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By Rochelle L. Levy
The trustees of the American Film Institute selected Meryl Streep to receive AFI's 32nd Life Achievement Award.
Meryl Streep is like no other. She's authentic yet ethereal. Self-possessed yet vulnerable. Intellectual yet
instinctive. And she deftly combines these disparate qualities onscreen in a way that has made her a
cinematic icon.
Meryl Streep has presence, resonating with both audiences and critics for the past 26 years. Beginning
with THE DEER HUNTER in 1978-just her second film-Streep has been nominated for 13 Academy
Awards, more than any other actor in history. She was named Best Supporting Actress for KRAMER VS.
KRAMER in 1980 and Best Actress for SOPHIE'S CHOICE in 1983.
No matter the character, Streep's work is suffused with dignity and decency. She makes us believe. Which
is no small thing, considering most actors find it difficult to separate their public persona from their
onscreen portrayals. But Meryl Streep is not like most other actors. Her sense of self and understanding of
those she is portraying result in realistic characters, regardless of their nationalities, ethnicities or physicalities.
The breadth of her talent seems limitless. No matter what the challenge, Streep commits fully, serving as the
anchor in each of her films. She sings (SILKWOOD, IRONWEED, POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE), dances
(DEATH BECOMES HER), even plays violin (MUSIC OF THE HEART). And these extraordinary abilities are
matched by her astounding facility for dialects. From Polish (SOPHIE'S CHOICE) to Australian (A CRY IN
THE DARK) to Danish (OUT OF AFRICA), Streep's flawless vocal transformations imbue each role with a
wealth of knowledge and experience, an innate understanding of life's foibles, blessings and mysteries.
While making it all look effortless. Yet she calls this gift the "auto mechanics" of her craft, preferring to
focus on the complete person rather than on any one characteristic.
Streep's most challenging role-as wife and mother-informs her career choices, both geographically and emotionally. Early in
her career, she insisted she'd never give up theater, her first love. But being home for dinner and schoolwork with her four children is a
top priority. So the stage must wait.
That maternal instinct is apparent onscreen as well. While the mothers she plays may not always be perfect,
she brings a humanity to even the most troubled relationships. We're both repelled by and understanding
of her decision to leave her little boy in KRAMER VS. KRAMER. We see the fierce love lying just
beneath the surface as she battles with her rebellious teenage son in MARVIN'S ROOM. And, we respect
her decision to live with a philandering husband-and accept the scorn of her daughter-in order to
keep her family together in ONE TRUE THING.
An outspoken advocate for women, Streep is active in Equality Now, working for women's human rights
around the world. She also fights for equal pay, in her own profession as well as in public education-an
arena she knows well, since her children have gone on location with her to Africa, England, Australia,
Texas, California, New York and Connecticut.
And she continues to take on new artistic challenges. In 2002, she starred in both THE HOURS and
ADAPTATION, earning an Oscar nomination for the latter. Earlier this year, she played four different
characters in HBO's ANGELS IN AMERICA, including her first male role, an aged rabbi.
American cinema has been graced by the presence of Meryl Streep. With a poise and eloquence all her
own, Streep has continued to astonish audiences with her range of characters. Because of
her unparalleled talent and integrity, the American Film Institute
is honored to present Meryl Streep with AFI's 32nd
Life Achievement Award.
About Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep's unique empathy for diverse women has led audiences into the lives of some of the most memorable characters on film. Regarded as one of the world's finest actors, she has portrayed an astonishing array of roles in a career that has cut its own unique path from the theatre through film and television. A two-time Academy Award winner and a recipient of a record-breaking thirteen Oscar nominations, Streep was seen most recently alongside Al Pacino and Emma Thompson in the HBO epic ANGELS IN AMERICA, directed by Mike Nichols from Tony Kushner's adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning plays. Playing four characters, she won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Best Actress awards for this work.
Streep had never acted in a play before her sophomore year at Vassar College, when she won the title role in Strindberg's "Miss Julie." An honors exchange program led to Dartmouth where she studied playwriting as well as set and costume design. After graduating cum laude from Vassar, she won a scholarship to the Yale School of Drama where she received a Master of Fine Arts degree, and the Carol Dye Acting Award at graduation, becoming the first woman in the school's history to receive this honor.
After a summer with the O'Neill Playwrights conference in Connecticut, Streep moved to New York and made her debut in Joseph Papp's Lincoln Center production of "Trelawney of the Wells" with Mary Beth Hurt and John Lithgow. Critics began to take notice in that first season of the versatility, imagination and range that has distinguished her work from the beginning. She went from the Public Theatre to the Phoenix Repertory, where, in rotating productions, she played a nineteenth century Southern belle in the Civil War melodrama "Secret Service," a sleek secretary in Arthur Miller's one-act "A Memory of Two Mondays," and a slovenly floozy in Tennessee Williams' "27 Wagons Full of Cotton." For this virtuoso achievement, Streep won the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Theater World Award, and a Tony nomination. She performed in several productions in her first season in New York after graduation, including the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of "Henry V," and "Measure for Measure" opposite John Cazale and Sam Waterston. She starred on Broadway in the Brecht/Weill musical "Happy End" and won an Obie for her performance in the all-sung off-Broadway production of "Alice at the Palace." During this period she also won the Emmy for Best Actress for her portrayal of a devastated German wife in the controversial eight part mini-series HOLOCAUST.
Meryl Streep began her feature film career as Jane Fonda's society friend in JULIA, directed by Fred Zinneman. In her second screen role, Streep starred opposite Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken in THE DEERHUNTER, receiving her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a working-class Pennsylvania girl who's lonely, small-town life is irrevocably altered by the Vietnam War. Her next film was the political drama THE SEDUCTION OF JOE TYNAN, with Alan Alda.
She returned to the stage that summer to play Katherine opposite Raul Julia in "The Taming of the Shrew" for Joe Papp in his free Central Park production. She performed the Shakespeare at night, and during the day alternated filming MANHATTAN for Woody Allen and KRAMER VS. KRAMER with Dustin Hoffman. As Hoffman's troubled ex-wife in a custody battle, she garnered her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She won her third Oscar nomination and the British Academy Award for her next film, THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN, directed by Karel Reisz, in which she played the dual roles of a sophisticated contemporary actress and a tragic 19th century heroine.
The following year, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her extraordinary performance in the title role of SOPHIE'S CHOICE, directed by Alan Pakula from his adaptation of William Styron's novel. She was nominated again, the next year, for her portrayal of Karen Silkwood, the activist/heroine of Mike Nichol's SILKWOOD. Reuniting with Robert DeNiro in her next film, FALLING IN LOVE, she won the David Award, the Italian equivalent of the Oscar.
Streep completed two films in 1985: Fred Schepisi's screen adaptation of David Hare's PLENTY, and Sydney Pollack's sweeping romantic adventure OUT OF AFRICA, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and another David award. She returned home and filmed two projects co-starring Jack Nicholson: Mike Nichol's HEARTBURN and IRONWEED, directed by Hector Babenco, for which she received her seventh Oscar nomination. She then traveled to Australia for Fred Schepisi's A CRY IN THE DARK. This performance as the infamous, unfairly maligned Lindy Chamberlain won Streep the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, The New York Film Critics Circle, an AFI award and another Oscar nomination.
She next won Golden Globe nominations for her work in Susan Seidelman's SHE-DEVIL, and POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (with Nichols again) starring opposite Shirley MacLaine. This adaptation by Carrie Fisher from her own novel won Streep praise for her singing, and yet another Oscar nomination. She continued to find comedic work with Albert Brooks in his delicious contemplation of a neurotic's trial in purgatory in DEFENDING YOUR LIFE, and Robert Zemeckis' docu-drama on aging in L.A., DEATH BECOMES HER, co-starring Goldie Hawn. After returning to the States from Europe where she filmed Billie August's THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS from Isabel Allende's acclaimed novel, she tackled the physical challenges of an action movie in THE RIVER WILD, directed by Curtis Hanson, taking Kevin Bacon down Class IV rapids in Oregon and Montana. She next returned to television, co-producing with director Jim Abrahams the real-life drama FIRST DO NO HARM and earning an Emmy nomination for her work as the mother of an epileptic child who pursues alternative therapies.
Her next film, Clint Eastwood's THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, won her overwhelming acclaim and Screen Actor's Guild, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for her complex portrayal of a lonely Iowa farm wife who opens her heart to a stranger. The following year she was seen opposite Liam Neeson in Barbet Schroeder's BEFORE AND AFTER, and opposite Diane Keaton and Leonardo Di Caprio in MARVIN'S ROOM, for which she received another Golden Globe nomination. In 1999 she teamed with Renee Zellweger in ONE TRUE THING from Anna Quindlen's prize winning novel about a prodigal daughter's return home to care for the mother whose life she had undervalued. Streep received SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for this performance, as well as the Berlinale Camera Award at the Berlin Film Festival. That same year she appeared with an ensemble of extraordinary Irish and English actors in the critically lauded DANCING AT LUHGNASA, based on Brian Friel's play, directed by Pat O'Connor.
In 1999 Streep learned to play a Bach violin concerto for Wes Craven's MUSIC OF THE HEART. The film depicted the real life struggle of teacher and single mother Roberta Guaspari, who brings the violin to inner city kids, empowering their lives through music. She earned her twelfth Academy Award nomination for her work in this film.
Streep and her family moved to New York City in 2001, where she made another homecoming as well. She returned to Central Park's Delacorte Theatre in Mike Nichol's "The Seagull," a free production of the New York Shakespeare Festival's Public Theatre. The extraordinary cast included Kevin Kline, Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden, Natalie Portman, John Goodman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and it was deliriously received by audiences and critics as well.
In 2003, her work in THE HOURS won her the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival together with her co-stars, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore, as well as SAG and Golden Globe nominations. In the same year, her eccentric portrayal of Susan Orlean in Spike Jonze's ADAPTATION, was recognized with a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and BAFTA and Oscar nominations. That year she was given the Honorary Cesar for Career Achievement in Paris, where she also was accorded a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the highest civilian honor given by the French government.
Streep finished filming Jonathan Demme's adaptation of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE in New York this winter, in which she stars with Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, and Jeffrey Wright, and will be seen next Christmas opposite Jim Carrey in A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS BY LEMONY SNICKET, both for Paramount.
Meryl Streep was a co-founder of Mothers and Others, a consumer advocacy group that worked successfully for 12 years to protect the health of children and the environment and to support organic and sustainable agriculture. She continues her advocacy work with the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, Scenic Hudson, and the Children's Health and Environment Coalition, as well as Equality Now, a champion of the rights of women and girls worldwide. She has been married for 25 years to artist Don Gummer; they are the parents of a son and three daughters.
NOTE: Due to licensing restrictions, the telecasts of the AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute are currently not available for distribution or purchase.
©2019 American Film Institute. All rights reserved.


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It is the policy of Metagenics, Inc. and its subsidiary, Catalina Lifesciences, Inc., DBA Bariatric Advantage (together, "We"), to respect your privacy, and the privacy of all visitors to our Web sites. This policy statement has been established to help you understand our commitment to protecting your privacy, and the steps we take to ensure it.
We collect certain Personal Information, or information that could be used to identify you, such as names, addresses, telephone/fax numbers, or email addresses, when that information is voluntarily submitted by our visitors. This information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be sold, reused, rented, loaned or otherwise disclosed to anyone outside of our companies, our service providers, or as otherwise required or permitted by law. We use this information to answer your requests for information or to better understand and respond to your needs. We never share the information collected at www.bariatricadvantage.com with third parties for their marketing purposes.
We may use your personal information to generate Aggregated Information that does not allow you to be personally identified or contacted. Aggregated Information shows user activity as a whole rather than on an individual basis and may be used by Metagenics to provide insight on the usage of the services. For example, we might compile personal information in order to determine the percentage of users that live in a particular geographic area.
Cookies are small text files placed on your hard drive when you visit a Web site, in order to track use of the site. Some web sites use cookies to collect data regarding the functionality of the site or to help analyze browsing patterns and use of the site.
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Bariatric Advantage has been exclusively designed for use by the bariatric patient both pre and post surgery. The products were professionally formulated with input by experienced Bariatric Surgeons and well respected nutritional experts.
Did you know that nutritional deficiencies of vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids, retinal, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, pyrodoxine, sereum antioxidants, vitamin B complex, Zinc, and other key nutritional markers exist in obese patients prior to surgery?
Were you also aware that some of these deficiencies may have been induced by drugs like Antihypertensives, Antidiabetic Agents, Anti-inflammatories, and Bile Acid Sequestrants?
Bariatric Advantage is enjoying a successful implementation of our advanced nutritional supplement line in Surgical Practices and Support Groups around the country. This line has been professionally formulated with key research and development offered from practicing Bariatric Surgeons, well known and respected Naturopathic Doctors, and Support Group Directors.
To better understand our product offering and programming, please contact us directly at: (800) 898-6888.
Your complete satisfaction is our goal! As the industry leader in nutrition since 2002, we believe that through quality and adherence to scientific principles we can help to support a vision of life-long health before and after bariatric surgery. However, if for any reason you are dissatisfied with your purchase, we are committed to ensuring your satisfaction. Our return policy is simple:
To begin the return process, contact our Patient Support department at (800) 898-6888 for a return authorization number.
Policy applies to products purchased after January 1st, 2014. Applies to US retail customers only. Subject to change without notice.

subset: commoncrawl


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A CONSULTATION on the library service in Hampshire has closed with the results due to be published in September.
Plans to shed jobs, axe mobile libraries and man some libraries with volunteers are threatened under £900,000 worth of cuts that will be made to the library service, which unions fear will leave the service "unsustainable".
A total of 27 full-time posts, which include headquarters staff, library managers and outreach teams, face the axe.
Tory recreation and heritage chief Keith Chapman spoke after a task group was formed to shake up library services in the face of expected Government cut backs and changing times.
He said: "Our options are completely open. We are looking at other things and other models.
"If we were starting a library service from square one today we would not put libraries where they are now.
"Over the years the library service put in place things that have never changed, and now we have a different way of accessing reading material.
"More and more people are choosing to download books online and they have better access to reading material than ever before because of the internet."
The task group will deliver its proposals in the new year.
Mobile stops are to be slashed by nearly a third. Those under threat include 26 in the New Forest.
The library outreach team, which promotes the use of the public library service to playgroups, schools and community groups, is also to be disbanded.
It is hoped that volunteers can step in and deliver books to people's homes.
Plans also include increasing library assistant hours, investing in ebooks and eAudio titles, as well as self-service technology and introducing more convenient opening hours.


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The ability to relieve pain is very variable and unpredictable, depending on the source or location of pain and whether it is acute or chronic. Pain mechanisms are complex and have peripheral and central nervous system aspects. Therapies should be tailored to the specifics of the pain process in the individual patient. Psychological issues have a very strong influence on whether and how pain is experienced and whether it will become chronic. Most effective pain management strategies require multiple concurrent approaches, especially for chronic pain. It is rare that a single modality solves the problem.
Static or electromagnetic fields have been used for centuries to control pain and other biologic problems, but scientific evidence of their effect had not been gathered until recently. This review explores the value of magnetic therapy in rehabilitation medicine in terms of static magnetic fields and time varying magnetic fields (electromagnetic). A historical review is given and the discussion covers the areas of scientific criteria, modalities of magnetic therapy, mechanisms of the biologic effects of magnetic fields, and perspectives on the future of magnetic therapy.
In the past few years a new and fundamentally different approach has been increasingly investigated. This includes the use of magnetic fields (MF), produced by both static (permanent) and time-varied (most commonly, pulsed) magnetic fields (PEMFs). Fields of various strengths and frequencies have been evaluated. There is as yet no "gold standard". The fields selected will vary based on experience, confidence, convenience and cost. Since there does not appear to be any major advantage to any one MF application, largely because of the unpredictability of ascertaining the true underlying source of the pain, regardless of the putative pathology, any approach may be used empirically and treatment adjusted based on the response. After thousands of patient-years of use globally, there very little risk has been found to be associated with MF therapies. The primary precautions relate to implanted electrical devices and pregnancy and seizures with certain kinds of frequency patterns in seizure prone individuals.
Magnetic fields affect pain perception in many different ways. These actions are both direct and indirect. Direct effects of magnetic fields are: neuron firing, calcium ion movement, membrane potentials, endorphin levels, nitric oxide, dopamine levels, acupuncture actions and nerve regeneration. Indirect benefits of magnetic fields on physiologic function are on: circulation, muscle, edema, tissue oxygen, inflammation, healing, prostaglandins, cellular metabolism and cell energy levels.
Most studies on pain use subjective measures to quantitate baseline and outcome values. Subjective perception of pain using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and pain drawings is 95% sensitive and 88% specific for current pain in the neck and shoulders and thoracic spine.
Measured pain intensity (PI) changes with pain relief and satisfaction with pain management. A 5%, 30%, and 57% reduction in PI correlated with "no," "some/partial," and "significant/complete" relief. If initial PI scores were moderate/severe pain (NDS > 5), PI had to be reduced by 35% and 84%, to achieve "some/partial" and "significant/complete" relief, respectively. Patients in less pain (NDS < or = 5) needed 25% and 29% reductions in PI. However, relief of pain appears to only partially contribute to overall satisfaction with pain management.
Several authors have reviewed the experience with PEMFs in Eastern Europe and the West. PEMFs have been used extensively in many conditions and medical disciplines. They have been most effective in treating rheumatic disorders. PEMFs produced significant reduction of pain, improvement of spinal functions and reduction of paravertebral spasms. Although PEMFs have been proven to be a very powerful tool, they should always be considered in combination with other therapeutic procedures.
Since the turn of this century, a number of electrotherapeutic, magnetotherapeutic and electromagnetic medical devices have emerged for treating a broad spectrum of trauma, tumors and infections with static and PEMFs. Their acceptance in clinical practice has been very slow in the medical community. Practitioner resistance seems largely based on confusion of the different modalities, the wide variety of frequencies employed (from ELF to microwave) and the general lack of understanding of the biomechanics involved. The current scientific literature indicates that short, periodic exposure to pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) has emerged as the most effective form of electromagnetic therapy.
The ability of PEMFs to affect pain is dependant on the ability of PEMFs to positively affect human physiologic or anatomic systems. Research is showing that the human nervous system is strongly affected by therapeutic PEMFs. Behavioral and physiologic responses of animals to static and extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields are affected by the presence of light. Light strengthens the effects of PEMFs.
One of the most reproducible results of weak, extremely low-frequency (ELF) magnetic field (MF) exposure is an effect upon neurologic pain signal processing. PEMFs have been designed for use as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of chronic pain in humans. Recent evidence suggests that PEMFs would also be an effective complement for treating patients suffering from acute pain. Static magnetic field devices with strong gradients have also been shown to have therapeutic potential. Specifically placed static magnets reduce neural action potentials and alleviate spinal mediated pain. The placebo response may explain as much as 40% of an analgesia response. The central nervous system mechanisms responsible for the placebo response are an appropriate target for magnetic therapies. Magnetic field manipulation of cognitive and behavioral processes is seen in animal behavior studies and in humans. This may also be one of the mechanisms of the use of MFs in managing pain.
Some of the mechanisms of PEMF effects
Magnetotherapy is accompanied by an increase in the threshold of pain sensitivity and activation of the anticoagulation system. PEMF treatment stimulates production of opioid peptides; activates mast cells and increases electric capacity of muscular fibers. Long bone fractures that did not unite over 4 months to 4 years are repaired in 87% of cases with 14-16 hr of daily PEMF treatment. Several of these devices are FDA approved. PEMF of 1.5- or 5-mT field strength, proved helpful edema and pain before or after a surgical operation.
PEMF for 15-360 minutes increases amino acid uptake about 45%. PEMF for 2 hour induces changes in transmembrane energy transport enzymes, allowing energy coupling and increased biologic chemical transport work.
The density of pigeons' brain mu opiate receptors decreases by about 30% and therefore their pain perception. A 2 hr exposure of healthy humans was found to reduce pain perception and decreased pain-related brain signals. Biochemical changes were found in the blood of treated patients that supported the pain reduction benefit.
Normal standing balance is subject to control by the vestibular area of the brain. PEMF couple with muscular processing or upper body nervous tissue functions. 200-uT PEMFs cause a significant improvement in normal standing balance in adult (18-34 year old) humans. Further evidence of the sensitivity of the nervous system on MFs.
Various MFs with different characteristics reduce pain inhibition in various species of animals including land snails, mice, pigeons, as well as humans. 0.5 Hz rotating MF, 60 Hz ELF magnetic fields and even MRI reduces analgesia induced by both exogenous opiates (i.e. morphine) and endogenous opioids (i.e. stress-induced). Reduction in stress-induced analgesia can be obtained not only by exposing animals to a variety of different magnetic fields, but also after a short-term stay in a near-zero magnetic field. This suggests that even for magnetic field, as for other environmental factors (i.e. temperature or gravity), alterations in the normal conditions in which the species has evolved can induce alterations in physiology as well as in behavior.
MFs applied to the head or to an extremity, for from 1 to 60 minutes, with intervals from several minutes to several hours, randomly sequenced with sham exposures allowed study of brain reactions by various objective measures. From these multiyear studies, the brain shows a non-specific initial response. The changes were "modulatory", meaning that the brain was found to sense EMF exposures vs. sham exposures. The sensory reactions were a weak pain, tickling, pressure, etc. sensations, mediated by the body's peripheral sensory systems. Reactions could be prevented by local anesthesia of the exposed area. EEGs showed increased low-frequency rhythms, more pronounced when brain damage was present. This explains the common perception of relaxation and sleepiness with MFs. Cell analysis showed that all types of brain cells react to EMFs but astrocytes were most sensitive. They are involved in memory processes and slow wave brain activity.
The benefits of PEMF use may last considerably longer than the time of use. In rats, a single exposure produces pain reduction both immediately after treatment and at 24 hrs after treatment. The analgesic effect is still observed at 7th and 14th day of repeated treatment and even up to 14 days after the last treatment.
PEMFs promote healing of soft tissue injuries by reducing edema and increasing resorption of hematomas. Low frequency PEMFs reduce edema primarily during treatment sessions. PEMFs at very high frequencies (PRFs) for 20-30 minutes cause edema decreases lasting several hours. PRFs induce vasoconstriction at the injury site. They displace negatively charged plasma proteins found in traumatized tissue. This increases lymphatic flow, an additional factor in reducing edema.
In rats exposed for 20 min daily on 3 successive days to PEMFs of 50 mG, the pain threshold increased progressively over the 3 days. The pain threshold following the third magnetic field exposure was significantly greater than those associated with morphine and other treatments. Brain injured and normal rats both showed a 63% increase in mean pain. PEMFs may be very helpful in patients with closed head injuries. The mechanism probably involves the longer acting endorphins rather than enkephalins.
Chronic pain is often a result of aberrantly functioning small neural networks involved in self-perpetuated neurogenic inflammation. High intensity pulsed magnetic stimulation (HIPMS) noninvasively depolarizes neurons and can facilitate recovery following injury. Patients suffering from posttraumatic or postoperative low-back pain, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, peripheral neuropathy, thoracic outlet syndrome and endometriosis had pain relief. Up to ten,10-min exposures to 1.17 T at a rate of 45 pulses/minute were applied to the areas of maximal pain for 6 treatments. One patient became pain free after 4 HIPMS treatments. All patients reported some pain relief. Maximum pain relief occurred 3 hr after treatment. Two patients had complete pain relief and 3 had partial pain relief that lasted for 4 months. The others had pain relief that lasted for 8-72 hours.


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The Philadelphia Bar Association's Professional Guidance Committee provides, upon request, advice for lawyers facing or anticipating facing ethical dilemmas. Opinions are advisory only and are based upon the specific facts provided in inquiries. Opinions are not binding upon the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania or any other Court. They carry only such weight as an appropriate reviewing authority may choose to give it. The most frequently requested opinions are available here now; the remaining opinions will be posted in the coming months. Please bear with us until all are posted.
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The descriptive word index will be updated quarterly. For more information, please contact Senior Staff Counsel, Public & Legal Services, Amy Seefeld at (215) 238-6369 or at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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"Bold New Media took a partnership approach to building our new website, seeking input and providing valuable advice where necessary.
Balancing design and functional requirements, they delivered a site that looks great and has made us a competitive force online in our market. The end result was well beyond our expectations"
Lachlan Robertson
Managing Director


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Inspired Conferences
Hold your conference at King's and catch the spirit of excellence in our inspirational grounds and rooms. Take advantage of the variety and flexibility of the rooms and facilities on offer: award ceremonies with stage and screen in the Hall, debates in the Keynes Lecture Theatre, training sessions or corporate events in our seminar rooms and refreshments in our historic courtyards.
Whatever your requirements, our dedicated team can accommodate your every need.


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I have been known around the office for the past couple of years for my coupon savings but now I may be known for my frugal, homemade cleansers.
Recently the sink here in our break room has been draining really slow. As in, standing water that slowly seeps out. Someone picked up a bottle of super strength drain cleaner and we tried that. It drained a little better but still very slowly. I volunteered to bring in the ingredients for my frugal drain cleaner the next day.
I arrived on Tuesday armed with my baking soda, white vinegar and Dawn dish liquid. Here is my method that I read on the internet a few years ago.
½ cup baking soda
½ cup vinegar
(actually I don't measure it any more – I just sort of eyeball it. I measured it the first time.)
Pour the baking soda in the drain followed by the vinegar. It foams up when mixed together. Remember middle school science class experiments? Let it do it's work for a little while, say 20 minutes or so.
Next, mix 4 cups of really hot water (I heat it in the microwave) and a few squirts of Dawn. Quickly pour this down the sink. Have a plunger ready to plunge while the water drains. I have purchased a small sink plunger that is really handy. Repeat the process as many times as needed. I often repeat the hot water part a couple of times before I completely start over. When the drain clears you will hear the swoosh of the clog clearing.
Our sink here took three treatments but it is running clear now.
So, how does this tie into Savings Made Simple?
First, I have all the ingredients on hand so if the bathroom sink or tub is clogged at 10 p.m. I'm not making a trip out to buy drain cleaner, which saves me time and money.
Second, I'm not spending the extra money to pour caustic chemicals down my drain, which saves me money and helps the environment.
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The winner of the individual portion of the Jules Verne Contest is:
General_c has already received his premium prize; now he will also received his tournament medal!
The winners of the Team Finale are Team AT10:
All four will get a tournament medal. Bobdakota has elected to give his share of the premium prize to kuma, so the final breakdown will be: 3 months of premium to rjhankye, 6 months to kuma32478, and 3 months to clanger35.
Congrats all on a job well done!
Link to my wrap-up post: http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=149236&start=255#p3641802
Update January 29th: To provide a permanent home for the Team Finale games, I have put everything together in Post 3 on this page.
Update January 25th. First Game In Each Team Finale Match Succesfully Started!
Most recent update January 18th:
The start of the Team Finale was announced January 13th. See post:
Jules Verne Contest
This is an epic-scale tournament celebrating the works of science-fiction pioneer Jules Verne. The tournament was originally launched by DJENRE. The original tournament thread can be found HERE.
Update, January 02, 2012: General_c has won the Individual championship. Congrats general_c!
full update: http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=149236&start=195#p3524038
The team finale will be starting soon. Please check your scores to see if your team qualified, and make sure all your team members start freeing up their three slots (if they are freemies.)
UPDATE, AUG 28th:
The full update can be found here.
I have also sampled some of your comments leading up the changes in this post.
The most important change:
1. The main body of the tournament will end at the end of Act II Round 1 Map 9. We are currently working on Map 6, which means that we will play three more complete maps after Greenland, covering the book "In Search of the Castaways."
For the duration of these 9 maps, we will continue to be patient with the freemium players. We've been patient until now, it would be silly to start getting aggressive about cutting people when we are now 2/3 of the way through the main body. However, you are supposed to keep at least 3 slots reserved for this tournament. Most of you have, but a few do not. You must be actively trying to free up a third slot, and if you do not have one, then you definitely must not be joining any non-tourney games, or you will be cut.
2. We will crown the individual tournament champion based on his/her score at the end of those maps. There will NOT be an individual finale of any kind; the points you are earning now are your points toward holding the individual crown.
3. There will be a team finale. Either the top four or the top eight teams will face off for the team crown. This is still a while away, so I have some time to think about the precise rules of the team finale, but I can tell you this now: each round will be a best-of-3 quads series. Therefore, it is absolutely non-negotiable: if you have freemiums on your team, then they absolutely MUST have three slots available by this point.
Bonuses FAQ
It was getting quite difficult to navigate the old thread, so we've gotten this new one. I invite everyone to visit the original tournament thread (see link above) for more details. Here is a basic outline of the tournament:
Act I consisted of two quick rounds which eliminated 3/4 of the players and brought us from 256 players to 64.
Act II consists of three much longer rounds, playing 22 maps in total, which will further reduce the field from 64 players to 16.
Act III consists of one main round, where the 16 remaining players will play the 9 maps representing Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. After that main round, there will be a Team Finale and a Singles Finale. The Team Finale and the Singles Finale are seperate and independent. Playing in one of the Finales does not have any effect on your eligibility for the other, so some people may be in the Team Finale even though they have failed to qualify for the Singles Finale, and vice versa.
All games are Sequential, Automatic, Flat Rate, and Chained. Most are Foggy.
Throughout most of the tournament (every round except the very first on and the Finales) there are special bonuses which score +10 points for holding specific territories or regions for a specified number of rounds.
Update, July 25th: Pandemonium has volunteered to take over keeping up the score tables. For those of you who were frustrated with how slowly I was getting around to updating scores, he will be a welcome relief...
I have re-directed the links below to some of Pandemonium's new score tables.
Welcome aboard, Pandemonium, and thank you!
The link to the main scores spreadsheet:
Round-by-Round Scoreboards:
New scoreboards:
Act II Round1, Map 1 Nordic
Act II Round1, Map 2 Iceland
Act II Round1, Map 3 USA
Act II Round1, Map 4 Lunar
Act II Round1, Map 5 Arctic
Act II Round 1, Map 6 Greenland
Act II Round 1, Map 7 South America
Act II Round 1, Map 8 Australia
Act II Round 1, Map 9 Oceania
Old scoreboards:
Act I, Round 2 (France)
Act II, Round 1, Map 1 (Nordic Nations)
Act II, Round 1, Map 2 (Iceland) (and the results of the sun/fog vote)
Act II, Round 1, Map 3 (USA)
Act II, Round 1, Map 4 (Lunar War)


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September 19, 2000
This report focuses on rDNA biotechnology-derived foods, food ingredients, and animal feed of plant origin, and on the use of rDNA biotechnology-derived microorganisms such as yeasts and enzymes in food production.
This report was officially released in its entirety on Sept. 19, 2000, at a press conference in Washington D.C.
The use of modern biotechnology (recombinant DNA technology) to produce foods and food ingredients is a subject of heightened interest among consumers and public policy makers, and within the scientific community. As a result, the news media have extensively covered the subject, seemingly with each development. Eager to contribute to a meaningful dialogue on scientific issues and consumer concerns about rDNA biotechnology, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the 29,000-member nonprofit society for food science and technology, implemented a new initiative. IFT's leaders provided the impetus and strategies, including establishment of a Task Force, for the initiative. The Biotechnology Task Force identified the overall goal of providing science-based information about this modern tool to multiple audiences, e.g., its members, journalists, and the general public. The Task Force identified issues within three main topics—safety, labeling, and benefits and concerns—and decided that each would be addressed within a comprehensive, scientific report.
IFT convened a panel of experts, comprising IFT members and other prominent biotechnology authorities, to prepare report sections on each of the three main topics. Each panel contributed to an Introduction section. Thus, this scientific report consists of four parts: Introduction, Safety, Labeling, and Benefits and Concerns. Members of the panels of experts are also identified within each report section. The IFT Science and Policy Initiatives coordinated the development of the report.
The report focuses on rDNA biotechnology-derived foods, food ingredients, and animal feed of plant origin, and on the use of rDNA biotechnology-derived microorganisms such as yeasts and enzymes in food production. Milk from cows that have received rDNA biotechnology-derived hormones is discussed; transgenic animals resulting from the application of rDNA biotechnology techniques to animal production are not addressed.
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The U. S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist for S.C., Ann English, announced the first sign up deadline for priority assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is Oct. 19.
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Can we retain privacy in the era of Big Data?
The ubiquity of digital gadgets and sensors, the pervasiveness of networks and the benefits of sharing very personal information through social media have led some to argue that privacy as a social norm is changing and becoming an outmoded concept. In this three-part series Don Tapscott questions this view, arguing that we each need a personal privacy strategy. Part one can be read here.
Privacy is nothing if not the freedom to be let alone, to experiment and to make mistakes, to forget and to start anew, to act according to conscience, and to be free from the oppressive scrutiny and opinions of others.
It may seem an odd notion today, but in its infancy the Internet was a favorite refuge for many seeking privacy. A famous New Yorker cartoon published almost 20 years ago featured two dogs sitting in front of a computer, with one saying to the other: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
Today such anonymity is essentially non-existent. Practical obscurity – the basis for privacy norms throughout history – is fast disappearing. Our society is collectively creating, storing and communicating information at nearly exponential rates of growth. Most of this data is personally identifiable, and third parties control much of it. This personal data will be archived online forever and be instantly searchable, and few appreciate how many ways this data might be used to harm us.
Yes, likely someday there will be norms, laws and practices governing the responsible use of all this data. But practically, these do not exist today. There is little guarantee that personal information you share from social-media sites is locked down or will not be used in ways that harm you. Much of it can be searched and retrieved by anyone on the Internet, including employers, law enforcement officials, public-sector agencies, infomediaries, lawyers, the press and anyone else who may be interested in the data.
When this data is assembled into profiles, matched with other information and used to make (automated) judgments about (and decisions affecting) individuals – such as in hiring them or admitting entry, calculating benefits or terms of an offer, or corroborating a claim – then the effects of privacy loss include discrimination, especially if the data is inaccurate.
Young people are being denied that dream job simply because they didn't understand they needed to be careful about what they posted on Facebook. Ninety percent of all employers access young people's social-media pages when they are considering an application. Seventy percent have rejected people based on what they found. Some employers demand that job applicants provide social-media IDs and passwords as a precondition to hiring.
College applicants are being rejected because of their Facebook Newsfeed. Facebook postings have been deemed admissible by courts during litigation. And in some cases privacy settings won't help – information you have restricted to close friends can be discoverable.
Privacy is important to our concept of the self and our relationships with others. Even though the human condition requires connection, we also need to feel confident that we can be alone and unwatched when we want to be. Says privacy advocate Ann Cavoukian: "We are social animals who seek contact with each other, and we benefit from sharing information appropriately. But we also seek moments of solitude, intimacy, quiet, reserve and private reflection. These interests have co-existed for centuries and must continue to do so, for the human condition requires both."
The tension between these needs is a subject of much discussion among psychologists and psychiatrists, described well in Masud R. Khan's collections of essay entitled The Privacy of the Self. The book discusses our need for living in a community with others but at the same time our want and need to preserve our unique individual selves.
True, we form ourselves in response to one another. But if we are constantly interacting, being scrutinized and revealing everything is there not a danger of losing track of where you end and other people begin? This is why most developmental psychologists argue that personal secrecy is a crucial part of human development.
During adolescence, the period when "the self" begins to gel, there is a critical need to be able to start again, to redefine oneself. But to refashion oneself and embark on a new self-definition, it's necessary to cut loose from the past. That is hard enough to do when only a handful of people have a clear concept of who you "are." It becomes infinitely more difficult when your more personal feelings, photos and other private data have been circulated to the world.
Privacy is also important to building strong relationships. Many people have worried that social media increases the number of weak ties we all have, at the expense of strong ties. This is a complicated topic, because all strong ties in society begin as weak ones. In theory, if we can expand the number of weak ties we have, this should expand the pool from which strong ties can be formed. However, true intimacy involves the symmetrical sharing of very personal information. We share secrets with close friends, loved ones and those we might come to love.
So what happens when we begin sharing our secrets with everyone? Could this not degrade the value of truly personal information in building intimate relationships? Part of being intimate is the revealing of secrets and being with the person who knows things others do not.
The term "oversharing" has become a popular cultural meme. It refers to the act or practice of sharing too much information, or TMI, with people who have no need, or are not necessarily prepared or qualified to receive it. Telling a co-worker that you went to the doctor is sharing pertinent information. Telling him or her that you had your hemorrhoids treated is probably oversharing.
The term is pejorative. If you overshare, it can hurt your relationships with others, as much as being rude can.
"Some oversharing is the result of a poorly developed social filter or shut up button" says The WiseGeek blog. "Different people may have different ideas over what constitutes oversharing or TMI, so they may not realize they are making others feel uncomfortable. Once the oversharing line has been crossed, it is often difficult to erase those images from others' minds."
Because of the digital revolution we each need to develop better filters, screens and BS detectors to sort through the information blizzard of daily life. But don't we also need a sense of propriety and responsibility for the effects of what we communicate to others?
In a simpler time such restraint in social life was called manners. Manners are the largely unwritten, underlying ethical codes in society about how we should interact with one other. They have a deep function – to help ensure civility, consideration of others and in some ways civilization itself. Unlike the formal legal system, the punishment for bad manners is social disapproval. Rude people can suffer reputational damage.
Similarly, oversharing can cause reputational damage and hurt relationships. "What's wrong with that blabbermouth?" "That person is always spilling his guts." "Why on earth does she think I'd have the slightest interest in that?" "Remind me not to tell him anything confidential." "I'm afraid he's just an open book." "She doesn't know how to keep a secret." "What ever happened to discretion?"
Manners change, of course. In the past it would be inappropriate to meet someone without a letter of introduction. But as the LinkedIn referral system shows, some manners encode deeply held norms about human behavior and protocol. They help us to be not just civil but productive as well.
Further, when we share information, we need to be considerate of the interests of related parties. Many young people I've talked to have a rule about parties – no tagging of photos without permission. Plan on publishing your personal genome? You might want to discuss that with your children first, as you're essentially communicating very personal information about them.
Personal reputation management is a new challenge of the digital age. Erving Goffman's seminal 1959 text, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, needs an update. Goffman used the metaphor of the theater to portray the importance of human – namely, social – action. An actor performs in a setting that is constructed of a stage and a backstage. The props in either part of the setting direct his action. He is being watched by an audience, but at the same time he is an audience for his viewers' play. Actors strive to be coherent and adjust to the different settings offered them mainly through interaction with other actors, all of whom are attempting to perform in a way that reflects well on themselves.
When Goffman was making his observations in the 1950s, the stage upon which we presented ourselves to others was pretty limited, and it was a physical place, involving face-to-face contact. Today our tweets, Facebook updates, emails, texts, photos, even the places we visit all become public. The number of actors on the stage and the audience have grown exponentially.
PHOTO: A monitoring camera observes Frankfurt Airport, March 3, 2011. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
[…] More Filed Under: Big Data […]
Please see my original post on this topic.
"Yes, likely someday there will be norms, laws and practices governing the responsible use of all this data. But practically, these do not exist today." – This is exactly why the World Economic Forum and BCG have published a report today calling for the establishment of trading rules for personal data focusing on 1) Securing the data itself from breach; 2) Establishing rights and responsibilities for using data based on context and 3) Developing accountability and enforcement mechanisms that hold organisations to account. It will be complicated because personal data is after all personal. But we need to work together to try and establish such trading rules to build trust – because without them we are heading down a slippery path. http://forumblog.org/2012/05/personal-da ta-needs-clear-trading-rules/
http://www.bcg.com/media/PressReleaseDet ails.aspx?id=tcm:12-105524
[…] Can We Retain Privacy in the Era of Big Data? […]
Don Tapscott, all very interesting but what is your point?
Because of the amorality of information collectors, aggregators, data miners and data speculators, companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, governments, employers and others CAN NEVER BE TRUSTED.
The onus of protecting our privacy starts with us.
My solution: I do not have Facebook and don't feel the loss. I do not wish them well. It's a very shallow venue.
Employers should be barred by law from asking for social media profiles and passwords. It's none of their business.
I lie about my birthdate, my name, my annual income and other personal identifiers in registering for almost all web sites which require that information. To keep the lies straight, I have my password book.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law or public opinion.
[…] series Don Tapscott questions this view, arguing that we each need a personal privacy strategy. More>> Related […]
[…] notion today, but in its infancy the Internet was a favorite refuge for many seeking privacy.See on blogs.reuters.com Share this:TwitterFacebookMoreStumbleUponLinke dInRedditPrintEmailDiggLike this:LikeBe the first to […]
[…] big data | privacy | social media The ubiquity of digital gadgets and sensors, the pervasiveness of networks and the benefits of sharing very personal information through social media have led some to argue that privacy as a social norm is changing and becoming an outmoded concept. In this three-part series Don Tapscott questions this view, arguing that we each need a personal privacy strategy. Part one can be read here, and part two here. […]
As the old saying goes, 'idle brain is a devil's workshop', Facebook is home for majority of all those idle brains. Honestly speaking.
The answer is simple: Stay off-line.
[…] Can we retain privacy in the era of Big Data? Bad ideas spawn Lesser Depression […]
The popular media lives of the stuff that the more finicky may find repulsive and TMI.
And not just the tabloid press loves to rake muck and talk about the hemorrhoids. It had its effect on the general population. And I suppose, those who claim they don't like TMI can suck up the garbage of popular gossip like it was mother's milk. I've seen enough old timer movies to know that polite appearances don't often match reality. I've seen enough life (probably thanks to the media) and some s personal experience to know that disjunction still lives.
Mr. Tapscott, You leave out the possibility that TMI might be a kind of barely understood rebellion against the prospect of being "found out". It would be similar to the dandies of Beau Brummel's era who purposely acted even more elitist in reaction to the popular discontent of the French Revolution. Someone I read once characterized it as "snapping their fingers" at the age.
In other words: be open and shameless before someone tries to impose their notions of shamefulness on you. Or throw the "dirt" in their faces before someone attempts to threaten you with it. Manners are inherent covers for hypocrisy. That is rock bottom what it tends to devolve into. Society needs enormous doses of shame to control it's victims. Many people may have no use for the disembodied and very selective courtesy of the well mannered and discrete. If it's been on the screen and the TV – why bother to feel shame?
People who appear in the major media sometimes have to bow to viscous attacks on things they inadvertently said and make apologies for their statements. I know I am very indiscreet with my speech sometimes because I really have no respect whatsoever for the codification of manners. They were never that profound, reliable or even sensible.
The trouble with those old "Miss Manners" columns was they tended to be written for middle and upper income people and catered to women. They were always so tiny minded somehow.
In the 60s they were irrelevant for my generation (the boomers) but they tried to be more relevant in the 70s. But they had to acknowledge the messy facts of life and the manners aspect started to look like an archaic issue: rather like worrying about the place settings while the Titanic was sinking.
Social expectations and good behavior in social settings requires stable societies with long term residents who understand the social codes. And those old codified societies could be merciless and have longer memories than elephants. So many people in the US and elsewhere don't stay put and the social expectations are not uniform throughout the world and many people may simply not care what the society thinks about them because they don't really see it except in their friends.
I think it would be a hell on earth to see the resurgence of vain, pampered old bags like the old MS Astor try to rule the social roost again. Not even her piers could stand her pretensions after a while.
The reality of life was always messy and impolite. The people who seem to think there are good manners must have very long memories and are probably dieing like flies now. But it should be remembered that even the NAZI regime knew how to be discrete (obviously) and some of them could have impeccable manners.
Some people can be too d–d squeamish and want to think the world is a pretty garden all the time. It's obviously anything but.
Mmanners are fundamentally about social control and had their fullest development in the era of Absulotism. That control can be in the hands of swine with the loveliest manners and whitest teeth.
The advancement of privacy norms and legal rights have historically been consequences of widespread privacy harms. Think of transparency, accountability, access, and correction rights following abuses of secret dossiers maintained by governments and early credit reporting agencies, for example.
Far be it for me to hope for a "privacy chernobyl" or "data valdez" to mobilize a sufficient percentage of the public to act and to demand change, but such are the kind of scenarios that do seem to be effective.
The next frontier, in my opinion, will be individual access. If there is a simple and effective way for people to find out what information is being collected about them, and how that information is being used, then they will be empowered and motivated to hold those organziations more accountable for their actions.
Wouldn't you like to know when and why government or law enforcement authorities have surveilled you, or what online advertisers have collected about you? Who has accessed your medical files and why? Empower citizens with real access and redress rights and watch society be transormed by new privacy norms and more accountable behaviour on the part of the data collectors and aggregators that are watching us more and more.
[…] Reuters looks into how to maintain privacy in the age of Big Data. […]
[…] · &n bsp;Can we retain privacy in the era of Big Data? […]


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I feel like I've been neglecting my boys, but the Blackhawks are in a nasty slump. After this six-game losing streak, I think it's safe to say the Hawks defense has hit "rock bottom" and there are five games left of this brutal road-trip. The next battle begins tonight against the Pacific leading San Jose Sharks and our old friend Antti Niemi.
Things continue to look bleak today, two Hawks were placed on injured reserve; Niklas Hjalmarsson has progressed from having the flu to having an upper-body injury and Steve Montador also with an upper-body injury. Both are out for the next two games and are day-to-day.
As strange as it sounds, Patrick Sharp and the Hawks are hopeful their current situation will bring them closer to being the team they want to be. "If I had the right quote or the magic recipe I'd throw it out there," Sharp said after a lengthy practice on Thursday. "All I can say is we're working through it. We're not happy. We believe in each other. I know our fans out there want us to win every game and we know we have the support of them and we're going to be a better team because of this."
Sami Lepisto and Dylan Olsen, both recalled this morning, will play tonight against the Sharks. Olsen played two games in early January and this will be Lepisto's first game since January 2nd against the Edmonton Oilers.
The Hawks need to get back to basics, get more aggressive on defense with bigger hits, and stop letting their offense completely run the show (because their offense can't keep the puck out of Chicago's net). Time to step it up Seabrook and Keith!
It's going to be a tough game on the road tonight, but the Hawks are long overdue for a W.


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Start a Blog to Grow Your Practice/
How can writing a blog, or "blawg," really grow your practice? Would it be ignored, lost in the morass of the Internet? Would it take more time than it is worth? In this interview, Kevin O'Keefe answers these questions and more about the value of blogs for growing your client base and what makes them work. O'Keefe should know. He is president of LexBlog (www.lexblog.com), a provider of marketing blog resources to professional firms, and is recognized as a national expert on the use of blogs for marketing, communications, and public relations. O'Keefe talked with Wells H. Anderson, a consultant to lawyers interested in making better use of software for running and marketing their practices. The interview that follows speaks to both blog skeptics and enthusiasts.
Does a Lawyer Blog Pay Off?
Anderson: Which practice areas do you think may be best for lawyer blogs?
O'Keefe: That is a good question. There is not one area or another area that is going to be better for a blog. Blogs at their essence enhance your reputation as a reliable and trusted authority and allow you to network both with prospective clients and with those people who influence prospective clients. I do not think there is any particular practice area where you could say this is not a good way to enhance your reputation or network to grow your business.
Anderson: To be specific, consider family law. Do you think a solo or small firm lawyer could increase the size of a family law practice by blogging? How might the lawyer go about that?
O'Keefe: Some lawyers in this country get all the work for their family law practices from their blogs. And their practices are growing. They have eliminated their yellow pages, they have eliminated their websites, and they do not do anything other than have a blog. Their work is coming directly from people who need a skilled, caring, compassionate family lawyer. And these people are finding that lawyer by doing searches on the Internet and finding the lawyer's blog. On the lawyer's blog they are also finding information that looks as nice if not nicer than what is on the lawyer's website.
What you want to be able to say is: "I am only three years out of law school but I want to be the best-known and the most well respected family law lawyer in my community inside of three to five years." There is no reason you cannot do that with the tools that you have at your disposal so long as you are passionate about the subject and you really want to make a difference. You will get more work than you can handle.
Blogging Pitfalls
Anderson: Assume a solo lawyer is considering the decision to begin blogging and she wants to go into it with her eyes wide open. What are some of the biggest pitfalls for a lawyer who is just starting to write a blog?
O'Keefe: I think the biggest thing is to know what you are doing. People are going to find and read your blog. They will search for and monitor particular words and phrases and see what you are writing on that subject. So if you produce something lame, people will come to it and you will look half-baked. If you are not presenting yourself well and you do not know what you are doing, that is an issue.
Another thing you do not want to do is spend an inordinate amount of time on a blog. I see lawyers spending a lot of time on their blogs, but if they are not doing it right, they are probably not going to get any work from them.
Anderson: That leads right into my next question. Some lawyers figure that a blog will cost them too much billable time. Where is the sweet spot for time spent blogging versus competing activities?
O'Keefe: I tell lawyers if you are posting something once a week, you are doing fine. And if you are doing it the right way, you can probably post in 15 minutes to a half hour. That is not a lot of time. If you are getting work as a result of that, I cannot think of a better use of time. I also ask lawyers how they like blogging. And their response is: "I am having fun."
Benefits of Blogging
Anderson: You are reading my mind—that is my next question. What are other benefits to blogging beyond business development? One that you put your finger on is improving the quality of the lawyer's work life. If you are doing something you find enjoyable (and productive), that is a very nice counterpoint to the legal work that you need to do day in and day out.
O'Keefe: Exactly. And the other thing that you are getting is positive feedback from other people. I think all lawyers in this country have a letter that they keep in their top drawer and pull out on a hard day to remind them why they are lawyers. It is the letter from somebody who said, "I really appreciate what you did for me, you made a difference for me and my family, and you really helped me on this matter." You keep that letter. But you do not get those every day. You do not get them every month. You do not even get them every year.
With blogs you get that type of feedback on an ongoing basis. That is good because we all became lawyers for a good reason. I think most of us did not become lawyers because we did not like the sight of blood or because medical school was too hard. We wanted to do something meaningful, something positive. Somewhere around the second year of law school, we got that beat out of us, and we just kind of moved on. What blogging does is allow you to say "this is the type of work that I would like to do."
Take the example of family law. You are dealing with emotional issues all the time in an extremely high-stress environment. People can argue about the pettiest points in cases and you are right in the middle of it. It is very stressful. But you enjoy what you are doing and you think you are doing something positive. Now imagine being able to share a little bit of your passion, your take on things, and network with similarly situated people. You are getting to meet people who have similar passions. You are getting to call them friends even though you have never met them. It could be reporters, it could be other lawyers, it could be academics, or it could be a social worker. You are starting to feel good about what you do, and that new bounce in your step will allow you to be a better lawyer. You are also going to find that you are not only staying on top of the news as it relates to your practice, but also the legal issues that relate to your practice and some of the practical issues. You are having more fun practicing law. It is personally and professionally rewarding.
What to Write and How Much
Anderson: Let's talk about what to write in a blog. Do you think a law firm blog can cover a couple of topics or should it focus on one particular topic?
O'Keefe: I think you do want to focus on one niche. People want to know what you have to say about your subject.
Anderson: If you have two practice areas, should you have two separate blogs?
O'Keefe: I do not know that that is required, but to market effectively with one blog, the two practice areas would have to be very close. So if you were blogging on criminal defense and DWI, that is okay. If you are blogging on criminal defense and estate planning, that does not fit together well.
Anderson: When doing a weekly blog entry, how much writing is too much? Sometimes lawyers can be long-winded. How much writing is too short?
O'Keefe: There is one thing lawyers need to keep in mind: Make one point in a blog post, never two. So the minute you are ready to say "and in addition" or "one dimension of," it is over. Stop there.
If I am following your blog, I look at the title of your post. If it is of interest to me, I open it up. If it makes one point, that is great. If there are two or three different points in it, that's not what I wanted to see. I may not subscribe to your blog anymore. I just wanted that quick burst of news. The other thing that will cause me to not subscribe to you is if you are doing introductions that make your posts longer and turn them into paragraphs.
Going back to our example of family law, if the issue is a teenager wanting to live with one parent or another, just come out and say it: "Here is an interesting piece from Professor So-and-So on the rights of teenage children to live with one particular parent and the way the judges are treating this issue." Put in the block quote. Add two sentences about your take on it. End of post. Fifteen minutes. That is a blog post.
How to Blog
Anderson: Let's say I am new to blogging. We have a firm website, basically a brochure website with contact information, attorney biographies, and practice area details. I have heard about using blogging software or using an existing blog site or blog service. What is your recommendation on how to get started?
O'Keefe: Your alternatives are threefold. One is to use web-based blog software such as Blogger, which is free from Google. I would not advise using it. There are issues with design, archiving content by category, and blog links at the top. It is great that Google offers the service, but I do not think it is appropriate for a law firm.
Anderson: I would imagine that those sites are hobbyist tools.
O'Keefe: That is exactly the word, hobbyist. TypePad is another. I do see some lawyers using TypePad. It is better than Blogger. There is a nominal cost, somewhere between $5 and $15 a month. The concern is: Can I make it look good enough for my law firm? And what if it does have some problems—for instance, issues with comment spam or track spam?
Another alternative is to use blog publishing software that you download and put on either your dedicated server or on space you buy. If you investigate these websites, you will see all this talk about how easy they are to use and download. Keep reading and it says just write this little piece of script and hook it up. Asking you to write script is like saying, "Convert this to Latin." So most people would need IT specialists to do that.
The third alternative is to contract out the design, the development of the site, and the hosting for you. To me, it is a slam dunk to go with contracting the work unless you are a tinkerer and you have time to play around with the thing.
Anderson: Lawyers new to blogging may have concerns about using a company such as LexBlog to set up their blog. They may worry how it will work with their existing website, or if they will need to pay a lot of money to make it blend well with what they already have. Do you think those concerns well founded?
O'Keefe: In my opinion, the world is too caught up in the concept of a website. Websites did not even exist ten years ago. We did not have this insecurity about what are we doing for our website. We were more concerned with what we did to get work and further enhance our reputation. Now we do not have the yellow pages anymore, so people say, okay, I have a website. That same family law lawyer who had to buy a quarter-page ad in the telephone book paid $15,000 for that before. Now the lawyer is worried about spending $500 or $600 for a website. Lawyers may have a false impression that just because they put up a website, even an attractive one, they are going to get a significant number of visitors at the site.
Anderson: Well, assume that they even get people visiting their website. What is going to cause anybody to hire them?
O'Keefe: Websites are getting diluted to the point where they look like the yellow pages. So how do people decide whom to hire? How many websites do you read where somebody says, "We are fully committed to client service"? Nobody says, "Hey, I am slightly above average" or "I am almost as good as these other people." To some extent the website is helpful. You want to have core information there. You want to go to Google to register for local search and have your website hooked into that so you are found.
But you really want to create an effective Internet presence. An effective Internet presence is bigger than a website—it does not come from having a website that can be seen all the time. Effective Internet presence is the ability to communicate and demonstrate expertise. It is what causes people to talk about you online. We network more online now than we do offline.
Anderson: Using the web is so fast, so convenient, so efficient. There is such a wealth of available information. Going online to find anything is becoming second nature.
O'Keefe: If you do a search on Kansas divorce lawyers, you might pull up a lawyer's website and a directory of Topeka divorce lawyers listing 116 of them. Which one do you pick?
But let's say that the next item is a blog on Kansas family law. There is a lawyer who is blogging as I described earlier. You may not be ready to hire that lawyer today. However, you follow that lawyer because of the content he or she is putting out there.
It is just like a plumber who publishes a blog on how you can do plumbing repairs around your house. I may follow that plumber for a while if I do my own repairs and remodeling, but when the pipe bursts in the middle of the night and all heck breaks loose, I have got to get a plumber. Who do you think I am going to call? I call the person that I already read. The same thing is true for lawyers.
Steps to Success
Anderson: Let's talk about steps to success. Assume I have decided to go ahead with my blog and I have a decent budget. The blog will be an important part of my marketing strategy. What are my next steps in working with a company like yours? What do you see me doing?
O'Keefe: We at LexBlog take you all the way from starting up to fine-tuning how your blog is actually working for business development. We begin by consulting with you. You have to start with the end in mind. The first questions we are going to ask you are, "What is the type of work you would like to be doing?" and "Who would you like to be doing it for?" With a blog you have to be careful what you wish for because you may get it.
The next thing we ask about is what type of content is already being published in your arena? Who is blogging on your subject? What is being written in the media? This content is what you may be tapping into to share and to comment on by taking a block quote and adding your response on your blog.
Then we review the type of content that you are going to share. We talk about the design issues. What is this going to look like? We want to complement the branding that you are already doing. If you have a website, we want to complement but not necessarily match the website. We want to make sure that there is linking from the blog back to the website and vice versa.
We also want to talk about the name of the blog. What is a good name for it? We do not want to pontificate more than about 15minutes on the name because the number-one rule of Internet marketing or website development is: Don't make me think. When people come to your blog, they should know what it is. Don't use some glib title that you thought would be neat.
We create a tag line that people read to know what your blog is about. Then we come up with a URL that works. We come up with a URL simply to complement the name.
While we are designing your blog, we also train you to use it. We initially set up your blog in a password-protected environment that is secure so it cannot be indexed by Google or seen by anybody else. During the month before your blog goes live, we work with you so you know what you are doing. The site is laid out clearly with titles, links, content, services, and bio sections. We teach you how to use an RSS reader so you understand how to subscribe to blogs, searches, and news stories. We set up e-mails to come in on your blog publishing platform. They can be sent to folders you have designated. Let's say you are in Peoria, Illinois, and you monitor certain topics in and about that area. The search engine optimizes the site around the type of content you want to come up.
We continue to make sure everything is set up. For instance, we hook it up so that the RSS feeds are going to work through FeedBurner, a very reliable service for the management fee. We make it easier for people to subscribe on their own newsreaders. Then we let your blog go live. At that point we do further search engine optimization of the site, and then we work with you on what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. We take it further down the pike and work with you on client development issues and business development issues, showing you to use the blog proactively as a tool for those purposes.
There are a lot of steps, so we do not want to overwhelm our clients the first day. We go from beginner to advanced beginner to intermediate to expert. Every lawyer moves at his or her own pace, but I find that lawyers do a really good job of taking control of the Internet market. That is it.
Anderson: I really appreciate your time, Kevin. You have answered the key questions about lawyer blogs. After some up-front investment in setup and learning, lawyers who decide to blog will realize excellent returns on 15 minutes of writing each week.
Kevin O'Keefe, formerly a trial lawyer for 17 years, is president and founder of LexBlog (www.lexblog.com). He may be reached at email@example.com. Wells H. Anderson, J.D., president of Active Practice LLC, provides legal technology assistance, customization, and training to solos and firms throughout North America via remote access, teleconferences, and public webinars. He may be reached at email@example.com or 800/575-0007.
Originally published in the December 2007 issue of GPSOLO Magazine.


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WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.
RIM launched the BB Dev Alpha C for BB10 Qwerty devices.
From the BlackBerry Blog:
We like to think that we broke the mold of a developer relations program when we started our BlackBerry® 10 Dev Alpha testing device program last May at BlackBerry 10 Jam in Orlando. We've given out over 7,500 BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha testing devices to developers around the world at BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tours, BlackBerry 10 Enterprise Jams, and here at BlackBerry Jam Asia too.
As you know, there are BlackBerry 10 smartphones coming in Q1 2013 – an all-touch model similar to the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha, and a BlackBerry 10 smartphone with our industry-defining BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard.
Today we announced the next phase of the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha program – the BlackBerry Dev Alpha C. It is a testing device for developers so that you can adjust, debug, and test your BlackBerry 10 applications to get ready for the launch of the BlackBerry 10 QWERTY device next year.
We're only producing a limited number of these testing devices, and they will be reserved on a priority list for developers who have demonstrated that they are building apps for BlackBerry 10.
Distribution will be limited to developers who submit two or more applications; these developers will be given priority seeding for the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha C. These developers will be determined on the following point system:
- 50 points for ported Android™ applications
- 250 points for all other applications (Native, BlackBerry® WebWorks™, Adobe® AIR®)
- 1500 points for Built For BlackBerry certified application
- BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha A/B recipients start with 200 points
- BlackBerry Elite Members start with 200 points
The BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha C offer will run from December 1, 2012 through February 5, 2013. The details on the program can be found here, and keep following @BlackBerryDev for more info.


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Check BNN and Bulbanews for up-to-date Pokémon news and discuss it on the forums or in the Bulbagarden Discord server.
| The Purr-fect Hero
First broadcast
English themes
Japanese themes
The Purr-fect Hero (Japanese: こどものひだよ!ぜんいんしゅうごう! It's Children's Day! Everyone Gather!) is the 53rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on July 9, 1998 and in the United States on September 11, 1999.
|Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
The episode begins with Ash and his friends walking along a dirt path. They come across a few Pokémon banners and immediately recognize that it's Kids' Day. Suddenly, someone mistakes the trio for the Pokémon Trainers they've been looking for. Once she receives a phone call, she realizes that Ash and company are not the Pokémon Trainers she was searching for. However, after hearing how she wanted to do something special for the children she taught at the pre-school, the trio decides to let the children play with their Pokémon.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket reminisces about Kids' Day. James always had a great Kids' Day, whereas Jessie did not.
The episode goes back to Ash and his friends inside the school. The children rush over to play with Pikachu, who has to be taken away by Ash before it electrocuted the children. Misty and Brock also let out their Pokémon, who all began playing with the kids. However, there was one child who was off on his own. This child, Timmy had no interest in playing with any Pokémon besides Meowth. He further explains that this is due to a wild Meowth saving him from a Beedrill. However, the children are in total disbelief and mock him.
Suddenly, a bright van pulls up to the school where Jessie, disguised a magician, convinces the teacher to let her, James, and Meowth do a magic show for the children. She agrees and Team Rocket sets up. They show the children, the gang, and the teacher an empty box, and claim that they need a volunteer. Pikachu is swept up by James who places it into the box. Both Jessie and James chant before tapping the box with a wand. Meowth flies from the box and completes the trick, much to the kid's enjoyment.
The trio try to make their getaway, but are stopped by Ash who demands his Pikachu back. Team Rocket reveals themselves, but are attacked by the overly excited children. They begin to bounce around Weezing before the teacher yells at them to quiet down and leave Team Rocket alone. Getting back down to business, James tells Weezing to use SmokeScreen which was able to blind the gang.
Timmy, upon seeing Meowth's distress, rushes over to help, but knocks down the box Meowth was standing on. This also knocks Pikachu out of the box, unbeknownst to everyone else. Team Rocket picks up the box and rushes off to escape. Ash worriedly calls out to Pikachu, but Pikachu is safe and sound inside the school. However, the teacher says that Timmy has gone missing. Misty do a Meowth impression.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket rejoice their capture and open the box, hoping to pull out Pikachu. Instead, they pull Timmy from the box, who proceeds to cry. The tears stop when he sees Meowth. He runs over to Meowth, thanking him for saving his life from the wild Beedrill. Meowth was about to tell him he had the wrong Pokémon, but Jessie and James convince Meowth to go along with the kid to avoid crushing his feelings.
Putting on act, Jessie and James act like they wanted to do harm to Timmy. Meowth jumps in front of him and uses Fury Swipes to knock Jessie and James down. Meowth grabs Timmy's hand and makes a run for it. They come running back to the school, surprising everyone. The children see Meowth and apologize for not believing Timmy's story in the first place and Timmy accepts their apologies and allows them to play with Meowth, who relishes in the attention.
Meowth accidentally lets some human speech slip from his mouth, getting Misty to call him out. In desperation, he made a run for it, much to the dismay of Timmy and his classmates. Timmy chases after Meowth, followed by everyone else. Meowth is able to make it back to Team Rocket, but he is followed by everyone. Team Rocket recites their motto once more and challenges Ash to a battle. Jessie sends out Arbok while James sends out his Weezing. Ash calls his Pidgeotto out and Brock helps by using Onix.
Weezing uses Smog, which is easily blown away by Pidgeotto's Gust, along with Weezing itself. Arbok, however, escapes by using Dig. Arbok popped up in front of the gang, but was tackled by Onix. This tackle causes part of the rock on the cliff Arbok slammed into to crumble and roll. Everyone was able to escape with the exception of Ash and Timmy. However, a wild Meowth came out of nowhere, kicking the boulder in two and saving their lives. Timmy immediately recognizes this Meowth as the one that had saved him before.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket is running atop a second boulder, disappearing from sight while chasing their Meowth, unable to stop rolling.
Once back at the school, the teacher thanks Ash and his friends for all their help. Timmy proclaims he's going to become a Pokémon Trainer as well, hinting that the wild Meowth was now his. Finally, our heroes say goodbye to their new friends.
Major events
- Misty's Horsea is revealed to know Bubble.
- For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the timeline of events.
Who's That Pokémon?: Wartortle (US and international), Meowth (Japan)
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Togepi (Misty's)
- Pidgeotto (Ash's)
- Bulbasaur (Ash's)
- Squirtle (Ash's)
- Goldeen (Misty's)
- Staryu (Misty's)
- Starmie (Misty's)
- Horsea (Misty's)
- Psyduck (Misty's)
- Geodude (Brock's)
- Onix (Brock's)
- Zubat (Brock's)
- Vulpix (Brock's)
- Arbok (Jessie's)
- Weezing (James's)
- Beedrill (flashback)
- Meowth
- The correct placement of this episode in chronology is somewhat a mystery because of the episodes airing out of order due to the EP038 seizure incident. The events of this episode take place sometime after Who Gets to Keep Togepi?, because Togepi is present in this episode; it is estimated to take place either before or after the Todd Snap arc.
- This episode was originally scheduled to air on Children's Day itself, on May 5, 1998, but was rescheduled in the aftermath of EP038.
- This episode and the preceding air after The Breeding Center Secret in the dub. It aired between The Breeding Center Secret and Riddle Me This on Pocket Monsters Encore.
- The events of Princess vs Princess were referenced by Ash in this episode.
- This episode seems to have a legitimate four-Trainer Double Battle, consisting of Ash and Brock vs. Jessie and James towards the end, though Double Battles didn't exist until Generation III.
- This episode is featured on the Volume 11: Meowth copy of Pokémon All-Stars.
- Starting with this episode, the dialogue of Who's That Pokémon? sounds different from the previous episodes (unless a Pokémon has already been used in a segment).
- In a scene where the kids throw Weezing around, Weezing's eyes are missing.
Dub edits
In other languages
|Mandarin Chinese
|Odvážný hrdina
|Kattens til Helt
|De Purr-fecte Held
|European French
|Un héros au poil
|Katzenjammer und Heldengeschichten
|יום הילדים yom hayeladim
|Meowth, a hős
|Impevedibile eroe alla riscossa
|Miauczący bohater
|O Herói Perfeito
|O Herói Purrfeito
|Eroul Perfect
|Latin America
|¡El héroe perfecto!
|El perrfecto héroe
|Meowth blir hjälte
|This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.


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Delivering the Charles Wheeler Lecture for the British Journalism Review last night, Peston spoke of "unhealthy deals" taking place between journalists and "enemy" PRs.
Stating that "some of my best friends are in PR" he nonetheless called PR people "professional bullshitters".
He claimed the PR industry had become "more machine-like, controlled – and in its slightly chilling way – professional".
An excerpt from the speech, which touches on other issues including native advertising and is run in full in The Guardian, can be read below:
"My final worry is that the relentless cycle of cost cutting at the traditional news media, and the very economical staffing of much of the new news media, gives growing and potentially worrying power to the public relations industry.
There are a number of aspects to this. Many news organisations now lack the resources to generate enough of their own high-quality stories to fill their editions. When I worked on the Sunday Telegraph a decade ago, the fax machine was strategically placed above the waste paper basket so that press releases went straight into what we called the round filing cabinet. Now newspapers are filled with reports based on spurious PR generated surveys and polls, simply to save time and money.
More disturbing, perhaps, PRs seems to have become more powerful and effective as gatekeepers and minders of businesses, celebrities and public or semi-public figures. In part, that is because in some news organisations there is a fetishisation of hiring young people, who supposedly understand the digital world and what youth want to read much better than people of my generation. But the problem with many of these younger journos is that they have few proper contacts and inadequate contacts. So if they don't suck up to the PR, they don't get the interview or the story. Which in turn means that unhealthy deals are being done, with the young hacks agreeing not to ask embarrassing questions and to send the copy back to the PR for approval. Also, PRs are routinely feeding questions to inexperienced journalists, and insisting on certain hashtags being used when stories are tweeted. All of this is hideous, and degrading to our trade.
What is more, the socialising between senior PRs and proprietors and senior news-media executives means it is increasingly common for PRs to think it is acceptable to ring their mates at the top of news organisations and ask for stories to be skewed, or – if already published – removed from websites. I know of a number of examples were harried executives have conceded.
Now to coin a phrase, some of my best friends are in PR. Which is not a joke by the way. And before anyone accuses me of being a po-faced, sanctimonious git (which well I may be) I have had quite a few great stories from PRs. But the very best came in the 1990s from PRs who were rogues and pirates – and those stories were usually spectacularly damaging to their clients. In other words, PRs were just sources to be milked like any another source. But today's PR industry has become much more machine-like, controlled – and in its slightly chilling way – professional.
The point is that as a journalist I have never been in any doubt that PRs are the enemy. Pretty much my first action when I joined the FT in 1991 as head of financial services was to tell the team that they would be in serious trouble if I heard them talking on the phone to a corporate PR rather than a chief executive or chairman. My view has never changed.
I think the best explanation of why our mission as hacks is always to try to get around the PR, to sideline him or her, was made by Harry Frankfurt in his essay "On Bullshit", when he wrote:
"The fact about himself that the bullshitter hides … is that the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him; … [The bullshitter] is neither on the side of the true, nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest with getting away with what he says."
Or to put it another way, many PRs can be seen both as more pernicious than the individual who consciously speaks the truth or the person who consciously lies – in that the liar knows that he is a liar, but many professional bullshitters have lost the capacity to see the difference between fact and fiction. I should point out that of course PRs aren't the only bullshitters; but if they are not paid to bullshit, to present their clients in the best possible light, what are they being paid to do?
I did recently wonder whether we had reached one kind of high point of PR-driven madness when the Financial Conduct Authority – which has been bizarrely obsessed for a regulator with its public image – briefed the Telegraph about its muscular approach to beating up insurance companies, and then had to retract within hours when the article published by the Telegraph caused mayhem on the stock market.
Anyway here perhaps is the best evidence of how news organisations' own ethical lapses in recent years – and not just phone hacking – has been devastating to how the public sees us. Which is that PRs who have claimed that they represent the defence of truth and decency against a predatory and defamatory media haven't been seen as utterly ridiculous. God how our own stables have needed cleaning."