony there?
Only a few months ago, your Division was reportedly among the regulators who opposed excessive consolidation of ownership in broadband Internet, which halted the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable. As recently as 1999, the FTC made clear that such principles also apply specifically to the book business, and blocked the purchase of Ingram Book Group, the country's largest wholesale book distributor, by Barnes & Noble, the country's largest retail bookstore.
This is United Authors making good on their confession that they aren't anti-trust experts. Neither am I, but I do know that monopolies per se don't violate US anti-trust law. If monopolies use their power to, say, raise prices (like the publishing cartel did), that violates the law. Or if a company attains a monopoly by merging with competitors, as in the above referenced instances, that also violates the law.
Don't any of the geniuses at Authors United know how to use Wikipedia? Perhaps it's good that they don't, because they might call upon you to break up Wikipedia for controlling information and ideas...
For two centuries, America's book business was the freest, fairest, and most competitive in the world. More than a business, it was a marketplace of ideas, with publishers acting as venture capitalists, advancing funds to give authors the freedom to write books, and thereby hoping to make a profit. In this way the profit motive was put in service of a vital national interest and our fundamental rights.
And now, thanks to new technologies such as ebooks, retailers such as Amazon, and readers having more choices than ever before, publishers just aren't needed.
But rather than try to innovate and compete, publishers and their lapdogs in Authors United want government intervention to suppress progress and freedom.
Thanks to Amazon and its many competitors, writers no longer need venture capitalists to invest in them. Anyone can publish a book, for free. If a writer needs venture capital, they can raise it via Kickstarter or Indiegogo. And best of all, writers can now keep their rights, and they get the lion's share of the profits.
This doesn't sit well with the minority of Richie Rich bestsellers who made millions through the old system. So now they are wasting your time by shouting "monopoly!"
"The best test of truth," Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in 1919, "is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market." What Americans seek, Holmes said, is "free trade in ideas."
Amazon is one of the major reasons we finally have a free trade in ideas.
Over the years, Amazon has benefitted (sic) readers and authors in many ways. But no temporary price cut can compensate for the costs to free expression and the health of America's book industry that have resulted from Amazon's abuse of its dominance in the world of books. Accordingly, we respectfully request that the Antitrust Division investigate Amazon's power over the book market, and the ways in which that corporation exercises its power, bearing in mind the very special constitutional sensitivities that have historically been applied to any business that has established effective control of a medium of communication.
I humbly request the Antitrust Division look at the publishing industry, and the practices they used to control the book business for decades. You'd be surprised how badly authors have been exploited, prior to Amazon's entrance into the marketplace.
I know Authors United also wrote a longer, stupider letter. If you're interested, I took that letter apart piece by piece here:
It is also my understanding that the Association of Authors Representatives, and the Authors Guild, sent letters to you, backing Authors United. It's worth noting that one of the reasons authors have been so exploited by the publishing industry is that we have no advocates or organizations to help us. The AAR and Authors Guild have repeatedly sided with publishers over authors on many important issues.
If you'd like to learn more about how Amazon has benefited authors and readers, and how these organizations have harmed authors and readers, I've written extensively on this subject. You might find the following posts of mine interesting or helpful. I apologize that there are so many; there has been a great deal of hate directed toward Amazon over the last few years by the media, and by several of the rich authors behind Authors United.
But hopefully you'll find no need to wade through thousands of words I've written just to reach the inevitable conclusion that: Amazon isn't a monopoly, Amazon is beneficial, the real harm has been done by the publishing cartel, and now a bunch of rich whiners are about to be disintermediated, so they're wasting your time with this silly Hail Mary pass.
Again, I apologize for my peers. I know you have better things to do. But unlike Authors United, I actually do care about my fellow authors. It is worth noting that I am not employed by Amazon, nor does Amazon know I'm writing this letter. I do offer my self-published books on Amazon.com, and Amazon has published several of my books. I've also been published by many other big publishers. I don't speak for Amazon in any way, shape, or form. I'm also openly critical of Amazon, and have publicly chastised them for doing stupid things the same way I've chastised Authors United and their ilk.
Thank you for your patience, and feel free to reach out to me if you would like any more information or clarification.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
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Dr. Thomas Bultman of the Hope College biology faculty has been named to the Board of Advisors to the Editors of "New Phytologist," an international scholarly journal focused on plant science.
Established in 1902, "New Phytologist" offers publication of high-quality, original plant-science research within four sections: physiology and development, environment, interaction and evolution. The monthly journal is owned by the New Phytologist Trust, a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to the promotion of plant science.
Bultman, who is a professor of biology and chairperson of the department, has been appointed to a three-year term that began earlier this month. His responsibilities include reviewing research papers submitted to the journal's interaction section.
Bultman has been a member of the Hope faculty since 2001. His research emphasis is on the ecology of plant-fungal-insect interactions.
His research program regularly involves Hope undergraduates, several of whom have been co-authors of scholarly articles about his work. In recent years he has had articles in journals including "Oikos," "Ecology" and "Environmental Entomology" as well as "New Phytologist." He has received external grants for his research from organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute and the National Geographic Society.
Bultman graduated from Hope in 1978, and as a student himself had been involved in faculty-student collaborative research at the college, working with biologist Dr. Allen Brady on spider ecology. He completed his master's degree at the University of Cincinnati in 1981 and his doctorate at Arizona State University in 1985.


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There's no listening experience more thrilling than a Hans Zimmer Batman soundtrack. Who could forget the The Dark Knight track "Why So Serious"? And now, you can get a taste of the brand new soundtrack from the final movie in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy right here, right now.
[via Total Film]


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Several people have asked me on tumblr to make a turorial video on how I do my hair, so here it is!
It's the first time I film myself talking and I must say it'way harder than I thought. I hope you will understand what I say, my accent is worse than I thought and the sound quality isn't on point. Don't hesitate to ask if you have questions!


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Queen of the Forest Naturals
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Joênia Wapixana, who was elected the first Indigenous Brazilian Congresswoman in October of this year,
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It's no secret that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is a large man. And because of his size, we don't usually see him doing active things on TV, like hiking, biking or dancing. Which is probably why Jimmy Fallon recruited him to perform "The Evolution of Dad Dancing" on "The Tonight Show" on Thursday.
There's a lot of competition on late-night TV, but it was only on "The Tonight Show" that you could catch a glimpse of the scandal-plagued governor performing such classic dad moves as "The Lawn Mower" and "The Three Amigos Salute." Who would have suspected at the beginning of the year that we'd all be treated to Christie aggressively thrusting his pelvis on network TV by summer?
The bit was performed in honor of Father's Day and can be viewed as a companion piece to the "Evolution of Mom Dancing" Fallon performed with First Lady Michelle Obama in 2013.
Other classic dance moves, at least according to the Fallon people, include the "Belt Grabber," the "Honk the Horn" and the "I Saw This Once on Dancing With the Stars."
Christie proved to be quite a good sport and a decent dancer, even poking fun at his own political party with the straight-laced dance, "The Republican Convention" and the much funkier "Democratic Convention."
But things took a strange turn at the end, when Fallon attempted the "This Bridge Is Closed" dance. Apparently that was too far for Christie, who fake-stormed off the set. Only to be lured back by a Bruce Springsteen song.
Christie has denied knowledge of the controversial closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J. in 2013. But many political analysts say that Christie's political career has been seriously harmed anyway.
Still, it's interesting to see that Christie can laugh about it.
Twitter: @patrickkevinday


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Captain Cook Memorial Museum
The Museum is in the Grade-1-listed, 17c house on Whitby's harbourside which belonged to Captain John Walker. In 1746 the young Cook came here as Walker's apprentice. When not at sea he lodged with the other apprentices in the attic - still preserved. The Museum houses a rich collection, artefacts from the Voyages, original letters of the period, some in Cook's own hand, paintings - Parry's Omai, Gainsborough, Hodges.
Every year the Museum stages a special exhibition between March and October about a special aspect of Captain Cook's life and related subjects. Admission included in standard entry prices. We display artefacts borrowed from Museums in the UK and abroad some of which are not normally accessible to the public.
For details of this year's special exhibition please see the Museum's web site.
Venue Type:
14 Feb - 27 March, daily 1100-1500
28 March - 1 November 0945-1700
Winter months - by appointment
Adult £4.80
Senior Citizen £4.30
Child £3.30
Family £12.00
- Museums Association
Additional info
Guided Tours are available for organised groups, schools, students or adults. French and Spanish speakers are available for Groups by prior arrangement.
House guides in French, Spanish, Norwegian, Dutch and English
The Museum celebrates Cook's Whitby years and his later achievements. The collection includes period rooms restored faithfully following an inventory of 1752, models, maps and manuscripts, ship plans, artefacts from the Voyages, and many fine original paintings, drawings and prints.
Collection details
Key artists and exhibits
- Captain Cook original letters
- Sir Joseph Banks documents
- Gainsborough portrait Lord Sandwich
- William Hodges Resolution in a stream of pack-ice
- John Russell Captain Bligh of the Bounty and his wife
- William Parry Portrait of Omai, Joseph Banks and Dr Solander
- Johann Forster's desk, and letters
- John Webber Voyage drawings especially natives of Kamchatka
- Exploration of Australia, New Zealand, Canada
- The Antarctic
- Maritime History dockyards and plans
- Endeavour ship plan and model
- Resolution ship model
- Ethnography of the Pacific, early contact artifacts
- John Bird watercolours of 18c Whitby
Guided Tour for School Parties
We welcome school and student groups of all ages, and offer introductory talks adjusted to age range and time available. Schools are advised to allow 1 1/2 hours for the talk and visit. A resource pack 64pp, with sections specifically designed for selective photocopying, price £7 is available.
How to obtain
By prior arrangement with our Administrator, Mick Green 01947 601900. Please discuss your requirements, links to national curriculum etc. £2.70 per child (Teachers and Drivers FREE) Any time of the year, even the winter when we are closed to the general public
Teachers' Resource Pack
A 64 page teachers pack with sections designed for selective photocopying is available from the Museum. It covers many aspects of the history and geography of Captain Cooks's voyages of discovery. Useful as a background to a visti and as a teaching aid.
How to obtain
To obtain the pack, price £7.00, please contact our administrator, Mick Green on 01947 601900
Captain Cook Memorial Museum
Grape Lane
North Yorkshire
- About
- | Collections
- | Resources
- | Map


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The streets aren't always dark and wet now either (though the patented dark wet streets are back). The weather changes. Sometimes right in the middle of a race, you'll hear thunder and then it starts pouring, which affects your handling. When you drive beneath underpasses, you'll see the rain coming down in only those patches open to the sky. There are no people on the streets, but trees sway in the background and cars independently drive by, crash, stall and mill about the city. When you pull off donuts, clouds of smoke billow up behind you. On the whole, EA's done an excellent job with the visuals on the PC and Xbox versions, and to a certain extent, it's done as best it could on the PS2. Too bad about the Cube version.
On the downside, there are several minor quibbles. The car models aren't that detailed. I'm not sure what the polygon count for each car is, but this game won't win best car model awards anytime soon. I could easily do without the cutscene crashes -- they just get in the way -- and the graphic novel segues feel contrived and like an excuse for not having anything else. How many times can we see the same painted image of Brooke Burke? I guess a freakin' lot.
As with the previous Underground, this year's model offers a cacophony of impactful sound effects. Each car has its distinct gear revs, disinct idles, depth to its engine sounds, and distinct tire-burning screeches. The gear switches sound thick and real. The crashes sound like real metal twisting and windows shattering. And all of the little menu sounds, of ignition, keys turning, gears clicking -- create a great feeling of power and car satisfaction.
Brooke Burke's voice acting is state of the art Brooke Burke -- she's a no-nonsense car chick who knows she's hot. She likes to talk about slamming, jamming and peeling, so someone's going to like her work. As for the rest of the cast, I've now come to expect the sound of "cool" dudes that use the most "hip" lingo around. I guess people talk like that, right? Yo! Know what I'm saying dawg? Ugh...
The soundtrack is a collection of 27 songs, compiled on EA's Trax. They can be customized so you can hear them in the menus, when racing, not at all, or at any time. You can hear them in sequential or random order. I personally hadn't heard 90% of the songs, and the tunes like Snapcase's "Skeptic," Skindred's "Nobody" and SpiderBait's "Black Betty" got the "off" switch from me. I don't know, is this what the kids are listening to now? I mean, even Snoop Dogg's Doors remix of "Riders on the Storm (Fredwreck Remix)" was pretty damn bad. And it's not like I haven't heard that song a million times already.
NFSU2 supports Pro Logic I & II for Cube and PS2, and Dolby 5.1 surround sound for Xbox.
The Verdict
While NFSU2 contains some aspects of its predecessor, several major changes make a significantly different game. The world is massive and open, filled with many more courses that before. The progression scheme is complex and you'll find yourself winning to earn money so you can spend it on modding the heck out of your car over and over again. The cars are more weighty and a little more realistic too, requiring a little more skill from the driver.
The sad part is that the huge city is actually perhaps too huge for its own good. You'll grow bored driving around the mostly empty streets, and once you collect the small quantity of Info letters, find the few shortcuts, and open up the garages, there's not much left. The Outrun races ARE fun, but some of them can last up to 15 minutes, and if you want to progress, you're simply going to have to wait.
In all, NFSU2 is an impressive, and more importantly, fun game that overcomes its faults with depth, breadth, and variety.