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Last Minute Marathon Tips
There comes a time as your marathon nears that there is seemingly nothing else you can do. You've put in countless miles. Your friends are tired of hearing that you can't go out for drinks because you're training. You've started checking the weather forecast 10 days out. Before you hand your big day over to fate, there are some things to keep in mind to make sure the race lives up to your expectations..
> Everything you wear on race day should have been worn before on a long run. Save that cute shirt you bought at the expo for after the marathon. New clothes and shoes can leave you with blisters or chafing. Stick with what you know so there are no surprises during the race.
> The golden rule also applies to your hydration and nutrition. Do not experiment with something new because you think it will improve your race. Stick to the same breakfast that you've been typically eating before long runs. During the race, use the same gels and drinks that you used during training. Mile 20 is not the time to find out that your stomach won't tolerate something new.
> Those long Saturday morning runs, the mid-week speed work, the easy runs with friends—they all had a point: to get you to the start line on race day ready to run. You cannot cram for a marathon. Know that all the miles you ran over the past months prepared you for this day.
> The taper is part of your training and you have to trust it. Squeezing in "just one more long run" a week before your race will only make you tired. Your taper should be a time to recover from the months of training so you are able to arrive at the race rested. Respect the taper.
> There will be rough spots, but how you deal with them will make the difference in your race. Envision the possible scenarios and how you will cope. Repeating a mantra can get you through them. Don't think of the miles ahead; try to pass the next person or run to the next aid station. Marathons are as challenging mentally as they are physically.
> Set a goal for the perfectly executed race, but also have a B goal in mind if things don't go as planned. Temperature, wind, and hills will make things harder and slower, so adjust your expectations accordingly. Visualize reaching your goal and crossing the finish line in celebration.
> If you are traveling to a race, organize a list and pack early. Triple check that you have everything you need for the race so that you avoid breaking the rule of nothing new! Check the weather forecast so that you have a general idea of potential weather so you can plan your race outfit.
> Make sure you know how to get to the race and where to park. There are certain things in life you don't want to be late for—the start of your race is one them. Arrive early so you have extra time to go to the bathroom, check your bag, and find your spot on the start line.
Do you have questions about getting started or finding a plan to work for you? Stop in and talk to anyone on our staff. We'll be happy to help!
Rachel Randall is the go-to girl for all marketing, media, and events at Fleet Feet Sports. She has run more marathons that she can count, and will be joining many of you on the start line of the 2016 St. Jude Marathon Weekend and the 2017 Boston Marathon.


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The Forbidden Zone review at the Barbican Theatre, London – 'an exquisite machine'
A woman sits on a train, lights flickering past, time flickering past. We zoom in on her eyes, her hands, the purse she carries, the past she carries.
The Forbidden Zone sees Katie Mitchell take the 'living cinema' techniques she's been honing over the years to new heights. On a technical level it borders on the extraordinary. The stage is split in two. The top half is entirely filled by a projection screen while the bottom section is divided into a series of intricately constructed rooms: a Chicago laboratory, a field hospital during the First World War, a public lavatory. In front of these is a life-size train carriage, capable of sliding backwards and forwards as well as splitting in two, like an aperture.
The use of cameras allow the audience to see into these individual rooms, each one richly detailed by Mitchell's regular collaborator, Lizzie Clachan. The camera operators play almost as large a part in the production as the performers, allowing for switches in perspective, for cuts between close up and long shot. While the production has a metronome quality, their movements are swift and nimble – Melanie Wilson's languid soundscape is frequently punctuated by the whip-crack of cables as they move around the stage. It's like glimpsing a swan's legs kicking beneath the surface of a lake.
The narrative, like the stage, is also divided into two. The Forbidden Zone is inspired by the story of Clara Immerwahr, a German woman married to a chemist researching the effects of poison gas. Alarmed by his work and what it might mean for the world, she extinguished her own life, firing a bullet into her heart. Her granddaughter, Claire, a scientist in a Chicago laboratory in 1949 where toxins were also being developed, would also commit suicide. History repeating itself. Mitchell paints their deaths as acts of protest, the only response to the destruction they could do nothing to halt.
Duncan Macmillan's text is spliced with the words of Mary Borden, Emma Goldman and Virginia Woolf, and the contrast between what we hear and see, between what is voiced and what is not, is potent. The two timelines are united by Kate Duchene, playing a colleague of Claire's who worked as a nurse during the First World War and saw the appalling damage done to men on the battlefield by substances created by other men in laboratories. She brings necessary tenderness to the production.
This Schaubuhne Berlin production, which premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2014, arrives in London the week after Mitchell's Ophelias Zimmer. They share common themes and there's a clear echo of Ophelia in Immerwahr's death. There's something unsettling, however, in the manner in which both women's deaths are used to generate dramatic tension, in taking an act so desperate and complicated as the impulse to end one's own life and making it seem clear-cut and almost beautiful.
The production speaks both the languages of cinema and of theatre and, as such, requires different modes of viewing. But it's entirely possible to be swept up in the story while also marvelling at the complexity, the audacity, of what it's doing technically. Towards the end, as the elements of the narrative slot together, it takes on the pace and rhythms of a thriller. It's a stunning production in more ways than one, a machine, but an exquisite machine.
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Hey guys. I'm auctioning off a copy of VEEP Episode 405 (the first appearance of Hugh Laurie's Tom James). It's signed by the entire cast, including Hugh.
UPDATE: Now includes VEEP Seasons 2 and 3 on blu-ray, a copy of FLOOD magazine featuring the men of Veep, and White House Barak Obama M&Ms and Hershey's Kisses.
I didn't want to do this on ebay, where ebay and paypal would keep some of the money. I'd rather have all the money go to the school that will be benefiting. So we are going to try it this way, and see if it works.
Silent Auction time. Comment on this post with your bid. After a week or so, they highest bid gets is.
We'll use Venmo or Paypal or check.
The benefactor of the auction will be the Los Angeles High School of the Arts. Support arts education!
Let's try.
Start it at $100.
UPDATE: Currently at $1250.


text: Okay. The good news is that rumour has it that not only will My Name is Bruce finally get a cinema realese, but it may very well have a sequel.If rumours are to be believed: Hail to the King, baby! If rumours are not to be believed, Hail to the King baby anyway. If you know what I'm talking about, this is probably old news. If you don't know what I'm talking about stand up right now and walk away from the computer. Pick up your wallet and your keys, get in your car, drive to your local video library, walk up to the counter and say "Hello, sir! May I hire Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn" and "Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness:"? If. in your mind, you are wondering "Why am I hiring sequels to a movie I've never seen?", ignore this. It only seems like rational thought. Take the DVDs and go home. Watch them. Watch them now. And, when you're done, tell me youre not a monarchist.I dare ya!Anyway. It's crazy, rambling film-geekery what gets me into the trouble. I was so genuinely hurt by what I saw that I wasn't really able to approach it as a normal human being with critical faculties intact. It meant too much to me. It was such a part of my childhood that I couldn't see straight – and maybe I still can't. So, to wash away the sins of Indy 4, I watched Raiders the other night with a friend. And it was awesome! But not fundamentally as different from the tragedy of Indy 4 as I had imagined.Raiders has all those Spielbergian comedic beats, which date poorly. It has that curious mix of awesome action and silly gags. The fight in the streets of Cairo is played as three quarters clowning around and only one quarter genuine danger, for example. It also has implausible scenes, like the G-men in the first act telling Indy that "this is all strictly confidential" while they happily chat in an enormous echoing lecture-hall.That being said, Raiders is awesome and Crystal Skull is just downright silly. It doesn't matter that they are built of similar elements – an argument that's been offered me more than a few times by folks who liked the movie. What does it matter that the elements are the same? Star Wars has the same elements as Phantom Menace. Godfather 3 had all the same elements as Godfather 1. Happy Days still had Fonzie after he jumped the shark.Raiders was awesome and Crystal Skull was terrible.I'm just saying.


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The supply of Soil Functions in European Soils
Rachel Creamer
Wageningen University, Netherlands
Francesca Bampa
Teagasc, Ireland
This blog post is the fifth in a series of global perspectives on the concept of soil health. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
Why do our Soils matter?
The Sustainable Development Goals were established in 2015 by the United Nations to to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. There are 17 goals in total and each goal has targets to be reached over the next 15 years. Recently the Sustainable Development Goals were rearranged by the Stockholm Resilience Centre to highlight the importance of soil, land, water and climate as they underpin all the remaining development goals. Soil is essential for society as a whole, as it provides us with our food, raw materials for fuel, clothing, as well as an environment in which we can flourish as a cultural society.
Soil is specifically mentioned in four of the 17 Goals only, these include; No. 2 dedicated to Zero Hunger in the World, No. 3 on Good Health and Well-being, No. 12 on Sustainable Production and Consumption and No. 15 Life on Land. While soil was not considered in the original text of the goal No. 13 Climate Action, the agreements made at the Paris Climate COP 21, in November 2015 highlighted the role of soils in Climate Action as well, in particular for carbon sequestration.
In Europe, there has traditionally been a focus on soil functions and threats, rather than soil health. In 2006, the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection was developed looking at the role of soils in society. This document highlighted the main soil threats (compaction, erosion, salinity, acidification, landslides, loss of biodiversity, sealing, decline in organic matter and contamination) and also the positive message of the functions that soil supplies to society (substrate for plant growth, habitat for biodiversity, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration and cycling, water quality and regulation, platform for infrastructure and store for archaeology). Following the Soil Strategy, a European Legislation was developed looking at minimising the threats to soils and enhancing soil protection. This was named The Soil Framework Directive. However, this Directive was never accepted by all member states, with the focus on soil threats and was removed from policy discussions in 2014.
Therefore, the approach now is to look at the role of soils from a positive perspective and show what soils can do for us as a society and how we can sustainably manage this precious resource.
What do we want from our soils?
We must first decide what are the main soil functions that we want the soil to deliver? In an agricultural context, this is primarily to provide food, fibre and fuel – whether that is cereals, beef, milk, biomass crops, or wood etc. However, in the production of food, we must also ensure that we do not diminish the capacity of the soil to also carry out the other soil functions necessary to ensure sustainable food production. This dual optimisation of both agricultural supply and the capacity of the soil to meet environmental requirements can be at times challenging.
What do we mean by soil functions? In agricultural systems, we consider the following functions that the soil supplies:
Primary productivity - providing maintenance for the growth of food. feed and fibre, this includes; root support, water and air through the soil structure.
Cycling of external nutrients – capacity of a soil to absorb and store and slowly release nutrients to crops over time.
Water purification – ability of a soil to remove excess nutrients and pollutants from water before it reaches the water source.
Carbon storage and cycling – capture and cycling of carbon sources from the atmosphere and plants, that carbon then provides strength to the soil structure and nutrient reserve.
Biological habitat – provides a home to the largest diversity of biological organisms on the planet. These soil organisms drive most of the processes that take place in soil.
Managing our soils lives at the heart of farming systems. So understanding what functions our soils are best at delivering is essential to get the best from our land. While all soils are capable of delivering on all functions, some soils are better than others at specific soil functions. That is traditionally how we decided where to grow which crops, which areas to leave to nature and which soils are suited more grassed based or forest land use types.
Managing our soils across a range of scales
Every day, farmers make decisions on how they manage their land and soil, including decisions on fertilisation, ploughing, reseeding, weight of tractors, application of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides, etc. At the same time, national and European policy makers make long-term decisions on how to manage their soil resources at larger scales, such as how to work towards meeting greenhouse gas emission targets through optimising carbon sequestration in soils.
Therefore, the contemporary challenge for researchers and stakeholders is to link the decision making on land management across scales, so that the practicalities of how farmers make decisions on a daily basis is reflected in policy formation.
We cannot expect all soil functions to be delivered simultaneously to optimal capacity, but with careful decision making we can optimise our soils to provide multiple functions. In reality not all functions can be optimised to their full capacity at the same time, as the conditions required to deliver one function may be in contrast to those to deliver another function. A good example of this, is the requirement for nutrient cycling which may compete with the with the ability of the soil to support the function habitat for biodiversity, where external inputs include sewage sludge derived materials, which can have a significant impact on the soil biology. However, in many cases multiple functions can work in synergy together and in most scenarios three out of five soil functions can be optimised together.
Mapping and Assessing Ecosystem Services:
In addition to the soil functions approach, there is an increasing focus on mapping and assessing soil based ecosystem services. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) defines soil based ecosystem services as; "Ecosystem services are a way of putting a value on biodiversity by looking at what it does and how we value the function that the soil performs".
MAES (Mapping and Assessing Ecosystem Services) is part of the Action 5 deliverable of the Biodiversity Strategy. The Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission are currently in a process of developing guidelines for the mapping and assessing of soil ecosystem services. These guidelines will be provided to Member States within Europe, who will be asked to identify and map the soil ecosystem services within their country.
What the future holds for soils in Europe
While there is no current legislation for the protection of soils in Europe, there is certainly increasing recognition of the role of soils in society. There is a lot of on-going research which is identifying the role of soil functions and how we can optimise the supply of these functions in a sustainable manner. One such project is the LANDMARK project, funded by the Horizon 2020 European Research Funding. This includes representative scientists, advisors, land managers, and policy makers from across Europe, China and Brazil. This project is looking at the role of soil functions at three different scales:
Local scale – to help farmers optimise the soil multi-functionality on their farms
Regional scale – to identify how soil functions vary across the different climatic zones of Europe and how we measure soil functions.
An assessment of policies that can ensure that we 'make the most of our land', from both an agronomic and environmental point of view at a global scale.
For more information on LANDMARK see: http://landmark2020.eu/
Follow LANDMARK on Twitter: @Landmark2020


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Alien Movie Props in The Bob Burns Collection
We wrap up the Monsterama series with a monster movie that is near and dear to me. On the heals of Star Wars, I was space crazy like most other pre-teen kids of the late 1970s. But I had never lost my love for monster movies. Famous Monsters of Filmland had effectively (to younger readers) folded the Star Wars generation into their world of classic monsters to stay relevant but also because George Lucas was himself a monster kid who had grown up under the influence of Uncle Forry and crew. Then, in 1979, the perfect merger of sci-fi and monster movies arrived to scare all of us Star Wars fans out of our seats.
My parent's dropped my younger brother and I off at the theater and bought us tickets, giving permission for us to see Alien. It was terrifying. I was twelve and it was one of the first monster movies I had ever seen on the big screen. It was also the first R rated movie I had ever seen.
CCM Archives: Collecting Alien memorabilia
Needless to say, Alien had a huge impact on this monster kid and I take great pleasure in knowing that so many of the original props used in this terrifying monster in space movie are in the possession of the one and only Bob Burns. This episode of Monsterama takes us back inside his collection for a closer look at his amazing collection of movie memorabilia from the Alien franchise.
Related Posts:
- Monsterama Episode 2: The Bob Burns Collection
- Monsterama Epsiode 4: Stan Winston
- Most Valuable Monster Movie Props


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@OKC April 16
The Stormers needed to travel to OKC and take care of business if they wanted to control their own destiny in their quest for the Red River North Title. They accomplished just that in a very workmanlike manner. Darren Oliver once again led the Stormers offense, he accounted for 20 points with 4 Tries. Ronnie Parkinson scored 2 Tries and kicked 4 conversions. The remainder of Little Rocks score sheet was dotted with familiar faces that tallied one Try each: Blake Blaylock, Corey Jones and Matt Guest. Parkinson was voted Man of the Match by the OKC Club. The season scoring crown is coming down to Ronnie Parkinson and Darren Oliver with a possible Wrench thrown into the mix. Mike Baum is back from injury and may resume his kicking duties which could take away points from Parkinson's Boot. If I was a betting man, don't bet against Oliver, he always comes up big in epic clashes which is a good description for this weeks final Home Matchup with Tulsa.


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The Importance of Mentoring
Mentoring has always been one of the most effective ways to guide others in their journeys. So, what is mentoring? Mentoring is a relationship based on trust. It offers mentees objective support and advice to facilitate their professional development. Having a mentor can be one of the most powerful developmental relationships a young … Read more
NOKIA is Recruiting!
Nokia is recruiting for a Digital Marketing Executive to join their Sales & Marketing team. Job Title: Digital Marketing Executive Job Type: Contract Business Group: Sales & Marketing Business Unit: UK & Ireland Start Date: Immediate Nokia makes adventure possible everywhere, every day. Adventure is any size, and happens anytime and anywhere. It's not limited to only big experiences. … Read more


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Sunday, March 02, 2008
You Make my Day and California Dreamin'
13 comments:
- Rosie's Whimsy said...
I've seen the commercial you were talking about in PA. What good PR :-) Rosie
- March 02, 2008 9:40 AM
- Suzy said...
What a nice commercial. Well done marketing job.
- March 02, 2008 10:55 AM
- Glenda said...
I too live in California and wondered the same thing.
Why are we seeing it ?
It is a great commercial.
Feel the love Cindy !
- March 02, 2008 11:27 AM
- Alison Gibbs said...
Hi Cindy congratulations on your award. Like Tara I also received this award from Siobhan.
Great commercial.
- March 02, 2008 12:42 PM
- Alicia ~ Time Worn Style said...
I'm the same Cindy, I think I lost one too!! congrats on your award!!
alicia ~ time worn style
- March 02, 2008 12:59 PM
- Janet said...
We see the ad in Mass as well, but I *really* love the California Cow ad campaign. Puts those poor Vermont cows I grew up with to shame :)
- March 02, 2008 4:14 PM
- Janelle said...
I love that California commercial! I've only been there once, for a week, ten years ago, but it was one of the happiest experiences of my life! I hope to go back someday soon.
- March 02, 2008 4:40 PM
- Sher's Creative Expressions said...
Lucky you having 70 degree weather in California. . . we are going to get 40 degrees tomorrow here in Michigan and I'm thrilled with that!! Isn't that sad?
- March 02, 2008 6:30 PM
- VINTAGE GIRL AT HEART said...
We see it here in Florida too. Looks beautiful.....I have never been there.....yet!!
Funny I live near Disney and we get all of the Disney/Tourism commercials...go figure??!!
Have a great week!!
- March 03, 2008 3:25 AM
- Brenda Kula said...
Hey, love your blog. Just found it while looking at someone else's and linked over. I just want to say this: I've been married now three times! I seem to be unlucky in love too, and I doubt I'll get divorced again after two. I wouldn't say I'm completely happy. But I just turned 51, so have to be practical. My heart just seems to be out in the gardens I love and with the pets I love. And as for romantic love, I think I'd rather have a romantic porch!Perhaps the concept of monogamy and "forever love" just isn't feasible. Going through the "mid-life" so maybe it's all just hormones. You'll get there too!
- March 04, 2008 5:53 AM
- Alyson said...
We have the commercial in Connecticut. However, I was born in raised in CA and so I know it isn't always so ideal in the golden state as they make it seem. I miss certain things about CA, but I don't miss the crazy real estate prices and tiny lot sizes. The sunshine is great though!
- March 04, 2008 9:28 AM
That commercial is on in Toronto Canada...and with the winter we have had, it is darn alluring.
Love your blog.
- March 05, 2008 11:38 AM
- Rue said...
I was born and raised in California, but now I'm in Ohio. I've never seen it here. Strange that they are playing it there. Maybe they heard that some people are moving away and they want to tell them how much fun it would be to stay?? LOL
Great Blog, by the way!
Rue :)
- March 10, 2008 1:29 PM


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Turkey was central to the Eastern Roman Empire, and then the Ottoman Empire and has lived through turbulent times with conflicts, alliances and grand projects.
Further to the north, the Turkish coast shares with the Greek islands the vestiges of antiquity and the characteristic Mediterranean landscape: olive groves, port villages facing the clear waters of the inlets… On the western side of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, minarets and domes of former Ottoman palaces mark the outline of Istanbul's Golden Horn. The Romans called the city Constantinople when Hagia Sophia was built there, at the time themostmagnificent church in all of Christendom. Its monumental volumes, colorful marbles and mosaics inlaid in gold are still as awe-inspiring as ever. Nearly ten centuries later, the architect of the Blue Mosque, its neighbor, tried his best to surpass the beauty of the basilica — and at least equaled it.
Sitting in the shade with a glass of çay (the local tea) or a Turkish coffee whose grounds scour the tongue, this is the perfect vantage point for contemplating the slowly shifting tableau of ships on the strait. An endless rotation linking Europe to Asia that echoes the entranced whirling of the Sufi dervishes, whose rotation is intended to link the earth with the heavens. In Cappadocia, the mysticism is geological. Erosion has sculpted the volcanic rock of the central Anatolian plateau into otherworldly chimneys, canyons and caves in which the Byzantines painted frescoes, still preserved in a landscape frozen in time.


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by Chet Gaines. Image from Wonkette of people praying to the Golden Bull on Wall Street for economic improvement.
Modern economic theory is presented as a science. Elaborate mathematics and diagrams are employed to derive principles that are assumed to be universal among economic actors, even though the specialized math used is a "dated version" (Keen 6) and such diagrams "often contain outright fallacies" (Keen 14). After a closer examination of the dominant economic theory and its critics, one might come to the conclusion that it is actually a belief system quite similar to a religion, not an actual scientific study. The following definition of religion is given by Clifford Geertz:
"(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic." (Bowie 20)
It is simple to see that economic theory is a system of symbols, that it establishes moods and motivations, and that it formulates a conception of existence and order. What is less obvious to the casual observer is the aura of factuality economic conceptions are clothed in. The content that follows should assist the reader in understanding how some of that aura operates to create the realism of economic motivation. It is because of this realism that people believe in economic concepts, regardless of the facts, and that belief in turn gives the concepts social power.
"The belief that economic theory is sound, and that it alone considers 'the big picture', is the major reason why economics has gained such an ascendancy over public policy. Economists, we are told, know what is best for society because economic theory knows how a market economy works, and how it can be made to work better, to everyone's ultimate benefit… If this proposition were true, then economic theory would be clear, unequivocal, unsullied, and empirically verified. It is nothing of the sort." (Keen 3-4)
First, let's review the creation story of the monetary market, the birth of money.
"The story of money for economists always begins with a fantasy world of barter." (Graeber 23)
The creation story of the monetary market economy lies in the myth of barter economies. Though "no example of a barter economy… has ever been described, let alone the emergence from it of money" and "all available ethnography suggests that there never has been such a thing" (Graeber 29), economists have long insisted that this model of economy led to the use of currency. One of the most well-known, though not the earliest, expressions of this myth comes from the work of Adam Smith, who had a specific motivation for telling the story.
"For economists, it is in a very real sense the most important story ever told. It was by telling it, in the significant year of 1776, that Adam Smith, professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow, effectively brought the discipline of economics into being… it is, as I say, the great founding myth of the discipline of economics." (Graeber 24-25)
Though people as early as Aristotle supposed the existence of a barter economy, no one was actually sure of how the transition from barter to monetary economics occurred. The prevailing assumption at Smith's time was that since governments issued money, the origin of money must have been intertwined with the origin of governments. Smith objected to this notion, preferring the assumption that money and private property predated political institutions. In the process of recording his creation story of money, he created economics.
"…this story played a crucial role not only in founding the discipline of economics, but in the very idea that there was something called "the economy," which operated by its own rules, separate from moral or political life, that economists could take as their field of study." (Graeber 27)
The myth of barter economics never changed, even as more information became available regarding the practices of early economies. In the latter part of the 1800's Stanley Jevons wrote "what has come to be considered the classic book on the origins of money" (Graeber 29) and borrowed from Smith a hypothetical description of barter in a Native American economy, though accurate descriptions of such economies existed and didn't match at all what Smith had invented about their culture.
"Around that same time, missionaries, adventurers, and colonial administrators were fanning out across the world, many bringing copies of Smith's book with them, expecting to find the land of barter. None ever did." (Graeber 29)
The myth of the barter economy lives on even today, though economists sometimes avoid claiming it as historical fact by presenting it as a thought exercise. Economic textbooks often invite the reader to "imagine an economy something like today's, except with no money" then point out that it "would have been decidedly inconvenient" and conclude for the reader that "people must have invented money for the sake of efficiency" (Graeber 23). It is this unyielding attitude in the face of historical data that leads one to question the scientific nature of economic inquiry. Why should our history of money be "precisely backwards" (Graeber 40) with the assumption that economic activity began with barter instead of debt?
"The existence of credit and debt has always been something of a scandal for economists, since it's almost impossible to pretend that those lending and borrowing money are acting on purely "economic" motivations (for instance, that a loan to a stranger is the same as a loan to one's cousin); it seems important, therefore, to begin the story of money in an imaginary world from which credit and debt have been entirely erased." (Graeber 22)
The story is told without debt so that we can assume the concept of economic motivations to be sound, even though all ethnography suggests otherwise. This violation of economists' assumption about human behavior leads us to our next economic myth, the rational self-interested actor.
"In practically no human society examined under controlled conditions have the majority of people consistently behaved selfishly." (Benkler 14)
The "dominant assumption in Western society about human motivation" has been that "human beings are basically selfish creatures, driven by their own interests" (Benkler 2). The major debate has been not whether this assumption is warranted, but rather how to manage this seemingly intrinsic quality of humans. There have been two basic solutions put forth to this problem: the force of the state, known as the Leviathan, and the magic of the market, or the Invisible Hand. Over time society has alternated between these two solutions, finding one to be appropriate for a while, then reverting back to the other. But before we argue about which mechanism we should use to manage this intrinsic selfishness of ours, we should first question our assumption of self-interest.
"Perhaps humankind might not be so inherently selfish after all. Though the work of hundreds of scientists, we have begun to see mounting evidence in psychology, organizational sociology, political science, experimental economics, and elsewhere that people are in fact more cooperative and selfless, or at least behave far less selfishly, than most economists and others previously assumed. This isn't just theory; dozens of field studies have identified cooperative systems, often more stable and effective than equivalent incentive-based ones. Even in the study of human biology, evolutionary biologists and psychologists are now finding neural and possibly genetic evidence of a human predisposition to cooperate. Though it may sound counterintuitive, there is much evidence that evolution may actually favor individuals (and societies that include these individuals) who are driven to cooperate with or help others, even at cost to themselves." (Benkler 13)
While the presumption of universal selfishness has been shown to be faulty, the dominant economic thinking still reflects this age-old myth about our motivations. This assumption has led to an interesting development over the past few hundred years in economic thinking, the deity-like character known as the Invisible Hand. This concept has its roots in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. In the second chapter of the fourth book, Smith writes about a hypothetical preference for domestic rather than foreign industry. This preference for one's own nation leads to social gain for the nation as well, which was not part of the original intention of the preference. Smith's basic claim was that this and other selfish acts can lead to social gain. This is the only place in the entirety of the whole five book series where the Invisible Hand is to be found, and yet it has become a rather prevalent metaphor in discussion of the market, reflecting the larger theme of Wealth of Nations.
"Smith's Wealth of Nations argued that because humans are inherently self-interested and human decision making is driven by the rational weighing of costs and benefits, our action in a free market would tend to serve the common good. In other words, in our pursuit of self-interest we would work to fulfill one another's needs, not because we care about one another's well-being, but because it is mutually advantageous to do so." (Benkler 4)
There may be some element of truth in indirectly assisting another through one's own activities, but should such a mechanism be relied on for social well-being? Faith in the Invisible Hand metaphor has grown to justify all sorts of economic and financial behaviors that demonstrably reduce social well-being. By the close of the twentieth century, a narrower and more exaggerated version of Smith's self-interested actor had been embraced by economists and business leaders. Unfortunately, when applied incorrect assumptions have real world consequences. Joseph Stiglitz, Chief Economist and Vice-President of the World Bank, has pointed out that time after time economic crises have been "precipitated by economists." This is in spite of the fact that the economy now "looks a lot more like the economic textbook ideal than did the world of the 1950s" (Keen 2).
"Though mainstream economics began by assuming that this hedonistic, individualistic approach to analyzing consumer demand was intellectually sound, it ended up proving that it was not." (Keen 23)
The facts are that we have followed "erroneous beliefs and ways of thinking about human nature" (Benkler 19), and that this model has permeated "not only… the business world or… the markets" (Benkler 10) but every facet of our lives.
"…our existing social and economic systems – from our hierarchical business models, to our punitive legal system, to our market-based approaches to education – are often designed with the wrong model of who we are, and why we do what we do." (Benkler 14)
How do we come to these faulty notions of what economic behavior means? And how are such notions maintained? These are learned beliefs that result from specific training in economic theory that has its own versions of mathematics and statistics and that is also "ridden with internal inconsistencies" (Keen 18).
"Non-economists may criticize the economic representation of a human being as a totally self-interested entity, but they probably expect this economic representation to be internally consistent. It is not." (Keen 26)
One of the problematic features of economic theory is its ability to "start with some key proposition, and then contradict that proposition at a later stage" (Keen 18). Professor Keen points out in his book Debunking Economics that economic theory assumes consumers to be both unique and identical in their behavior in order to resolve the issue of being "unable to extrapolate" the behavior of an individual into a coherent analysis of "society as the simple sum of its individual members" (Keen 26-27). But if such contradictions are as simple to recognize as Keen makes them sound, then why is it that most students of economics seem not to recognize these contradictions?
"Unlike many other critiques of economic theory, most mainstream academic economists are aware of this problem, but they pretend that the failure can be managed with a couple of assumptions. Yet the assumptions themselves are so absurd that only someone with a grossly distorted sense of logic could accept them. That grossly distorted sense of logic is acquired in the course of a standard education in economics." (Keen 27)
Keen explains that "most introductory economics textbooks present a sanitized, uncritical rendition of conventional economic theory" (Keen 5) with conclusions "which would apply if the theory had no logical flaws" (Keen 27). Many only take an introductory course and move on to career oriented courses in accounting, finance or management where these concepts go unchallenged.
The minority of students who do persevere with their economic education learn the techniques of economics analysis "with little to no discussion of whether these techniques are actually intellectually valid." Critical literature is "simply left out" of the instructional material and students are taught "specious assumptions" that resolve observed contradictions (Keen 5).
"However, most students accept these assumptions because their training leaves them both insufficiently literate and insufficiently numerate. Modern-day economics students are insufficiently literate because economics education eschews the study of the history of economic thought. Even a passing acquaintance with this literature exposes the reader to critical perspectives on conventional economic theory – but students today receive no such exposure. They are insufficiently numerate because the material which establishes the intellectual weaknesses of economics is complex. Understanding this literature in its raw form requires an appreciation of some quite difficult areas of mathematics – concepts which require up to two years of undergraduate mathematical training to understand. Curiously, though economists like to intimidate other social scientists with the mathematical rigour of their discipline, most economists do not have this level of mathematical education." (Keen 5)
Keen goes on to elaborate about the problems of gaining a mathematical education through economics courses. He explains that the math used in economics courses is isolated from current mathematical methods, which would "undermine much of economic theory" (Keen 6) if applied. The reasoning for having separate courses for economic math is to teach specific concepts related to economics not covered in a more general math course, but the problem is that this separation has led to "peculiar versions of mathematics and statistics" (Keen 6) by not keeping up-to-date with modern mathematical methods.
"Economics students therefore graduate from Masters and PhD programs with an effectively vacuous understanding of economics, no appreciation of the intellectual history of their discipline, and an approach to mathematics which hobbles both their critical understanding of economics, and their ability to appreciate the latest advances in mathematics and other sciences. A minority of these ill-informed students themselves go on to be academic economists, and then repeat the process." (Keen 6)
The process Keen lays out is more like the training program of a religion than a scientific discipline of skepticism and falsification. Myths like the barter economy and the self-interested actor are encouraged, while the evidence against these concepts goes undigested. These tales function more as cosmologically orienting stories than they do actual principles and laws of the physical universe. Furthermore, fresh views of our economic possibilities are hindered by market dogmatism which maintains the status quo.
A less indoctrinated view of what economics is reveals more than just a few myths, but a new economic paradigm about to unfold. The technology of automation is advancing more than ever, challenging human labor not only physically but also cognitively. Algorithms and robotics are being used to perform tasks once thought to be exclusively in the realm of human labor. The resulting displacement of workers by the automation of labor can be termed technological unemployment, a major factor in our current economic troubles.
"The ranks of the unemployed and underemployed are growing daily in North America, Europe, and Japan. Even developing nations are facing increasing technological unemployment as transnational companies build state-of-the-art high-tech production facilities all over the world, letting go millions of laborers who can no longer compete with the cost efficiency, quality control, and speed of delivery achieved by automated manufacturing… Life as we know it is being altered in fundamental ways." (Rifkin 5)
Technological unemployment is often dismissed by market economists as it is generally believed that technological advancement tends to create more jobs than it destroys. This may have been true in the past, where only people's physical abilities were challenged by automation. However, with modern applications of algorithms, our brainpower is now being challenged as well. It's not only factory workers that must worry about losing their jobs to automation, but also journalists, lawyers, surgeons, and practically everyone else.
"We are being swept up into a powerful new technology revolution that offers the promise of a great social transformation, unlike any in history." (Rifkin 13)
This new level of technology calls for a new level of economic understanding, one recognizing true resource efficiency rather than just market efficiency, which Keen notes "is itself flawed" (Keen 5). Through the application of technological advancements, a greater efficiency can be created resulting in an abundance of resources, a process known as ephemeralization. Since traditional economics defines itself as being concerned only with scarce resources, and since scarcity is a profitable notion, the theory is motivated against creating or recognizing abundance. However, there is a slowly growing appreciation for the abundance that is becoming available through technology, and the efficiency that could result from an abundance based approach, rather than one which assumes scarcity.
For example, a market behavior that could be described as ritualistic is that of ownership. Deeming physical or intellectual items as 'property' is an attempt at ensuring protection against scarcity. However, given our current ability to create an abundance of all goods needed to sustain society, does it make sense to create scarcity by artificially restricting access to goods? In other words, the ownership metaphysic is itself inefficient and only exaggerates scarcity. It takes a massive amount of resources to enforce this unnecessary notion. In 2011 there were 9,063,173 property crimes in the United States, compared to just 1,203,564 violent crimes (Disaster Center). If the resources used to prevent the vast majority of crimes were suddenly not needed, how much attention could violent crimes receive? Through automation, an abundance of goods could be created and made available to anyone in need of them, effectively bypassing any need for the concept of property because access itself has been guaranteed by the infrastructure. Direct access to goods also resolves the issue of technological unemployment, as it will be harder and harder to pool money from the market to purchase items necessary for living if unemployment continues to increase.
"The quickening pace of automation is fast moving the global economy to the day of the workerless factory." (Rifkin 7-8)
This implies a new concept of economy; a concept not based on human labor, but on individual and social well-being as understood by science.
"Even some of the most committed economists have conceded that, if economics is to become less of a religion and more of a science, then the foundations of economics should be torn down and replaced." (Keen 19)
The word "economics" comes from a Greek term meaning "management of a household." As evidenced by the recent meltdown at Fukushima, externalities recognize no national borders. Our household is the entire planet, and we can only make efficient use of its resources by recognizing it as a single system. There is only one biosphere. What happens to it affects us all. We need to redefine economics so that it actually ensures our total well-being to the greatest degree possible while maintaining an ecological balance. We need a holistic economic theory based on empirical data, not traditional notions.
Works Cited
Benkler, Yochai. The penguin and the leviathan: How cooperation triumphs over self-interest. New York: Random House, 2011. Print.
Bowie, Fiona. The Anthropology of Religion. 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2006. Print.
Disaster Center. "United States Crime Rates 1960 - 2011." The Disaster Center. Web. 24 Nov 2012.
Graeber, David. Debt, The First 5,000 Years. Melville House Pub, 2012. 20. Print.
Keen, Steve. Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor of the Social Sciences. New York: Zed Books, 2003. Print.
Rifkin, Jeremy. The end of work. New York, NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin a member of Penguin Group, 1995. Print.
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Monday Music News
Brit indie-rockers The Kooks, currently promoting their latest album Junk of the Heart (Astralwerks), which dropped last September, will be embarking on a U.S. headlining tour this upcoming February and March, with tix on sale now; this will be the band's first U.S. junket since their sold-out roster of dates stateside late last year. If that isn't enough Kooks for you, you'll also be able to catch the band live as special guests of fellow indie-popsters Foster the People, who will be hitting the road in May and June with all of their gear (and presumably their pumped-up kicks, too.) The Kooks' initial run of dates will include two stops in NYC's Central Park, which are rumored to be part of the park's Summerstage series (5.29 and 5.30.)
The National are thinking ahead – almost a year ahead, to be exact – and will curate the 2012 All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Somerset, England next December. The event will also serve as their only UK show of the year, as the band are currently starting writing work on the follow-up album to their 2010 set, High Violet. In addition to The National's performance on the bill, they'll be joined by the likes of the Kronos Quartet, Wye Oak, Boris, Owen Pallett, and Megafaun, among others – 40 bands in all, plus a book club and film series also curated by The National themselves.
Did you miss ex-White Stripe Jack White on the quirky-cool U.S. History Channel show American Pickers? Then keep an eye on the channel for repeats if you want to catch White hilariously bartering some of his musical goods (including a vintage photo booth that was used in a music video for one of White's other bands, The Dead Weather) for some decorative items dug (ahem) up by Pickers Mike and Frank; the quotes alone are worth the watch. In other White news, he's tapped Tom Jones to be his newest collaborator for a one-time single remake of Jones' 2002 track "Jezebel" that will be offered up as part of White's Third Man Records' Blue Series.
PYXIS POINTS | Jack White collaborator (and Raconteurs bandmate) Brendan Benson will be dropping his own solo album, What Kind of World, on April 24 | Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood is collaborating with Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki on an eponymously-titled album due on March 13 | '80s icon Thomas "She Blinded Me with Science" Dolby will be promoting his new album A Map of the Floating City with a futuristic time-capsule-accompanied road tour running from March to May | Mumford and Sons have spent the last few months in the English countryside working on the sequel to their Sigh No More album | Classic NYC punkers The Ramones are being, erhm, 'honored' with their own Wacky Wobbler bobbleheads, including instruments and tiny leather jackets | Drummer J. Tillman has left indie-rock band Fleet Foxes, and will go, as he put it on his blog, 'back into obscurity' | Wilco are dropping a live EP this week, an 8-song iTunes set recorded in the band's Chicago studio that includes a duet with Nick Lowe on the latter's track "Cruel to be Kind" | and Death Cab for Cutie's recorded performance on PBS' Live from the Artists' Den will begin airing on the American station on February 17 – Kristi Kates


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The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
When the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced the moderators for the 2012 presidential and vice presidential debates, there was widespread excitement about the fact that two women were on the list. Think Progress's Annie-Rose Strasser called the move a "significant step toward greater equality." Nancy Pelosi tweeted that she was "very glad" about the decision. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner of MomsRising.org summarized the sentiment of many voters with one word: "Finally."
ABC News's senior foreign affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz was selected to moderate the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan, and Candy Crowley, CNN's chief political correspondent, will moderate one of three presidential debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Although PBS's Gwen Ifill moderated the vice presidential debates in 2004 and 2008, the last time a woman moderated a presidential debate was when Carole Simpson did it in 1992.
The 20-year drought of women moderators prompted teenagers Emma Axelrod, Elena Tsemberis, and Sammi Siegal to launch a Change.org petition demanding that a woman be included in the slate this year, and it garnered over 120,000 supporters. Although CPD officials declined to meet with the lead petitioners, the New York Times reported that Crowley beat out other leading contenders such as CNN's Wolf Blitzer due, in part, to the commission's "desire for diversity." Sadly, as noted by The Feed's Eric Deggans, diversity appears to be a zero-sum game when it comes to moderator slots. The presence of two women amplified the absence of other types of diversity on the panel. Ifill, an African-American with more direct experience moderating national political debates than Crowley or Raddatz, was omitted from the list, as were the nightly news anchors from the major networks and broadcasters from Fox News and Univision—not to mention print journalists, bloggers, academics, pundits, or members of policy think tanks.
Alan Schroeder has outlined the complexities involved when attempting to comprise a slate of moderators representative of a diverse voting public, noting that diversity should extend beyond facets of identity to include ideological and professional diversity. Members of the CPD, itself, seemed resigned to the fact that theirs is a losing battle. Commissioner Mike McCurry told the New York Times, "We cannot make everybody happy. That's just a fact of life."
Assessing the composition of the CPD's moderator slate should go beyond the simplistic finger pointing that accompanies most discussions of whose voices are included in or omitted from the debate. This year presents a unique opportunity to assess how women are positioned in this discussion because Crowley's nomination has been heralded as a victory—a feel-good story in which the earnest efforts of three teenagers resulted, as the title of their petition suggests, in "Equality in the 2012 Presidential Debates!"
To judge whether or not equality has, in fact, been achieved, we must consider the format of each debate. The formats of presidential debates are both consequential and highly contested. Although journalists and voters clamor for debate formats that allow for a substantive exchange of ideas, the candidates typically negotiate short time limits for answers, preserving their ability to answer questions with simplistic sentiments plucked from their stump speeches. As Communication scholar Jay Self noted, in 2004, John Kerry's and George W. Bush's campaigns produced a 32-page Memorandum of Understanding governing everything from the format and choice of moderator to the staging to whom could be present in the audience during the town hall debate.
This year, the campaigns agreed to three presidential debates. According to the guidelines posted by the CPD, the domestic policy debate (moderated by PBS's Jim Lehrer) and the foreign policy debate (moderated by CBS's Bob Schieffer) each will feature 15-minute debate segments and will cover topics determined by the moderator. Conversely, the debate moderated by Crowley will be a town hall debate in which citizens ask the questions and candidates' responses are confined to the more traditional 2-minute time frame, with a 1-minute follow-up period. The CPD website makes clear that Crowley's role will be limited to discussion facilitation, in contrast to the latitude given to Shieffer and Lehrer in selecting debate topics, formulating questions, and asking multiple follow-up questions during the 15-minute discussion period.
Why did the CPD choose to assign Crowley to the debate in which the moderator is most constrained? In Politico.com's blog The Arena, McCurry described the slate as follows: "We have two very experienced, seasoned, veteran journalists who have been around and have done it, and then we have two women in between who have both distinguished themselves in their reporting and the awards that they've won." On one hand, McCurry characterized the moderator slate in toto as "arguably one of the strongest that the debate commission has ever had in moderators." On the other hand, however, he awarded the title of "experienced, seasoned, veteran journalists" to the male moderators and referred to Crowley and Raddatz, simply, as "women." His language belies the fact that the male journalists were held in higher professional regard by the CPD than the female journalists. Think Progress's Alyssa Rosenberg argues that a more fundamental bias may be influencing the decision: "preserving the right of white guys to interrogate other white guys." Rosenberg alleged that President Obama's presence on the podium "is meant to represent African-American interests." If true, that fact might explain why Ifill (whose status as a female African-American allowed her to serve as a convenient "two-fer" in previous debate cycles) was overlooked this year.
Regardless of the rationale informing the commissioners' decision, the absence of a woman moderator from the two debates in which moderators control the questions is consequential. Some of the most fundamental distinctions between Obama and Romney are expressed in their positions on health care and reproductive rights—matters of policy with unique implications for women. A conversation about those issues will be markedly different if it is occurring between three men (Lehrer, Romney, and Obama) versus a conversation between each candidate and a female moderator.
In addition, consider the measures by which a moderator is judged in a traditional debate versus a town hall debate. American Studies scholar Robert P. Watson, castigated Carole Simpson for her efforts in moderating the 1992 town hall debate, arguing that she was too intrusive when she interrupted the candidates and citizen questioners in an effort to clarify the discussion. Conversely, however, Watson derided Donald Van Boskirk, who moderated the first recorded presidential debate between candidates in a Republican primary, for "manag[ing] to stay completely out of the way and allow[ing] the candidates to speak at length in an unfettered manner." Watson's conflicting pronouncements suggest that in the traditional debate format, the moderator is supposed to take an active, authoritative role, whereas in the town hall debate format, the moderator is tasked with facilitating discussion as unobtrusively as possible. In 2012, then, Crowley will be judged according to her ability to fade into the background of the debate, whereas Lehrer and Shieffer will be rated on their ability to hold candidates accountable. Additionally, if women are never given the opportunity to prove themselves as moderators in more traditional formats, male moderators will perpetually be judged as more experienced than women in that context.
Equality is not simply a matter of inclusion. It is a matter of regard. When women are regarded as equals to men, their inclusion in important democratic events will be routine—not something that must be agitated for through petitions and negative publicity. Communication scholar Kathleen Hall Jamieson explains that, more than any other genre of campaign communication, debates are instructive for voters. The crucial give-and-take between and the candidates and a moderator yields unique and valuable insights about the candidates and their policy stances. But debates also educate citizens about the degree to which women and individuals of diverse ethnic backgrounds, religious associations, and ideological convictions are valued in a democracy. The process of planning the 2012 presidential debates reveals that in journalism and electoral politics, women's equality is still being debated.
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Open Space and Mountain Parks Master Plan
Final OSMP Master Plan Released for City Council Consideration
To all those who love and protect Boulder's open space system, thank you. The Open Space Board of Trustees (OSBT) and Planning Board have recommended that City Council accept the OSMP Master Plan with minor modifications. Since the boards' recommendations, we have updated the document with the OSBT's suggested modifications.
We are now pleased to release the Final Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Master Plan for consideration by City Council on September 3.
You can also view the Executive Summary .
Following City Council's final acceptance of plan content this fall, we will prepare an illustrative document to bring our shared vision to life, as well as staff work plans to make it real. Members of the public can still share final comments on the plan at the City Council meeting on September 3, during the public hearing.
Final OSMP Master Plan for City Council consideration
We are now pleased to release the Final Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Master Plan for consideration by City Council on September 3.
You can also view the Executive Summary .
Final Draft of OSMP Master Plan for board review
The final draft of the OSMP Master Plan was recommended, with minor modifications, to City Council for acceptance by the OSBT on July 31, 2019 and by Planning Board on August 1, 2019.
- View the Final Draft of the Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Master Plan
- View the Executive Summary
To see community feedback that has informed the final draft of the plan visit our What We've Heard page.
First Draft of OSMP Master Plan
The first draft of the OSMP Master Plan reflected more than 10,000 public comments and input from thousands of community members. It was then revised with additional feedback we heard during the final engagement window.
- View the First Draft of OSMP Master Plan
To see community feedback that has informed the draft plan visit our What We've Heard page.
About the Master Plan
For nearly 120 years, generations of Boulder residents have created an innovative public land legacy in building the city's 45,630-acre open space system. Help us to continue and improve on that proud legacy by creating an inclusive, community-based master plan to guide the management of our community's open space over the next decade and beyond.
The Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Master Plan will shape the City of Boulder's approach to future stewardship questions, such as: How to continue conservation of natural, cultural and scenic areas while also providing enjoyable visitor experiences, how to address population growth with increased visitation, and how the city will make its natural areas more resilient amid climate change.
Community feedback during the first and second windows of engagement, OSMP purposes in the City Charter, and the department's System Overview Report led to the development and City Council approval of focus areas- or management themes- which will help provide a foundation for the development of draft OSMP Master Plan strategies. During the third window of engagement OSMP shared preliminary Master Plan outcomes and strategies related to four Master Plan focus areas: Ecosystem Health and Resilience; Responsible Recreation, Stewardship and Enjoyment; Community Connection, Education and Inclusion; and Agriculture – Today and Tomorrow. OSMP kick-started community conversations about desired results for city open space and how the city can achieve them by sharing staff-generated preliminary outcomes and strategies derived from community feedback, existing OSMP policies, and best practices in managing open space and public lands.
OSMP used community feedback as well as input from staff and the Open Space Board of Trustees to develop revised Master Plan strategies. During the fourth window of engagement community input and results from a statistically valid survey informed how these draft strategies will be integrated across the focus areas and compared against three funding scenarios and financial sustainability strategies.
Read our System Overview Report to review the state of your Boulder open space. Sign up for email updates on the Master Plan.
Why develop a Master Plan?
For decades, the City of Boulder has worked to preserve and improve its open space through a series of management plans. However, current and future trends require a more comprehensive approach. For example, there is less land available for acquisition in the Boulder Valley. Open space sales tax increments that fund acquisitions are scheduled to sunset or decease over time. Population in the Front Range is growing, and increasing visitor use and carrying capacity are topics that open space areas along the Front Range are beginning to address. In addition, many youths are becoming more sedentary, with more children growing up without a connection to nature. At the same time, climate change and invasive species are affecting OSMP's ability to conserve important landscapes, and resilience to wildfires and flooding is a focus for the City of Boulder and other communities along the Front Range. We also live in a diverse world and we recognize the need to be more inclusive, welcoming all who live in our community.
In addressing these topics, the OSMP Master Plan will create a community-supported management plan for the future and satisfy citywide expectations that master plans have been developed to guide service delivery.
What will the Master Plan accomplish?
Community members' input will be used to address management topics, helping the city to:
- Focus OSMP's operations around key management topics and measures of success.
- Define and prioritize strategies that will help OSMP fulfill open space purposes as defined in the Boulder City Charter.
- Build community understanding that compromises and a balanced approach are important to establish management priorities that are inclusive and equitable.
- Develop financial scenarios to anticipate future funding over the long term.
- Help to confirm, refine and add new management approaches, including recommendations to update existing plans, and to pursue new planning and design efforts that align OSMP's services with broad guidance in the Master Plan.
The OSMP Master Plan will not include site-specific recommendations, such as the exact placement of trails or facilities or allowable activities or visitor-use levels for specific locations. Updated or new plans that emerge after the Master Plan will provide more specific, on-the-ground guidance. The OSMP Master Plan will not recommend changes to open space purposes in the Boulder City Charter. Learn more about the process and engagement plan for the Open Space and Mountain Parks Plan.


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Unit Type: APC and Infantry
Using their heavily armoured Drakkars to redeploy Steel Warriors across the battlefield, the Forge Fathers can have an uncharacteristic level of mobility when they need it.
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Below we have listed all the QA Testing Interview Questions and answers. Feel free to comment on any QA Testing Interview Questions or answer by the comment feature available on the page.
To buy an eBook containing 30,000 Interview Questions, with Answers, Click Here.
View All QA Testing Interview Questions & Answers - Exam Mode / Learning Mode
Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the set of planned and systematic actions necessary to provide appropriate confidence that a product or service will satisfy the requirements for quality.
|Give me full explanation for SDLC process.
|A camel rests by a pile of 3000 bananas at the edge of a 1000-mile-wide desert. He plans to travel across the desert, transporting as many bananas as possible to the other side. He can carry up to 1000 bananas at any given time but he must eat one banana at every mile.
What is the maximum number of bananas the camel can transport across the desert? How does he do it?
|What is the difference between high level design and low level design?
|How test estimation (in terms of schedule, cost, resources required) will be done during developing of test plan?
|What is a Risk ?
What are the important components of the risk?
|What are the contents of Risk management Plan? Have you ever prepared a Risk Management Plan ?
|What are the parameters of Quality cost?
|To build and release the build to the QA. Does any body knowing in detail about this profile?
|When testing the password field, what is your focus?
|Could we test window's calculator through winrunner. for e.g if i have to show get the value of calculator buttons.
|The system runs at Intranet environment and it has a security system. The security system's architecture designed on User and Role system. There are only one system Role and that is System Amdin Role and user can also create as many role as he needs. Role is attached with an user and a user can login to the system if he has a role. Role mainly instanciate the permissions of resources in that role. And the system has about 100 system defined resources and there may be some user-defined resources also.
So, in this environment, for testing the security system. how to develop test plan and test script ?
|What is the exact difference between functional and non functional testing?
|What is your view of software QA/testing?
|Could anybody explain the difference b/w Patch, Build and Pilot.
|Write one test case describing the expected results according to the user's rights? It is logical to be described different expected results for one action?
|How do u conduct boundary analys testing for "ok"pushbutton
|What is the BEST WAY to write test cases?
|Which of these tools should I learn?
|What is the definiton of top down design?
|Give five common problems that occur during software development.
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Latest 20 Questions
Payment of time- barred debt is:
(a) Valid
(b) Void
(c) Illegal
(d) Voidable
Consideration is defined in the Indian Contract Act,1872 in: (a) Section 2(f) (b) Section 2(e) (c) Section 2(g) (d) Section 2(d)
Which of the following is not an exception to the rule, "No consideration, No contract": (a) Natural love and affection (b) Compensation for involuntary services (c) Completed gift (d) Agency
Consideration must move at the desire of: (a) The promisor (b) The promisee (c) The promisor or any other party (d) Both the promisor and the promisee
An offer which is open for acceptance over a period of time is: (a) Cross Offer (b) Counter Offer (c) Standing Offer (d) Implied Offer
Specific offer can be communicated to__________ (a) All the parties of contract (b) General public in universe (c) Specific person (d) None of the above
_________ amounts to rejection of the original offer. (a) Cross offer (b) Special offer (c) Standing offer (d) Counter offer
A advertises to sell his old car by advertising in a newspaper. This offer is caleed: (a) General Offer (b) Special Offer (c) Continuing Offer (d) None of the above
In case a counter offer is made, the original offer stands: (a) Rejected (b) Accepted automatically (c) Accepted subject to certain modifications and variations (d) None of the above
In case of unenforceable contract having some technical defect, parties (a) Can sue upon it (b) Cannot sue upon it (c) Should consider it to be illegal (d) None of the above
If entire specified goods is perished before entering into contract of sale, the contract is (a) Valid (b) Void (c) Voidable (d) Cancelled
______________ contracts are also caled contracts with executed consideration. (a) Unilateral (b) Completed (c) Bilateral (d) Executory
A offers B to supply books @ Rs 100 each but B accepts the same with condition of 10% discount. This is a case of (a) Counter Offer (b) Cross Offer (c) Specific Offer (d) General Offer
_____________ is a game of chance. (a) Conditional Contract (b) Contingent Contract (c) Wagering Contract (d) Quasi Contract
There is no binding contract in case of _______ as one's offer cannot be constructed as acceptance (a) Cross Offer (b) Standing Offer (c) Counter Offer (d) Special Offer
An offer is made with an intention to have negotiation from other party. This type of offer is: (a) Invitation to offer (b) Valid offer (c) Voidable (d) None of the above
When an offer is made to the world at large, it is ____________ offer. (a) Counter (b) Special (c) General (d) None of the above
Implied contract even if not in writing or express words is perfectly _______________ if all the conditions are satisfied:- (a) Void (b) Voidable (c) Valid (d) Illegal
A specific offer can be accepted by ___________. (a) Any person (b) Any friend to offeror (c) The person to whom it is made (d) Any friend of offeree
An agreement toput a fire on a person's car is a ______: (a) Legal (b) Voidable (c) Valid (d) Illegal


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Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Prakriti Mishra, Class of '15
Bayasaa Enkhbaatar, a 2nd year Booth student, has lived in and traveled to many a exotic destinations in her twenty-something life. From growing up in Mongolia to attending college in Bulgaria and vacationing across South America, she fondly declares her love for exploring new people and places. It was thus unsurprising that when inklings of Booth's 2015 spring break destinations started infiltrating Winter Garden conversations, a familiar feeling gnawed at her head, this time with renewed intensity - WANDERLUST.
Bayasaa had never been to Israel before... or Morocco! And what about Patagonia? All trips happening over the same week, all participants drawn from the same group of loveable Boothies. Where should she go?
There are currently five trips formally in the offing through Booth student groups: Israel, Japan, Korea, Morocco and Patagonia. Each trips boasts of a unique value proposition that aims at attracting different personalities from Booth.
Leif Andreassen, co-chair of Leadership in Action and organizer of the extreme-hiking Patagonia trek, emphasized that participants would receive a "unique opportunity to learn about leadership environment where consequences are real." This includes making decisions for their entire group about where to camp and which routes to take amidst incomplete information.
The Patagonia, Korea, and Morocco trips are all brand new - organized for the first time in Booth history. Hicham Talebali, an organizer of the Morocco trip, points to his ambitious goals for the experience: "I want to leave Booth with a flagship MENA event; I want people to talk about this trip for years to come, and leave this legacy as the best organized, and most epic trip on campus."
As a testament to the well-rounded itineraries of these trips, and perhaps to the power of FOMO, as of 11/27/14, the Israel trip was sold out, Patagonia had extended its capacity from 10 to 15 to meet demand, and Japan, Korea and Morocco were optimistic of their ability to sell out. Given that these trips in total accommodate just 200 out of 1200+ Boothies and their partners, it is not surprising that they are at or close to capacity.
The speed at which they sold out is another issue. The Israel trek reached capacity within 2 minutes of opening up registration. Patagonia got to capacity within 2 days of opening up registration. What social and emotional configurations must be in place such that 80 Booth students commit over $3000 (in economic costs) in less time than it takes to microwave a bag of popcorn? ("This isn't even an MCG event!" exclaimed one disgruntled, anonymous 2nd year who hasn't applied for any trips in fear of yet another rejection.)
According to Tyson Chapman, a participant on the much-coveted Israel trip, "Not only is the trip an opportunity to visit the holy land of three of the worlds largest religions, but we also get a customized tour from native classmates and unique access to Israeli military and politicians." The ability to explore new worlds from the eyes of locals, who happen to be classmates, adds to the once-in-a-lifetime nature of these trips. The Israel, Japan and Korea trips are being led by at least one native Boothie. Additionally, the Japan trip's coordinating travel agency is in fact founded and run by a Booth alumnus, allowing the cost of the trip to be minimized.
Bayasaa last week officially chose to be amongst the 80 Boothies who will be landing in Tel Aviv Israel next March. Meanwhile, with T-110 days until Spring Break, the Winter Garden hasn't stopped buzzing with sounds of other trips frantically being Kayak-ed and AirBnB-ed. Brazil, India, Colombia... get ready for some Boothies!
Prakriti is C-3 continents and Y-4 years away from reaching her (allegedly unambitious) goal of stepping on 6 continents (minus Antarctica) before she turns 30.


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Englishmen say "There is no bad weather, there are bad clothes." This statement means that they like all the seasons, and all kinds of weather. Every season is good in its own way. Each person likes this or that season. It depends on his character, and mood. They say that Pushkin liked autumn very much. This season is full of colours, bright and beautiful. The sky is blue, but sometimes grey clouds appear. The sun shines but it begins to hide behind the clouds. Its rays are not so warm. Autumn is full of vegetables, fruit, mushrooms. There is nothing like Indian summer in autumn. As for me, I like to walk on the carpet of bright leaves listening to the last songs of birds flying to warm countries, and looking at nature. It is like a fairy tale; The colors fade away and nothing can be done. Soon drizzling rains will begin and everything will be dull and sad. But, still, I like autumn. Winter in Usinsk is long and severe with dark nights, bitter winds and hard frosts, but sometimes
there are quiet, frosty winter days, when it is snowing. Fluffy soft snowflakes are falling to the ground making a beautiful thick carpet. The icecles glitter in the sun, and the snow sparkles like a diamond. Going outdoors in such weather is pleasant. Many people go to the forests and enjoy sledging and skiing, throwing snowballs and making a snowman. As for spring, people in Usinsk long for it and dream about it during long winter days. It comes late and suddenly. I don't like it because my town becomes grey. But spring is the beginning of new life, when nature awakens from its long winter sleep. The trees begin to bud and soon tiny green leaves will appear. Young green grass appears, and fruit trees begin to blossom. Everything looks magic covered with a green carpet. Nature looks full of promise. I like summer because we have holidays and enjoy resting after the school year. In my opinion, every season is beautiful and attractive. As one famous poet said:"I see no reason to speak in prize of any season".


text: The looming threat from the destruction of The World has seriously brought to organizations considering methods to educate people on being atmosphere friendly. Lots of emphasis continues to be put on saving energy consumption and taking advantage of ecological friendly items in daily existence. Taking care of that's been skipped ...Read More »


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The Complete Collection of all Editions
Video of all 215 works in the collection of all editions. Click to view 10 min. presentation (soundtrack by Yello)
The collection of all editions to date includes 270 works made by artists from over forty countries especially for Parkett. This page gives a short introduction to the collection with some exhibition views from museums, that have presented the collection.
View the video of all works (running time: 10min./ soundtrack by Yello).
View the virtual museum
View a detailed description of all editions
For further information please contact Parkett.
"Commissioned by PARKETT, the most important artists of our time have created editions that represent the essence of their art or reveal an unexpected dimension. The works cover every possible medium including painting, photographs, drawings, prints, sculptures, videos, DVDs,and sound pieces."
Iwona Blazwick, Director, The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
"… the diversity of works on view offer a sense of what artists can do with the challenge of how to distill their practices into a single, compact object or image … in doing so the show goes beyond traditional notions of space, scale and scope, in ways both subversive and poetic."
Philip Tinari, Director, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, BeijingView artists' list alphabetically and chronologically (pdf)
Catalogue Raisonné of all Editions (in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean)
The collection of all editions is fully documented and illustrated in Parkett's catalogue raisonné, published in English, Chinese (simplified & traditional), Japanese and Korean.
The catalogue features essays by Deborah Wye, Curator, MoMA, New York, Susan Tallman and others, including full page color reproductions of all works, 512 pages.
New York, Museum of Modern Art,
"Collaborations with Parkett, 1984 to Now," 2001
"The MoMA collection contains numerous examples of editions by the most significant artists of the modern period... the editions made for PARKETT carry on this rich tradition."
Deborah Wye, Chief Curator emerita,
Prints and illustrated Books, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Beijing, UCCA,
"Inside a Book a House of Gold," 2012
"... a wonderland of ... fantastical treasures ... the scope and quality of what is on display, not to mention the artists involved ... make this show one of the strongest so far this year"
Time-Out, Beijing
Zurich, Kunsthaus,
"Parkett -20 Years of Artists' Collaborations," 2004
"... Parkett's editions highlight the Zeitgeist, the hopes and fears of artists in the globalized world, their questions of identity, of past and future, their zest for life, and their creation of new utopias..."
NZZ, Zurich
Kanazawa, Japan 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
"200 Artwork – 25 Years," 2009
"If you want to see the entire forest, in terms of contemporary art, instead of looking at trees, this exhibition is a fitting choice. While blockbuster exhibitions usually focus on a single artist or group, the exhibition showcases 200 artworks by as many world-renowned artists ... offering a stunning wrap up of contemporary art at a glance."
Korea Herald, Seoul
Paris, Centre Pompidou,
La Revue Parkett, 1987
"A show of the work produced for a revolutionary magazine functions as a mini-museum of the recent time."
Financial Times, London
Cuenca, Spain
University Castilla La Mancha, Arts Faculty Permanent Parkett Viewing Room and Study Center (open since 2010)
"The collection allows the University to present a dynamic, lively museum in full dialogue with the main centers of contemporary art in Spain. Together with the artworks, the Faculty also displays all Parkett volumes published since 1984, and in doing so fully reflects Parkett's unique character as a small museum and large library. 'The scholarly and teaching character of this collection is very significant' concludes the Faculty's vice dean."
El Mundo, Madrid


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The World's Most Unfortunately-Named Fish, and Very Clever Bacteria
Do bacteria have brains?
Next time you're tempted to feel sorry for yourself, you may choose to thank your lucky stars you weren't born an Acanthonus armatus.
If you had been, you'd be an odd type of tadpole-looking deep-sea fish with two enormous reasons not to be cheerful.
First, you'd have the smallest brain to body weight of all known vertebrates.
There's worse to come, though.
Your common name would be the Bony-Eared Assfish.
And you thought you had it bad.
I bring this unfortunate, pea-brained fish to your attention in part because I believe it is next to impossible to read "Bony-Eared Assfish" without at least a modest smile, which I'm sure we all need on a Monday, but also because I want to address that old question: "Do bacteria have brains?"
You see, although the short answer is "No," the longer answer is "Well not exactly—but it's very interesting…"
Technically, scientists define a brain as an organ composed of many cells, so a single-celled organism such as a bacterium obviously can't have one of those.
But this doesn't prevent bacteria doing things which seem on the face of it pretty darned clever.
For example, how is it that bacteria are able to move towards food, or away from pathogens which could hurt them?
Well, there are receptors on the surface of a bacterial cell which pick up signals from external chemicals.
And when the receptors on one side of the cell pick up more signals than those on the other, the microbe can "decide" to either move in that direction—if it's food—or scurry off the other way if it's something toxic.
Many bacteria travel using a kind of tail called a flagellum, which which acts a bit like a propeller, powered by a protein "motor".
When there's food on their table, or something nasty lurking, bacteria don't exactly hang around.
One of the very speediest, for example, Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus, can move 100 cell lengths a second, the equivalent of a six-foot human running at 400 mph.
To some extent, therefore, even though bacteria don't have brains, they can move intelligently.
But what about other functions that a brain might deliver?
Surely bacteria don't have memories or communication abilities, for example?
Well, think again.
Consider the fact that many types of pathogenic bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, a huge problem in the healthcare world.
Does this mean that bacteria are somehow learning?
In some ways, yes.
Once a bacterium has figured out a way to halt the attack of an antibiotic, it's able to maintain the necessary genes for future use, and these are passed on as the cell reproduces.
Interestingly, however, this "memory effect" seems to depend on the microbes remaining within their host.
Austrian researchers in 2014 demonstrated this by taking Listeria monocytogenesfrom mice and discovering that the cells' metabolic response was different once it was growing on a Petri dish in the lab.
Their "memory" seemed to fade once away from their host.
Other scientists, though, believe that bacteria can be persuaded to develop elephant-like memories.
In 2014, a team at MIT turned E. coli bacteria into a long-term storage device which they termed a "genomic tape recorder."
They were able to insert DNA into a targeted site within the bacteria, making a "recording" which could then be replayed by sequencing the DNA in the same way we do at uBiome.
The scientists believe that considerable amounts of data could be stored in this way, meaning that re-engineered bacteria could, for example, be designed to live in the human digestive tract to monitor dietary intake.
Even more recently, UCSD researchers in 2015 conducted a study suggesting that bacteria might well be able to communicate from cell to cell.
They noticed that tartar on teeth caused by Bacillus subtilis grows to a certain thickness, then periodically stops before restarting its growth again.
This happens even when all the right nutrients are present.
What's going on, they believe, is that bacteria in the sheltered center of this biofilm communicate their need for nutrients to their fellow tooth-riders on the surface so rather than being consumed up there, the bacteria-food gets passed down the chain into the center.
The researchers suggest that bacteria communicate using the same kind of electrical signalling mechanism as neurons in the human brain.
All in all, therefore, the fact that bacteria don't have brains doesn't stop them being pretty smart.
Even more reason to not only love your bacteria, but to respect them too.
Further reading
Bacteria become "genomic tape recorders"
Biologists discover bacteria communicate like neurons in the brain
Cell Structure – Golgi Apparatus
Deciphering Host Genotype-Specific Impacts on the Metabolic Fingerprint of Listeria monocytogenes by FTIR Spectroscopy
How Do Bacteria Make Decisions?
Ion channels enable electrical communication in bacterial communication