text:
EPA carbon crackdown set to launch
The EPA will launch the most dramatic anti-pollution regulation in a generation early next month, a sweeping crackdown on carbon that offers President Barack Obama his last real shot at a legacy on climate change — while causing significant political peril for red-state Democrats.
The move could produce a dramatic makeover of the power industry, shifting it away from coal-burning plants toward natural gas, solar and wind. While this is the big move environmentalists have been yearning for, it also has major political implications in November for a president already under fire for what the GOP is branding a job-killing "war on coal" and promises to be an election issue in energy-producing states such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Louisiana.
Story Continued Below
The Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule is aimed at scaling back carbon emissions from existing power plants, the nation's largest source of greenhouse gases. It's scheduled for a public rollout June 2, after months of efforts by the administration to publicize the mounting scientific evidence that rising seas, melting glaciers and worsening storms pose a danger to human society.
( Also on POLITICO: Keystone and the Udall-Gardner race)
"This rule is the most significant climate action this administration will take," said Kyle Aarons at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, one of a host of groups awaiting the rule's release. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has urged the EPA to "go ahead boldly" with the rule, saying the agency must step in where Congress has refused to act.
But for coal country, the rule is yet another indignity for an industry already facing a wave of power plant shutdowns amid hostile market forces and a series of separate EPA air regulations. Coal-state Democrats like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin have joined the criticism, echoing industry warnings that the fossil fuel was crucial to keeping the lights on in much of the U.S. during this past brutal winter.
"You have another polar vortex next year, how many people will lose their lives?" Manchin asked at a POLITICO energy policy forum Tuesday.
Other red-state Democrats, like Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky's Senate race, have disavowed Obama's EPA proposals — she denounced an earlier agency power plant rule as an "out-of-touch Washington regulation." West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall, one of the most vulnerable Democrats in November, complained last year that "this callous, ideologically driven agency continues to be numb to the economic pain that their reckless regulations cause." And Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), a top Republican target this year, has voted with Republicans to hobble the agency's rules.
( Also on POLITICO: Landrieu paints target on Republicans after Keystone vote failure)
But supporters say that whatever the political dynamics, the need for acting on climate change is dire.
Next month's debut comes after a series of scientific reports warning about the rising seas, worsening storms and other havoc that global warming will bring to people around the world, including effects that have already started to appear in the U.S. The White House has spent months in a steady effort to call attention to those findings, as part of an outreach that included having Obama give one-on-one interviews with television meteorologists this month.
"This is a problem that is affecting Americans right now, whether it means increased flooding, greater vulnerability to drought, more severe wildfires," Obama told one of the forecasters. "And people's lives are at risk."
'We can't sit by silently'
It's not just the coal industry that's losing sleep over the rule. Manufacturers and industries like oil refining have been eyeing the power plant regulations as the starting gun for a process that will eventually lead to greenhouse gas limits for a wide variety of businesses.
( Sign up for POLITICO's Morning Energy tip sheet)
"These regulations could reduce the diversity of our energy supply, increase electricity and compliance costs for American businesses and shrink our competitiveness," said Ross Eisenberg, vice president for energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers. "We can't sit by silently while that happens."
Despite opponents' warnings that the rule will be a death sentence for coal-fired power, EPA leaders have been adamant that they'll offer states ample "flexibility" to devise their own ways to cut carbon. Some states may join regional cap-and-trade networks, similar to an existing Northeastern compact that has co-existed with coal plants for years. Others could push for investments in wind and solar power, or in energy efficiency programs that help homeowners and businesses reduce their demand for electricity.
The rule, set to become final in mid-2015, would apply to the nation's thousands of coal and natural gas-fired power plants. But coal — the cheapest, dirtiest and most abundant fossil fuel — would bear the heaviest burden.
( Also on POLITICO: Full energy and environment policy coverage)
That means its impact could be greatest in states like Kentucky, a major coal producer that gets as much as 90 percent of its power from the fuel — and which as recently as 2010 had the country's lowest electricity prices. It's also a crucial state in the 2014 Senate electoral calendar.
Republicans have said they also intend to use Obama's climate policies as a wedge in states such as Alaska, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina and Iowa — all places where the GOP has a chance to pick up a Senate seat now held by Democrats.


text:
Folks waiting for The Wine Advocate reviews for Washington will have to wait a while longer. Originally slated for the October 31st issue, the reviews will now be part of the December set of reviews. The delay was announced via e-mail to wineries as well as via Mark Squires' Bulletin Board. Writing about the change on the bulletin board Robert Parker stated, "I decided to push Washington state back to December, largely because the upcoming issue is exceptionally large even by our fanatical standards, and such articles don't lend themselves to being divided in two parts."
8 hours ago

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Beneath 'Mediscare' talk, who's right?
When the Obama campaign accused Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan of wanting to "end Medicare as we know it," the two Republicans could have responded: "Yes, you're right — our country is going broke, and we're going to have to make some painful choices if we want to survive."
But they didn't.
Story Continued Below
Instead, Romney and Ryan declared themselves to be the ones who would "save" Medicare — and accused President Barack Obama of being the one who would kill it.
It's not like Obama is anxious to discuss the details of his plan either since he took a knife to Medicare spending when he signed the Democrats' health care reform law in 2010.
( Also on POLITICO: Ryan wades through Medicare questions in Fox interview)
So you can forget about that high-minded "adult conversation" about entitlement spending that everyone says we ought to have. Obama doesn't want it, Romney doesn't want it and the National Republican Congressional Committee officially took it off the table this week with a memo advising candidates not to even utter the words "entitlement reform."
What we'll get now is three months of "Mediscare" — with Republicans and Democrats warning daily that the other guy would throw grandma off the cliff.
So who's right?
They both are — and they both aren't.
Medicare is going to have to change no matter who wins the White House. Unless Washington does something, the Social Security and Medicare trustees say the Medicare hospital trust fund will start spending more than it takes in come 2024.
Both Obama and Romney say they'll slow the growth of Medicare spending to make sure that doesn't happen.
"In some ways, the distinctions are not as sharp as the participants in the shouting match would like one to believe," said former CBO chief Robert Reischauer, an expert on Medicare financing.
But there's a lot of shouting. Here's how to cut through it:
The Democrats' claim: Ryan and Romney would "end Medicare as we know it."
Why the Democrats are right: Even Republicans admit that Medicare would change under Ryan's House Republican budget — that's the whole point: "If we don't deal with Medicare, it goes bankrupt," Ryan told CNBC earlier this year.
"[T]he truth is, we simply cannot continue to pretend that a Medicare on track to become bankrupt at some point is acceptable," Romney said Monday in Florida.
Ryan would slow Medicare spending by changing the way Medicare works. Instead of giving seniors health insurance, the government would give them "premium support" — money they would have to use to buy insurance from private companies or from the Medicare system.
Republicans argue that free-market competition between health plans will bring premiums down. But if it doesn't, seniors will be on the hook for the difference between the "premium support" and the premiums.
Democrats see another problem with the Ryan plan. They say that, given the choice, healthier seniors will use their "premium support" — critics call it a "voucher" — to buy insurance from private health plans that can tailor their benefits to appeal to healthier people. Meanwhile, the sickest seniors — the ones whose care will cost the most — will flock to traditional Medicare. That would overburden Medicare, critics say, making it more and more expensive down the road.
"The higher premiums, in turn, could lead more and more of its healthier enrollees to leave traditional Medicare for private plans," according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Over time, traditional Medicare could become less financially viable, and eventually it could unravel, because it would be competing on an un-level playing field in which private plans captured the healthier beneficiaries and incurred lower costs as a result."


text: PHOENIX - Two men have been sentenced to several years behind bars for their roles in a gun smuggling ring that was part of the U.S. government's Operation Fast and Furious.The U.S. Justice Department says Jacob Anthony Montelongo was sentenced Monday in Phoenix to nearly 3 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and dealing guns without a license. Sean Christopher Steward received a nine-year sentence for conspiracy and lying.During the Fast and Furious operation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents hoped to track illegally obtained weapons to high-level arms traffickers, but authorities lost track of many of the guns.The operation led to congressional inquiries. It was exposed after two of the illegally obtained weapons were found at the scene of the 2010 fatal shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.


text:
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text:
L. Neil Smith's
Number 312, March 27, 2005
"The sooner the better"
By Definition
Special to TLE
I... am a terrorist. No, no, not that kind of terrorist, but apparently a terrorist nonetheless. You may be even more surprised to learn that you might be, too.
Before we can really talk about terrorists and terrorism, we need to understand just how it is that terrorism is defined. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English language, terrorism is either "the unlawful use or threat of violence especially against the state or the public as a politically motivated means of attack or coercion" or "violent and intimidating gang activity."
The idea behind terrorism is simple: to generate terror. The methodology, regardless of the specifics, is simple: sudden and deadly violence of the kind that any rational human being would find terrifying. Terrorists hope their actions will engender whatever change it is they're aiming to facilitate through such intense fear. In a world where news is both quick and global, there are few who don't know about any number of examples of such acts of terrorism, thus spreading the effects far and wide.
There are those in Israel or in Israeli-occupied terroritories who promote their cause by strapping explosives to themselves and then setting them off in public places. They are hoping to use a fear of crowds in shopping, entertainment, or transportation venues (not to mention the very real economic implications of such fears even when they're not realized) as a way of getting the Israelis to leave disputed lands and/or to acknowledge Palestinian autonomy.
The men who bombed an American military barracks in the Middle East, and those who set off explosives near the hull of a US battleship in port to collect supplies, were working to cause fear, doubt, and dissent among members of the US military (the fact that they were also making a point against US policy in that region of the world was almost incidental). By so doing, they apparently were hoping to decrease any American miliitary presence in that part of the world. At the least, they might have hoped to undermine American military discipline.
The hijackers who flew passenger planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 had some specific goals in mind, too. With their World Trade Center targets, they intended to wreak some economic havoc (terrorists had struck the WTC before and for much the same reason). In targeting the Pentagon and some other Washington institution (the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was believed headed for either the US Capitol or the White House) were shouting out loud and clear their disapproval of American foreign policy in the Middle East. The symbolism of the targets is unquestionable; the terror that followed is also a matter of record.
In its knee jerk reaction to the 9/11 attacks, the federal government rapidly defined its targets not only as terrorists but as those who are broadly defined as "potential" terrorists. It also established anti-terror laws such as the USA PATRIOT Act and new agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security. From the perspective of both the laws and the agencies, the most immediate result was that of a curtailment of civil liberties. Numerous innocent Americans have to undergo the expense and inconvenience of proving that they aren't guilty of anything other than wanting to fly on an airplane or open a bank account. Some of them have even been jailed indefinitely without so much as the proffering of charges against them. (I freely grant you that some of those being held in Guantanamo are probably real live terrorists by a real live definition of the word. But if there's enough evidence to suggest that that's the case, let's see some charges filed! And if there's not enough evidence even for that, then perhaps we should let them go. Fortunately, it wasn't too long ago that a Federal judge said pretty much the same thing, and the government is now scrambling to make some kind of case.)
Distilled down to its most basic premise, virtually any human being could loosely be termed a "potential" terrorist. After all, if you have an index finger and an opposable thumb, you could conceivably shoot somebody. If you have even a rudimentary knowledge of chemistry, you might be able to understand instructions as to how to manufacture some explosive compound or another. But an exceedingly rare few actually live up (or down) to their "potential." In a country of more than 300 million people, we're looking at Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Eric Robert Rudolph, the "Unibomber," and a few lunatic anti-abortion folka percentage of the "potential" total that's so close to zero it can scarcely be registered. Yet by terming potentiality as a criteria, there's an even more real potential to fear: the potential for abuse of such definitions by authorities.
Even so, merely saying that virtually all of us are "potential" terrorists doesn't get to the real heart of the matter. The biggest problem for those of us who are innocent is that some in government have gone much further. They've enaged in what is essentially a rewriting of definitions so as to target some people who are notespecially at the momentparticularly popular with those same government authorities. Coincidentally (or perhaps not so coincidentally), many of the people falling under these more refined definitions are the same people who are the most likely to be railing against government inroads against various freedoms.
For example, some years ago, then-Attorney General Janet Reno made it widely known that she considered fundamental Christians to be suspect as "potential" terrorists (this was before the word "potential" was so haphazardly applied to pretty much everybody). That fact played no small role in her subsequent orders to immolate almost a hundred men, women, and children in Waco, Texas (an act which, as it turns out, inspired one of America's few real domestic terrorists, Timothy McVeigh). The problem with such fundamentalists is neither their belief system per se nor that they don't fit in well with the so-called "mainstream." It is, instead, an unshakable belief in certain things that interfere with various programs the government is trying to maintain or institute.
Consider that it's almost impossible to get anything but the most grudging compliance from fundamentalist Christians if what you're trying to do is get them to cooperate with anything that could conceivably be defined by them as Revelations' "Mark of the Beast." Very few of these people go so far as to refuse Social Security numbers, but you can almost bet that they'll be fighting the forthcoming National ID card in much larger numbers. For reasons that can easily be logically refuted, the government has determined that the ID cards are a great way to fight terrorism. Do you really think they're going to take any refusals to participate particularly well?
A man of my acquaintance was recently in attendance at a kind of educational seminar (for lack of a better term) conducted by the Department of Homeland Security. As a local emergency services provider, he's treated to such events periodically. This time around, along with his "weapons of mass destruction awareness training," he was also informed that those supporting a strict interpretation of the Constitution are terrorists.
Most recently, a high school student who wrote a story for a creative writing class has been accused of making terrorist threats. Now, although I oppose such draconian censorship measures, I wouldn't have been surprised to learn he'd written about some student showing up in school with a gun, or some other student determining to set off a bomb on school grounds. In the age of zero tolerance, the authorities seem to consider the fiction of today the certain fact of tomorrow. But no, this kid wrote about zombies. That's right. He wrote about zombies taking over the school. Given last summer's big success of the movie remake of Dawn of the Dead, perhaps his story wasn't as creative or original as it might have been. But indicative of terrorism? As one of my heroes, John Stossel, would say: Give me a break!
Even as the label "terrorist" is being redefined, so is the term "patriot." A patriot is, quit simply, one who loves his country. But now some government officials suggest that anyone who criticizes the war effort in Iraq is "unpatriotic." Others in positions of government authority (John Ashcroft, are you still listening?) have made it clear that anyone who suggests that civil liberties might be more important than absolute safety are behaving unpatriotically. And our Commander in Chief himself has strongly implied that those who aren't Christians can't love their country (if that country is the United States, at any rate) and thus can't possibly be patriots.
I'm not a fundamentalist Christian, but I do believe that the National ID card and similar tracking measures are evil because they undermine freedom. I'm not personally in law enforcement or other emergency services, but I am concerned at the rapidly growing mindset that potentiality is all but synonymous with actuality. I'm not a high school student, but I've certainly written a few things (this column undoubtedly among them) that certain of those in government might not find particularly agreeable. And you all know I've been critical of various government programs, in large part because I do support a literal interpretation of the Constitution as well as a return to the ideals of the Constitution as they were originally presented to the 13 colonies prior to ratification.
In George Orwell's infamous novel 1984, one of the hallmarks of the tyrannical government under which his characters lived was something called "newspeak." By using "newspeak," the government redefined various words to mean whatever it wanted them to mean, and via incessant propaganda, it made sure the general population knew the "correct" definitions as well. In the novel, bad was redefined as good, and war became peace; history was rewritten on an almost daily basis to conform.
This habit of redefining words might be a little more subtle in the real world, but there's very little question that it's happening. The recent discoveries of government propaganda films released as "news" stories was dismaying, but not unsurprising (the biggest surprise, I think, was that the GAO actually told the government to knock it off). In the short run, I suppose, then, I should consider any government attempts to label me and people like me as "unpatriotic" or a "terrorist" as actually being a compliment. But in the long run, government's predilection to change such definitions on a whim doesn't bode well for me... or for any of the rest of you, either.
You've read about it, now if you want to DO more FREEDOM in your life, check out:
This ain't no collection of essays and philosophical musings!
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That is easier said than done on a roster chock-full of No. He's Denver's best power runner, and has improved his pass protection. Cowboys Jed Collins White Jersey And those are tough shoes to fill, and we don't want to fill them. Minnesota Vikings receiver Percy Harvin didn't practice after suffering a nasty ankle injury in Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Cowboys Tyler Clutts Throwback Jersey Pead turned in one of the faster 10-yard splits at the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine. Cowboys Orlando Scandrick Green Jersey And he didn't have a chance to hone those red-zone skills, although he did hit safety Eric Smith on a pass off a fake punt. Complaining that the Texans have "only been to the playoffs twice" during his 11 years with the team, Johnson didn't shoot down the idea of finishing his career elsewhere. The Bears have a similar big-play threat at those positions in Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall, who connected over 200 times for more than 2,500 yards and 13 touchdowns over the course of the 2007 and 2008 seasons with the Denver Broncos.
Yields on 10-year Treasuries rose 11 basis points last week, or 0. KingJames Unbelievable effort! Louis; he was cut by San Diego. Now, almost all of those people and systems are gone -- or at least benched. Cowboys Randy Gregory Navy Blue Jersey Sandy also blew the presidential race off course, forcing President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney to cancel some campaign stops. The Raiders were getting torched 30-7 at that point.
Cowboys Larry Allen Throwback Jersey Night terrors, however, don't explain the three bombed playoff games Dalton has led, plummeting their record to 2-9 in games where the spotlight shines, regardless of the Earth's relation to the Sun. The outgoing president of the Cleveland Browns proved that again Tuesday, meeting with reporters to reflect upon his brief, uneven stint with the organization that once viewed him as a potential savior. NECC said in a statement that it was reviewing the new information from the FDA. Cowboys Sean Lee White Jersey There's no doubt Seymour still can help a number of teams out there. NFL Media analyst Bucky Brooks chose Norman as his quarter-mark Defensive Player of the Year -- for good reason.
Barnidge re-signed with the Browns on a surprisingly affordable contract this offseason. Cornerback Jason Verrett is this team in a nutshell. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and agent David Dunn paint very different pictures of the Wes Welker negotiations. Marshawn Lynch, RB, Seattle Seahawks 16. Cowboys Joseph Randle Navy Blue Jersey The Denver Broncos already are without All-Pro pass rusher Von Miller for Thursday night's NFL season opener versus the Baltimore Ravens.


text:
Akonadi Hacking Meeting
Last weekend was not only the time for the KMail Hacking Days but
The first big step was to make the setup of Akonadi as easy as possible.
To be able to test the functionality effectively the application
Under the hood the code of Akonadi was cleaned up and the API of libakonadi
Also the roadmap of the project was refined and the next steps to take clarified,
On the client side the next steps will include writing models
In the picture below you can see the participants of this meeting:
From left to right:
All in all it was a great meeting at a great location with great people.
If you are interested in helping the Akonadi team with development, documentation writing or
"Google Sommer of Code" - those damn Germans! ;)
By zonk at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am
Re: Sommer?
Fixed :)
By Daniel Molkentin at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am
Hi, I'm not very much at all up to date on what's going on with Akonadi, but... MySQL? Will KDE 4 require a database? (Sorry if this is a stupid question!!!)
By n at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am
Re: MySQL
My semi-informed reply would be: no, it will not require a database. It will just be possible to use one if you want to. I'm sure there will be support for other storage back ends as well. Still, I am not a dev in KDE-PIM, so I might be wrong.
By Andre at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am
Re: MySQL
Akonadi uses the database to store metadata and usually relies on external providers/agents/ressources for the actual storage. In the mail case, for example, your mail would be in a maildir, and only a cache of things like the headers or a summary along with transient info like tags, colors, etc. would end up in the db, for easy and fast indexing, searching, etc. It can cache the payload data itself as well, though, to avoid unnessecary re-downloads, or to make offline work possible, in which case the data does end up in the database. Currently it can work with MySQL embedded and a MySQL server, so if you don't want to have a full on server running, you can simply use the single-file engine, which works much like, for example, sqlite. The database in this case is completely transparent to the user. It's merely an implementation detail, and if you happen to be running MySQL anyhow, for Amarok, KPhotoAlbum, or what have you, it can use that too. Does that clarify it a bit?
By Till Adam at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am
Re: MySQL
> Akonadi uses the database to store metadata and usually relies
Hm, that sounds a lot like it could make use of Nepomuk's KMetaData.
By Jakob Petsovits at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am
Re: MySQL
There's a demo feeder for Nepomuk, but we also store information that Nepomuk is not interested in. Sure, we'll use it.
By Till Adam at Fri, 2007/04/27 - 5:00am
Re: MySQL
And out of curiosoty, why when caching the E-mail payload will the entire E-mail go into the database, instead of another maildir?
By ben at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am
Re: MySQL
The idea is to keep the resources (the bits that know how to deal with a storage format, or groupware server) as simple as possible, which includes them not having to re-implement cache mechanisms over and over again, as was needed with the old kresources framework. So conceptually all caching is done inside Akonadi. We might special case well-known formats such as email to use a different on-disk store, for example maildir, for performance and robustness reasons, but in the general case the database acts as the cache. Much of the data is small (contacts, events, chat logs, etc.) and can thus be stored very efficiently in the db itself.
By Till Adam at Fri, 2007/04/27 - 5:00am
Re: MySQL
I wonder if using Strigi is an option for them? Strigi in turn supports several databases... It might make their life easier?!?
By superstoned at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am
Re: MySQL
We use strigi for indexing, yes.
By Till Adam at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am
A Wiki in Akonadi
Would it be possible to have a wiki in Akonadi ?
For example, my work group uses MoinMoin/dokuwiki/Mediawiki.
Akonadi on my laptop would keep a copy of this wiki. I could work on the local copy and synchronize the two versions when needed.
By Charles de Miramon at Thu, 2007/04/26 - 5:00am


text:
Sermonizers and self-help hucksters sometimes talk about the "Ls" of life — Listen, Learn, Love, Laugh and Labor. But there's at least one more important L. It sounds ridiculously practical and mundane in company with the five big Ls, but it's crucial to keeping our lives on track. Liquidate? Litigate? Luxuriate? Levitate? No, those are just plain silly.
I was thinking of Label. From organizing files to marking what's yours (wasn't it a comfortable feeling being absolutely sure you always wore your own underwear at summer camp?) to keeping track of all your equipment, labeling is the one "L" that truly keeps us civilized.
Everything comes down to labeling. If reading, writing and arithmetic empower us, labeling enables us. Stores, in fact, sometimes label displays of paper and plastic labels products "enabling devices." Further, one electrical-wiring label manufacturer's credo is "Good labeling practices reduce installation costs and increase customer satisfaction."
If electrical contractors know more about labeling than most professionals, it's because you have more stuff to keep track of. Today's computer technology makes labeling faster and easier. Contractors use bar-code technology and label-printing software programs to mark what's theirs.
Still, stuff does get lost in the shuffle of construction. Electrical contracting is a transient business in which electricians mix with other tradespeople and spread tools and equipment far and wide. That's why most everything a contractor does involves some form of elaborate labeling system — whether it's estimating projects, specifying products, marking wires (or cable labeling), labeling field enclosures, posting signage (lockout/tagout), tracking tools or tagging equipment with pressure-sensitive labels.
Contractors can be pressure-sensitive about labels themselves — and for good reason. When OSHA first mandated MSDSs (Material Safety Data Sheets) on job sites 13 years ago, contractor groups rose up to deride the new OSHA rule. Basically, OSHA stipulates that an employer maintain "readily available" MSDS information for each hazardous chemical used in the workplace. The MSDS summarizes the chemical's properties, the health and physical hazards, and related safety information. It all sounds like a good practice to maintain a safe working place. Trouble is, contractors don't usually stay in one fixed location for long. They continually move from job site to job site and expose employees to new environments and new hazards. The MSDS rule makes sense for most work environments — offices, factories, etc. — but not for construction job sites. Common sense says that manufacturers should label their own products if they're typically used in the field, not place the burden on transitory contractors.
Nevertheless, the OSHA MSDS rule stuck — seemingly sticking it once again to contractors becoming increasingly infuriated about government bureaucracy. Curiously, though, 12 years after MSDS forms were first mandated, the issue of MSDSs on job sites now seems a non-issue. They're now just another routine, another labeling job for contractors to handle. That's partly because job-site software can now help contractors maintain MSDSs. OSHA now allows the forms to be retrieved from computers (except from Internet databases) so long as there are no barriers to immediate employee access.
The point to all of this is that new labeling standards always seem to win out in the end. Nobody likes new labeling laws at first, but then they get used to them. Manufacturer associations always lobby against any kind of product labeling initially, but history always proves them to be short sighted. History always proves labeling to be a good, proper and progressive thing.
When forced to list all the ingredients of their products on their labels in the 1970s, food-processing manufacturers fought the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) tooth and nail. Fifteen years later, when the FDA said they also had to list fat, protein, fiber and vitamin content, manufacturers argued that such labeling was a useless extravagance that only a few crackpot dieters and health nuts would appreciate. They claimed consumers didn't care about what was in their food so long as they liked how it tasted. Now, of course, consumers wouldn't have food-package labeling any other way.
Enforcing labeling standards seems to be moving us all in the right direction. If new standards always seem bureaucratic and dumb, it's only because they are written and enforced by dumb government bureaucracies. But the impetus behind new standards is true because it comes from citizens' need for safer products and services.
It's also true that new OSHA rules always seem to come down hardest on small businesses, which struggle to comply, while manufacturers lean on associations to lobby against new regulations. For instance, when the USDA came out with their food-group pyramid 10 years ago, they inverted the pyramid to emphasize grains, fruits and vegetables. But the beef and dairy associations successfully lobbied the USDA to "right" the pyramid to make beef and dairy products look more important than fruits, vegetables and grains. If the food pyramid "scheme" seems a little thing to pick on, it does show the insidious power that any well-moneyed association can wield — to affect all our lives.
Speaking of labels, manufacturers and contractors: Why do manufacturer and distributors call contractors "end users"? It's a confusing label to pin on someone. ("What does your dad do for a living?" "He's an end user.") Why can't they be called contractors, installers, specifiers or even buyers? If you have to call someone an end user, shouldn't it be the building owner? But that's another column…
Like write an End Note or rebut this one? Send your comments to [email protected]


text:
Material transport solutions for more efficiency
亚博vip1 supplies the aerospace industry with innovative solutions for material transport. This includes procurement, storage, handling and the flow of material in the aerospace sector. We offer the full range of services from design through to implementation. The primary focus is always on the technical feasibility and the practical suitability.


text:
Do you have caregiver burnout? Ask yourself, are you:
If you experience two or more of these symptoms, you may be experiencing caregiver burnout.
Caregiver burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. Burnout can occur when home care providers don't get the help they need or if they try to do more than they are able to do.
Causes of Caregiver Burnout
Caregivers often are so busy caring for others that they tend to neglect their own emotional, physical and spiritual health. The demands on a caregiver's body, mind, and emotions can easily seem overwhelming, leading to fatigue and hopelessness - and ultimately, burnout. Other factors that can lead to caregiver burnout include:
Role Confusion: It can be difficult for a person to separate his or her role as a caregiver from their role as a spouse, employee, child, friend, etc.
Unrealistic Expectations: Many caregivers expect their involvement to have a positive effect on the health and happiness of the patient. In some cases, this may be unrealistic for patients suffering from a progressive disease, such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
Lack of Control: Many caregivers become frustrated by a lack of resources and skills to effectively plan, manage, and organize their loved one's care.
Unreasonable Demands: Some caregivers place unreasonable burdens upon themselves because they often think that providing care is their exclusive responsibility when it shouldn't be.


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The tribute to: YOU!
Have three minutes? Spend it watching the season end Fan Tribute video from BisonsVision on Bisons.com. Linked here, as part of the homepage features on Bisons.com.
From the long ball to Little Leaguers at the ballpark there were great moments on and off the field and it's a fitting sendoff into the off season for you, the Bisons Fan.
I think it was wonderfully done by the Bisons' Matt Lasota and his army of production gurus, set to O.A.R's "This Town."


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The politics of Obamacare delays
By now, the pattern is pretty clear: Obamacare deadlines don't stick. And they probably never will.
The unanswered question is, does the extra time create more hassles than benefits for those affected - and is the goalpost-moving worth the political headaches it creates for the Obama administration?
Story Continued Below
Because undeniably, every time the Obama administration bends a deadline for the Affordable Care Act — delaying the employer mandate for the second time, putting off parts of the enrollment launch, or giving customers just a little more time to sign up — it fuels the perception that the administration is just winging it, and gives Republicans new fodder to accuse the White House of rewriting laws too casually.
( Also on POLITICO: Full health care policy coverage)
That doesn't mean the busted deadlines always matter in the real world, though. Some matter more than others. Insurers have been genuinely put out by all the rules that have been changed along the way, which has dumped more work in their laps. That raises the risks of enrollment errors and other problems down the road, like price increases because insurers didn't get the mix of customers they expected.
Business groups, however, don't seem bothered by the latest delay in the employer mandate. In fact, they're saying the employers who are getting the extra time will be happy to have it.
"I see the politics of it, but the reality of this is very different," said Bruce Elliott, manager of compensation and benefits at the Society for Human Resource Management. "As a practitioner, I don't see how this can be a bad thing."
And vulnerable red-state Democrats — the ones who have the most incentive to protect themselves from the clunky Obamacare rollout — aren't piling on the White House over the employer mandate extension.
( WATCH: Obama pushes Affordable Care Act sign-up)
"Overall, I'm hearing that it's good and the extra time is appreciated," Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who's in one of the closest Senate races in the country and has been critical of the rollout, told POLITICO. He says business owners in his state haven't suggested it will hurt the administration's credibility: "I hear that stuff inside the Beltway, but out in Arkansas, I'm not hearing it."
The biggest impact the delays will have, then, is political — as they help Republicans revive the image of an Obama administration that just never had its act together as it launched its signature health care initiative.
They'll keep firing up the base by accusing President Barack Obama of ignoring the law, even though it's not a law they support in the first place. And every time Democrats point to the signs that things are going better — especially the surging enrollment numbers that were announced earlier this month — Republicans will use the busted deadlines to try to revive the image of incompetence.
"Every delay is just another reminder of how badly the law's implementation has gone," said Republican strategist Kevin Madden. They also raise suspicions that the Obama administration is trying to push off any consequences of policies like the employer mandate, Madden said: "They keep trying to push the political ramifications further and further back on the calendar."
( Also on POLITICO: President Barack Obama: "They can just click here?")
Democrats insist it's just part of the messiness of launching a major new social program and making sure it works — and that it's natural for Republicans to take advantage, but that task will become harder as the implementation gets back on track.
"The fact of the matter is that not one program like this has worked from the get-go — not Medicare, not Medicare Part D, not Social Security," said Democratic strategist Joe Trippi. The Obama administration "oversold how easy this was going to be," said Trippi, but "now Republicans are in danger of overselling the disaster."
The latest employer mandate delay is just the latest in a long string of moving deadlines. In December, the administration gave people an extra week to sign up for January coverage — and then bent that deadline by another day — cutting health insurers' processing time from two weeks to one. It gave customers until Dec. 31 to pay their premiums, and convinced insurers to accept payments even later (and even then, a lot of customers still haven't paid up).


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Not the best, but not bad
BOSTON — Headed over to The Southpaw today, one of the Blue Jays' fan blogs I frequent to keep the ol' finger on the pulse of the fan base (or something), and there was an item noting a report that Toronto's team ERA is the best in the American League since 1985
Decided to see if there was any truth to that, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's not even the Blue Jays' best since '85. With the aid of Toronto's fine PR staff, we looked up the best staff ERA's in the league since the Jays came into existence in 1977.
The best of the lot is the 1981 Yankees, who had a 2.90 team ERA in the strike-shortened season. The second-best is the 1989 A's group that had a 3.09 ERA. The Jays' current 3.54 team ERA, if it holds up, would rank 23rd overall in the Americal League, dating back to '77.
The current staff would be the third-best showing since the Jays became a franchise. In 1985, Toronto had a 3.31 team ERA — ranked eighth since 1977. The 1991 Toronto squad had a 3.50 team ERA — good enough for 20th overall over that span.
Today's lineups:
TORONTO (79-68) at BOSTON (86-60)
at 12:35 p.m. ET at Fenway Park
Joe Inglett, 2B
Marco Scutaro, 2B
Alex Rios, RF
Vernon Wells, CF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Adam Lind, DH
Rod Barajas, C
Scott Rolen, 3B
Travis Snider, LF
PITCHING: RHP A.J. Burnett (17-10, 4.31)
Jacoby Ellsbury, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Lowell, 3B
Sean Casey, 1B
Jason Bay, LF
Jed Lowrie, SS
Jason Varitek, C
Coco Crisp, CF
PITCHING: RHP Paul Byrd (11-11, 4.39)
24 Comments
Sorry but my last two post are under Cito plays wheatherman.
Whats with you guys when the Jays were on the winning streak you came out of the woodwork,But they lose a game and you crawl back into the hole you came from.
Support the bloody team please.
Umm it might have something to do with it being a friday night game. Sadly some people have other priorities on a friday night than the blue jays, which is the primary reason why I wasn't here. I did watch some of the game though, and it was absolutely terrible, nothing really positive to comment on, and I'd rather leave the negativity to the bandwagon fans.
Well if anyone had any doubts about whether Travis Snider could handle the pressure and play at this level, those concerns should be gone today.
trust me, Garryguy, I watch the Jays every night that it is possible. I live in Ohio, so I have Extra Innings, MLB.tv, and XM radio so I can listen to the Jays when I am in the car or at work. I just don't get to talk on the blog a lot because I am focused on the game. I support my Jays win or lose, and I will continue to support them as long as I am alive! I'm extremely happy to see the Jays playing well today, although AJ seems to be in a little trouble right now..
way to get out of the inning AJ!
Pipes. your right my friday nights are over sorry.
It's just that no one blogs unless they are winning,I don't mean everyone but a lot of them,Scroll down on the right to Ian Brownes blog and you will see how many post there are ,sometimes up to 300,Here some nights we only get 5 or 10.
that is a really good point GarryGuy. Jordan takes the time to write this incredible blog, and some nights there are just a few comments. I personally promise to try and be more active on the the blog, and hopefully other Jays fans will be too..for now, I need to get to work, so everyone have a great day, and Go Jays!
Cstewart.Welcome from Ohio.Don't take everything I say to heart,sometimes I get carried away.
AJ gets in trouble a lot then he works his magic, This guy is good,To bad he may opt out ,I think and hope JP will find a way to keep him.
Gsjays. For sure Snider is going to be one of the great ones.
Those Snider doubts are even further gone now. 5 RBI's in Fenway in 3 ABs…
Snider for MVP. lol
People actually doubted Snider could hit? Just look at how this guy has raked in the minors against players quite a bit older than himself. Although to be honest there still has to be a little bit of doubt about whether he should be in the big leagues next year or not. I personally think he can handle it, but there is always the off-chance that pitchers pick up some weaknesses in his swing and really exploit it. Some young players get the call too early and get their confidence shattered, but it doesn't really look like Travis is the type of guy who will let his confidence get shattered.
I for one thought Snider should spend another season in the minors ,But I have changed my nind.He's got my vote for MVP.LOL.
Burnrtt goes 6 and allows no runs,Mighty Joe for shame for shame.Carlton is great.GO JAYS GO JAYS.
Its still too early to tell if he will be good enough to be a dh/lf with the big league team this year. If he stuck with the big league club for a full season I'm sure with his power he'd hit at least 15 hr's, but his avg might suffer if pitchers find a hole in his swing to exploit (pitchers almost always do). I guess the question becomes: "does he have anything else to learn in the minors?" He is still very young, and he certainly could use more experience in the field and more experience against veteran pitching, and AAA ball definitely offers the challenge of veteran pitching. Might be a very tough call for whoever our gm is, my guess is that the jays try to sign a veteran dh to a 1 year deal and then make Snider get some more seasoning in the minors, unless of course Snider forces the issue by killing minor league pitching.
Pipes.You just may be right,
I like what Cito is doing saving some of the players for the second game by subing some of the players with a 7 run lead.
We have to win the next one big to give Downs and BJ a rest that goes for tomorow to.GOJAYS GOJAYS GOJAYS.
I think Snider should be here, allowing us budget to solve other problems. The very best hitting coach in our system is Cito and Tennace, so if pitchers find a weakness, they'll fix it faster than anyone else.
To go spend 5-10 million on a DH or 4th outfielder to keep Snider in AAA is counter productive for the team and Snider.
Yeah gsj I really do believe he should probably be here too, I just also want to make sure they don't rush him too soon. Another possibility is that they keep him in the minors for the first month or so to save early arbitration (like the rays did with Evan Longoria). All depends on how cheap the jays are, hehe I hate when teams delay a guy who should obviously be in the bigs just to save a few bucks down the road.
Snider should be here to stay. Go out and replace Burnett with the money they're saving by not having him. I love AJ, but no sense in overpaying. I expect he'll go out and sign with the Yankees and sit on their payroll for a couple of years – maybe pulling a Pavano along the way.
Sign the big DH? Pointless – the Hafner/Ortiz/Giambi type DH would just serve to mess up the Jays. Do we need some big thumper who cant do anything else but swing the bat, clog the bases, and become a defensive liability? Or would you prefer a good hitter, who can sub in for a hurt outfielder or cover first base.
The playoff run is do-able. It has been done, we have the best staff in the league performing as usual, the best bullpen (hanging on), and some quality hitters who are hitting their stride (finally) at the right time. And we have a manager (finally) who knows what he's doing.
I'm Toronto born, living in Scotland – and I have MLB.tv – this is my first full year away from my Jays, and reading this blog helps – even if I don't chime in nightly. Jordan does a great job, and the regular guys are good to read too, even if I don't agree.
Hey welcome, I hope you're enjoying all the single malts. Come back and post often, the more the merrier
It wont be long for the next game to start, I'm getting the jitters.Lets beat the DEVILSOX DEVILSOX DEVILSOX,GOJAYS GOJAYS GOJAYS.
Litsch on three days rest may cost us our chance to pick up the wildcard.GO JAYS GO.
Well after the loss last night, would you guys be happy if they can get to 90 wins ? I think that would be a pretty good season and would hope that would leave the majority of fans with optimism for next year. I've always thought this team is close and still do. I'd like to see A.J. back and Ryan traded. Not because I don't like Ryan but just to get even more to spend (on A.J.)I think A.J. or another number 2 starter is more valuable to this team than Ryan considering the depth they have in the bullpen. If they can bring in a Manny, Giambi, Delgado or even Ibanez (ok maybe a younger version) this team will be a force next year.
Travis has been fun to watch and while I don't expect him to be on the team next year at the least he adds a great peice to the future. There has been talk that the Jays would consider trading Overybay and moving Lind to first so that they can keep Travis in the outfield. If they can add a big bat like I said above that would be a great lineup.
(big bat Dh)


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MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Both the Birmingham-Southern tennis teams picked up road wins against Huntingdon today, with the women winning 5-4 and the men winning 7-2.
Both teams now stand at 2-0 on the season, and will travel to Atlanta next weekend for the Southern Shootout, hosted by Oglethorpe University.
On the women's side, senior Moya Moore and sophomore Sara Cohen picked up wins at one and two singles, and freshman Mary Evelyn Carroll and sophomore Lindsey Farrell won at four and five singles. Moore and Cohen combined at one doubles for another point.
In the men's match, the Panthers won all but one singles, and two of three doubles spots. Junior Brian Brandt, sophomore Patrick Hire, freshman Alex Makarenko, senior Tony DaMaia, and junior Ben Reardon were all singles winners, and Makarenko/Hire and Brandt/Reardon teamed up for the doubles victories.
BSC Women vs. Huntingdon
No. 1: Moya Moore (BSC) def. Britni Thibodeau (HC) 6-1, 6-1
No. 2: Sara Cohen (BSC) def. Daniela Lozano (HC) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
No. 3: Hannah Still (HC) def. Emily Holst (BSC) 7-5, 6-2
No. 4: Mary Evelyn Carroll (BSC) def. Arielle Barraca (HC) 6-2, 6-1
No. 5: Lindsey Farrell (BSC) def. Elayne White (HC) 6-1, 6-1
No. 6: Tara-Beth Hall (HC) def. Terria Punturo (BSC) 6-2, 6-2
No. 1: Moore-Cohen (BSC) def. Thibodeau-Hall (HC) 8-2
No. 2: Lozano-White (HC) def. Farrell-Carroll (BSC) 8-5
No. 3: Still-Barraca (HC) def. Holst-Punturo (BSC) 9-7
BSC 5, Huntingdon 4
BSC Men vs. Huntingdon
No. 1: Bobby Foroughian (HC) def. Christian Matthews (BSC) 6-4, 6-2
No. 2: Brian Brandt (BSC) def. Sebastian Riveros Florez (HC) 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3: Patrick Hire (BSC) def. Zac Baldwin (HC) 6-1, 6-3
No. 4: Alex Makarenko (BSC) def. Meyer Schwartzberg (HC) 6-2, 6-0
No. 5: Tony DaMaia (BSC) def. Tyler Creamer (HC) 6-3, 7-5
No. 6: Ben Reardon (BSC) def. Justin McQueen (HC) 3-6, 7-5, 10-7
No. 1: Foroughian-Baldwin (HC) def. Matthews-DaMaia (BSC) 9-7
No. 2: Makarenko-Hire (BSC) def. Florez-Schwartzberg (HC) 8-4
No. 3: Brandt-Reardon (BSC) def. Creamer-Trey Pirtle (HC) 8-2
BSC 7, Huntingdon 2


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Best/Worst Movie Promos of the Week: 'Madagascar 3' Rocks Polka Dots And Afros But 'The Words' Drowns In Voice Over
While The Avengers continues to plow through the competition, a few other wannabe summer blockbusters try to put themselves in position to share in the big bucks. The Dictator undoubtedly has an uphill battle, but this rather amusing extended clip might attract some extra attention. Men in Black 3, on the other hand, is very likely the film that'll dethrone The Avengers, so if it's going to be #1, might as well go big, right? This new peek at the film's sets, gadgets, cars and more suggests MIB 3's production value will reflect its hefty price tag. As for Prometheus, it'll definitely open big, but how big is the question. Should viral videos like this one work in the film's favor, it could be one of the highest earners of the summer.
On a smaller scale, the Duplass brothers are at it again, releasing a brand new trailer for their July release, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon. On the far creepier side, a trailer for The Possession just hit and it actually suggests that there still might be more to explore in the whole possession subgenre.
In the land of the release date-less we've got two worth keeping an eye on: Bait 3D because it looks like a big ball of tacky fun, and The We and The I because while we've still got no clue where Michel Gondry is going with this one, there's something inexplicably magnetizing about this footage.
The Best Stuff
1. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted Clip: I've got nothing against the Madagascar franchise, but I've never been a big proponent of it either, so the fact that this clip enthuses me in the least suggests it's a worthy watch. First off, the clip is simply amusing. I giggled when Chris Rock's Marty did the afro/polka dot dance in the trailer and, turns out, it works quite well in context, too. But what really makes this clip from Europe's Most Wanted a particularly successful marketing tool is that it introduces viewers to the world within the movie via Alex's backstage circus tour. The Madagascar veterans are back there as are some new characters making this experience useful for reeling in newcomers as well as giving longtime fans a sense of the new material to come.
2. Ted Poster: A certain trash-talking teddy bear has certainly crawled his way into my heart, so don't expect Ted to go anywhere until the film's July 13th release. I'm still partial to the film's urinal poster, but with just about two months to go until the movie arrives, it's an appropriate move to give viewers access to the dynamic duo's faces. The whole living teddy bear with a naughty streak concept still works and the expression on Mark Wahlberg's face is absolutely priceless. The hues and design of this poster also match that first one, creating a nice cohesive feeling. And, to top it off, the format not only highlights an amusing image, but also draws your eye to the title. Ted will be hard to miss.
3. Moonrise Kingdom Featurette: Sure, we hope that every movie has a unique plot, but when it comes to the making of a movie, the process is generally the same. Unless you're attached to a franchise, have crazy digital effects or take place in the distant future, it isn't easy making a featurette that stands out. Even if you're successful in delivering an informative piece, odds are viewers have seen or heard that information before. While this new featurette for Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom offers your typical behind-the-scenes look at the production, it's the narration and the tone of the video that makes it a new breed of featurette. The typical making of the movie information is there, but it's the comedy that makes the material pop.
The Worst Stuff
1. Hit and Run Trailer: Whether or not you're a fan of Hit and Run's stellar cast, its first trailer is too poorly constructed and the plot points too overused to enjoy. The piece kicks off by mimicking reality with an onscreen relationship between Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell. It's cute and all, but then the trailer reveals the predicament. The problem is, that revelation then leads to a particularly insincere and silly bumbling scenario. While the first half of the trailer presents the film as an on-the-run piece with Shepard's character hiding from Bradley Cooper, portions further down the line suggest the two join forces. Meanwhile, Bell is just walking around like a mere set piece the entire time, flipping out because her boyfriend isn't who he said he was. Been there, done that. This trailer leaves nothing to be desired.
2. The Babymakers Poster: I knew nothing of The Babymakers when I stumbled upon this poster, putting me in the perfect place to pass some judgment. Unfortunately, that judgment is 110% negative. Paul Schneider and Olivia Munn are both great, but this image of the duo is flat out obnoxious and irritating. There's something about their positioning and the forced facial expression that screams, "This movie is too silly and no good." Now, just to be fair, the film stars Schneider as a guy who can't get his wife (Munn) pregnant so opts to steal the sperm bank deposit he made years back. Jay Chandrasekhar is behind the lens on this one and considering his feature film resume, silly to the max will very likely be a fitting description for this one.
3. The Words Trailer: Why is the narrator of The Land Before Time narrating the trailer for The Words? Okay, clearly it's not the exact same guy, but that droning voice is entirely misused here and so much so that it actually mocks the material, which becomes particularly problematic because it can be hard enough to get past the writer's block on the big screen stigma to begin with. Even worse, The Words seems to have a lot more going for it beyond the usual wannabe writer scenario, but it doesn't get to the good stuff until far past the minute mark. The music video-esque finale and cast run-through is rather rousing, but not nearly enough to reverse the damage already done.
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[Warning! Spoiler alert! It was all a dream!]
When Lewis Carroll published a few thousand copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, with no hype or buzz, it received some mixed reviews. That's one of the few things Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland has in common with Carroll's original stories. The critics were out this week, and occasionally perceptive. As of this morning, the "top critics" that Rotten Tomatoes tracks average at about 59% (between rotten tomato and ripe tomato), with the general masses giving it about 53%. Manohla Dargis of the New York Times, one of my favorite critics to disagree with, had some interesting insight into the Alice Paradox in movies:
Dark and sometimes grim, this isn't your great-grandmother's Alice or that of Uncle Walt, who was disappointed with the 1951 Disney version of "Alice in Wonderland." "Alice has no character," said a writer who worked on that project. "She merely plays straight man to a cast of screwball comics." Of course the character of Carroll's original Alice is evident in each outrageous creation she dreams up in "Wonderland" and in the sequel, "Through the Looking-Glass," which means that she's a straight man to her own imagination. (She is Wonderland.) Here she mostly serves as a foil for the top biller Johnny Depp, who (yes, yes) plays the Mad Hatter, and Mr. Burton's bright and leaden whimsies.
This isn't an impossible story to translate to the screen, as the Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer showed with "Alice" (1988), where the divide between reality and fantasy blurs as it does in dreams. It's just hard to know why Mr. Burton, who doesn't seem much interested in Alice, bothered.
This has never been a children's story. There's even a little sadism embedded in Carroll's fantasy. It reminds me of uncles who tickle their nieces until they scream. "Alice" plays better as an adult hallucination, which is how Burton rather brilliantly interprets it until a pointless third act flies off the rails. It was a wise idea by Burton and his screenwriter, Linda Woolverton, to devise a reason that Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is now a grown girl in her late teens, revisiting a Wonderland that remains much the same, as fantasy worlds must always do.[…]Burton shows us Wonderland as a perturbing place where the inhabitants exist for little apparent reason other than to be peculiar and obnoxious. Do they reproduce? Most species seem to have only one member, as if nature quit while she was ahead.
One more quote, I'll give Elizabeth Weizman of New York Daily News my highly coveted Saying Nothing Award:
"Frabjous" may be a word Carroll invented, but Burton knows just what it means, at least in his own mind. He's clearly excited to invite us inside, and as long as you're open to so much muchness, you'll be very glad he did.
This parsing of critics possibly to be continued… In the meantime, I have several questions:
-Why was the Dodgson-esque figure named Charles at the beginning Alice's dead father? What?


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PM Gillard should raise West Papua at Bali Democracy Forum
Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
Media relaease 8 November 2012
PM Gillard should raise West Papua at Bali Democracy Forum
AWPA is calling on Julia Gillard to raise the security crackdown on peaceful activists in West Papua with the Indonesian President at the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF).
Prime Minister Gillard is one of the co-chairs at the BDF and she should use the opportunity to press Indonesia into addressing concerns of the ongoing violence in West Papua.
AWPA is also encouraged that the PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said he would be bringing the issue of West Papua to the attention of the Indonesian President at the BDF and we encourage PM Gillard to support the PNG Prime Minister in raising the human rights issue in the territory.
Prime Minister Gillard has praised Dr Yudhoyono's efforts in promoting democracy, saying his country's "remarkable democratic transition" should be a lesson for others around the world". However, Joe Collins of AWPA said " there are credible reports of excessive use of force by the Indonesian security forces in West Papua, particularly in the last month with a security crackdown on peaceful activists from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB). It would appear that the Indonesian Government is allowing the security forces to operate with impunity in West Papua".
Joe Collins of AWPA said "given Australia's close relationship with Indonesia, the fact that it is providing training to the Indonesian security forces , the Prime Minister should raise the human rights situation in West Papua with the Indonesian President as a priority".
We also note that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay will attend the BDF and hope she will also raise concerns about the human rights situation with the Indonesian President.


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About Us
Sing for America (SFA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on supporting the performing arts in our communities. We believe that music enriches the lives of all people. The musical arts – whether high school glee clubs, orchestra camps, community choruses, orchestras and theaters, music programs in the schools – all are a vital part of our communities. Our strategy is to use the arts to fund the arts. SFA raises money through member–supported, volunteer–performed benefit concerts. In exchange for world–class choral training and fundraising support, SFA chorus members raise money through online platforms and benefit concert ticket sales to support the arts and other charitable organizations throughout our communities. Unlike other organizations, SFA allows members to influence where their contributions go – half of the money raised by each member goes directly to the organization of their own choosing.
In other words: SFA helps people raise charitable funds through singing.
The SFA Experience
Sing for America was conceived as a ten or so week event that would bring together some of the 30 million adult Americans who sing in choruses across the US. Recognizing the natural team persona that resides in all choruses, we would then empower them to raise their voices, professionals and amateurs alike and arm them with the modern tools of online fundraising.
We incorporate the natural social benefits of singing in a chorus and getting together each week for rehearsal with the personal opportunity to benefit the performing arts, arts education or any charity chosen by each individual singing in the chorus. An individual from a small chorus, or active as a volunteer in another organization, can step into our chorus for a short part of the year, reinforced by professional choristers surrounding them in both rehearsal and performance. See some examples on our 2018 Benefit Concert page.
Professional soloists from the world of opera, jazz, comedy and Broadway join us in an amazing collaborative performance. At the end of it all, each chorister takes the fruit of their fundraising to their charity, their chorus, their performing arts favorite…. a bonus to the fun and eventful process in which they participated.
SFA "What It's All About" Video
I love the process, I love making music, I love the singing, I love the work we do.
Thank you again for allowing me to be part of the joyous process at SFA.
The SFA Choral Experience
- Rehearsals culminate in a fundraising concert event in the spring.
- Rehearsals are held once a week on Monday evenings.
- Rehearsal Venue is at the Marines' Memorial Club in San Francisco.
- SFA provides all sheet music, conductors and accompanists.
- SFA incorporates sectionals and social breaks in our rehearsal schedule to encourage greater learning and friendships.
- SFA provides free, enrichment classes to registered choristers throughout the year to keep them at their singing best!


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Yesterday, I got to do a fun thing where I commandeered the Illume Candles Instagram feed. If you missed it, here's what happened (and don't miss the coupon code at the end of this post!):
I took a bubble bath surrounded by all of my favorite Illume body products, plus iced coffee. Their Anemone bath salts and triple-milled bar soap (in Cactus Verde) are a powerful, delicious combo. I still smell amazing RIGHT THIS SECOND.
Cactus Verde bar soap close-up. My soap dish is a vintage flower frog, and you cannot have it.
One of my new favorite products are the Gallery Glass candles. Y'all these are seriously beautiful. They look like some sort of a tropical ombre cocktail. (Please do not attempt to drink candle wax.) Also, their oversized matches are extremely cute.
The new Boho Jar design is so good, and is perfect for staging a vignette with one's favorite Pyrex science vase, and yes, another vintage flower frog. I may have a tiny problem.
I think I grossed some people out when I suggested that these Color Block Tins could be used to store old fingernail clippings after the candle had burned down. Just be glad I didn't go with my original choice, in which I advised using the tins to store the teeth of spurned lovers. What?
And, of course, the day ended with Anemone and Blue Coral candles (mixing fragrances is fun!), and the new episode of Scandal. Giant bowl of popcorn not pictured, because I ate it all.
Also, also, also! If any of these delightful items strike your fancy, you can get them over at Illume's website, AND take 20% off any order over $40 with code AB2014 through March 7. Yay! And thanks to the fine folks at Illume for all the fun and for this generous offer. Go be lovely, y'all!


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Big Banks Need to Feel the Fed's Stress
When it comes to bank stress tests, there is a fine line between theory and practice.
The Federal Reserve last week released results of these tests, a theoretical exercise gauging how banks would weather a financial storm. Given they are hypothetical, the tests have obvious shortcomings. Yet there are two very practical implications.
First, they are a starting point for Fed decisions on bank capital-return requests, due this week. Second, banks are increasingly trying to manage their businesses to meet the stress tests, rather than other measures of capital.
So the difference between how the Fed saw banks performing and how banks themselves thought they did is notable for investors. Among the biggest banks, Citigroup C -0.09% and Bank of America BAC -0.27% were the furthest off on this front. Citigroup saw itself as having a minimum Tier 1 capital ratio of 10% under stress, 2.8 percentage points above the Fed's view. BofA's assumption was 2.7 percentage points higher. J.P. Morgan Chase's JPM 0.09% estimate, by contrast, was nearly in line with the Fed.
The variance stems partly from differing assumptions regarding loan losses. Also playing a role were banks' view that assets would decline during a crisis. The Fed, which for the first time did its own calculation of bank balance sheets for the tests, assumed banks would end up taking more assets onto their books.
The immediate outcome of this difference probably isn't dire. Most banks should still be able to return capital in line with market expectations. That said, analysts expressed concern that BofA may have less room for maneuver than initially thought and could have to resize its return request.
In the longer term, Citi and BofA may have to keep in mind an old adage when viewing the risks in their businesses: Don't fight the Fed.
Write to David Reilly at email@example.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8


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DDHH and COMCAST Team Up to Bring Digital Captioning to Deaf and Hard of Hearing ConsumersAs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enforces the switch from analog to digital television programming today, Human Services' Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DDHH) is partnering with Comcast Cable to ensure that people with hearing loss have access to television captions. A special public Digital Captioning Demonstration is scheduled for July 24th at the Comcast Cable facilities in Voorhees, NJ. "Comcast Cable has been exceptionally proactive in working with our Division to outreach the deaf and hard of hearing community," said David Alexander, Director of DDHH. "Digital broadcasting offers many new features and options including larger fonts and screen placement preferences. These are useful new advancements that are tremendously helpful to our population."People who are Deaf and hard of hearing depend upon captions to access the audio information from their televisions. The partnership between DDHH and Comcast is part of an ongoing endeavor to notify people with hearing loss about digital captioning and to address any concerns they may be experiencing with the reception of these captions.
The Digital Captioning Demonstration meeting will take place at 10 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. on July 24th at the New Jersey Division of Deaf and Hard of Hearing's quarterly meeting of its Advisory Council. The meeting will be held at Comcast Cable facilities in Voorhees, New Jersey. The educational sessions will be presented by staff from the Comcast engineering department.
There is limited seating available so for more information and to RSVP interested individuals should call 609-984-7281 V/TTY.


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|Amazon.com Announces Second Quarter Sales up 41% to $6.57 Billion
SEATTLE, Jul 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2010.
Operating cash flow was $2.56 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $1.88billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2009. Free cash flow increased 29% to $1.99 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $1.54 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2009.
Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards totaled 465 million on June 30, 2010, compared with 451 million a year ago.
Net sales increased 41% to $6.57 billion in the second quarter, compared with $4.65 billion in second quarter 2009. Excluding the $48 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales would have grown 42% compared with second quarter 2009.
Operating income increased 71% to $270 million in the second quarter, compared with $159 million in second quarter 2009. The unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on operating income was $10 million. Second quarter 2009 operating income was negatively impacted by a $51 million legal settlement.
Net income increased 45% to $207 million in the second quarter, or $0.45 per diluted share, compared with net income of $142 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, in second quarter 2009.
"We're seeing rapid growth in Kindle, Amazon Web Services, third-party sales, and retail. We're also encouraged by what we see in mobile. In the last twelve months, customers around the world have ordered more than $1 billion of products from Amazon using a mobile device," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "The leading mobile commerce device today is the smartphone, but we're excited by the potential of the new category of wireless tablet computers. Over time, tablet computers could become a meaningful additional driver for our business."
Financial Guidance
The following forward-looking statements reflect Amazon.com's expectations as of July 22, 2010. Our results are inherently unpredictable and may be materially affected by many factors, such as fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, changes in global economic conditions and consumer spending, world events, the rate of growth of the Internet and online commerce and the various factors detailed below.
Third Quarter 2010 Guidance
A conference call will be webcast live today at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, and will be available for at least three months at http://www.amazon.com/ir. This call will contain forward-looking statements and other material information regarding the Company's financial and operating results.
These forward-looking statements are inherently difficult to predict. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons, including, in addition to the factors discussed above, the amount that Amazon.com invests in new business opportunities and the timing of those investments, the mix of products sold to customers, the mix of net sales derived from products as compared with services, the extent to which we owe income taxes, competition, management of growth, potential fluctuations in operating results, international growth and expansion, the outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, risks of inventory management, seasonality, the degree to which the Company enters into, maintains and develops commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, and risks of fulfillment throughput and productivity. Other risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks related to new products, services and technologies, system interruptions, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. In addition, the current global economic climate amplifies many of these risks. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, and www.amazon.cn. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Amazon.com, Inc.
Certain Definitions
Customer Accounts
- References to customers mean customer accounts, which are unique e-mail addresses, established either when a customer's initial order is shipped or when a customer orders from other sellers on our websites. Customer accounts exclude certain customers, including customers associated with certain of our acquisitions, Amazon Enterprise Solutions program customers, Amazon.com Payments customers, Amazon Web Services customers, and the customers of select companies with whom we have a technology alliance or marketing and promotional relationship. Customers are considered active when they have placed an order during the preceding twelve-month period.
Seller Accounts
- References to sellers means seller accounts, which are established when a seller receives an order from a customer account. Seller accounts exclude Amazon Enterprise Solutions sellers. Sellers are considered active when they have received an order from a customer during the preceding twelve-month period.
Registered Developers
- References to registered developers mean cumulative registered developer accounts, which are established when potential developers enroll with Amazon Web Services and receive a developer access key.
- References to units mean physical and digital units sold (net of returns and cancellations) by us and sellers at Amazon.com domains worldwide - such as http://www.amazon.com, http://www.amazon.co.uk, http://www.amazon.de, http://www.amazon.co.jp, http://www.amazon.fr, http://www.amazon.ca and http://www.amazon.cn, as well as Amazon.com-owned items sold through non-Amazon.com domains. Units sold do not include units associated with certain of our acquisitions or Amazon.com gift certificates.
SOURCE: Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com Investor Relations


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Company Benefits
Great benefits make Railinc one of the best places to work in the Triangle. We are proud to offer our employees a competitive and comprehensive benefits program. Regular, full-time employees are eligible for most employee benefits beginning on their first day of employment.
Railinc's program includes the following benefits, which are aimed at helping you and your family maintain a healthy lifestyle, achieve work/life balance, manage your finances, plan for retirement and live a less stressful life.
Annual Review and Bonus — All regular, full-time, active employees of Railinc are eligible for the bonus program. This goal-sharing program focuses on the performance of Railinc as a whole.
Health and Wellness
Railinc provides the following services to support your health and well-being and to help you manage your personal and family responsibilities.
Employee Assistance Program — Employees and their dependents can receive short-term counseling from an outside counselor through Railinc's Employee Assistance Program. The program is free, confidential and voluntary.
On-Site Workout Facility — Employees enjoy the convenience of the company's on-site workout facility. Amenities include cardio and weight machines, free weights and full locker rooms. Many employees use the running/walking trails on Cary's beautiful greenways, which connect to the Railinc parking lot and surround Lake Crabtree.
Recreational Activities — Railinc employees participate in a diverse offering of recreational activities, from athletics groups like our running/walking, yoga, soccer and basketball clubs, to company picnics, potlucks, concerts and sporting events.
Flexible Work Arrangements — For eligible employees, Railinc offers a generous telecommuting policy to support work/life balance.
Ergonomic Work Stations — Railinc provides its employees with the tools needed for a safe, comfortable, healthy and productive work environment.
Medical Coverage — Railinc offers employees superior and affordable options for medical coverage. Employees can choose between two plans. The premium plan provides exceptional coverage with a large network of physicians. The standard plan also has great coverage with minimal premiums for employees and their dependents.
Dental Coverage — Employees can choose any dentist they prefer, and Railinc covers 100 percent of premiums for employees and their dependents.
Vision Coverage — Vision coverage is provided at no charge to employees. Employees and their dependents are eligible for eye exams and credit toward lenses or contacts once a year. Frames are provided every two years.
401(k) Retirement Program — Railinc offers employees a variety of 401(k) investment plans. Employees are eligible to participate in Railinc's 401(k) plan on the first day of the month following 30 days of employment. Railinc matches 50 percent of pre-tax contributions up to 6 percent of salary. The employer match begins immediately upon enrollment in the plan, and matching contributions are 100 percent vested after one year of service.
Holidays — Railinc observes the following 12 paid holidays:
New Year's Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Presidents' Day
Good Friday
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Thanksgiving Day
Day after Thanksgiving
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
New Year's Eve
Vacation — Railinc offers a generous vacation policy. Employees enjoy three weeks of paid vacation per year in the first through ninth years of employment (prorated in the first year). After 10 years, vacation increases to four weeks per year.
Sick Days — Railinc provides 10 paid sick days per year.
Flexible Spending Accounts for Medical and Dependent Care — Railinc offers flexible spending accounts to help employees save money on medical and dependent care expenses.
Life Insurance — Railinc provides employees with life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance of two times their annual base salary at no cost.
Supplemental Life Insurance — Railinc gives employees the opportunity to buy additional life insurance for themselves, their spouses and their dependent children at Railinc group rates.
Business Traveler's Insurance — Employees are eligible for an additional insurance policy of two times their annual base salary while traveling on Railinc business.
Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance — Railinc provides employees with insurance coverage for both short-term (less than three months) and long-term (more than three months) disabilities.
Supplemental Long-Term Disability Insurance — Employees are eligible to buy additional income protection at Railinc group rates to increase their long-term disability income benefit.
Railroad Retirement Benefit — The Railroad Retirement Act is a federal law that provides retirement and disability annuities for qualified railroad employees, which includes employees of Railinc. The plan has two tiers: one is in lieu of Social Security, and the other is in addition to Social Security. Additional information is available through the Railroad Retirement Board.
Railinc Pension Plan — Railinc provides employees with a defined benefit pension plan designed to supplement their railroad retirement annuity and other personal savings to help meet their retirement income needs. This supplemental plan is funded entirely by Railinc.


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From the Red Lion to Plastic Fantastic
The gable end on Clarkes Ways showing the name of the pub Red Lion and Robinson's .. I remember this being the Hyde Away... it did well for a while but attracted ... lets say the wrong crowd. I remember getting involved when some trouble started one night and ended up getting a bottle over my head. ...
In the book 'A History Of The Pubs OF Hyde And District' by Paul Taylor, Paul mentioned it was on Rochfort Street originally... Clarkes Way is of course the name of the fly over. This was one of the pubs my Grand Father, Thomas Edward Wigley drank in... one the others was the Wheatsheaf.. Both pubs being within easy walking distance from his home on Mary Street at the far end of Rochfort Street and Elizabeth Street.
Thanks go to Dave for the pictures, and of course Paul for the information