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Year after year the movies of the year pass by and we talk about them. We talk about them individually, we compile lists of our favourites and we talk about them some more. We might even talk about them comparatively as in X is better than Y because Z…and so on. But, oftentimes I feel we never really analyse them – especially comparatively. And, cinema is so rich thematically – we don't consider it as we do things of literary origins – but even the films with the worst "story" are driven by themes and motifs.
So, in celebration of this 2011 I invited ten great bloggers for a blogging event, eleven cinematic motifs for 2011. I was tasked (no, really, no one picked this one) with looking at the workplace in 2011. Here goes.
"A job is not just a job. It's who you are."
Sure, Repo Men is a film better left forgotten but it did provide me with the quotation. In olden days your surname was an indication of your job, so you essentially were your jobs. But, how many of us could say that the job we're currently signifies any true details about ourselves? In fact, there's another adage to combat the one above – "Don't bring your work home with you." Easier said than done. At first I thought I'd have a paucity of films to choose from when it came to looking at the workplace, but then I began perusing the eighty something films I'd seen this year and began to notice how "work" became dovetailed into a larger theme of "life". So, consider that quote from the auspicious Repo Men as my hypothesis…herein I'll try to prove or disprove it.
The Help took the world by storm (or, maybe just the United States) in August last year. Six months later people are still talking about them and one narrative that keeps regurgitating is the fact that the black women are relegated to playing maids. I'd rather not enter into a dissertation on the way race is addressed in cinema what that treatment suggests for different people, but it's a bit curious how "maid" is being seen not as a job but as an indication of a person's identity. Being a maid becomes not just something they're doing to live but something they're living to do. The job of being maid, because it's so interpreted with historical perspectives and waiting on people, almost doesn't emerge as a job because the home is the workplace which already presents a sort of quandary, but really shouldn't…it's not as if the maids aren't doing a job. Thus, even if the narrative plays out like an oversimplified version of…well, everything it addresses, I like that it has the foresight to address the importance of the maid's role immediately.
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important."
It's not unlikely to imagine that were it not for Aibileen little Mae Leefolt would never consider herself to be kind, smart or important. And, though on one hand it would, perhaps, be best if the ladies of The Help weren't identified with their jobs, maybe it's good that they are. Celia Foote is smart enough to know, "I really need a maid." And, as much as Aibileen identifies with the children she takes care of, she's able to walk away from her job at the film's end. But, what happen after the credits roll, I wonder? What comes after work…? So much of Aibeleen's nature seems inextricably linked to her desire to care for others…and one of the film's single most poignant moments was Mae's earnest utterance – "You're my real mommy, Aibe." Maybe Aibileen's mothering nature is inextricably linked to the job she plays, and if being a "maid" means being a beacon for girls like Mae…maybe that's okay?
And, it would seem that that's the running theme of work in 2011 cinema. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy's narrative is inundated with Smiley's attempt to find that mole, and it's a laudable task, but there's the pervasive sense that he's doing it less for the purpose at hand, and more because he has nothing else – just his jobs. Those few scenes after the credits before he's brought back to the Circus are teeming with despondency – taking a swim, going to the optometrist, walking through the park. Without his job, he is nothing. In theory, it's not bad to be dedicated to one's job but in a film examining the sadness beneath the glamor of the espy Smiley's non-existence outside the Circus is that much more sad. Yet, we cheer Smiley on for his dedication to the job. It's in that same vein that we cheer on Jennifer Ehle's Dr. Hextall (Contagionwho injects herself with a drug that's in its testing stage and then exposes herself to the deadly virus. We would shirk at such foolhardy dedication in real life, but on film we applaud it. None of us would really die for our jobs, would we?
And, now, on to the real good stuff. Some great bloggers look at some more interesting themes....
Amir (Amiresque) realises that cinema on the whole may ultimately be about navigating between reality and fantasy link
and CS (Big Thoughts from a Small Mind) loves the way that the cinema celebrates the trials of the creator in rendering art (and other artistic pursuits) link
Nick (Cinema Romantico) wonders whether being a misanthropist is the answer…only the lonely… link
Craig (Dark Eye Socket) scrutinises the marriage bed, and he isn't impressed link
Joanna (For Cinephiles by a Cinefille), though, thinks that there's goodness to be found in solidarity and loyalty. link
Yojimbo (Let's Not Talk About Movies) ruminates on what really constitutes a coming of age link
Jose (Movies Kick Ass) takes a long-hard look at disillusionment in the 2011 cinematic landscape. link
Paolo (Okinawa Assault) ponders about relationships between parents and children link
Candice (Reel Talk) celebrates ♪friendship, friendship. It's the perfect blendship. ♪ link
David (Victim of the Time) questions the manner in which the aging is examined link
So, that's everyone!
There you have 11 articles examining 11 motifs in cinema for 2011. A hearty thanks to these great bloggers, and I urge you to go read their articles, all of them good stuff examining that thing called cinema we all love.
Go. See. Talk. What motifs will remember most about 2011 in film? Sound off below.


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9.1 million watched last night's BBC One showing of The Waters of Mars, according to unofficial overnight figures.
The programme had an audience share of 33.9% and was the third most-watched programme of the day, behind The X Factor and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, both on ITV1.
The audience built throughout the programme, with 9.6 million watching the final quarter-hour. On ITV1, All Star Family Fortunes had 6.1 million watching at the same time as Doctor Who was on.
An additional 310,000 watched the programme on BBC HD. If confirmed on the final figures this will be the highest ever rating for BBC HD
On BBC Three 590,000 watched Doctor Who Confidential with an additional 100,000 watching on BBC HD. It was the 8th most watched programme on digital TV for the day.
The overnight figures put Doctor Who as the 6th most watched programme of the week. This is likely to rise when the final figures, including those who timeshift the programme, are published in 9 days time.

subset: commoncrawl


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Margarita's House
A pretty hotel with swimming pool and panoramic view to the sea, just above a small beach. It offers rooms, studios, suites and apartments decorated with traditional furniture. Sea-view cafe, breakfast and friendly hospitality. Located 800m. from the port of Naoussa.
+30 22840 51020, 53401 | Naoussa, Piperaki


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3915 31st Street, Vernon, BC.
Phone: 250-549-4200
3915 31st Street
Vernon, BC V1T 5J7
A Twist of Yarn is a family operated yarn boutique that has a passion for all things fibre. Whether it's color, texture or style, we stock a large variety of yarns to suite your creative instincts.
CONNECT WITH US : Facebook


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- Thread starter
- #1
Julie Gardener
New Member
There is a food revolution happening in America today. People are seeking out farmers' markets, organic produce and good restaurants. At the same time, our food supply is increasingly controlled by multi-national corporations. Over the past 10 years, with the advent of genetic engineering and the massive expansion of pesticide companies, like Monsanto, into the seed business, the very nature of our food system has radically changed with potentially disastrous effects on our food security. Patenting of life is now permitted, no labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMO's) in food is required, research is conducted on these issues by universities beholden to the "agri-corps" who fund them, and the major regulatory agencies are run by former execs from these very companies. It is truly incredible how they actually genetically modify these foods. Very scary. All the while, the average citizens remain blissfully unaware that they are eating GMO food and supporting the aggressive "corporatization' of their food sources. In fascinating and accessible terms, 'The Future of Food' illuminates the major issues ultimately affecting us all -- some surreal, some futuristic, many frightening. Yet, 'The Future of Food' is a hopeful film, featuring insightful and moving interviews with farmers, agriculture and business experts and policymakers. It sees a future in which an informed consumer can join the revolution by demanding natural, healthy food sources that insure environmental integrity.
The Future of Food - Trailer
The Future of Food - Trailer - YouTube
The Future of Food - Trailer
The Future of Food - Trailer - YouTube
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A young German man wrecked a Gumpert Apollo along a highway near Brokdorf, Germany while maneuvering around a slow corner at high speeds, causing the car to skid into a pasture. The 700-hp supercar was stripped of much of its carbon fiber body, leaving on the passenger compartment intact.
The 20-year-old driver does not own the car and was carting around his 19-year-old girlfriend at the time. Both passengers were treated for minor injuries, which is nothing compared to the kind of treatment and injuries the driver will get from the car's actual owner. Perhaps also from the girlfriend's dad. (Hat tip to SirNose!)
Photo: DPA


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Morenci's class of 2007 will march down the aisle of the high school gymnasium at 4 p.m. to begin commencement exercises for 49 students.
Salutatorian Dominique Cox will welcome guests and class president Ryan Lucas will present the president's address. The valedictory address will be given by Madelyn Green.
Following the announcement of college choices and scholarship awards by counselor Diana Fallot, principal Nate Parker will present academic awards.
Mark Pennington, the father of a senior class member, will provide special music before the presentation of diplomas by Kyle Griffith, superintendent of schools.


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WALTHAM, Mass. -- Brandeis senior Chris Brown (No. Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) set a new school record in the 1,500-meter run tonight at the New Balance Twilight Meet at Bentley College. With a time of 3:43.49, Brown established the fastest time in Division III for 2012 by three seconds. It is also the sixth-fastest time in Division III history. Brown surpassed Hall of Famer Mark Beeman '85's previous record of 3:44.9 by more than a second and a half. That record had stood for nearly 30 years.
The Judges had several other personal records at the meet in the 1,500 from juniors Mik Kern (Groton, N.Y./Groton) and junior Alex Kramer (No. Andover, Mass./No. Andover) and in the 5,000 by sophomore Ed Colvin (Roslindale, Mass./Catholic Memorial School). More details will follow tomorrow.


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Little Mix: We're not too raunchy
Little Mix have said they like their live shows to be "cheeky" but not too raunchy for their younger fans.
The Salute singers - Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall - have fans of all ages come to see their shows and so have to make sure they are family friendly.
Perrie said: "We like to get down, we like to be a little bit cheeky and a little bit sexy but never too much, we're never going to gyrate on the ground and hump the floor!"
Jade added: "We've got topless dancers but that's probably as far as it goes."
Jesy chipped in: "We need something for the mums, d'you know what I mean? The mums want to see a topless man."
Leigh-Anne said: "Our style of dancing is more strong and powerful than sexy. Salute is very powerful."
The girls are set to headline at Osborne Summer Concerts, held in the grounds of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight on Saturday July 26.
The band said they hoped to have gained new fans from their festival appearances over the summer.
Leigh-Anne said: "You've got to embrace every second. We love gaining new fans so its nice to perform to people who don't know who we are, because it's good to hopefully impress them and make them fans."
PA Media


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St. Margaret's first school was built in 1865, the year the Civil War ended. For five years, four lay teachers provided all of the education for the children of the parishioners of St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church. In 1870, the pastor, Reverend John Thoma, invited the Dominican Sisters to take charge of the education of St. Margaret's children, and built a convent for them.
St. Margaret just celebrated the start of 2009, and there are still Dominican Sisters involved with the education of the St. Margaret School Children.
Given that St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church will be celebrating its 150th Anniversary and the School will be celebrating its 145th Anniversary, planning has started on a reunion that will span 145 years.
The first step taken was updating the St. Margaret Church website. An alumni link was added with a form so that alumni could register and therefore be informed of all the things that will be going on in the near future.
In the last few weeks, over 100 people have registered. So far, the oldest alumni registered graduated in 1942 and Sister Cadelia was his eighth grade teacher. Furthermore, there are a number of families where the third generation is now attending the school. Organizers are searching for families that may now have the fourth generation in attendance or will be attending shortly.
If you attended St. Margaret, or if a member of your family attended, please have them register or register for them by filling out the online form. It's that easy, and it will be your opportunity to be a part of history.


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Top Items:
Louise Story / New York Times:
Company Will Monitor Phone Calls to Tailor Ads — Companies like Google scan their e-mail users' in-boxes to deliver ads related to those messages. Will people be as willing to let a company listen in on their phone conversations to do the same? — Pudding Media, a start-up based in San Jose …
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch: ThePudding: Targeted Advertising Comes to Phone Calls
Om Malik / GigaOM: The Mad Ad World & Cheap Calls
Shelly Palmer / MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer Video: MediaBytes - 09.24.07 — Click to view today's MediaBytes video.
Sam Harrelson / ReveNews Online Revenue News …: Contextual Advertising: How Far Is Too Far and What if Google Goes Evil?
Peter Svensson / Associated Press:
New service eavesdrops on Internet calls — NEW YORK - A startup has come up with a new way to make money from phone calls connected via the Internet: having software listen to the calls, then displaying ads on the callers' computer screens based on what's being talked about.
Discussion: dslreports.com, CrunchGear, Gizmodo and The Raw Feed
Karl / dslreports.com: 'The Pudding' Listens In On VoIP - And displays context-sensitive advertisements...
Peter Ha / CrunchGear: Your VoIP Calls Are Being Tapped
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo: VoIP: ThePudding.com Phone Service Listens to Your Calls, Makes You Watch Ads
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
Today's Terrible Idea: Pudding Media — A new start-up called Pudding Media is offering free PC-based telephone calls—if users allow the company to listen in on their conversations and serve targeted ads based on what they're talking about (NYT). This is one of the worst business ideas we've heard …
Discussion: WebProNews, CNET News.com, IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband, BloggingStocks and VoIP Watch
Jason Lee Miller / WebProNews: The Privacy Is In The Pudding (Or Not)
Russell Shaw / IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband: New service would display ads based on keywords you say in phone calls
Zac Bissonnette / BloggingStocks: Big brother: Company to listen in on phone calls to target ads
Andy Abramson / VoIP Watch: Henry Blodgett on Pudding
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Blyk And MySpace: Will Ad-Subsized Mobile Services Fly?
Blyk And MySpace: Will Ad-Subsized Mobile Services Fly?
Discussion: eWEEK.com
Clint Boulton / eWEEK.com: MySpace Mobile Targeting a Cell Phone Near You
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Buy a Laptop for a Child, Get Another Laptop Free — One Laptop Per Child, an ambitious project to bring computing to the developing world's children, has considerable momentum. Years of work by engineers and scientists have paid off in a pioneering low-cost machine that is light, rugged and surprisingly versatile.
Discussion: Wall Street Journal, IP Democracy, Smart Mobs, dailywireless.org, Memex 1.1, Digital Trends, Compiler and Slashdot
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal: Laptop Charity Seeks Help From Home Market
Cynthia Brumfield / IP Democracy: One Laptop Per Child Aims for the Heart
Marius Chitosca / Smart Mobs: "Buy a Laptop for a Child" Project going steady
Nick Mokey / Digital Trends: OLPC XO-1Goes On Sale to Public
Scott Gilbertson / Compiler: OLPC Laptops Available In The U.S. With "Give One Get One" Program
Jonathan Fildes / BBC:
'$100 laptop' to sell to public — Computer enthusiasts in the developed world will soon be able to get their hands on the so-called "$100 laptop". — The organisation behind the project has launched the "give one, get one" scheme that will allow US residents to purchase two laptops for $399 (£198).
Discussion: Daggle, broadstuff, Wikinomics, Between the Lines, Guardian Unlimited and Mashable!
Danny Sullivan / Daggle: $100 Laptop? Don't Wait — Get Yours Now
Dan Herman / Wikinomics: Tech solutions to under-development.
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines: OLPC to offer two-packs to jump start sales
Jack Schofield / Guardian Unlimited: Buy one, give one away — OLPC for everyone
Pete Cashmore / Mashable!: $100 Laptop: Get Your Own!
Carolyn Y. Johnson / Boston Globe:
Building a critical mass — One Laptop Per Child seeks consumers' help — CAMBRIDGE - With orders for its rugged XO laptop falling short of its initial goal, the One Laptop Per Child project announced today that it would let consumers in the United States and Canada buy the cute computer for a limited time.
Discussion: Digital Daily, Telegraph Blogs, TeleRead and The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily: Uh, Thanks, Uncle Nick-That's Almost a MacBook. Did You Save the Receipt?
Ian Douglas / Telegraph Blogs: One Laptop Per Child and everyone else
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Google Prepping A Second Life Competitor? — Rumors of a Google powered virtual world based on Google Earth surfaced in January; today there is word that Google may be testing their virtual world at Arizona State University (ASU). — According to Google Operating System …
Discussion: Computerworld Blogs blogs, Between the Lines, The Social Web, Mark Evans, Portfolio.com and 3pointD.com
Ian Lamont / Computerworld Blogs blogs: Google moving in on Second Life?
Steve O'Hear / The Social Web: More on Google's social networking plans
Mark Wallace / 3pointD.com: Google Virtual World Back in the Rumor Mill
Ionut Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
A Social Network for Google Earth?
A Social Network for Google Earth?
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped: Google Tests "My World" Program
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land: Google To Pressure Facebook To "Free" Social Data & Planning Google Earth World?
Doug Caverly / WebProNews: Google Earth Could Go After Second Life
Caleb Booker / Metaversed: Rumor: Google Virtual World Imminent
Bryan Alexander / Infocult: MyWorld: towards avatar-based social Google Earth
MG Siegler / ParisLemon: Google Earth To Get Virtually Social?
Kristen Nicole / Mashable!: Google Earth's Social Network, Complete with Avatars?
Dave Winer / Scripting News: The year of the social network
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Pownce vs Digg: Who Will Kevin Rose Back? — I've speculated previously on the growing conflict Kevin Rose has between his roles at Digg and Pownce, and now it would appear that we may finally be on the eve of Rose being forced to decide between the two. — Leah Culver, a co-founder …
Discussion: WebProNews and Mashable!
David A. Utter / WebProNews: Digg, Pownce Have Gender Issues
Adam Ostrow / Mashable!: Pownce Co-Founder Upset Over New Digg Features
Mathew / mathewingram.com/work:
Leah Culver pownces on Digg
Leah Culver pownces on Digg
Discussion: Valleywag and Pronet Advertising
Muhammad Saleem / Pronet Advertising: Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin
Associated Press:
Starbucks to Give Away 50 Million Songs — SEATTLE (AP) — Starbucks Corp. plans to give away 50 million free digital songs to customers in all of its domestic coffee houses to promote a new wireless iTunes music service that's about to debut in select markets.
Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Globe and Mail, Gadget Lab, Gizmodo and Ubergizmo
Mathew Ingram / The Globe and Mail: Pay $5 for a coffee, get a free song
Charlie Sorrel / Gadget Lab: Starbucks 50 Million Song Giveaway
Wilson Rothman / Gizmodo: Apple: Starbucks To Start Up iTunes Wi-Fi Store with 50 Million Free Songs
Starbucks to give away music as new service starts
Starbucks to give away music as new service starts
Discussion: Engadget, Infinite Loop and InfoWorld
Jacqui Cheng / Infinite Loop: Starbucks to spread 50 million pieces of iTunes love
Jeremy Kirk / InfoWorld: Virgin drops Windows Media-based music download service
Tony Smith / The Register:
Virgin unplugs music download service
Virgin unplugs music download service
Discussion: TechCrunch UK and CrunchGear
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch UK: Virgin Digital downloads for the last time
Peter Ha / CrunchGear: Virgin Digital Goes Under
Vince Veneziani / CrunchGear:
And The Halo 3 Reviews Trickle In... Tomorrow is September 25th and at midnight, hundreds of thousands of gamers will flock to stores to purchase Halo 3, the year's most anticipated title. But unlike the general mass of Halo fans, myself and others enjoy reading reviews first before plunking down $60 of our hard-earned cash.
Discussion: Tech Trader Daily
Yi-Wyn Yen / The Startup Game:
Halo 3 hits stores at midnight
Halo 3 hits stores at midnight
Discussion: Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog, CrunchGear and Ryan Stewart
Todd Bishop / Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog: After Halo 3: What's next for Bungie
Peter Ha / CrunchGear: Halo 3 Just Wants You To Believe
Richard MacManus / Read/WriteWeb:
FeedHub Launches - Individualized RSS Feeds — Personalization startup mSpoke is launching a new product to mashup and personalize RSS feeds today at DEMO [disclosure: Read/WriteTalk host Sean Ammirati works for mSpoke]. The product is called FeedHub and it creates an "individualized RSS feed" …
Discussion: Somewhat Frank and Mashable!
Frank Gruber / Somewhat Frank: FeedHub Personalized Feed Creator
Kristen Nicole / Mashable!: FeedHub's Personalized TechMeme
Dan Farber / Between the Lines:
FeedHub brings a layer of intelligence to feeds
FeedHub brings a layer of intelligence to feeds
Discussion: PodTech.net, Scobleizer and CenterNetworks
Robert Scoble / PodTech.net: Demo of FeedHub digging through information overload
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer: Is FeedHub the answer to information overload?
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks: DEMO: Feedhub Looks To Organize Your 'Other' Feeds
Stealing Clicks — The devil is in the data—and in this case, in the clicks. Google and third-party auditors disagree on whether click fraud—the practice of inflating pay-per-click ad fees with automatic clicking software—is at bay or on the rise. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has dismissed click fraud as "immaterial."
Discussion: Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim
James Kendrick / jkOnTheRun:
We need a real handheld computer, who will build one? Apple of course — It's a great time to be a handheld PC enthusiast, not because there are so many good devices to choose from, because I don't think there are, but because public awareness of handheld PCs are at an all-time high.
Discussion: Channel 9 and GottaBeMobile.com
Warner Crocker / GottaBeMobile.com: Slip Sliding Away
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
Your Truman Show Takes Lifecasting To Widgets — Lifecasting startup Your Truman Show will present a Video Map Widget at DEMO today, bringing their life story focused video product to social networking sites. — VideoMap can be placed and accessed by anyone using Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, YourTrumanShow or other sites.
Discussion: Mashable!, Somewhat Frank, Global Neighbourhoods and Widgets Lab
Kristen Nicole / Mashable!: Your Truman Show's Portable Video-Blogging Network
Frank Gruber / Somewhat Frank: YourTrumanShow Video Widget Launches
Derek Anderson / Widgets Lab: YourTrumanShow.com adds VideoMap widget
USA Today:
Account number, name not on this credit card — NEW YORK — U.S. consumers on Monday can begin signing up for the RevolutionCard, a new kind of "plastic" designed to be unlike any other card. — Among its features: a line of credit, the ability to store up to $15,000 on the card …
Candace Lombardi / CNET News.com:
Think tank to EU: Unbundle Windows on PCs — The Globalization Institute, a Brussels-based EU think tank, has recommended the European Union require all PCs to be sold without pre-loaded operating systems such as Microsoft Windows. — There is no reason why computer operating systems …
Discussion: Michael Gartenberg, TECH.BLORGE.com and Macsimum News
Jonathan Schlaffer / TECH.BLORGE.com: Globalization Institute wants EU to unbundle Windows with PCs
Dennis Sellers / Macsimum News: Globalization Institute: 'unlock' PCs from Windows
Josh Catone / Read/WriteWeb:
DEMOfall 2007 Preview - Companies to Watch — The DEMOfall 2007 conference will be taking place in San Diego, CA this week, so Marshall Kirkpatrick and I decided to look through the list of companies and highlight the ones that we are most excited about seeing.
Discussion: Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi, Profy.Com, WebProNews, YourInvestNews.com, VentureBeat and Incremental Blogger
Dean Takahashi / Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi: Demo: Motion DSP launches
Phil Butler / Profy.Com: Diigo @ DEMOfall 07 - A True 3D Information App?
Robert Scoble / WebProNews: Companies to Watch
Dave McClure / Master of 500 Hats:
VCs & Tech Lawyers: INNOVATE, AUTOMATE, SIMPLIFY — i'll have a lot more to say about this in the future, but at the moment i just want to observe that for a group of folks who hang around startups & talk about technology & innovation all day long, most VCs & lawyers i know really need to eat some of their own [startup's] dogfood.
Discussion: Jeremy Toeman's LIVEdigitally


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New UM President Discusses His First Semester on the Job
Related Story
COLUMBIA - As Mizzou students celebrate graduation Friday and Saturday, UM President Tim Wolfe celebrates finishing his first school semester in his new role.
"It sure feels great to be home," Wolfe said. Wolfe is a Rock Bridge High School and MU alum, and said he remembers Columbia as his launching pad.
"This campus gave me what I think is the perfect start of a business career because I had all the fundamentals," he said.
Wolfe started his undergraduate years at MU in the late 1970s, where he said he spent most of his time in Middlebush Hall on campus earning his business degree. He graduated in 1980. Since then, Cornell Hall has become the new home to business majors. Despite a growing campus and new additions, there's something that has remained the same over the years. The financial burden of college continues to strike students pocket books years later.
Something Wolfe said he remembers himself, "I was manager of the Sinclair gas station. I was a waiter and bartender at the Pasta Factory. I was going between jobs to get through school without owing the bank."
He hopes his past experience will lend him a hand in relating to what students are facing right now.
"I can appreciate the challenges that they are going through and obviously our goal is to make the University of Missouri and as affordable to as many students as possible," Wolfe said.
Now back on his old stomping ground, he said that's a top priority and his biggest challenge.
"The challenges might be the frustration that you can't make the changes and get the necessary resources to continue to support [what's] needed here."
Wolfe is working against some of the worst financial numbers the UM System has seen.
"Nobody would like a cut, but it is what it is," he said. "Well the first and most immediate challenge is that of the budget. We have a 7% reduction in the budget with state funding."
Governor Nixon originally announced a 12.5% cut to the UM System's budget that sent shock waves through the four schools it supports. Nixon later lowered that cut to 7%, but schools like Mizzou still have to raise tuition by 3%. Only 30% of funding comes from the state, while 70% comes from tuition at MU. Wolfe said the tuition increase matches current inflation rates, but adds the system continuously reminds the state it needs help.
"We're having conversations all the time. It's a non-stop conversation of what higher education offers to the state of Missouri," Wolfe said.
Wolfe argues the schools within the UM System are a huge asset the state shouldn't overlook. He said, for example, the schools conduct 94% of the research in the state; research that leads to jobs and economic development.
"I firmly believe that higher education is what's going to get us to a much quicker economic recovery than what we've seen so far," he said.
Cuts, however, are still imminent and Wolfe said around 200 to 240 jobs are on the line. For those who worry they might get the cut, Wolfe has this message.
"Rest assured, the last thing we want to do is eliminate any job," he said. "We are a people based business and anything we can do to protect our people we are going to be doing."
As Wolfe takes on a diminishing budget and growing student enrollments, he hopes those in the system, state and local community will learn to trust him.
"I am who I am," he said. "I'm passionate about what I do and I think over time people will see my passion and find overtime that they will trust me. "


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The Sixth > New Column > Configuring The 'Future Textbook', Searcher v. 19 no. 3 (April 2011) p. 43-47.
In late May 2006, more than 50 educators and publishers, representing a wide range of specialties, gathered at the National Academy of Sciences, in Washington, D.C., to participate in a 3-day National Science Foundation-funded workshop titled "Reconsidering the Textbook."
Through small- and large-group discussions, the attendees "examined the current state of the textbook and its relationship to the growing number of electronic tools that also serve as learning resources for today's students" and sought to envision the textbook of the future.
At the conclusion of the workshop there was general consensus that:
[T]he textbook of the future will be more than a static printed volume. ... It will function as a guide, interweaving and coordinating a variety of different learning resources including animations, simulations, and interactive exercises. ... [It will] be easily searchable, and thus would be learner accessible with a flexible electronic interface.
The group envisioned the "Future Textbook" - whether printed or electronic - as "the organizing hub of an integrated learning environment [that would] become increasingly adaptable, customizable, and responsive." They imagined it as a "Web-linked travel guide" that was modular by design, thus allowing an instructor to configure content to suit the goals of a particular course as well as the specific needs of individual students. In this view, access to networked resources would strongly promote higher-level thinking. The group also agreed that the Future Textbook would be integrated with course management systems.
Self-archived at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/ConfiguringTheFutureTextbook.pdf (10 June 2011)
Friday, June 10, 2011
Library Mobile > 6 > Configuring The 'Future Textbook'
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Every day, most of us go to work and then come home. Next day: Rinse, repeat.
But some U.S. workers go to work and never come home.
In April 2005, Donald Wilcher Smith was one of them. The 22-year-old central Texas man was electrocuted at the Sanderson Farms processing plant.
This week, his father, Donald Coit Smith, described what it's like to lose his son.
I do not possess the capacity to adequately describe the horror that possesses my soul from my son's death. To lose him caused me to reflect on faith in my God.
He testified Tuesday before a U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in a hearing on "When a Worker is Killed: Do OSHA Penalties Enhance Workplace Safety?"
Smith, a workplace inspector for a polyurethane manufacturer who worked regularly with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), said his encounters with OSHA as an employer were far different from his dealings with them as a parent.
I have been met with resistance at virtually every corner I've had to turn. It started with the inspection of the death facility and getting information on the why and how of my son's death. I'm not talking about the fact that he was electrocuted…that was obvious. But how could this have happened? And why weren't the events that led up to his death avoided? In my study of the situation from the information I've obtained, the root problems that surfaced were really simple and stood out….There was no commitment. There was no deterrent.
Earlier this week, we commemorated Workers Memorial Day, as we have since 1989. April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of OSHA. Every year, people in hundreds of communities and at worksites recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job. Trade unionists around the world now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning.
This week, we at the AFL-CIO also released our annual Death on the Job report, where cold data underlies the painful tragedies of those like Donald Wilcher Smith. The report is a powerful witness to the progress and the slippage in maintaining safe and healthy workplaces throughout the nation, and points out how federal safety agencies must improve.
Such constant vigilance is needed: The number of workplace fatalities increased between 2005 and 2006, worsening from 5,734 workplace deaths to 5,840. That means each day in 2006, 16 workers were fatally injured and more than 11,200 workers injured or made ill. Again, that's each day. These data (2006 stats are the latest available) do not include deaths from occupational diseases.
Some 29 states saw a rise in either the rate or number of fatalities between 2005 and 2006. Death on Job, which in large part compiles federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, also breaks down the data by state:
Alaska led the country with the highest fatality rate (13.8 per 100,000), followed by Wyoming (12.9), West Virginia (10.2), Montana (9.2), South Dakota (8.8) and North Dakota (8.7). The lowest state fatality rate (1.8 per 100,000) was reported in Rhode Island and New Hampshire, followed by New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts (2.1), and New York (2.6).
The number of Hispanic workers killed on the job continues to worsen—990 in 2006, the highest-ever number reported since the BLS began keeping such reports. Nearly all those deaths happened at construction sites.
OSHA was created in 1970, after years of effort by unions and our allies. Death on the Job estimates 369,000 lives have been saved since then. Yet the agency suffers from many flaws that—surprise!—have snowballed under the Bush administration.
First, all workers aren't covered under OSHA—more than 8.5 million U.S. employees are not. And if your industry is covered, chances are an OSHA inspector will never see the inside of your workplace in your lifetime: OSHA has the capacity and resources to inspect workplaces on average once every 92 years.
Further, OSHA's penalties have little or no deterrent effect on employers. The cost of killing a worker? Around $6,000—the national average penalty assessed against companies in fatality cases for FY 2003–2006.
As part of the Senate Committee hearing this week, Sen. Edward Kennedy released a report that documents, case by painful case, the extent to which OSHA has failed to punish safety violations that kill workers. As the report notes:
OSHA supervisors reduce penalties even more for employers who contest the penalty––employers who do so can get a "contest discount" of 300 percent.
Among the many egregious examples the report includes is one from October 2006, when a worker was killed at a Martin Block Co. worksite in Jackson, Ohio.
The [OSHA] inspector assessed one willful citation, 15 serious citations and one other than serious citation and assessed total penalties of $27,600. After the employer contested the willful citation, OSHA deleted one serious citation and reduced total penalties by half to $13,800…no follow up or "related site" inspection was conducted.
For Bush's OSHA, congressional hearings on U.S. workers killed on the job is just election-year posturing. In response the hearing, OSHA sent the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this statement:
Election-year political theatre cannot mask the truth that under this administration, workplace illness, injury and fatality rates are the lowest in OSHA's history. This administration's pro-worker safety record is an inconvenient truth for the AFL-CIO and their partisan allies who are peddling dishonest political attacks—masquerading as 'reports'—to the media."
The statement neglected to mention the Death on the Job report is based on government data.
Since its establishment 38 years ago, OSHA has prosecuted only 68 cases—during a time when 341,000 workplace fatalities occurred. And prison time for the few who get it is minimal: In the criminal context, the law permits a maximum prison sentence of six months for willfully violating a safety standard or regulation which leads to the death of a worker. By contrast, the maximum sentence for mail fraud is 30 years.
Testifying before the Senate Committee, Donald Coit Smith read aloud OSHA's mission: "to assure the safety and health of America's workers…" and went on:
Let's look at the word "assure" closely. Webster's says it is to "make certain."
Senators, OSHA doesn't make certain of anything from what I've been through. If I had to change one thing that could make a profound difference in OSHA, it would be to make fines and punishment so severe that employers would tremble at the thought of violating the code.


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Info session on inclusive, innovative and reflective societies 2016
Oct 11, 2016
from 09:00 AM to 01:00 PM
|Royal Library
Info session on inclusive, innovative and reflective societies 2016
The European Commission in collaboration with the Belgian national contact points for SC6 are organizing an Information Day on Horizon 2020 – Societal Challenge 6 'Europe in a changing world – Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies', work programme 2017.
This Info Day will take place at the Royal Library, 4 Bld. de l'Empereur, 1000 Brussels on 11 October 2016 from 9.15 to 13.00.
The agenda for this event is already available.
If you would like to attend, please register before 5 September 2016.
Participation in the event is free of charge, but registration is mandatory because places are limited.
A written confirmation will be sent on September 20 to the accepted participant.
This confirmation you need to bring with you the day of the event.
Further information is to be found on this website, but if you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact one of the organisers.
Kind regards,
The Organising Committee
Register here
Visit the website here
Contact details from the Belgian National Contact Points (NCPs):
F.R.S.-FNRS : www.fnrs.be
FWO : Man Hei To - email@example.com
NCPs Brussels: Tania Van Loon - email@example.com
Belspo / EUROFED : Pascale Van Dinter - email@example.com
How to get to the Royal Library


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A New Jersey man who marked cards with invisible ink that he could see with special contact lenses has been banned from Connecticut's casinos.
Bruce Koloshi, 55, of Summit, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Wednesday to the 10 months he served since his arrest last September at Mohegan Sun.
Prosecutors said Koloshi has cheating convictions in Nevada, Iowa and Illinois and is facing charges in Louisiana.
The Day of New London reports he was taken into custody at a poker table after a surveillance operator notified police that he was "clearly marking the cards" with ink that could only be seen when the video was viewed in black and white.
Police found a piece of fabric with the ink on it in his pocket.


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Apply for Inclusion in the 2013 Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) Program
The AIA is committed to sustainable design that creates communities and buildings which advance enduring public and environmental well-being. The mission of the SDAT program is to provide technical assistance and process expertise to help communities develop a vision and framework for a sustainable future. By achieving balance between cultural, environmental, and economic systems, communities can sustain a place as a stage for human settlement. The SDAT program upholds the AIA Design Assistance team values of utilizing a multidisciplinary team approach; ensuring the objectivity of all participating team members; and requiring broad, inclusive public participation and support.
The final deadline to submit applications for consideration in the 2013 SDAT program is Friday, November 16, 2012. The SDAT Application Review Committee will convene twice to evaluate applications. The first evaluation will take place in early October; the Committee will review any applications received prior to October 12, 2012, and will accept those communities who meet the application standards at that time. The second review will occur in December 2012; the Committee will evaluate any applications not already reviewed and will accept additional applications into the 2013 cycle. Any applications received after the review period will be considered for the 2014 SDAT program.
To view the application packet, and to access past SDAT applications and other related resources, please visit the AIA Center for Communities by Design website at http://www.aia.org/about/initiatives/AIAS075425.
The Center will hold a teleconference for communities interested in learning more about the SDAT program and the application process on September 25, 2012 at 3:00 pm Eastern. If you would like to join this call, please indicate your interest by sending an email to [email protected].
Questions about the program or the application process should be directed to Erin Simmons, Director, AIA Design Assistance, via email [email protected] or phone 202.626.7492.


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TIANJIN, China — China is full of big bets that the country's breakneck economic growth will continue apace, but few are bigger than the vast Yujiapu financial district here.
Nicknamed China's new Manhattan, the district comprises at least 47 skyscrapers being built on desolate coastal salt flats 100 miles southeast of Beijing. Financed by huge loans from state-owned banks, the district is an immense public works project, and is closely associated with Zhang Gaoli, the little-known Communist Party secretary of Tianjin who joined the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee last week at the end of the 18th Party Congress.
Mr. Zhang has emerged as the man expected, after approval by the National People's Congress in March, to handle day-to-day management of the Chinese economy. He won out over Wang Qishan, who has a much deeper background in economic and financial policy making and was seen as likely to clash with and perhaps even overshadow the incoming prime minister, Li Keqiang. Chinese leaders have not forgotten how Zhu Rongji, with a similarly deep background, managed to dominate economic policy making from his position as executive vice premier in the mid-1990s.
As the Yujiapu project makes clear, Mr. Zhang has been a defender of huge government-guided investments, an approach that very much fits the mold of ambitious party officials eager to get ahead within the existing power structure. At the same time, say experts and people who know him, he has cultivated an image as a stern bureaucratic taskmaster, a politician who can get things done by working with powerful business interests rather than challenging them.
"He's a very strong guy," said Jean-Luc Charles, the general manager of Airbus's assembly plant here for the A320 jetliner, who had nothing but praise for Mr. Zhang. "He sets a target and people run."Continue reading the main story
But Mr. Zhang also has some surprising characteristics. In Tianjin, he has pushed to expand retailing and other services as a way to create jobs beyond construction and manufacturing. He also is an advocate for firm environmental and labor standards aimed at improving the lives of ordinary Chinese.
After a series of increases during Mr. Zhang's tenure, the city's minimum wage is now 4 percent higher than Beijing's — even though Tianjin is considerably poorer over all. And while Tianjin cracked down on labor protests in the summer of 2010, the municipal authorities have since set up a trade union for migrant workers, who usually have few legal protections.
The migrant workers' union "negotiated a reasonable deal for sanitation workers in the city," said Geoffrey Crothall, the spokesman for China Labor Bulletin, a nonprofit group in Hong Kong that favors the establishment of independent unions in China.
Tianjin residents described two street protests here in April, one against a $1.7 billion expansion project at a chemical plant and the other against a real estate developer who was accused of absconding with apartment buyers' deposits. The authorities were quick to negotiate compromises in both cases, suspending construction at the chemical plant, even though it was being built by Sinopec, one of the largest state-owned enterprises, while tracking down the developer and requiring restitution. They did not resort to calling riot police to disperse the protesters, as municipal leaders have sometimes done elsewhere in China, residents said.
Tianjin has adopted many Western pollution regulations and in some cases tightened them further. Air and water emissions from the Airbus factory here are monitored by pollution equipment that is connected around the clock to government monitoring computers.
It is not clear, though, whether these policies reflect a personal commitment by Mr. Zhang to progressive social policies or his penchant for setting rules and making sure people follow them. Perhaps both.
"Zhang is very strong with all the regulations — do it in accordance with the regulations and no joke," Mr. Charles said.
Mayor Huang Xingguo of Tianjin, the second-ranking official in this city of 13 million after Mr. Zhang, cited the city's many parks and its air quality — though by some estimates it is only marginally better than Beijing's — at a news conference in Beijing late last week during the party congress.
At the same time, he added a commercial note that captures the tone of the city's administration: "We hope you come to Tianjin to buy houses."
Selling real estate is crucial to the deeply indebted city. Total credit issued in Tianjin grew faster than anywhere else in China during the economic stimulus program in 2009 that led the country quickly out of the global financial crisis. Now the question is whether city-owned enterprises can sell or lease enough of the buildings they are erecting to avoid a fiscal disaster.
Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate services firm, estimates that available commercial real estate in central Tianjin will double in the next four years. In the new financial district 30 miles from downtown Tianjin, the first dozen office buildings will have the combined floor space of four Empire State Buildings. Many Hong Kong developers with investments here are worried about a glut of office space.
Another worry here is that most of the construction is on coastal salt flats that are scarcely above sea level, and could be vulnerable if climate change leads to increases in sea level or typhoons with large storm surges. After deluges last spring, "you had to roll up your pants and take off your shoes to walk across the street," a local resident said.
But such concerns are taking a back seat to the more pressing task of filling empty buildings in the district. The local operations of big state-owned enterprises, like the Agricultural Bank of China, may be pushed by the municipal government into leasing lots of space, said Michael Hart, the managing director of the Tianjin office of Jones Lang LaSalle.
The new financial district is not quite the unoccupied desert that it appears. Mr. Zhang personally ordered two little-known tax breaks that have led as many as half of the country's private equity funds to transfer legal residency and some offices to Tianjin, either to the nascent financial district or areas nearby, finance experts said. Mr. Zhang reduced business taxes for private equity funds based in Tianjin and nearly halved the income tax rate for limited partners in those funds.
The tax breaks have not only lured private equity funds to Tianjin but also may have yielded valuable political advantages. Princelings, the sons and daughters of current and former senior Chinese officials, have flocked to the private equity industry, using their formidable connections to secure valuable government contracts and low-rate loans from state-owned banks for their investments.
Princelings have emerged as an increasingly powerful political force. Three of the seven members of the new Politburo Standing Committee are the sons of former Chinese senior leaders. A fourth member is married to a princeling and a fifth has a son married to a princeling. The princelings are close to former President Jiang Zemin, who played a powerful role in selecting members of the new Standing Committee.
Mr. Zhang and Mr. Li, the incoming prime minister, are the only two members of the new Standing Committee who are not directly linked to princeling families through parentage or marriage. (Mr. Zhang's daughter married the son of a Hong Kong glass manufacturing tycoon with factories all over China, including in Tianjin.) But Mr. Zhang, who earned his bachelor's degree in statistics and started his career in the oil industry, has succeeded in assiduously building close personal ties to Mr. Jiang, according to a Chinese business leader with extensive top-level contacts in the Communist Party. He insisted on anonymity because of the political sensitivity of discussing top officials.
When Mr. Jiang visited Shandong Province soon after Mr. Zhang was made the governor there in November 2001, Mr. Zhang decorated the sites of each of his stops with large banners carrying quotations from Mr. Jiang, even covering signs honoring previous Chinese leaders.
This maneuver generated considerable discussion at the time among senior cadres over whether the banners were an astute political move or a sign of excessive obsequiousness, the business leader said. Mr. Jiang's subsequent support for Mr. Zhang's political career indicated that the banners had been a shrewd decision.Continue reading the main story


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Some time ago, I wrote about doing batch processing of text with an external process running, e.g. Perl. Similarly, emacs-lisp has a lot of functionality for manipulating text.
The Problem
I have a file like this:
John James,Admin,other data,... Dave Jones,Sales,... Lisa Sims,IT,... ...
I want to convert it into the following1:
AND name IN ("Dave Jones", "John James", "Lisa Sims") AND dept IN ("Admin", "IT", "Sales")
The Solution
First of all I need a helper function that converts lisp lists into a quoted comma-separated list.
(defun make-csv (seq) (mapconcat (lambda (e) (format "\"%s\"" e)) seq ", "))
And then I can iterate over the text with
re-search-forward, collecting the matched strings. At the end, I'll output the collected strings. in a sql clause fragment.
(defun process-lines (&optional begin end) (interactive "r") (goto-char begin) (let (names depts) (while (re-search-forward "\\([^,]+\\),\\([^\n,]+\\)" end t) (push (match-string 1) names) (push (match-string 2) depts) (next-line)) (insert (format (concat "\n" "AND name IN (%s)\n" "AND dept IN (%s)\n") (make-csv (sort names #'string-lessp)) (make-csv (sort depts #'string-lessp))))))
If you liked this post, why not subscribe to my RSS feed.
1. Okay, you got me, I don't really want to convert it into this. But for the purpose of the example, this will do. Exercise for the reader – how can I convert it into sql that will efficiently extract just the lines I want?


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If you are reading this letter, you most likely are part of the 99 percent who the 1 percent has declared war on. You are part of the 99 percent, whether you are conservative or liberal.
One of the biggest lies conservatives have fostered on Americans is the lie about our government being the problem. They have accomplished this by following their mantra, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
Actually, conservatives have created most of the problems people have with our government, such as the current financial situation, in which the wealthy pay less tax, percentage-wise, than their servants in many cases. This has caused the government to be underfunded ever since the George W. Bush tax cuts, and has led to many situations where our government has been unable to competently perform many functions vital to the national welfare.
One thing we expect from our government is protection from our foreign and domestic enemies. Foreign enemies are fairly easy to identify; the domestic enemies are harder to identify and deal with, largely because of protections former and current conservatives in our government have gotten for them by relaxing or eliminating laws and regulations, plus cutting the size of our government.
This is why there have been virtually no prosecutions of the criminals responsible for the Great Recession.
Rueben Thompson


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About Jeff Masters
Cat 6 lead authors: WU cofounder Dr. Jeff Masters (right), who flew w/NOAA Hurricane Hunters 1986-1990, & WU meteorologist Bob Henson, @bhensonweather
By: Dr. Jeff Masters , 3:25 PM GMT on August 27, 2012
Tropical Storm Isaac has changed little in strength or organization this morning, as the storm heads northwest at 14 mph towards the Central Gulf Coast. There are two hurricane hunter aircraft in the storm, and Isaac's central pressure held steady at 989 mb at the 8:30 am and 9:15 am center fixes. Top surface winds remain near 65 mph. Infrared and visible satellite loops show that Isaac is a very large storm, but isn't very symmetric. Heavy thunderstorm activity is lacking on the southeast side, where 10 knots of wind shear is driving dry air into the circulation. The center is surrounded by a ring of echoes now, which was not the case on Sunday. However, the echoes are weak. The 8:30 am center report from the Hurricane Hunters reported about half of a ragged eyewall, but the 9:15 am report did not mention any evidence of an eyewall. Isaac will have to form an eyewall in order to intensify significantly.
Figure 1. Morning satellite image of Isaac. Note the lack of heavy thunderstorm activity on the storm's southeast side, where dry air and wind shear are combining to interfere with development.
Isaac's rains
Isaac's heaviest rains have fallen along a swath from the east coast of Florida near West Palm Beach to the center of the state, just south of Orlando. West Palm Beach received 7.57" of rain from Isaac as of 10 am EDT this morning. A trained spotter in Western Boynton Beach reported 10" of rain from midnight to midnight Sunday. Heavy rains from Isaac are lingering over Cuba but have ended in Haiti and the Dominican Republic; flash floods in Haiti from Isaac's torrential rains killed at least nineteen, and two died in the Dominican Republic.
Figure 2. Radar-estimated rainfall from Melbourne, Florida radar shows that Isaac has dumped a wide swath of 3+ inches of rain (orange colors) across the state.
Latest model runs for Isaac
The latest set of 0Z and 06Z (8 pm and 2 am EDT) model runs are fairly unified taking Isaac ashore near Southeast Louisiana late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, but continue to show major differences in what happens after that. It is still uncertain if a trough of low pressure passing to the north of Isaac will be able to turn the storm due north, as the ECMWF model is predicting, or bypass the storm, allowing a more west-northwest motion into western Louisiana, like the GFS model is predicting. In either case, Isaac is likely to slow down as it approaches the coast, which will increase the damage potential fro m its wind, storm surge, and rains. The latest 8-day precipitation forecast from the GFS model calls for 10 - 20 inches of rain over much of Louisiana. The ECMWF model predicts that these heavy rains will fall more over Mississippi. It appears likely that Arkansas will see some heavy rains from Isaac late in the week, which would help put a dent in the exceptional drought conditions there.
Figure 3. Predicted precipitation for the 8-day period from 2 am Monday August 27 to 2 am Tuesday September 4, from the 2 am EDT August 27 run of the GFS model. This model is predicting a wide swath of 5 - 10 inches of rain (orange colors) will affect portions of Louisiana. Additional very heavy rains are predicted for the Midwest, as moisture from Isaac interacts with a cold front. Image credit: NOAA/NCEP.
Intensity forecast for Isaac
Isaac is currently crossing over a relatively cool eddy of water, which will keep intensification slow today. By tonight, the total heat content of the waters increases, which should aid intensification. Low wind shear of 10 knots or less is likely until landfall. An analysis of upper level winds from the University of Wisconsin CIMSS shows that upper-level outflow to the north is not as strong as yesterday, which should also slow intensification today. The models forecast the upper-level outflow should improve by Tuesday. A storm this large will have trouble undergoing rapid intensification, and Isaac's most likely intensity at landfall will be as a Category 1 hurricane, which is what most of the intensity models are forecasting.
Figure 4. Track of Hurricane Gustav of 2008, which followed a path very similar to that of Isaac's predicted path.
Storm surge forecast for Isaac
Storm surge is the primary damage threat from Isaac. Isaac is a huge storm, with tropical storm-force winds that extend out 205 miles from the center. For comparison, Hurricane Katrina at landfall had tropical storm-force winds that extended out 230 miles from its center. Isaac's large size will enable it to set a large area of the ocean into motion, which will generate a large storm surge once the storm approaches land on the Gulf Coast. Water levels at Shell Beach, Louisiana, just east of New Orleans, were already elevated by 1' this morning. Conversely, water levels have fallen by 2' this morning at St. Petersburg, Florida, where strong offshore winds due to Isaac's counter-clockwise circulation have carried water away from the coast. The latest 6:30 am EDT Integrated Kinetic Energy analysis from NOAA's Hurricane Research Division put the destructive potential of Isaac's winds near 0.6 on a scale of 0 to 6, but the destructive potential of Isaacs's storm surge was 2.1 on a scale of 0 to 6. I expect this destructive potential will rise above 3 by time Isaac makes landfall, making Isaac's storm surge similar to that generated by Category 2 Hurricane Gustav of 2008, which followed a path very similar to Isaac's predicted path. Gustav brought a storm surge characteristic of a Category 1 hurricane to New Orleans: 9.5' to Lake Borgne on the east side of the city. A higher Category 2-scale surge occurred along the south-central coast of Louisiana, and was 12.5' high in Black Bay, forty miles southeast of New Orleans. Recent model runs indicate Isaac may slow down to a forward speed under 5 mph on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, close to the coast. If Isaac is just offshore at this time, the coasts of Southeast Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle will be exposed to a large storm surge with battering waves for two high tide cycles. This sort of extending pounding will be capable of delivering more damage than the storm surge of Hurricane Gustav of 2008.
The affect of storm size and angle of approach on storm surge
A 2008 paper by Irish et al., The influence of storm size on hurricane surge, found that large storms like Isaac are capable to delivering a 30% larger storm surge to the coast than a smaller storm with the same maximum wind speeds. The angle with which the storm hit the coast is important, too--a storm moving due north or slightly east of north will deliver a storm surge about 10% greater than a storm moving NNW or NW. Consult our Storm Surge pages for detailed information on what the risk is for the coast. I expect that Isaac's storm surge will be about 30% higher than the typical surge one would expect based on the maximum wind speeds.
Isaac's storm surge will provide the first test of the newly-completed New Orleans levee system upgrade. In the wake of the disastrous storm surge flooding from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Congress appropriated $14.5 billion to upgrade the New Orleans levee system to withstand a Category 3 hurricane storm surge. Katrina was a Category 3 storm at landfall, but the storm passed far enough to the east of the city that its storm surge was characteristic of a Category 1 - 2 storm at the places where the city's flood walls and levees failed. The new flood defenses were only partially completed in time for the arrival of Hurricane Gustav in 2008, which hit Central Louisiana as a Category 2 storm. Gustav brought a storm surge characteristic of a Category 1 hurricane to New Orleans: 9.5' to Lake Borgne on the east side of the city. Since that time, the imposing 2-mile long IHNC Flood Barrier has been completed to block off the funnel-shaped pair of canals on the east side of the city. I expect New Orleans' new flood defenses will be able to hold back Isaac's surge, but areas outside the levees are at risk of heavy storm surge damage.
Figure 5. A portion of New Orleans' new $14.5 billion dollar flood defenses, as taken from an Army Corps of Engineers map.
New Orleans flood defense info
Army Corps of Engineers map of the new flood defenses
Army Corps of Engineers video showing the flood defenses
New York Times article, Vast Defenses Now Shielding New Orleans
Invest 97L off the coast of Africa
A tropical wave (Invest 97L) is located in the Middle Atlantic, about 1050 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands. The storm has a modest amount of spin and heavy thunderstorms, and is under moderate wind shear. In their 8 am EDT Tropical Weather Outlook, NHC gave 97L a 30% chance of developing by Wednesday morning. None of the reliable models foresee that 97L will be a threat to the Lesser Antilles Islands, and high wind shear should begin to tear the disturbance apart on Tuesday.
Another tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on Sunday is located just south of the Cape Verde Islands. This disturbance is moving west at 10 - 15 mph, and could arrive in the Lesser Antilles around September 2. Several models develop the disturbance into a tropical depression late this week, and NHC is giving the disturbance a 10% chance of becoming a tropical depression by Wednesday morning.
Angela Fritz will have a new post here by 6 pm EDT. I'm in Atlanta to help out The Weather Channel with their on-air hurricane coverage, and will doing a few 3-minute tropical updates at 30 minutes past the hour between 2:30 - 7:30 pm EDT today.
Jeff Masters
The views of the author are his/her own and do not necessarily represent the position of The Weather Company or its parent, IBM.
Cat 6 lead authors: WU cofounder Dr. Jeff Masters (right), who flew w/NOAA Hurricane Hunters 1986-1990, & WU meteorologist Bob Henson, @bhensonweather


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A Sewing Blog - Dream. Learn. Make.
Home » Girls Sewing » Page 3
2011-2019, Melissa Mora. This is my original work unless otherwise indicated. If you are writing a round up and want to use a photograph from this blog, you may use only one photo, do not remove the watermark, provide a clear and easily seen link back to the post near the image and give clear and easily seen photo credit. Photos of children on this blog may not be used without permission. Other uses of any content or designs by permission only. Patterns/tutorials are for personal use only. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases through my affiliate links.


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Kite fears stars could exit Manly
Two-time Manly premiership winner Brent Kite says it's up to young Sea Eagles players to ensure the culture at the proud NRL club doesn't die.
Discontent expressed by star Steve Matai in recent days points to internal factions brewing at Manly, with the angst caused by club great Glenn Stewart being forced out at season's end.
Kite - now at Penrith - says he's not privy to the behind-the-seasons drama at his beloved former club, but admits he does fear the Sea Eagles could be set to lose some experienced big names.
Clive Churchill medalist Kite was one of the founding fathers of Manly's decade-long dynasty of success, and set the benchmark along with the Stewart brothers, Jamie Lyon, Matai, Anthony Watmough and Jason King.
Kite says it's a credit to Manly that despite the rumblings they remain on track for a third title in seven years.
But he senses Stewart's exit could mark the end of an era.
"We prided ourselves on being able to stick together for so long," said Kite, who was squeezed out of the club after last year's grand final.
"We lost guys along the way - but I think the difference now is there could be a few heading at the one time.
"Where as with (Matt) Orford and (Steve) Menzies, we dropped one or two ... this might signal a few of them having to move on.
"It's a bit sad to see it all come undone but we had a good time while it lasted for sure.
"To their credit, on the field they're still putting the performances in."
It's been revealed Matai unsuccessfully approached Manly for a release to join the Warriors and reports over recent months have also suggested Brett Stewart and Watmough are far from happy about the circumstances that have resulted in Glenn Stewart being shown the door.
Kite, who has his own premiership tilt to worry about with the young Panthers, has faith Manly can stay strong.
In two of the game's premier playmakers, Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran, Manly have a bright future - but Kite says the Sea Eagles need strong leadership through what could be a tough time.
"Of course they can get through it. A lot of it's going to fall to the young leaders there now," he said.
"It's what they make of their time in those leadership roles."
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.


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Has the time come for you to get out of the dorm and move into an off campus TAMUT apartment? Perhaps the options available from the Texas A&M University Texarkana housing office no longer meet your needs and you would like to find a cheap apartment close to the TAMUT campus. If so, you can search for off campus Texas A&M University Texarkana apartments with MyNewPlace's college housing search.
Although Texas A&M University Texarkana student housing may be very conveniently close to campus, moving to an off campus apartment can be a great way to save money, put some distance in between yourself and an RA, get accustomed to living in your own apartment and building up rental history.
TAMUT apartments for rent are available close to campus and in other neighborhoods around Texarkana, Texas . Using our map based university apartment finder, you can find off campus housing near campus to ensure you can still get to all the TAMUT games and make it to class on time.
We can help you find off campus TAMUT apartments that will best suit your collegiate lifestyle; search Texas A&M University Texarkana apartments by the number of bedrooms, price, neighborhood or a range of other amenities.
Have more questions? Check out our articles with renter tips in our apartment guide and search through http://www.tamut.edu/.


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Let's talk Mierzejewski. Lots of confusion on this family, remember my grandfather married a Mierzejewska. So, it takes some time and patience untangling names and relationships. Earlier, I had identified a John (Jan) M. Mierzejewski as my grandmother's brother. See this post updated on July 13, 2010 and this post from August 1, 2010.
However, I'm going to focus on my grandfather's family here. And these relationships are confusing because my grandmother and grandfather each had siblings who were named alike. The John or Jan Mierzejewski who is today's subject is descended through my great-grandfather, Antoni Mierzejewski. Antoni had a son named Ignacy. John is the son of Ignacy Mierzejewski and Marianna Goclowska Dabkowska. My grandfather, Wladyslaw (Walter) is the son of Ignacy and another wife, Budziszewska. So Walter and John were half-brothers.
This post will set the stage for a following post on John's son, William. William, or Bill, was an OSS officer who served in Yugoslavia in WWII. Bill had changed his last name to Marsh after leaving the OSS to serve with the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Much of the information presented here was provided by Bill's son, William (Bill) S. Marsh (Mierzejewski).
John was born in Tomasze, Poland on November 15, 1894 per his Word War II draft registration card.
Interestingly, John provided his residence for the World War II draft registration on Vance Street. A number of my mother's relatives had resided on Vance.
Per the 1930 census, John was residing at 1021 Hamilton. This census indicates that John is living with his first wife, Anna (Joanna) (Mizlinska or Myslinska) and his children:
- Josephine
- William
- Adelaide
Also noted on this census is a roomer, Edward. Edward is likely John's brother.
John served in WWI and because of his service, became a naturalized citizen.
Thanks to Bill Marsh, there are several photos of John:
If you can identify anyone in these photos, please leave a message here and I will follow up.
John passed away on August 17, 1970. His obituary as published in the Toledo Blade the same day and is transcribed below:
John Mierzejewski
John Mierzejewski, 74, of 1435 Nebraska Ave., owner of John's Carry-out for 20 years, died Monday in Howard's Convalescent Home, Swanton, O., after a long illness.
Born in Poland, Mr. Mierzejewski lived in Toledo 46 years. He worked at the Mather Spring Co. 30 years, retiring nine years ago, and also ran the carry-out with his wife.
Mr. Mierzejewski was an army veteran of World War I, a member of the Wroblewski Post, American Legion, and of the Toledo Health and Retiree Center.
Surviving are his wife, Jennie, daughters, Mrs. Adelaide McCartney, of Berkey, and Mrs. Josephine Galliers, of Toledo, and nine grandchildren.
Services will be Thursday at 1 p.m. in Sujkowski Mortuary, with burial in Toledo Memorial Park. The body will be in the mortuary after 7 tonight.


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Moonves: Publishing Unit in Play for Right Price
On November 8th, WSJ's Simon Constable sat down with CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves, for a wide ranging interview. In this segment Mr. Moonves discussed the future of his publishing unit and whether there was a price tag on Simon and Schuster.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I ... we we ... we seen that ... Penguin and Random House of the boogeyman they can manage this clearly that the ... book publishing business is seemingly a continued to haunt times ... Kewell Simon and Schuster ... how much money we take you home with us ... well the night we we we we would never we would never put a price on that that somebody came to us with a big offer ... we obviously would have to listen ... but it's not something where we're planning on ... doing ... any said that coming on hard times I don't think book publishing some hard times we've been up every year ... most book publishers of them very very good the last two years ... um I think the thing to say about book publishing which is more accurate it's changing rapidly once again like everything else ... a lot more books are being sold digital ... however when you look of the profits from books they're very strong ... so you you like the business on all of this the strong profits ... teasing that's a good thing that we've gone digitally sign a sign that was not wanting to you ... know I think everything's gonna be technologies been our friend in every single one of our business ... yes was selling a lot more of our books digitally ... the margins are for better in math ... and though we think status issues are very strong and though ... we we like ... the way that is going somewhere with with a haunting ... cover hard and soft cover books than physical and YouTube have a discovery mechanism through aam book retirements and the whole the supermarkets and if you don't discover ... looking on the shelves ... rates are less easy with a digital book to do that mean is this Amazon e into how to help my and I know it's less easy it is different it's just one doctor so how do you have a ninety one a bomb at the Y at great cost of getting I don't content is cut ... and it's about people discovery content however they discovered ... if people want to read books digitally great they won a reading ... on the hard copy it's great it's not dissimilar TV ... if you wanna watch it on the air great if you wanna watch it on your computer it's great ... as long as we are paying for it paid ... properly for our content ... and I think that will happen ... the ... D C don't you don't worry about the fact that in some of the publishing unit you can publish a great book and maybe doesn't give a marketing will idle think of all media companies have to be on their toes for the fact that the world ... is changing rapidly ... I think the play is the thing I he ... content ... having free content is important ... wireless is useless if you're at less ... that two of our great taste so what what he mean by that while this is useless if you get less content is content that away you getting it ... built up that ... survives no matter where you get it ... all to ... um all all go although one about so ... that I come I need you said is that someone ask you a lot of what it offered you a lot of money for some issues that keep you consider a new in half to obviously have to look at it ... and it was interesting hearing Mr. Murdoch talk about ... possibly ... getting involved in that merger that happened last week ... Mr. Murdoch although I would always be interested in hearing what he had sat on onshore go on ... so tight that into account


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GE Transportation showcases new technologies at Railway Interchange 2013Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
"These latest technologies are helping drive productivity and create sustainable outcomes for customers," GE says. "They help solve complex rail challenges, reduce operating costs, decrease fuel use, minimize downtime, increase safety and improve environmental performance.
GE Transportation's new Evolution Series Advance Power 4 locomotive meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) stringent Tier 4 emission standards without the use of any type of aftertreatment. GE expects that the Advance Power 4 will be the first main line locomotive on the market to meet such standards.
"Part of the ecomagination-certified Evolution Series, this locomotive will decrease emissions by more than 70% and will save railroad customers more than $1.5 billion in urea infrastructure and operational costs," GE says. "We have invested $600 million in the Evolution Series since its introduction in 2005 and started field testing a Tier 4 compliant locomotive along 100 miles of track through western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. Additional field testing will take place in the near future."
GE Transportation's new NextFuel™ Natural Gas Retrofit Kits enable existing Evolution Series locomotives to operate with dual-fuel capabilities. This gives railroads flexibility to run on both diesel fuel and liquefied natural gas (LNG) with up to 80% gas substitution as well as run 100% diesel. "Our NextFuel kits allow railroads to use LNG as a fuel source, reducing emissions and potentially reducing fuel costs by 50% while not compromising performance," GE says/
GE has been testing this low-pressure natural gas technology since the spring of 2013 and is working closely with its Class I partners for further field testing. The use of LNG, which is cryogenically stored in a tender in consist, provides enough fuel for a fully-loaded train to travel longer distances without refueling stops. An Evolution Series locomotive equipped with the NextFuel Natural Gas Retrofit Kit meets EPA Tier 3 emission standards. A pilot program with the BNSF to test the use of LNG as a fuel source for locomotives will proceed in 2014.RailDOCS is a web-based, mobile solution providing an asset management platform for track, signal, and wayside assets.
A new addition to GE's RailDOCS asset management software suite is the Bridge Structure Inspection System, a web-based application designed to manage bridge information and inspections for railroads and transit agencies. Bridge Structure Inspection System allows online access to bridge inventory data, inspection records, and critical safety information. The software meets the need for rail carriers and transit agencies to conduct regular evaluations of their bridge assets, complying with the federally mandated Bridge Management Program.
RailDOCS Hours of Service, released in 2011 for railroad signal employees, now supports train crews (transit and freight) and train dispatch employees. It is a web-based solution that electronically records employee work hours and provides real-time access to employee rest status and availability. It complies with the Code of Federal Regulations which governs hours of service for railroad employees and mandates undisturbed rest periods