text:
JANE DOE never noticed as hundreds of dollars disappeared from her paychecks since she was hired two years ago.
Her company started by taking 3 percent out of every check to put into her 401(k) retirement plan. After one year, Ms. Doe — who is fictitious but typical — got a 1.5 percent raise, but the company diverted most of that into her 401(k). The same thing happened the following January.
The money has been going into an investment called a target-date fund, which Ms. Doe never specifically chose. That fund is programmed to select an array of stocks, bonds and other asset categories based on Ms. Doe's age. As she grows older, the percentages will gradually shift, without any instructions from Ms. Doe.
Theoretically, if this arrangement continues, Ms. Doe will be able to retire in about 35 years with almost enough money to live comfortably. Her paycheck and retirement plan have been on autopilot, because Ms. Doe and her company have tacitly agreed that she cannot be trusted to make the right decisions.
This sort of plan has spread quickly through the 401(k) world in the last six years, and even more growth and varieties are predicted. It is related to a concept sometimes called "libertarian paternalism" — subtly pushing people to make rational choices — that has been applied in other fields, like checkoffs for organ donations on driver's license applications. In the retirement world, it means that employees' money is automatically invested in a savings plan, unless they specifically opt out.
"It plays into the fact that inertia is a very powerful force," said Robert A. Benish, executive director and interim president of the Plan Sponsor Council of America, a trade group for employers. With the automatic features, he said, "you can jump-start someone without pain."
While automation achieves its basic goal of increasing savings, however, it seems to contradict one of the original justifications for 401(k)'s — that individuals want to be in charge of their own retirement planning.
Proponents say that is partly because many conditions have changed since the first 401(k) plans were established three decades ago. Traditional pensions have all but disappeared, markets have become more volatile, wages have stagnated and more research has been done on financial behavior.
"Our view in 1980 was unsophisticated about individual decision makers," said Stephen P. Utkus, director of the Vanguard Center for Retirement Research at Vanguard Group, one of the largest plan administrators.
The automatic features were developed because experts feared that people were not signing up for 401(k) plans on their own initiative, not putting in enough money and not choosing appropriate investments. For instance, Fidelity Investments, the largest administrator, said that among its clients, only 56 percent of eligible employees participated in plans without automatic features versus 90 percent in the automated plans.
Their use got a big boost from changes in federal pension law in 2006, which clarified that auto-enrollment would not violate state withholding laws. Today about half of all plans have at least one type of automation, according to the Plan Sponsor Council of America and others.
The most common features:
¶ Automatic enrollment for new employees. People are put into the plan when hired, and a portion of their salaries — typically 3 percent — is deducted.
¶ Automatic escalation. The payroll deduction rises every year, perhaps on the anniversary of the person's starting date or on a universal date like Jan. 1. The standard increase is 1 percent of salary, and companies try to tie this in with a pay raise.
¶ Automatic investment decisions. The payroll deductions have to be invested in something, so administrators are increasingly using programs like those used for target-date funds, which adjust the investment mix according to the employee's age.
Advocates say all that is not enough. The biggest problem is that too little money is being taken from paychecks.
"I don't think auto-enrollment is a good thing if you're not going to auto-enroll them at a high rate," said Robyn Credico, director of defined contribution consulting at the consulting firm Towers Watson in New York.
Moreover, the automatic features do nothing to solve another big problem with 401(k) plans, that people erode their accounts by taking out money as loans and hardship withdrawals.
The conventional wisdom is that people need to squirrel away 15 to 17 percent of their earnings to accumulate a sufficient nest egg. But the automated scale, even with annual escalation, usually tops out at 6 to 10 percent.
True, most employers add a matching contribution of around 3 percent to comply with federal requirements, but the rate does not rise in full step with the employee escalation. That leaves most workers short.
Thus, companies are moving the starting line. According to recent studies by Vanguard, the Plan Sponsor Council of America and the consulting firm Aon Hewitt, one-fourth to one-fifth of employers now use 5 percent or higher as the initial paycheck deduction, rather than Jane Doe's 3 percent, with a final goal as high as 15 percent.
The trend is growing in other ways. Mr. Utkus of Vanguard said that about 15 to 20 percent of companies with automatic enrollment had extended it to the entire work force, not just new hires, a tactic sometimes called "sweeping" or "re-enrollment."
This can be done at one-time or repeated every few years. But Shaun O'Brien, assistant policy director for health care and retirement at the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said that he had "heard some people refer to this as harassment" if it is done too frequently, because they have to keep opting out.
There has also been talk of automating the payouts after people retire, by attaching some sort of annuity to the target-date funds — in other words, creating something similar to traditional pensions. Proponents, however, say they need more legal guidance from the federal Labor and Treasury Departments.
For now, less than 10 percent of employees reject automatic enrollment, according to most surveys. If the bite taken out of the paycheck keeps becoming bigger, experts say, there could come a point where employees will protest. But so far, no one seems to know where that point lies.
Patti Balthazor Bjork, Aon Hewitt's director of retirement research, said, "They haven't escalated high enough yet."


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No products
Bursera Graveolens. Palo Santos sticks. 1 kilo=160-180 sticks. Avg. lenght: 10cms (10x1x1 cm, 6grs. ea.)
This product is elaborated without harming the Palo Santo wood tree. We only process wood that has been found to have died naturally in the forest. Product of Ecuador.
Our Palo Santo is utilized in a sustainable way, that allows us a traceability from its planting, picking, transformation and commercialization.
VERY IMPORTANT - We are working in making palosanto sustainable, we reforest and so on. In our production process we separate wood for making oil and for making the incense. For this reason we need to market essential oil in a relation of 24 kilos of sticks = 1 liter of essential oil. If we want palosanto for the long run, it is vital to use essential oil and/or its derivated (Glycerin Soaps, cosmetics, etc). Save money and support sustainability with any of these palosanto bundles. Thanks for your understanding and support.
|Botanical Name
|Bursera Graveolens
|Part used
|2 Years after production date
Bursera Graveolens Palo Santo Incense Info
Bursera graveolens, known in Spanish as palo santo ("holy wood") is a tree that inhabits the coast of Ecuador. The tree belongs to the same family (Burseraceae) as frankincense and myrrh. It is widely used in folk medicine. Palo Santo is rich in terpenes such as limonene and α-terpineol.
The use of Palo Santo (or Palo Santo) from Bursera Graveolens is reported to be traditional in South America, especially in Ecuador. According to the local customs, it is used against the "mala energia" (bad energy) ("Palo Santo para limpiar tu casa de la mala energia, Palo Santo para la buena suerte" or "Palo Santo to clean your house of bad energy, Palo Santo for good luck").
The Palosanto (Bursera Graveolens) is a tree from the Ecuadorian dry forestes which was used by Chamans to cure many diseases; this is the reason why the Spanish that settled here call the tree "Santo".
Palo Santo (Bursera Graveolens) is an aromatic wood; Its smoke is used as a repellent to keep off mosquitoes, ants and other insects. It also cleans and help to remove the bad energy from the home, keep away evil spirits, induces meditation and spiritual search. The scent of Palo Santo is extremely soothing and transmits a powerful energy.
The Palosanto (Bursera Graveolens) is a tree from the Ecuadorian dry forests which was used by Chamans to cure many diseases; this is the reason why the Spanish that settled here call the tree "Santo". If we think of the body like a house where we live, we can take into consideration the ancient rituals based on Palo Santo as the ancient peoples lacked knowledge of illnesses which to them were all products of bad energy.
Incense made without harming the Palo Santo tree. We only process wood that has been found to have died naturaly in the forest. Tree grows for about 40 years and then dies. Then, it has to lay down for about 10 more years before we can process it.
Ten years ago it started an investigation about the history and properties of the Palo Santo tree located in Puerto Lopez County, in the Manabi Province. Nowadays, at that same place there's an interesting reforestation project taking place, which is trying to rescue the forgotten tradition of planting for tomorrow.
Unlike other species, the Palo Santo must fall by its own in order to extract the Palo Santo Essential oils and also get incense sticks which are used in aromatherapy . In this process not a single tree is cut down, doing so causes it to lose its properties. The wood that falls is what The Artisan PaloSanto EcuadorianHands uses to manufacture the products, and despite the fact that we don't deforest, we do feel the responsibility to return to nature those fallen trees.
We therefore support the Reforestation Project in Puerto Lopez, through a percentage of money generated by the sale of the products of Palo Santo, which is goes directly to the project. This funding enabled the creation of a greenhouse 6 years ago. Since then an estimated 40,000 trees have been planted. Many of these have been delivered to schools, colleges, institutions, Municipality of Puerto Lopez and even the Machalilla National Park, while the rest have given to people in a more individually way.
In addition to helping preserve the environment, the sale of Palo Santo has allowed the training of artisans who work in the whole process of production of the various items. There are about 25 people who receive a fair salary and claim to be happy with their work situation and committed to deliver a quality product.
The ultimate goal is to be able to create a forest of Palo Santo for everyone, which will generate oxygen and household work for the local people. Artisans are the ones who will execute the project and thus must continue their training and develop a culture of long-term preservation. All these activities are very important to secured the long-lasting supply of this natural Essential oil.
At the moment we are working on the paperwork and all the necessary permits to keep detailed records of all the advancements of the program. However, in the future customers who purchase Palo Santo products will be certain of their support to the environment through a satellite map which will show the places where the trees are being replanted.
What we have outlined here is a visionary project, the path is not easy, but it is important that we support the work of the craftsmen who still live in harmony with nature and take care of our only home, Earth.
And you? Are you ready to adopt a Palo Santo tree and contribute to the protection of the environment? Get Palo Santo Essential Oils and Incense products and make the difference!
Very good
Very good product!
I feel a strong smell.
Pal Santo Incense Sticks
Outstanding product! I receive 5 star reviews from my customers. I will continue to reorder for years to come.
Best ever
These sticks are the best quality.Great size & lovely aroma.Highly recommended.
2560 Incense Sticks Palo Santo (16)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Saturday, 31 December 2005
May all your times be good times!
Friday, 30 December 2005
Some of the athletes I coach want to "know me better". This is a portrait of me as described by Myers-Briggs.
If you know your MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), you can look up http://www.personalitypage.com/portraits.html for your portrait and see how close it is!
Yes I am an ISTJ. I have added a comment after each paragraph.
ISTJs are quiet and reserved individuals who are interested in security and peaceful living. They have a strongly-felt internal sense of duty, which lends them a serious air and the motivation to follow through on tasks. Organised and methodical in their approach, they can generally succeed at any task which they undertake.
ISTJs are very loyal, faithful, and dependable. They place great importance on honesty and integrity. They are "good citizens" who can be depended on to do the right thing for their families and communities. While they generally take things very seriously, they also usually have an offbeat sense of humor and can be a lot of fun - especially at family or work-related gatherings.
ISTJs tend to believe in laws and traditions, and expect the same from others. They're not comfortable with breaking laws or going against the rules. If they are able to see a good reason for stepping outside of the established mode of doing things, the ISTJ will support that effort. However, ISTJs more often tend to believe that things should be done according to procedures and plans. If an ISTJ has not developed their Intuitive side sufficiently, they may become overly obsessed with structure, and insist on doing everything "by the book".
(true with the rider that I must have "developed my Intuitive side sufficiently")
The ISTJ is extremely dependable on following through with things which he or she has promised. For this reason, they sometimes get more and more work piled on them. Because the ISTJ has such a strong sense of duty, they may have a difficult time saying "no" when they are given more work than they can reasonably handle. For this reason, the ISTJ often works long hours, and may be unwittingly taken advantage of.
The ISTJ will work for long periods of time and put tremendous amounts of energy into doing any task which they see as important to fulfilling a goal. However, they will resist putting energy into things which don't make sense to them, or for which they can't see a practical application. They prefer to work alone, but work well in teams when the situation demands it. They like to be accountable for their actions, and enjoy being in positions of authority. The ISTJ has little use for theory or abstract thinking, unless the practical application is clear.
ISTJs have tremendous respect for facts. They hold a tremendous store of facts within themselves, which they have gathered through their Sensing preference. They may have difficulty understanding a theory or idea which is different from their own perspective. However, if they are shown the importance or relevance of the idea to someone who they respect or care about, the idea becomes a fact, which the ISTJ will internalize and support. Once the ISTJ supports a cause or idea, he or she will stop at no lengths to ensure that they are doing their duty of giving support where support is needed.
The ISTJ is not naturally in tune with their own feelings and the feelings of others. They may have difficulty picking up on emotional needs immediately, as they are presented. Being perfectionists themselves, they have a tendency to take other people's efforts for granted, like they take their own efforts for granted. They need to remember to pat people on the back once in a while.
(true – it doesn't come naturally to me to compliment people, I have to remind myself to do so, and I have learned that a polite "thank you" is often all that is required if someone compliments me!)
ISTJs are likely to be uncomfortable expressing affection and emotion to others. However, their strong sense of duty and the ability to see what needs to be done in any situation usually allows them to overcome their natural reservations, and they are usually quite supporting and caring individuals with the people that they love. Once the ISTJ realizes the emotional needs of those who are close to them, they put forth effort to meet those needs.
(true, true, all too true)
The ISTJ is extremely faithful and loyal. Traditional and family-minded, they will put forth great amounts of effort at making their homes and families running smoothly. They are responsible parents, taking their parenting roles seriously. They are usually good and generous providers to their families. They care deeply about those close to them, although they usually are not comfortable with expressing their love. The ISTJ is likely to express their affection through actions, rather than through words.
(truly true)
ISTJs have an excellent ability to take any task and define it, organize it, plan it, and implement it through to completion. They are very hard workers, who do not allow obstacles to get in the way of performing their duties. They do not usually give themselves enough credit for their achievements, seeing their accomplishments simply as the natural fulfillment of their obligations.
(true true true)
ISTJs usually have a great sense of space and function, and artistic appreciation. Their homes are likely to be tastefully furnished and immaculately maintained. They are acutely aware of their senses, and want to be in surroundings which fit their need for structure, order, and beauty.
(not true at all! Although I did keep a clear desk when I worked)
Under stress, ISTJs may fall into "catastrophe mode", where they see nothing but all of the possibilities of what could go wrong. They will berate themselves for things which they should have done differently, or duties which they failed to perform. They will lose their ability to see things calmly and reasonably, and will depress themselves with their visions of doom.
(true, a perfect description of what has happened once)
In general, the ISTJ has a tremendous amount of potential. Capable, logical, reasonable, and effective individuals with a deeply driven desire to promote security and peaceful living, the ISTJ has what it takes to be highly effective at achieving their chosen goals - whatever they may be.
Jungian functional preference ordering:
Dominant: Introverted Sensing
Auxiliary: Extraverted Thinking
Tertiary: Introverted Feeling
Inferior: Extraverted Intuition
Thursday, 29 December 2005
The Best Is Yet To Come!
Recent improvements to the blog have been "Coming Event Highlights" and the flying goose. I will continue to make improvements in 2006.
Did the weblog live up to its promise in 2005?
In January when I started, I wrote we would see "topics of interest; comments and questions on any running related topic; idea sharing; feedback; awards; social event notices; hints and advice; discussions; links; training and racing calendar; training group results; runners profiles; birthdays, anniversaries, hatches matches & dispatches; contact information; photos; whatever you want it to be!"
My answer is yes, it did live up to its promise, but I would like to see more interaction. So I will keep on listing and summarising your performances, and hope you also add comments on how you felt you went, and other events you have participated in. I will also review the "contributors" list and try and encourage more input that way.
Other things included have been some teaching on principles of running, cartoons, jokes and even songs. As well as photos, there were newspaper cuttings and dvd stills. Other writing included my own training plans and goals which I will continue to include.
The sets of ten principles I wrote about were on "conditioning", "form", and "racing".
Future sets planned are "sample training sessions", "stretches", "health tips", and something in the "motivational" arena.
You are all welcome to participate, contribute, or at least make suggestions.
In the Vetrunner arena, I would like my "articles" to become more "story". In the weblog arena, I would like my "articles" to become more readable with sub headings, dot points, key point summary etc. and fitting with space to spare on one page; short and to the point (e.g. not like this!). If you are creative and can help, thanks! Please do.
It looks like being a busy 2006!
Fly Goose Fly!
Wednesday, 28 December 2005
My better known career highlights
Life time pbs. These will never change!
100 12.0
200 23.7
400 52.2
800 1:57.2
1500 4:04.3
3000 8.47.3
5000 15:10.5
10000 31.57
half marathon 70.10
marathon 2:26.58
. mile in 4:32.2 in 1965 at the age of 16, to win the SA interschools
. marathon in 2:30.05 in Queensland in 1978, to come seventh in the national championships on a "steam-bath" muggy day
. marathon in 2:26.58 late in 1978, to win the Canberra marathon for the second time and set an ACT open record
. Canberra "Distance runner of the year" in 1979
. 3000 metres in 8:47.3 in 1984, to set an Australian (and ACT) M35 record which still stands today.
So as you can see, I am highly unlikely to run any new pbs.
Tuesday, 27 December 2005
My running goals for 2006
1500 5:20
3000 11:10
5000 19:00
10000 39:15
Half Marathon 87:30
I won't race a marathon but I do plan to run the Canberra marathon in just under 4:00.
How am I going to do this?
. The 1500s won't be "raced" either, I will use them to get rhythm and speed for the longer races. If I feel really good running 1500s, I will ease off for one (eg in a relay?) and see what I can do. Under 5:00 would be nice.
. I should really be able to get the 3000 down below 11 mins, but I haven't done so recently so why should it happen now? Also the 5000 should be a lot faster, but my 10k results have been relatively slower in recent years and I really need to focus now on running a faster 10k if I am to break three hours for the marathon in 2008 (i.e. when I'm sixty).
. Training will build up to 110k per week and all current speed sessions will be maintained. That should do it.
Monday, 26 December 2005
I wrote a lullaby
Last Week's target 80 km, achieved 80 km
This Week's target 70 km, could be tricky as I will have Monday off.
Song of the Week: The Orphan by Newsboys from the album "Devotion".
Maybe I push when I'm meant to be still
Maybe I take it all too personal
Jesus, how to reconcile
The joyful noise
The ancient land
The tug from some invisible hand
The dying mother weaving bulrushes
Along the Nile
Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We'll be waiting for
A tailwind to carry her orphan's cry
Don't you worry child
I wrote a lullaby
I try to settle, but I just pass through
A rain dog, a gypsy
A wandering Jew
All those homes were not ours
Then i slept one night in Abraham's field
And dreamt there was no moon
The night he died
Counting stars
Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We'll be waiting for
A tailwind to carry an orphan's cry
Don't you worry child
I wrote a lullaby
Building you a home
Building you a home
Building you a home
We're Building you a home
So float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We'll be waiting for
A tailwind to carry an orphan's cry
Don't you worry child
I wrote a lullaby
Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We'll be waiting for
A tailwind to bring us your sweet cry
Don't you worry child
I gonna sing you a lullaby
Sunday, 25 December 2005
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Saturday, 24 December 2005
Stair Stepper - an evaluation
The advantages?
1. As in all cross training, it enables me to exercise more often without increasing the risk of injury. With a bad achilles it is something I can do which seems OK for the achilles, although I am not totally sure of that, because the calves, knees, and hamstrings are adversely affected on occasion. Still, it is less damaging than uphill sprints, because the uphill slope is absent.
2. It has addressed a specific need of mine - very weak and inflexible quads. Although again I am not sure, because the eccentric effect of downhill running can strengthen quads too and is needed probably as much as uphill work.
The disadvantages?
1. I cannot run with as much tempo and I cannot burn as many calories in a given time on the stepper compared with real running.
2. Running training should be specific. The best training for running is running. I know I can improve my stepper performances by training on the stepper as the levels I use get harder, and I know my general fitness may increase, but I am not sure that converts to better running pace on the track or road, since my general underlying fitness is good anyway, and for most of the training year it is more specific fitness which needs working on.
I will persist with this training in 2006 and see how it goes. But if I become injury free, I will devote the time to purely running.
Friday, 23 December 2005
Team Moore Track Results yesterday
It was hot! Omitting the Daniels and the Relay, here for the last time are the full results for Team Moore members.
3000 metres early
Richard Faulks 11:06
Rod Lynch 11:14
Alan Duus 13:10
Geoff Barker 14:37
Pam Faulks 16:02
Carol Baird 13:38
Margaret McSpadden 14:52
100m Gift Women
2 Maureen Rossiter
4 Vicki Matthews
1 Mile Run
Rod Lynch 5:27.28
Gary Bowen 5:50.12
Michael Leahey 5:19.45
Ken White 5:52.37
Trevor Cobbold 5:55.77
Geoff Moore 6:16.39
Neil Boden 6:37.46
Kevin Chamberlain 6:18.00
Geoff Barker 7:13.76
Tony Booth 6:39.9
Jenny Langton 5:34.45
Katie Forestier 6:12.31
Maria O'Reilly 6:04.48
Kathy Sims 6:25.54
Margaret McSpadden 7:52.17
3000m later event
Michael Leahey 10:43.94
Ken White 12:27.07
Tony Booth 13:58.2
Geoff Moore 22:09.19
High Jump
Ewen Thompson 1.35
Jenny Langton 1.35
Ewen Thompson 18.13
1 Mile Walk
Ewen Thompson 8:40
Geoff Barker 10:40
Carol Baird 9:53
Thursday, 22 December 2005
Lunch Time Running
This year for the first time, I have been enjoying participating in most of the lunch time handicap runs around Canberra.
Many of the runners who train with us are regular participants. In Wednesday's BBQ Stakes, Helen was the winner, competing in her 15th run. Helen overcame not only a good size field, but also stifling heat. A great return to form this year, Helen.
Lunch time runs on offer include the Customs Joggers every Friday from Commonwealth Park, the Ginninderra Handicap the last Tuesday of every month from the Lighthouse Bar, the Lake Stakes at Tuggeranong every Tuesday from KFC, and the BBQ Stakes from Corinna Street Woden every Wednesday.
I hope to be running many of these in 2006. See you there.
Wednesday, 21 December 2005
Vets Track Program Thursday Dec 22
6.15pm 100m Presidents Handicap
6.30pm 1 Mile Walk
6.45pm Long Jump (QA)
7.00pm Javelin/Shot
7.15pm 1 Mile Run, High Jump
7.30pm 200m Daniels
7.45pm 200m Hurdles,
8.00pm Parlauf Relay
8.15pm 3000/5000m
Santa, lollies, and champagne are possibilities...
Should anyone like to go to Zeffirelli afterwards for dinner, it's on.
Racing Principle #10
I suppose I could have started with this one, but I put the most important last. Whether your problem is psyching yourself up for a race, or settling yourself down before a race, it is the established pre race routine which enables you to reach the optimum level of preparedness.
Here is the routine I went through every time I raced track (400s/8oos) in the Adelaide summer as a teenager
... arrive an hour before.
... go downstairs to the cool changing rooms and snooze on the high jump bags
... have a cold shower if it was VERY hot
... jog two laps and do my pre race stretches
... five minutes to go, two or three run-throughs at race pace, 50 to 100 m each
... gun!
The objectives were a) to calm my mind. I was always very nervous before a race.
and b) to get my pulse up to my racing pulse just before the start. Then I could set out very fast.
I still go through a similar routine before every race.
What's your routine?
Racing Principle #10 - Have an established pre race routine.
Tuesday, 20 December 2005
Racing Principle #9
You can improve your times by running at your fastest best pace as evenly as possible.
Pacing is learned in training by doing interval work with a stop watch until it becomes second nature to do fast repeat efforts over short distances in the same predetermined time.
Then when it comes to racing, after warming up well for the race, don't start out too fast or too slow.
In training you can practise going out at exactly the pace of your projected race time.
The only real exception to this principle is the marathon, where you can expect to tie up a little at the end, so the pace you run at should project to a little faster than the time you expect.
Even with no improvement in fitness, say you had run a 10k averaging 4 minutes per km, but the first km was 3:40, then just by running another starting out at 3.55 minutes per km, you should be able to improve your time considerably. Running at a more even pace is the secret.
And you can use pacing charts to project from your race performances what you might run for other races. For example if your 3k pace is 100 seconds per lap and your 5k pace is 105 seconds per lap, then you can aim for 102 second per lap in the 5k confident that it is easily achievable.
However I find that most people are quite conservative about how much improvement they are capable of. So at times throw caution to the winds - see principle #8 below for a racing rather than a pacing perspective. Which is right? Both, of course.
"Racing Principle #9 - Even Pace Produces Fastest Times"
Monday, 19 December 2005
How am I going to develop this?
I have more sets of "principles" topics ready to think about.
I could use the blog more as a diary, or journal, like others do.
I could do some more serious writing.
Hmm. What to do?
Meanwhile ...
Last Week's target 70 km, achieved 70 km
This Week's target 80 km
Song of the Week: Politicians by Switchfoot from the album "Nothing is Sound"
Everything is broken
Everything is broken
Everything is breaking down, breaking down
Everything is bleeding
Everything is bleeding
Everything is breaking down, breaking down
A pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians
Watching for my sky to get torn apart
We are broken, we are bitter
We're the problem, we're the politicians
Watching for our sky to get torn apart
C'mon and break me
Entropy and Aching
Where have we been aiming?
Everything is fading out, fading out
We are the faded, splitted, and sedated
Everything is fading out, fading out
A pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians
Watching for my sky to get torn apart
We are broken, we are bitter
We're the problem, we're the politicians
Watching for our sky to get torn apart
C'mon and break me
C'mon and break me
A pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians,
politicians, politicians..
I am broken, I am bitter
I'm the problem, I'm the politician
Watching for my sky to get torn apart
C'mon and break me
C'mon and break me
Racing Principle #8
Whether you find yourself in races in the front pack, or you are further back with the goal of finishing ahead of your nearest rivals, you need to develop the same abilities as elite runners do, and employ the same strategies.
The ability to win any race depends on you having at your disposal a range of things:
a) thorough knowledge of the course where applicable – run over it first!
b) a working plan of how to run the race on the course – decide how to attack each stage of the run.
c) a plan which is adaptable to a variety of conditions – make allowance for possible heat, wind etc.
d) being alert to the tactics of others – learn to read what others are doing and quickly respond.
e) being able to sit and kick – do practise this in training and in low key races.
f) the ability to run aggressively from the front – practice this in training as often as possible.
g) being able to employ aggressive surging to break up the opposition – vary pace in most training sessions, learn to surge by practising it in training through running on different surfaces, particularly undulating surfaces, developing speed and particularly speed-endurance, and doing hill sprints competitively.
h) the ability to respond to whatever tactics others use, such as going out fast when others do – this needs the abilities mentioned above, and the confidence to employ such tactics, developed by race practice sessions at a fast pace.
I am sure there are more.. these are just what I can think of on a Monday morning.. in summary to race like an elite, you need to train like one.
Racing Principle #8 - Develop elite runners' strategies and abilities.
Sunday, 18 December 2005
magic eye
Saturday, 17 December 2005
The rest of Thursday's track results
In the 4 x 800 my educated guess is that the M45, M55, W30, W45, W50, and W60 teams all set Australian records as well as ACT records, and the M50 team's time was "only" an ACT record.
Roger Pilkington 11:51
Gary Bowen 12:14
Michael Leahey 10:42
Ken White 11:58
Geoff Moore 11:59
Tony Booth 13:45
Charlie McCormack 12:47
Charmaine Knobel 14:04
100 Metres
Matthew Hardy 12.61
Rod Lynch 15.20
Sarah Pau 15.93
Katie Forestier 15.68
Vicki Matthews 14.99
Maria O'Reilly 16.44
Maureen Rossiter 15.98
200 Metres
Matthew Hardy 26.09
Richard Faulks 27.04
Rod Lynch 31.63
Geoff Sims 27.35
Jenny Langton 29.02
Katie Forestier 31.71
Charlie McCormack 30.93
Vicki Matthews 30.31
Maria O'Reilly 32.80
Maureen Rossiter 31.08
Jill Brown 33.88
Long Jump
Sarah Pau 3.92
4 x 100 metres
(Sharon Gibbins)
Vicki Matthews
(Sue Bourke)
Kerry Boden 58.39
(John Morton)
Maria O'Reilly
Katie Forestier
(Mick Horan) 58.47
Jill Brown
Maureen Rossiter
(Karen Davis)
(Garry Maher) 58.86
5,000 metres Walk
Kevin Chamberlain 32.38
Rod Gilchrist 35.55
Carol Baird 31.07
1,000 metres Walk
Alice Scott 7.18
Friday, 16 December 2005
Spiral 8 results
We took all the places. We had all raced ourselves out in the heat first, of course!
All runners were eligible. Very good runs then from Nev and Tony. I tip Gary to win the next spiral, on 19 January. Unless of course Ewen decides to run instead of walk, in which case we can anticipate the first ever two lap victory in a four lapper. Go Gary!
1 Nev Madden 14:08
2 Tony Booth 15:02
3 Ewen Thompson19:41
4 Maria O'Reilly 14:16
6 Rod Lynch 12:40
7 Katie Forestier 14:29
8 Gary Bowen 14:30
10 Roger Pilkington 13:10
11 Kevin Chamberlain 14:01
19 Neil Boden 15:44
20 Geoff Moore 14:56
4 x 800 relay - estimates of splits
Ewen and I have estimated the split times for each runner; these times were roughly when the baton crossed the finish line.
There is another 4 x 800 relay night this season - Wednesday 25 January.
Team Moore members in bold
1. light blue team (M45) 9:23.77
John Morton 2:15
Rod Lynch 2:24
Mick Horan 2:16
Paul Considine 2:28
2. fluoro green team (W30) 10:36.06
Katie Forestier 2:47
Anna Danielsson 2:35
Mel Cockshut 2:42
Jenny Langton 2:31
3. purple team (mixed) 10:37 .92
Roger Pilkington 2:44
Nigel Coldrick 2:56
Gary Bowen 2:38
Andrew Endall 2:19
4. red team (M55) 10:48.93
Pat Stakelum 2:40
Jim White 2:44
Neil Boden 2:48
Garry Maher 2:36
5. white team (M50) 11:02.72
Nick Blackaby 3:21
Ken White 2:40
Neville Madden 2:27
Michael Leahey 2:34
6. orange team (W50) 12:07.99
Maria O'Reilly 2:45
Jill Brown 3:11
Charmaine Knobel 3:15
Maureen Rossitter 2:56
7. transparent team (mixed) 12:14.81
Charlie McCormack 2:47
Carol Baird 3:16
Tony Booth 3:02
Mick Worsley 3:09
8. pink team (W45) 13:33.14
Kerry Boden 3:24
Annemarie Calnan 3:40
Vicki Matthews 3:13
Sue Bourke 3:15
9. mauve team (W60) 15:16.25
Alice Scott 3:35
Jillian Clark 4:03
Norma Lindemann 4:02
Fran Harris 3:35
Thursday, 15 December 2005
old group 33 new group 40
Results for Team Moore of the spiral 7 at the track a couple of weeks ago.
1 Geoff Moore 12:18
2 Katie Forestier 12:46
3 Ken Gordon 11:53
7 Tony Booth 13:34
13 Rod Lynch 11:01
14 Geoff Barker 14:15
16 Maureen Rossiter 14:19
17 Gary Bowen 12:37
18 Margaret McSpadden 15:25
22 Neil Boden 13:06
23 Kevin Chamberlain 12:29
25 Ewen Thompson 17:39
Wednesday, 14 December 2005
High Jump (QA series) 7:15pm,
4 x 800m relay 7:15pm (records still to be set),
Short Hurdles 7:45pm (Boag event), and
8 Lap Spiral 8:15 pm (Adler Series)
Other events:
3000m 6:00 pm,
Heavyweight 6:00 pm (Lower Throwing Field),
200m 6:15pm,
1000/1500m Walk 6:30 pm,
Long Jump 6:45 pm,
Javelin and Discus 7:00pm and 7:45pm (2 of each),
100m 7:30pm,
Triple Jump 7:45pm, and
4x100m relay 8:00pm.
Are all carbohydrates good ... ?
Tuesday, 13 December 2005
Team Moore results from last Thurday
Michael Leahey 10:42.0
Colin Farlow 10:09.4
Maria O'Reilly 12:07.5
Roger Pilkington 11:24.3
Kevin Chamberlain 12:01.6
Gary Bowen 11:50.3
Tony Booth 13:15.2
Charlie McCormack 12:32.3
Neville Madden 12:16.0
Ken White 12:18.6
Margaret McSpadden 14:56.4
Geoff Barker 14:40.2
Graeme Small 16:08.2
Rod Lynch 11:19.6
Gary Bowen 13:17.0
Geoff Moore 13:56.1
Tony Booth 15:23.9
Jenny Langton 13:17.2
Sarah Pau 16:16.3
Katie Forestier 13:35.8
Gabrielle Brown 14:14.0
Kathy Sims 12:40.4
Rod Lynch 5:02.4
Roger Pilkington 5:21.8
Gary Bowen 5:29.4
Geoff Moore 5:56.8
Geoff Barker 6:57.0
Tony Booth 6:15.5
Katie Forestier 5:45.1
Pam Faulks 7:35.4
Kathy Sims 5:47.8
Margaret McSpadden 7:12.4
4 x 200 relay
Jenny Langton
Sarah Pau
(Karen Davis)
Katie Forestier 2:08.8 record
Margaret McSpadden
Jill Brown
(Carol Baird)
(Margaret Taylor) 2.29.1 record
(John Burns)
(Jack Perry)
(Rad Leovic)
Pam Faulks 2:41.9
Matthew Hardy 60.8
Gary Bowen 66.0
Rod Lynch 66.1
Neville Madden 61.8
Geoff Sims 61.4
Geoff Barker 91.1
Tony Booth 80.4
Jenny Langton 63.1
Katie Forestier 77.1
Gabrielle Brown 77.4
Vicki Matthews 70.8
Maureen Rossiter 72.0
Long Jump
Sarah Pau 3.79
Vicki Matthews 3.75
Monday, 12 December 2005
Holiday Training Plans
So mark in your diaries,
Monday 19/12 Parliament House training
Tuesday 20/12 North Lyneham training
Thursday 22/12 AIS track racing
Monday 26/12 --------
Tuesday 27/12 --------
Thursday 29/12 -------
Monday 2/1 Parliament House training
Tuesday 3/1 North Lyneham training
Thursday 5/1 AIS track training
Apparently there is no Vets track on 5th January so we will go out there for a training session at 5:30pm instead. Then if I'm wrong we won't miss out on racing.
On the 12th, track races resume. I notice there is a "Turkey Walk" on the program. That's right, I do remember seeing a whole lot of athletes practising walking like Turkeys.
Sunday, 11 December 2005
Happy Anniversary
Maureen turns 55 tomorrow (Monday) and enters a new age group. She plans to be at training Monday night, I hear. Take note everyone else, a birthday is no excuse to bludge from training!
No sign of track results from Thursday yet on the web except the Daniels result that I put up on Friday. No sign of the spiral seven results from the previous week either (the one that I won). Talk about slack. Well, let us set a good example of diligence and let us disregard the little things others might do or not do that could annoy us. (that bit's for me.)
It was a great morning at the Half Iron Man today. This event, a major race on the triathlon calendar, attracts hundreds of top competitors from all over Australia. I have no reservations in saying that it is the best event on the ACT sporting calendar each year. Amongst the keen spectators were Charlie, Jenny and Greg, Cathy, Ruth and Dave, Thea, Peter. An absolute must to watch and to enter if fit enough; very well organised, very exciting, and very long! And fellow runners, next year we could round up some swimmer and cyclist mates and enter teams. A December Half Marathon as part of a team somehow appeals. What makes the idea attractive is, we don't have any other halves at this time of year; there are mountain runs on but who in their right mind runs those; and the half iron man field is very large so there is plenty of company. And well organised as I said. I haven't asked what the entry fee is like, but who cares if it's a great event?
Saturday, 10 December 2005
Lauren's latest exploits
08-11 December 2005
Girls Long Jump Under 18
1 Lauren Boden, ACT Daramalan, 6.24m, won by 49cm.
Girls 400 Metre Hurdles Under 18
Ht 1: 1 Lauren Boden, ACT Daramalan, 60.68 (fastest qualifier).
Final: 1 Lauren Boden, ACT Daramalan, 59.71, won by 1.93 sec
This is after a 58.93 in the Zatopek a week earlier, but I suspect conditions were hot and windy in Sydney.
Girls Long Jump Under 20
1 Lauren Boden, ACT Daramalan, 6.15m, won by 40cm
Girls 4x400 relay Under 18
3 ACT (including Lauren)
Meanwhile back in Canberra, as announced last night and in today's Canberra Times,
ACT Junior Sports Star of the Year
Lauren Boden
Friday, 9 December 2005
Racing Principle #7
Previous racing principles were
1 redefine "winning"
2 practise surging
3 plan races so that you have a day's break from racing for every mile raced.
4 have long term goals
5 define short term goals
6 set intermediate racing goals
Should I train hard while racing? Should I race frequently or should I race rarely? What causes most injury - long mileage or speed work or hill training or something else? How much is too much? What sort of training gets me the best results with the least number of injuries? Should I work on my strengths or my weaknesses? Do I need steady state work or race pace work or long slow distance? Will weight training or gym work or cross training make all the difference? Are light sessions of value or should i be doing something else?
While a forum like mine can propose a number of general principles, sometimes it is just a matter of "horses for courses". Any one individual with a particular set of physical attributes, mental attitudes, likes and dislikes, and so on, is surely unique. What works for one might be disaster for another.
Like a fisherman trying different kinds of bait and angling techniques to get the best catch - don't just sit there doing what you have always been doing. Try different training approaches and see how they suit you. Ultimately, only you can determine what training works best for you!
What distances should I race? Whatever suits you. Whatever you like. If you like 10k, race it. And your likes and dislikes can be fashioned over time by the training you choose to do. You can become a cross country runner - by training often on a cross country course. Sometimes, if you specialise, you can become very good - at your speciality. A "strength" runner can become an excellent cross country specialist. A "rhythm" runner can become an excellent road racer. A tactical runner can become an excellent track runner.
I'd work on my strengths - I'd run the courses that I seem to be made for.
Racing Principle #7 - "Horses for Courses"
Thursday, 8 December 2005
HB2U Part 2
More Happy Birthdays. Amanda is having a birthday on Friday, then celebrating her and Colin's first (yes, first!) wedding anniversary on Sunday. Maureen hits the big 55 on Monday. And six days later, Katie is promoted to the big four-oh.
Both Roger and Sarah have birthdays the day before Katie's.
However the big news is the arrival of the latest Team Moore member, this time a little girl. Madison Gordon was born Friday morning 2/12/05. (After Ken was at track Thursday night). Wow and congratulations!
If you're expecting a baby and would like he/she to arrive on a Friday morning, come to track Thursday night! Two out of two so far.
Wednesday, 7 December 2005
Happy Birthdays
Tuesday, 6 December 2005
(I have never run a 60m race!)
No results of the spiral handicap have appeared yet, so I wonder what happened there?
For interest, my research last year showed that when you compare hand held times at our events with accurate electronic times, the hand held times give results pretty consistently 0.3 seconds too fast.
This is regardless of distance run.
So now, when I calculate either Daniels handicaps or Daniels scores, I add 0.3 to any hand held times. This is fair and works both ways. It means if you run any hand timed race, I don't over-handicap you, and it means in a hand timed handicap race, runners don't get more points than they should. (Daniels point score is worked out on time, not place).
Even then, the published results are not always accurate. But like cricket umpiring; when there are mistakes, sometimes you lose out, and sometimes you benefit. It averages out in the end.
Monday, 5 December 2005
Not running, playing
Additional. For those currently training with us -
At North Lyneham this Tuesday I might be late - I suggest we run four of those 700m circuits (yes, up the middle hill through the long grass) on 5 minutes, maybe on six minutes if it is hot which it might well be, working fairly hard on each one.
Then the plan for next week is to start shorter running at North Lyneham, designed specifically for middle distance runners. This is because most of the middle distance specialists are running with us Tuesdays rather than Mondays.
(Middle Distance: definition: 800m and 1500m track races)
Track this Thursday includes the rerun of the Pennington 3000. Again I might be late - and miss it - in any case I will be full of Thai food and red wine - so missing it won't worry me too much. After track we plan to go off to Zeffirelli.
Do remember to reply about Saturday's BBQ.
Sunday, 4 December 2005
Team Moore Christmas Barbecue
We usually have a Team Moore get-together in December and this year is no exception.
Members of the training group, and their families, are invited to a barbecue at Peter and Maria's home in North Lyneham.
The date is this Saturday 10 December, the time is 6pm or so.
Should you have a later engagement that day, please come at 6pm anyway for a drink and a chat, and leave when you must.
What to bring?
- something to cook on the BBQ
- your own drinks
- some salad or dessert to share
We would like to know numbers.
Who to notify?
- reply to me by Thursday, or at the latest see me at the track on Thursday evening (but you know how busy it is out there, so replying earlier would be good!)
Merry Christmas!
Team Moore Track Results
2000m Steeplechase
Geoff Barker 10:50.5
Carol Baird 9:30.4
3000m Steeplechase
Gary Bowen 13:35.0
800m Chris Higgins Memorial Handicap
(you could subtract, say, 2 seconds to get a more likely time)
3 Colin Farlow 2:13.62
5 Neville Madden 2:25.89
10 Richard Faulks 2:24.74
11 Ken White 2:30.15
13 Rod Lynch 2:28.43
15 Maureen Rossiter 2:47.12
18 Gary Bowen 2:26.46
19 Tony Booth 2:49.69
26 Neil Boden 2:47.90
32 Carol Baird 3:05.68
33 Katie Forestier 2:51.49
34 Alice Scott 3:48.90
35 Margaret McSpadden 3:42.51
4x400m Relay
(Mick Horan)
(Robert Barbaro)
Neville Madden
Katie Forestier 4:17.43
(Phil White)
Neil Boden
Vicki Matthews
Ken Gordon 4:20.98
Gary Bowen
(Sue Bourke)
Tony Booth
(Amalendu Edelsten) 4:37.37
Jill Brown
(Margaret Taylor)
Margaret McSpadden
Carol Baird 5:40.34
2000m Walk
Rod Gilchrist 13.14
Geoff Barker 14.33
Carol Baird 12.36
Margaret McSpadden 15.42
Richard Faulks 8.5
Rod Lynch 8.7
Vicki Matthews 8.8
Alex Lloyd 9.1
Pam Faulks 9.7
Maureen Rossiter 9.3
Ken Gordon 25.54
Colin Farlow 28.11
Richard Faulks 27.90
Rod Lynch 30.14
Ian Sanders 33.32
Katie Forestier 32.85
Vicki Matthews 30.44
Alex Lloyd 33.38
Maureen Rossiter 31.88
Jill Brown 34.89
Pam Faulks 39.09 ?
High Jump
Ewen Thompson 1.30
Alex Lloyd 1.30
Long Jump
Vicki Matthews 3.75
Pam Faulks 3.03
Saturday, 3 December 2005
Murphy's Laws of Running
...it rains on your long run days and is sunny and fine on your days off
...triathletes, when your running is going well, either your goggles break during the swim, or the chain snaps on your bike
...when your swimming, running and cycling are all going well, you head the wrong way in the transition
...you think of the tactics you should have used, after the race is over
...the photos they publish of you are always less flattering than the ones you take of other people
...in an otherwise empty locker room, any two individuals will have adjoining lockers.
...when you find the perfect running shoe, it will be discontinued
...when you run your fastest time, the electronic timing will have failed
...the handicap race you excel in will be the one where Mr Burglar turns up for his annual victory
...the older you get the faster you were
Friday, 2 December 2005
Our Lauren
What is Fame!
Fame is defined as getting your photo in the Canberra Times.
Or if that is not possible, getting it on the front page of the Queanbeyan Chronicle.
Our Lauren achieved both those feats after finishing second in the final of the Queanbeyan Gift last weekend.
Congratulations Lauren Boden!
"Fame" - new definition - getting your photo in this blog.
Monthly Handicap Point Scores
The long course (Thomas) series was won by Roger Pilkington, and the short course (Frylink) series by Gary Bowen.
Roger and Gary were genuine improvers throughout the year; I am pleased that the system "works" and rewards real improvers who go for it in every race, not those who try to beat the system, as a handful seem to do (no-one in our training group!).
All point scores appear on the actvac website; here is a summary for Team Moore runners.
Long handicap series
1 Roger Pilkington 1163 points 10 races
5 Alan Duus 1046 10
8 Colin Farlow 1030 10
10 Peter Hogan 1027 9
20 Christopher Lang 992 9
34 Peter McDonald 903 8
38 Margaret McSpadden 893 8
42 Geoff Barker 859 10
44 Geoff Moore 848 8
46 Graeme Small 833 8
Short handicap series
1 Gary Bowen 567 10
2 Katie Forestier 550 10
4 Carol Baird 537 10
11 Cathy Montalto 489 8
13 Neil Boden 465 9
Those who ran handicaps and are not on the list would not have completed eight races.
Thursday, 1 December 2005
I feel like a doughnut...
Moore 3000 Series update
Group, Name, Average %, Number of runs
W55 Carol Baird 79.0 1
W50 Charmaine Knobel 75.0 3
W70 Anne Young 72.6 2
W40 Charlie McCormack 71.0 3
W35 Katie Forestier 70.2 1
W45 Annemarie Calnan 69.7 2
W55 Margaret McSpadden 68.3 4
W55 Rosemary Parker 66.1 4
W35 Ellen Lloyd 60.7 1
W40 Carolyne Kramar 60.1 1
W45 Amanda Chew 56.3 1
M50 Trevor Jacobs 81.8 1
M50 Michael Leahey 79.4 4
M45 Paul Considine 79.1 4
M40 Colin Farlow 78.1 4
M45 John Morton 75.5 3
M75 Michael Freer 74.9 2
M35 Peter Zygadlo 74.6 2
M55 Trevor Cobbold 73.4 2
M60 Richard Hilhorst 73.0 4
M55 Bob Harlow 72.9 1
M45 Richard Faulks 72.4 2
M60 Dave McInnes 72.0 1
M35 Damian Rutledge 71.9 2
M45 Rod Lynch 71.6 6
M55 Geoff Moore 71.6 1
M50 Neville Madden 70.4 1
M55 Jim White 70.3 3
M45 Gary Bowen 70.1 3
M55 Ken Eynon 70.0 4
M40 Don Smith 70.0 2
M40 Andrew Endall 69.9 1
M50 Ken White 69.9 3
M45 Hugh Ford 69.6 2
M45 Dave McClelland 68.8 3
M65 Tony Booth 68.8 6
M45 Roger Pilkington 67.8 5
M60 Mike Worsley 67.5 3
M40 Dale Moore 67.5 4
M45 Mick Horan 67.3 1
M60 Geoff Barker 67.2 3
M50 Bob Fletcher 67.2 1
M45 Nigel Coldrick 67.1 1
M40 Bryce Anderson 66.7 1
M45 Ewen Thompson 66.6 2
M60 Bryan Thomas 66.6 2
M55 Peter Hogan 66.1 3
M55 Neil Boden 65.4 2
M40 Brian Mclachlan 64.3 2
M55 Michael Gardner 63.5 1
M30 Heath Pearce 63.1 1
M45 Doug Taupin 63.1 2
M60 Bryan McCarthy 62.8 2
M40 Peter Cullen 62.8 1
M55 Bob Parker 62.5 4
M55 Alan Williams 62.2 3
M60 Geoff Hakes 57.3 1
M45 Chris Edwards 56.3 1
M50 Jamie Macgregor 56.1 3
M50 Nick Blackaby 54.6 3
M30 Adam Robinson 54.1 3
M55 Des Cannon ? 1
? Don White ? 3


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Neutral Milk Hotel / Live:
Fans of Neutral Milk Hotel everywhere rejoiced when they heard Jeff Mangum was touring again for the first time in a decade. Well, Southern Souls just posted a bootleg of the show at Trinity St. Paul's United Church in Toronto. Download the mp3s while you can!


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Showtime sets "Homeland" marathon after Emmy sweep
[media-credit name="Showtime" align="alignright" width="270″][/media-credit]
Showtime hopes the Emmy buzz will carry its freshman series "Homeland" into an even more widely admired sophomore season. The series was the headliner at Sunday's Emmy Awards, garnering four big wins and most of the acclaim. The timing is good to introduce newcomers to the series and refresh returning viewers with a day-long marathon of season 1 before Sunday's season 2 premiere.
From Showtime:
Following this past Sunday's historic Emmy® wins for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Claire Danes, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Damian Lewis, along with Emmys for Casting, Single-Camera Picture Editing and Writing, SHOWTIME invites viewers to catch up on its hit drama series HOMELAND. The network will air a marathon of the entire first season on Saturday, September 29th, beginning at 12 PM ET/PT to 12:30 AM ET/PT. Season two of HOMELAND premieres Sunday, September 30th at 10 PM ET/PT


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New York, July 29, 2013--Federal authorities in Ukraine should take over the investigation into today's brutal attack on a TV journalist who had regularly reported on allegations of corruption in the regional police force, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Sergei Ostapenko, a reporter for Irta, suffered a broken jaw and other injuries in the attack outside his apartment building in Lugansk, eastern Ukraine, according to news reports.
"When a reporter who exposed alleged wrongdoing in the regional police is attacked, federal authorities have an obligation to step in and ensure the integrity of the investigation," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "We hold authorities responsible for Sergei Ostapenko's well-being and the apprehension of those responsible for the attack."
Ostapenko is co-host of the Irta program "Dosit Movchati" (Enough Being Silent), which has reported critically about regional traffic police. The show's reports have alleged widespread corruption, including bribery, within the regional police department. In June, the Lugansk regional police directorate filed a defamation lawsuit against Ostapenko and Irta in connection with a broadcast of "Dosit Movchati," which alleged traffic police were involved in a corruption scandal. The lawsuit is currently pending, news reports said.
Ostapenko told Irta-Fax, a news website affiliated with his employer, that the two assailants did not take his wallet or mobile phone. Regional police have opened a preliminary investigation into the attack, according to news reports.
Today's attack against Ostapenko is the second brutal assault in a week against a journalist reporting critically on traffic police in eastern Ukraine, CPJ research shows. Oleg Bogdanov, a journalist with the Web-based news portal Dorozhny Kontrol, was also hospitalized with a broken nose and jaw after two unidentified men assaulted him near his home in the eastern city of Donetsk on July 21. Bogdanov said that he believed the attack was related to his reporting, but did not specify any particular articles that might have provoked the episode. Dorozhny Kontrol reports on abuses committed by Ukrainian traffic police and other local law enforcement and security agencies.
- For more data and analysis, visit CPJ's Ukraine page.


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Nichelle and I just got back from dinner with the team from MiiR Bottles and Well Done Organization I recently traveled to Liberia with. It was fun to be with everyone again and re-live some of the stories from our trip. Especially for Nichelle to hear stories from other people's perspectives. In the few weeks since I have been back in the States, I have constantly been thinking and dreaming about all I learned in Africa. There are some ideas and projects I am working on in response to my experience, and I will be sharing more about all of this over the course of the next several months, or maybe longer. Before I get to any of that, though, I need to do yet another website update to accommodate the Liberia project, as well as another personal project I am working on. A book is also in the works and is projected to be out around May. Fingers crossed.
MiiR is doing a blog series about our trip, and I am the guest blogger for day 1 if you are interested in reading a little more about Liberia from my perspective.
More to come soon. This is just the beginning.


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SEATTLE, July 12 (UPI) -- From 1990-2010, among 34 developed countries, the United States ranked for several health criteria at around 27th, researchers say.
Dr. Christopher J.L. Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues conducted a study to identify the leading diseases, injuries and risk factors in the United States.
The researchers used the systematic analysis of descriptive epidemiology of 291 diseases and injuries, 1,160 complications of these diseases and injuries and 67 risk factors or clusters of risk factors from 1990-2010 for 187 countries developed for the Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study.
"The United States spends the most per capita on healthcare across all countries, lacks universal health coverage, and lags behind other high-income countries for life expectancy and many other health outcome measures," the study said.
"In the last two decades, improvements in population health in the United States did not keep pace with advances in population health in other wealthy nations."
The study, published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found among 34 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development from 1990-2010, the U.S. rank for the age-standardized death rate dropped from 18 to 27, for the age-standardized years of life lost due to premature mortality rate from 23 to 28, for the age-standardized years lived with disability rate from 5 to 6, for life expectancy at birth from 20 to 27 and for healthy life expectancy from 14 to 26.
The researchers found U.S. life expectancy for both sexes combined increased from 75.2 years in 1990 to 78.2 years in 2010.


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LEXINGTON, Va.—Host VMI (3-2-1) scored a pair of first-half goals to defeat the UMBC women's soccer team (0-8-0) by a score of 2-0 Friday afternoon at Patchin Field.
The Keydets first got on the board in the 20th minute, when midfielder Sarah Strand lofted a ball into the middle of the box, and forward Simone Jimenez headed the ball past UMBC sophomore goalie Lauren Kadet (Oakville, Ontario/St. Thomas Aquinas) from about five yards out.
Then, just over five minutes later, Jimenez found the feet of midfielder Sarah Putney with a quick pass, and from just inside the box, Putney blasted the ball into the upper-left corner of the net for the 2-0 VMI lead.
The Retrievers outshot the Keydets, 14-6, including 8-0 in the second half, but could not find the back of the net. UMBC generated the game's first quality chance, when junior forward Rachel McKee (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) beat a VMI defender and had a one-on-one chance against goalie Amanda Berrios, but the shot was pushed just wide. In all, 12 different Retrievers took at least one shot in the game.
Kadet recorded one save in net for UMBC, while Berrios stopped five shots to preserve the shutout.
The Retrievers return to action on Wednesday, when they host Navy at 7 p.m. at Retriever Soccer Park.


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This series of pictures was taken as Rosetta approached Lutetia.
The first image in the upper left was taken about 9.5 hours before closest approach, when Rosetta was still 510,000 km (315,000 miles) from the asteroid - more distant than the Moon is from the Earth!
The last image (lower right) was obtained an hour and a half before the close encounter when the probe was still 81,000 km (50,000 miles) from Lutetia.
In the first image, details only about 20 km (12 miles) across can be seen, but that improves by almost a factor of 10 in the last image!
Credit: ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team. MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Discover Magazine


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Women?s Cross Country Runner of the Week ? No. 5
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Bianca Kubicki of Madonna (Mich.) has been named the NAIA National Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week, the national office announced Wednesday. Kubicki was selected based on her performance from Oct. 1 - 7 and was chosen out of a pool of conference/independent runner of the week selections.
Kubicki, a native of Canton, Mich., finished with Madonna's fastest 5K time in history on Oct. 5 at the Michigan Intercollegiate Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich. The sophomore bettered the previous program record by 17 seconds with an 18:06 en route to a 13th place finish out of 211 runners from all levels of collegiate athletics. She also broke her personal record by 31 seconds.
For complete results of the Michigan Intercollegiate Championships, click here.
For the complete NAIA National Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week calendar, click here.
For more information on NAIA women's cross country, click here.
Nominees: Rachel Renken , Friends (Kan.); Hannah Helker, Oklahoma Baptist; Talisa Budder, Haskell (Kan.); Julia Montgomery, Columbia (Mo.); Anna Bos, Trinity Christian (Ill.); Jessica Davis, Texas Wesleyan; Brielle Lund, Tabor (Kan.); Catherine Fakler, Xavier (La.); Karina Coelho, Embry-Riddle (Fla.); Lauren Jaqua, Baker (Kan.); Marianna Hurtado, Our Lady of the Lake (Texas); Sydnee Nelson, Southwestern (Kan.); Hana Jiraskova, Point Park (Pa.); Dana Miller, Waldorf (Iowa); Austyn Thier, Clarke (Iowa); Kelsee VanderBaan, Davenport (Mich.); Lindsey McDonald, Park (Mo.); Chelsee Lisk, St. Ambrose (Iowa); Brianna Blunt, Tougaloo (Miss.); Melissa Carder, South Carolina Beaufort; Anne Bruno, Mount Mercy (Iowa); Audrey Tremaine, Cornerstone (Mich.); Kasey Hosier, Shawnee State (Ohio); Moriah Blanford, Warner (Fla.); Allison Steinbeck, Taylor (Ind.); Aleona Reyes, Jamestown (N.D.); Breanna Newton, Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.); Hannah Lieberman, SCAD Savannah (Ga.); Lee Anna Sanders, William Woods (Mo.); Brittni Kent, Science & Arts (Okla.); Alyssa Foss, Indiana Wesleyan; Lauren Nygren, Webber International (Fla.); Kathryn Dean, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.); Carley Distasio, St. Thomas (Fla.); Kayla Stricker, William Carey (Miss.); Emily Dolan, Spring Hill (Ala.); Sarah Kortze, Concordia (Neb.); Linda Rongoey, Reinhardt (Ga.); Dawn Gildersleeve, Northwestern (Iowa).
2012 NAIA Women's Cross Country Runners of the Week
Week 1 (Sept. 12): Hannah Helker, Oklahoma Baptist
Week 2 (Sept. 19): Sarah Kortze, Concordia (Neb.)
Week 3 (Sept. 25): Hillary Holt, College of Idaho
Week 4 (Oct. 3): Karlee Coffey, Eastern Oregon
Week 5 (Oct. 10): Bianca Kubicki, Madonna (Mich.)


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You have earned the Life Scout rank and are ready to begin your Eagle Scout leadership service project. This workbook will help you plan and record your progress and complete and submit a final report.
As stated in the Boy Scout Handbook: While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to your religious institution, school, or your community. (The project should benefit an organization other than the BSA.) The project idea must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your unit leader (Scoutmaster, Varsity Scout Coach, Venturing crew Advisor), unit committee, and by the council or district advancement committee before you start. You must use this Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook, No. 18-927D, in meeting this requirement.
Does the leadership service project for Eagle have to be original, perhaps something you dream up that has never been done before? The answer: No, but it certainly could be. You may pick a project that has been done before, but you must accept responsibility for planning, directing, and following through to its successful completion.
Routine labor (a job or service normally rendered) should not be considered. Work involving council property or other BSA activity is not permitted. The project also may not be performed for a business or an individual, be of a commercial nature, or be a fund-raiser. (Fund-raising is permitted only for securing materials or supplies needed to carry out your project.)
How big a project is required? There are no specific requirements, as long as the project is helpful to a religious institution, school, or community. The amount of time spent by you in planning your project and the actual working time spent in carrying out the project should be as much as is necessary for you to demonstrate your leadership of others.
A look at some projects other Scouts have done for their Eagle Scout Award illustrates that your project can be to construct something or can be to render a service. Scouts have
Your project plan must be approved by your unit leader, unit committee, and council or district advancement committee before the project is started. The following questions must be answered before giving this approval:
Although your project was approved by your unit leader, unit committee, and council or district advancement committee before it was begun, the Eagle Scout board of review must approve the manner in which it was carried out. The following must be answered:
Attention Scouts, Leaders, and Parents or GuardiansEagle Scout rank requirement 5 has been reworded. To support that change, a new Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook has been created. Through Dec. 31, 2011, Scouts have a choice to use either the new workbook or the one it is replacing. Scouts whose Eagle Scout service project has already been approved by the council or district under the former wording of requirement 5—and using the former workbook—should continue with the same workbook. If their project has not yet been approved by the council or district, they may elect to use the revised requirement 5 and the new workbook. Starting Jan. 1, 2012, Eagle Scout candidates—unless they have already submitted a plan for approval by the council or district under the former requirement—will be expected to fulfill the revised service project requirement 5 using the new workbook.
Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook
Next Step ~ Eagle Scout Application


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Every Body Matters is a weekly online community and conversation about our bodies, our authentic beauty, and how we can live boldly as our true selves. Through guided discussions, reflections, stories, and creative inspiration, Every Body Matters aims to cultivate a safe and empowering online community for those who are healing from an eating disorder, disordered eating, or body dissatisfaction.
Click here to join: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaIOG8eaQKk


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This question already has an answer here:
- Let's stop displaying a user's accept rate 19 answers
- What is accept rate?
- Why doesn't accept rate always appear?
- How is the accept rate calculated?
- What does "accepting an answer" mean? How do I do it?
Related: How does accepting an answer work?


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Warm- Up Matches:
With just one-month to go before the start of the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the schedule of mens and womens warm-up matches which will be played in the lead up to the event proper.
The fourth edition of the event, the first to take place in the subcontinent, will be staged from 18 September to 7 October. The event begins for the men on 18 September and 26 September for the women. The mens competition will be staged in Colombo, Hambantota and Pallekelle while the womens group stage will be played in Galle.
However, Colombo alone will host the warm-up matches for both the men and women. The mens warm-up matches will be played from 13 to 17 September and womens matches on 22 and 23 September.
Host Sri Lanka will play warm-up matches against the West Indies and India at NCC ground and P.Sara Oval on 13 and 15 September, respectively while defending champion Englands warm-up matches are against Australia and Pakistan at the NCC Ground and P.Sara Oval on 17 and 19 September, respectively.
In the feature warm-up match, Asian rivals and former champions India and Pakistan will go head to head at R.Premadasa Stadium on Monday, 17 September. This match will start at 1400 (Colombo time) and will be the only warm-up game which will be covered live by ICCs broadcast partner ESPN STAR Sports.
13 Sep Ireland v Zimbabwe (0930-1300), Moors Cricket Ground, Colombo
13 Sep Sri Lanka v West Indies (0930-1300), NCC, Colombo
15 Sep Afghanistan v Sri Lanka A (0930-1300), Moors Cricket Ground, Colombo
15 Sep Australia v New Zealand (0930-1300), NCC, Colombo
15 Sep Bangladesh v Zimbabwe (0930-1300), Colts Cricket Ground, Colombo
15 Sep India v Sri Lanka (0930-1300), P.Sara Oval, Colombo
17 Sep Australia v England (0930-1300), NCC, Colombo
17 Sep Bangladesh v Ireland (0930-1300), Moors Cricket Ground, Colombo
17 Sep New Zealand v South Africa (0930-1300), Colts Cricket Ground, Colombo
17 Sep Afghanistan v West Indies (1400-1730), P.Sara Oval, Colombo
17 Sep India v Pakistan (1400-1730), R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
19 Sep England v Pakistan (0930-1300), P.Sara Oval, Colombo


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Savannah Guthrie revealed Monday her second child with husband Mike Feldman will be a boy! He will join the family, including 2-year-old big sister, Vale, this December.
"I thought, it's already enough upheaval for a little girl to have a new baby — we got to tell you what kind of baby," she said. "So baby brother is on his way in December!"
The big reveal was made with the help of blue milkshakes inside Studio 1A and something a little less subtle outside — a plane flying an aerial banner declaring, "It's a boy!"


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CBS Ends Blackout on Gosnell Trial, Spotlights How 'Firestorm' Went 'Viral'; ABC, NBC Still Out to Lunch
CBS finally ended their on-air coverage blackout of the Kermit Gosnell murder trial on Monday's CBS This Morning, airing two segments on the story a month after opening arguments began. Jan Crawford acknowledged that the Gosnell case "has received little national news coverage". Meanwhile, ABC and NBC's morning and evening newscasts continued to ignore the ongoing legal proceedings against the abortionist.
Crawford pointed out how conservatives "accused the media of ignoring the story because what it called a bias in favor of abortion rights", and how those "charges went viral on Twitter". She even played a sound bite from a former attorney for the murder suspect who questioned the national news media's lack of coverage of the trial: "A case involving a medical doctor charged with eight counts of murder would seem to me that just that fact pattern would make national news" [audio available here; video below the jump].
Anchor Charlie Rose previewed the correspondent's report by stating how "a Philadelphia murder trial is getting new attention this morning – an abortion doctor accused of a series of horrible crimes. So, why have most of us never heard the name Dr. Kermit Gosnell?" Co-anchor Norah O'Donnell also noted how Gosnell's "name may not be familiar to you, and that makes some abortion opponents angry. This case has suddenly blown up into a political firestorm."
Crawford led her segment with a warning that "some of the details you're about to hear are very disturbing....So far, several patients and about a half dozen former employees have testified, and there are almost no words to describe their allegations about what happened inside that clinic." She quickly followed with two clips of local coverage of the case from her network's Philadelphia affiliate KYW, which reported that Gosnell's clinic was "filled with stray cats and animal waste – 47 fetuses piled into a freezer" and that the doctor is "charged in the murder of a woman during a botched abortion, as well as murders of seven babies born alive."
Later, the CBS journalist spotlighted that "Gosnell was the target of multiple complaints to the state medical board, but state officials had not inspected the clinic since 1993." Crawford also featured clips from KYW reporter Walt Hunter, who voiced his strong personal reaction to the case:
WALT HUNTER, KYW-TV REPORTER: There are images and details of this story that I am never going to be able to wash out of my mind....You can look at the skyline of Philadelphia and some of the top medical facilities in the entire country right from the front of that clinic. This was not hidden away.
Towards the end of the report, the correspondent outlined that "outside the state [of Pennsylvania], few have even heard about the allegations against Gosnell, because his trial has received little national news coverage. CBS News reported on the story at the time it broke in 2011. Just last week, a column in USA Today accused the media of ignoring the story because what it called a bias in favor of abortion rights. Those charges went viral on Twitter."
After playing her clip from attorney William Brennan, who once represented Gosnell, Crawford concluded that "looming over this trial is, of course, the debate over abortion rights. Opponents say it illustrates the brutality of abortion and how it's taking a human life; while supporters of abortion rights who have condemned Dr. Gosnell say it highlights the need for clean, safe places for women to have legal abortion."
Rose and O'Donnell then turned to CBS News legal analyst Jack Ford for a two-plus minute discussion segment. Before the Crawford and Ford segments, the only mention of the Gosnell case on the Big Three networks was when conservative commentator Peggy Noonan dared to raise the issue on the March 31, 2013 edition of NBC's Meet the Press.
[Update, Monday, 2 pm Eastern: The full transcript of Jan Crawford's report from Monday's CBS This Morning is available at MRC.org.]


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Hey bud. I know this is a bit late, but I'll chime in.
You're on the right track, but you need to use cumulative inflation rather than just the annual inflation rate.
I have found this one by far the hardest out of the past questions I have tried so far, so I have included my full worked solution at https://www.dropbox.com/s/9zerxyi8rw...ta-2.xlsx?dl=0


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So I am currently in a ranty mood and browsing Look Fantastic for some…erm…essential items.
So the OPI Hong Kong collection caught my eye. Hong Kong! Amazing City! Then I was looking at the names….
Gah. I'll ignore the fact the collection looks like a mish mash of random colours that don't remind me of Hong Kong (Vibrant, not Garish) but actually, I was just thinking how some of the names are naff.
Its the usual boring cringy sterotypical rubbish, a bit like when when a Soap introduces a Chinese character and the best they can offer is someone who sells bootleg DVDs and talks about "family honour" every ten minutes.
Hot & Spicy. Dim Sum Plum. Suzi (of course its Suzi) Says Feng Shui. Red My Fortune Cookie.
You wouldn't have a collection called India and call it, Popadom Purple or Chicken Tikka Teal would you? No, because its stupid!


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Squaw Valley Institute expands board with prominent locals
OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. – Squaw Valley Institute (SVI) announced Larry Lawrence, owner of Lawrence Realty in Squaw Valley, is returning to the Squaw Valley Institute Board of Directors. In addition, Dr. Robert Leri, Superintendent Chief Learning Officer of the Truckee Tahoe Unified School District joins.Lawrence, a founding member of the decade-old Institute will bring historical perspective, along with beneficial local connections as the organization continues to be revitalized. Dr. Leri, with an extensive background in education and organization, is expected to assist the Institute in moving forward with an integrated approach, partnering with education institutions to help identify engaging programming that informs and instructs, yet retains Tahoe ties."We're thrilled to have Larry Lawrence and Dr. Leri join our Board," said Eric Sather, president of Squaw Valley Institute. "We purposely downsized the Board a couple years ago, and have been working efficiently to focus on financial sustainability and vision for the future." The new Institute format offers events approximately once a month, down from more than 30 per year. These events have drawn larger crowds on average than lectures and activities in the past."Renee Koijane has done an excellent job as executive director, and we are excited to be expanding the Board with the organization on a more stable footing," Sather added.Sather noted the economic downturn had an impact, similar to other cultural organizations, which resulted in decreased donations. However, under Koijane's leadership, the Institute has been able to increase sponsorship and funding, as well as membership, offering a meaningful path to sustainability.Lawrence has been a Squaw Valley resident since 1969, and a licensed realtor since 1974. He is a longtime member of the Squaw Valley Property Owner's Association, past residential director for the Village at Squaw Valley Neighborhood Company and the Resort at Squaw Creek Homeowner's Association, and a current golf member of the Martis Camp Community Association.Lawrence was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. He has been married to Vikki Ruggiero Lawrence of Marin County since 1972. Together they raised two daughters, Chiara and Sabrina. Chiara and her husband Ron work at Lawrence Realty.Dr. Robert Leri was appointed the Superintendent Chief Learning Officer of the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District in January 2012 and assumed full-time leadership in April 2012. Prior to his appointment to TTUSD, Dr. Leri was the deputy superintendent of the Arcadia Unified School District in Los Angeles County for four years. He has also been a secondary school principal, a high school and elementary school teacher.Dr. Leri resides in Tahoe Donner and is active in many organizations including the Rotary Club of Truckee, the Board of the Tahoe Safe Alliance, and the Board of the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe. Dr. Leri loves the mountains and is an avid outdoorsman including skiing, hiking, motorcycle riding, and boating. He considers his move to Tahoe Truckee a dream come true. He was raised in rural Northern California and resided in the Sierra Nevada in Mariposa County prior to his move to Arcadia in 1996.Upcoming SVI programming includes an appearance with "Soul Surfer" Bethany Hamilton on Dec. 22, Cheryl Strayed, author of "Wild," which chronicles discoveries on the Pacific Crest Trail, on Jan. 13 and Polyface farmer Joel Salatin on Feb. 13.Membership for individuals starts at $100. Members receive member-only discounted ticket pricing, priority notification to all Institute events, along with priority event seating. Business memberships start at $250 per year. For more information visit http://www.squawvalleyinstitute.org.About Squaw Valley InstituteSquaw Valley Institute is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting programs having artistic, cultural and educational values. The Institute presents lectures, performances, forums, exhibitions and classes in the unique mountain environment of Squaw Valley, North Lake Tahoe, Truckee and surrounding communities, bringing together visitors, residents and friends in the truest sense of community.


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James Cameron dives into the abyss with 'Deepsea'
In the documentary of his record-breaking deep-sea dive, "Deepsea Challenge 3D," James Cameron asks, "Am I a filmmaker who does exploration work on the side, or am I an explorer who does filming on the side?"
It's a good question. It's now been five years since Cameron's last feature film (a little independent movie called "Avatar"), and in that time, the priorities of the most bankable director in Hollywood have sometimes been as murky as the deep sea. He has spent those years producing a fleet of documentaries about ocean exploration and deep-water life forms. His biggest project hasn't been a mega blockbuster but building a deep-diving sub and piloting it more than 35,000 feet down into the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Mariana Trench.
"I make the Hollywood movies to pay for the exploration," Cameron said.
Certainly, many moviegoers are eager for Cameron to get back on a film set. After some earlier postponements, he's on his way, currently finishing the scripts and design work for three planned "Avatar" sequels.
But for now, on Friday, he's releasing in theaters a 3-D film for National Geographic that chronicles his 2012 dive into another alien world, "the last great frontier," as he calls the ocean. For Cameron, the movie is a testament to the spirit of exploration, which he feels is flagging in America.
Cameron's dive, nearly 7 miles deep, was only the second manned-dive to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point of the seabed. Some 68 new species were identified from the sub, which was equipped with 3-D cameras.
"I think explorers feel a sense of the sacred," said Cameron of descending into such a remote abyss. "Something that's beyond themselves, when they go to a place that's never been witnessed before and bare witness for the first time."
"Deepsea" co-director John Bruno had to capture it all in stormy conditions and while coordinating 3-D cameras that each took two men to operate.
"The ocean hasn't read the script, so it's not going to cooperate," says Cameron. "And the sub is a bit like a diva movie actress. You're not always going to get it on camera when you want it."
The similarities of leading an expedition team and a feature film crew are, to Cameron, identical. Ever the taskmaster, the documentary shows him prodding his scientists on their time tables. In Cameron's day job, the interaction would be the same.
Speaking of time tables, there is the pace of work on the "Avatar" films, which are scheduled for release in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Though Cameron earlier said the screenplays (which he's writing with Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver and Shane Salerno) would be finished by the end of the spring, they're still being completed.
"It's going to be another couple months, I would say, at least," said Cameron. "We will serve no wine before it's time, and I would be pretty stupid to run off and start shooting 'Avatar' until the scripts are perfect. Whether that compromises our announced release date of Christmas '16, at this point I can't really say until we break down the budget and schedule."
Cameron said he's working seven days a week on "Avatar" as the pages "pour in," but with one exception. He's taking an upcoming vacation to Tahiti for - what else? - a little scuba diving.


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Recently AT&T 2G customers in the New York metropolitan area began receiving notices regarding their GSM service: "Your current, older-model 2G phone might not be able to make or receive calls," the letters read, "and you may experience degradation of your wireless service in certain areas." Although AT&T has issued no explicit statement that it will be shutting down service for its 2G users, the company has publicly lamented its need for additional wireless spectrum, and it may be borrowing a page from T-Mobile's playbook in cannibalizing its 2G network for the benefit of future 4G LTE service.
In its hunt for additional network capacity, AT&T was willing to pay a handsome sum ($39 billion) for T-Mobile, mostly in order to gain access to that carrier's wireless spectrum — if the deal hadn't fallen apart under the intense scrutiny of federal regulators, it would have made the AT&T/T-Mobile behemoth the largest wireless provider in the nation. Instead, AT&T was forced to concede billions in cash and valuable spectrum to T-Mobile as part of a "breakup" fee, and that very AWS spectrum will form the future backbone of T-Mobile's 4G push. The reality of the deal, however, is that AT&T may have bet the farm that the merger would be approved — in forfeiting spectrum, it is surely worse off than it was before the takeover attempt.
So AT&T, like T-Mobile, is in the position of having to do more with less. In 2011, mobile traffic was up 175 percent, an almost 3-fold increase, according to a report by the networking giant, Cisco. By 2016, the company estimates that mobile broadband traffic will have grown by 16 times, a compound annual growth rate of 75 percent.
With the recent announcement that the FCC will put more wireless spectrum on the auction block, AT&T will likely have the chance to put its money where its mouth is and buy its way to a more robust network — however the nature of the FCC's "incentive auctions," mean that spectrum will only get sold if TV stations decide to give up their rights to the airwaves they currently hold — meaning it's impossible to say how much spectrum will actually be available to wireless carriers. And the auctions won't help AT&T's short-term 4G rollout, as a date hasn't even been tentatively set for them at this time.
When asked about the letters sent to current 2G phone users, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel downplayed the action, telling Market Watch that "we're simply urging them to upgrade to a new device if they want to," and stressed that as of this time, the program is completely voluntary. "We are still supporting the 2G network," Siegel maintained, although he admitted that "customers using 2G cellphones that operate on 2G networks on the 1900-megahertz band eventually would lose all service," according to the Market Watch report.
To help encourage 2G phone owners to step up to a 3G plan, AT&T is offering them free upgrades to phones such as the 3G Samsung Evergreen.
Although it's doubtful that AT&T will completely close down GSM — GigaOM has reported recently that AT&T and Nokia are working on M2M technologies that rely heavily on the GSM network — the next likely step is that AT&T will begin sending letters like this one to further bandwidth-strapped metropolitan areas, hoping to convert 2G users with honey instead of vinegar. Eventually however, AT&T will probably move to more punitive measures if it can't get its 2G holdouts to upgrade, a tactic it has used before: Cingular — AT&T's precursor company — began charging its estimated 4.7 million TDMA users a $5 monthly surcharge when it decided to completely shutter that network in favor of GSM.
Image Credit: ImageMobile
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|Image taken at the party via my Instagram account
I've talked about this many times before, but since I sort of fell off the blogging wagon last year while adjusting to my new surroundings (and an extremely taxing new work schedule), I vow to carve out more time this year to writing in this blog. It always makes me feel like the truest version of myself when I am taking the time to be creative and share my thoughts with all of you readers.
I am embarrassed to say it, but I still don't religiously make my bed in the morning. I am not a morning person so I tend to just roll out of bed, throw on some clothes, brush my teeth and get on the subway. But I'm proud to say that I took the time to wake up earlier and make my bed every morning this past week and it made my room feel much cleaner and more organized! And it was a much better sight to come home to, and more comfortable to crawl into at night too. This is one resolution I am definitely going to stick with!
This is getting into the cliched New Years Resolution territory, but I seriously need to stop eating out for lunch everyday. It's not healthy and it's really not affordable. Instead, I am going to pack a lunch the night before, or bring a Lean Cuisine or something. I am also going to take fewer taxis, as I've crunched the numbers recently, and that is a huuuuge cost that will definitely be easy enough to cut. I could also stand to cut out some of those guilty pleasures like after-work drinks too, which will be sure to lighten my monthly spending!
This is probably more of a vanity thing, but I'd really like to cut out dark beverages like Diet Coke and coffee, because I can tell they are slowly but surely staining my teeth. Everyone likes to have a bright, white smile, and I have identified a few things to cut out of my daily routine that will help brighten my teeth.
This is the biggest struggle in the world for me...I tend to be a bit of a workaholic, and my job is equally very demanding. This is a disastrous combination, to be sure. I need to know when to say enough is enough, and leave the remaining work for another day. There's always something more I could do, but it often doesn't have to be now, now, now, and completely interfere with my personal time! I need to reclaim my life, and I'm planning on doing it soon!
I know that New Years Resolutions are commonly scoffed at, but I can't imagine ever discouraging someone's quest for self-improvement. It's a very human thing to want to be better and do better and this time of year feels like the closing of one chapter and the opening of another! Good luck with all of your New Years Resolutions! I will keep you posted on how mine are going...


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Q&A with soccer standout Ali Lai
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At 5-foot-4, UC
QŚWhat is the secret to the consistent success of the UCSD Women's Soccer team?
LAIŚBrian has been coaching here for over 20 years. As much as I may question what he says or does, I trust that he knows what he is doing because he has so many years of experience and has taken so many of his teams to playoffs and national championships.
QŚHow have your three previous seasons been different for you and how do you expect 2007 to be unique?
LAIŚFirst year was chaotic. I was new to the college soccer experience, I felt lost and behind pace. Second year was solid because the only starter we had lost was our keeper from the year before. There was a core of players that I was very comfortable with.
Last year was the coolest season of soccer I have ever experienced. Team chemistry was amazing on and off the field. This resulted in some of the most awesome goals I have ever seen in my life.
This season will be different for two reasons. First, I have an entirely new role on the team as captain, and second, I don't have the four seniors from last year to look up to, something that I have relied on so much in my previous three seasons.
QŚWhere do you expect to be the strength of this year's team to lie?
LAIŚOur keeper, Jess McGovern has been improving a lot over that last two years. She has worked especially hard over these recent months. The team has a lot of confidence and trust in her, and she will be a very solid last line of defense in the goal.
QŚHow would you describe your style of play?
LAIŚI was a central midfielder up until just two years ago when coach moved me up to forward. When I am not on the ball, I see the game as a central midfielder, which helps me figure out where I need to be, what I need from my teammates and vice versa. When I am on the ball, I have fast footwork and prefer to work the ball up the field with short, quick passing. Being the shortest player on the team, high air balls don't bode well for me.
QŚHow do you view your role as a team captain?
LAIŚAs captain, I feel responsible for keeping the team on the same page mentally. But sometimes I can't even keep my own head straight, so it will be a challenge to keep 22 other players mentally stable as well. I also feel like there is pressure to be consistently "on," every practice and every game.
QŚWhat part of your game is most improved since your freshman year?
LAIŚI have improved how I think throughout a game. Freshman year, I was focused on what I was doing in the moment. I thought about where I should be running, where my mark was, where I will go with the ball, etc. Now I think beyond myself and beyond the moment. I think about what my teammates should be doing and where they should be, where the ball is going to be three passes from now, and what my teammates and myself should be doing in the next play.
QŚAre there any soccer players you've admired growing up? Is there a player you have looked up to during your career at UCSD? Why?
LAIŚGrowing up, I loved watching Aly Wagner play at Santa Clara, and now on the U.S. Women's National Team. When I moved from central midfield to forward, I became obsessed with Thierry Henry (French National Team/Barcelona FC).
QŚWhat player on the current team possesses a skill you would like to make part of your game?
LAIŚAlexia Zatarain's shot from 30 yards out. I am kind of a scrappy goal-scorer. I pick up a lot of the tap-in goals when keepers bobble the ball or when a teammate's shot deflects off the post. I would love to be able to blast a hard, accurate shot from really far out.
QŚWhen did you start playing soccer? What are your remembrances of your early playing days and was soccer the only sport you played?
LAIŚI started playing when I was six. I miss the days when a soccer game consisted of a whole bunch of little kids bunched around the ball, following it wherever it went. Once in a while, you'd be lucky enough to get a hold of the ball and break away from the pack for a few seconds before you lose it again. I also miss oranges at halftime and post-game snacks provided by parents. I played softball up until high school, and basketball up until everyone hit their growth spurts and I didn't.
QŚHas your size ever been a detriment on the soccer field?
LAIŚNo, because I'm just as strong or stronger than most players I go up against and defenders can't use their strength against me if I'm faster and can get around them.
QŚAre there other athletes in your family?
LAIŚNo other collegiate athletes. I have an older brother who played football in high school, and a younger brother who played soccer.
QŚWhat are some of your off-the-field interests?
LAIŚI love snowboarding. I love how soccer is a fall sport, so an injury on the mountain wouldn't conflict with the soccer season. Recently my boyfriend has made me get into some outdoorsy things like hiking, rock climbing, and dirt biking. I also enjoy reading magazines and keeping up with new research and developments in science. Hey, that's UCSD for you.
QŚWhat is your proudest collegiate soccer accomplishment to date?
LAIŚLast year, scoring both goals in the 2-1 overtime victory over Cal Poly Pomona. And two days later, scoring the lone goal in the 1-0 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills.
QŚWhat goals do the 2007 Tritons have?
LAIŚEvery year since my freshman year, we have we have gone to a further round into playoffs. First year was CCAA playoffs. Second year was second round of NCAA playoffs. Last year was NCAA Quarterfinals. That means at least going to Final Four this year.
Previous Q&A Articles
Nate Garcia (Head Coach of Cross Country) August 13, 2007
Tony Choi (Men's Soccer) July 25, 2007
Natalie Facchini (Women's Volleyball) July 9, 2007
Chris Carlson (Head Coach of Men's Basketball) June 22, 2007
Madeleine Flint (Women's Track and Field) April 30, 2007
Leah Llach (Women's Crew) April 22, 2007
Natalie Hockett (Women's Water Polo) April 9, 2007
Jenny Maze (women's softball) April 2, 2007
Zach Johnson (Men's Crew Head Coach) March 18, 2007
Michelle Osier (Women's Basketball) March 7, 2007
Brooks Dierdorff (Men's Volleyball) March 1, 2007
Scott Clement (Baseball) February 15, 2007
Chelsea Ambort (Women's Fencing) January 29, 2007
Meaghan Noud (Women's Basketball) January 15, 2006
Susan Bell (Women's Swimming) January 6, 2007
Tim Fuller (Men's Swimming) December 20, 2006
Alexis Mezzetta (Women's Basketball) December 10, 2006


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Snap N' Grow Greenhouse 6' x 12'
Short Description
Professional home garden greenhouses.
Full Description
This easy to use greenhouse offers plenty of room and light (over 90% transmission) for your plants. The smart, efficient structure uses crystal-clear polycarbonate greenhouse panels. There is a split-style door that makes moving large objects in and out easy and a large adjustable vent window that facilitates air flow. Easy to assemble; low maintenance. Dimensions of 6' x 12': 148" L x 74 3/4" W x 82 1/4" H (at center). Ships 5-7 days
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Order: 6' x 12' Silver
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Item 94397SL cannot ship to: AE, AK, AP, AS, CN, FM, GU, HI, MH, MP, PR, PW, VI
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the burpee
since 1876
Introduction to Raised Bed Gardening
If you've ever wanted to know just what raised bed gardening is then this is the place to start.Watch video
Snap N' Grow Greenhouse 6' x 12' is rated out of 5 by 1.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Dawn in Geneva from Easy to Assemble We assembled this green house yesterday and it was very easy to do. We started the process in the garage and then carried the frame outside to complete it. The instructions are easy to follow and most of the parts were labeled clearly. The frame pieces are labeled with stickers and a few of the stickers fell off. We were able to match these by size and shape, so it wasn't a big deal. It did take 2 of us most of the day to do, but it was fun to put together. You definitely need two people to help hold certain pieces in place, so don't try it alone. I cannot wait to start growing seeds in here and I am looking forward to extending the growing season.
Date published: 2016-03-27