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Alicia Kaempfe, left, and Sarah Stringer talk to Alec McGinn outside his home in Windsor during a door-to-door campaign Saturday by the Loren Project to educate and inform residents of Windsor and Severance about the dangers of carbon monoxide. Kampfe and Stringer attend Colorado State University and belong to the Kappa Delta sorority which had 25 members volunteer that day along with five members of the sorority Pi Beta Phi and others.
Rick Haskell opens the front door of his 1959 BMW Icetta last Tuesday, March 1, 2011 while discussing the variety of cars he currently owns and has collected over the years.
A packet containing information on carbon monoxide poisoning hangs from a handle on the front door of a home in Windsor after volunteers from the Loren Project made a visit Saturday during their door-to-door campaign to educate residents about the dangers of carbon monoxide.
Rick Haskell also has a number of model and toy cars on display that are representative of the various cars he has owned over the years.
Rick Haskell stands inbetween his 1953 Singer 4AD Roadster, at right, and 1963 Studebaker Avanti as he talks about his car collection last Tuesday, March 1, 2011 inside the barn he uses to store some of his vehicles.
Loveland residents Andrew Nash, 10, left, and Micah Payton, 8, are the last two competitors in a game of musical chairs during a timeout of the Colorado Ice football game against the Wyoming Cavalry on Sunday at the Budweiser Events Center. Andrew edged out Michah for the win and was awarded a Colorado Ice sweatshirt for his effort.
Tharp Cabinet Corp. field sales engineer Jesse Southard, left, answers questions for Fort Collins residents Marci and Harrie Harris as they look at cabinets on display Saturday during the Home and Remodel Show at The Ranch. The show is put on by the Home Builders Association of Northern Colorado and continues today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
An Erickson Air Crane helicopter makes a water drop on hot spots in the Fourmile Canyon Fire on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. (Joshua Buck/Times-Call)
Loveland resident Jonathan Scott, left, looks on as Loveland Fire and Rescue Dept. deputy fire marshall Scott Pringle assists him with the proper installation of an infant seat Saturday during the new Free Car Seat Inspection program. Saturday was the first day that Loveland Fire and Rescue personnel trained as certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians provided the service. For more information or to schedule an appointment call (970) 962-2536.
Barnham J. Nash shares a laugh in his Masonville home Friday with relatives Judy Heinrichs, Verna Nash and Ray Nash, who are in town to celebrate Barnham his 100th birthday on Sunday, March 6.
Four-year-old Elijah Campos of Loveland sits behind the wheel of a recycling truck while taking part in Colorado Children's Day activities in downtown Loveland on March 2, 2011.
Cyrus Carlson, 5, uses his index finger to push his plate of green eggs and ham away from him Wednesday as he and classmates from Trinity Lutheran Preschool eat at The Egg & I in Loveland.
Youngsters play with fake snow during Colorado Children's Day activities in downtown Loveland on March 2, 2011. From left to right are Colton Zack, 4, Cyrus Carlson, 5, Kyler Glaze, 4, and Dakota Ornelas-Moore, 2.
Cameron Lynn, 5, left, and his brother, Duncan Lynn, 7, shoot baskets while playing together in downtown Loveland at the Teaching Tree Early Childhood Learning Center booth as part of Colorado Children's Day activities on March 2, 2011.
Troy Wingard, 2, left, and his brother, Jack, 4, check out a firetruck while participating in Colorado Children's Day with their mother, Esther, in downtown Loveland on March 2, 2011.
Larimer Humane Society director of animal control Bill Porter, back, teaches Michael Keen, 4, how to use a catch pole during Colorado Children's Day in downtown Loveland on March 2, 2011.
Trevan Coberly, 4, left, and his brother, Caden Coberly, 6, try their hands at casting fishing poles with assistance from Aimee Ryel of the Colorado Division of Wildlife at Foote Lagoon while participating in Colorado Children's Day activities on March 2, 2011.
Sarah Johnson, 7, right, and her sister, Molly Johnson, 5, make creations out of clay in the Chilson Recreation Center's wet crafts room during an activity as part of Colorado Children's Day on March 2, 2011.
Safety Sam gets a hug from Ella Swanson, 5, while she was taking part in Colorado Children's Day activities with her grandparents, Gary, front left, and Mary Jo Swanson on March 2, 2011.
Youngsters wait in line to climb aboard a steel drum roller as 5-year-old Autumn Wilhoit, back left, is helped down by Greg Sendek during Colorado Children's Day in downtown Loveland on March 2, 2011.
Sydney Sandridge, 5, left, and Addi Pierce, 4, act silly during breakfast.
Children from Trinity Lutheran Preschool listen as Loveland Police Officer Dave Sloat reads "Green Eggs and Ham" after the kids ate green eggs and ham for breakfast.
Payton Deming, 4, left, and Connor Barron, 5, have a staring contest while eating greene eggs and ham.
Karsten Lewis, 5, eats green eggs Wednesday with classmates from Trinity Lutheran Preschool.
Cayden Huttinga, 5, works on his toast before eating his green eggs and ham.
Loveland Police Officer Dave Sloat weaves a safety lesson into the story as he reads "The Cat in the Hat" for children from Trinity Lutheran Preschool.


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Isn't that where we want to lead all our children. . .to embrace the cross of Christ, our Creator and Redeemer?
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Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

subset: commoncrawl


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What happened to baby Faith Mason?
UPDATE: Baby Faith's parents were arrested on charges of injury to a child Sept. 27, 2013: http://theexaminer.com/stories/news/baby-faiths-parents-arrested
A horrendous case of suspected child abuse in Port Arthur has residents of Southeast Texas wondering what happened to 1-month-old baby Faith Mason.
The Examiner's investigation has revealed a family with a history of child neglect and possible drug abuse. Port Arthur police are still investigating the case and have not named a suspect, but justice may soon be at hand.
The full extent of baby Faith's injuries are appalling.
According to Port Arthur police, the infant suffered from life-threatening injuries "indicative of abuse," and she was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital at 3600 Gates Blvd. in Port Arthur at approximately 12:13 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 18.
"We received a call early, early Sunday morning that a 1-month-old baby girl had presented at the hospital with severe physical abuse," said Shari Pulliam, Beaumont's CPS spokesperson.
She said Faith suffered from two broken arms, two broken legs, a broken neck, a dislocated shoulder and a black eye. Pulliam said after doctors discovered blunt force trauma to the head that caused a "severe brain bleed," Faith was flown to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston where her injuries were confirmed.
"After a thorough examination, it was determined she had 19 fractures, new and old," Pulliam said. "This child had been severely physically abused before the incident when she went to the hospital. We immediately took custody."
Baby Faith is listed in critical condition at Texas Children's Hospital, but the severity of her head trauma has yet to be determined.
"She is expected to survive, but we do not know what her quality of life will be at this point," Pulliam explained. "She has been put in a full-body cast. They are watching her very, very closely and running tests trying to see what they can."
When asked what type of abuse could have caused such severe injuries, Pulliam replied, "Blunt force trauma, punching, slapping, hitting. We are not sure exactly what happened. We are working with law enforcement to try to piece together what happened in this little child's four weeks of life to cause these injuries. We just don't know."
Home life
Baby Faith's parents are 20-year-old Christine Johnson and 17-year-old Darrell Mason, both of Port Arthur. The Examiner was unable to reach either for comment regarding their baby.
Pulliam said she often sees young parents successfully caring for babies with help from their loved ones.
"The mom just turned 20 (Monday, Aug 19). The dad is 17. We see a lot of young parents who have babies who have a good family base to help them. That is where this must have failed because where was the support when you have a young mother with a 1-month-old?"
When Faith is released from the hospital, Pulliam said the child will go into foster care. Foster parents must be able to meet Faith's medical needs, which could prove a challenge depending on the success of the infant's recovery.
"She will go into a foster home that can meet all of her medical needs. She is getting the best possible medical care she can at Texas Children's. This case has touched all of us here locally and the doctors and social workers in Houston. Everybody is owning this case as their own, and we want to make sure that this child gets everything she possibly can to heal."
Pulliam doubts baby Faith will be returned to her parents or any family members due to the severe abuse she suffered, regardless of how the abuse was sustained. Even if the parents are not charged with injury to a child, they could both face neglectful supervision charges for leaving Faith in an unsafe environment.
"That will be decided by a judge, but I don't think so. When you see a severe physical abuse case like this, rarely do they return home or to a family member. Of course, if one comes forward that is appropriate that has no CPS history or criminal history, of course we would look at them for placement. The judge would have the final decision. We think the safest place for this child is in foster care."
Pulliam said police investigators would have to determine who is responsible for the abuse and file charges accordingly.
"We protected the child, and we are getting her the best medical treatment we can. The rest is up to law enforcement. Law enforcement is doing a good job," Pulliam said.
According to sources close to the investigation, PAPD is investigating the case and is expected to file charges in the coming weeks once all of the information and evidence are pieced together. The sources said investigators are meeting Thursday morning, Aug. 22, with Jefferson County prosecutors who are eager to try and convict a suspect in the case once the evidence is gathered.
"Charges will be filed," said PAPD Major Raymond Clark, who went on to confirm he is meeting with Jefferson County's district attorney Thursday to talk about forensic evidence gathered by the doctors who treated Faith and to ensure "justice prevails in this case."
Clark also confirmed the suspect or suspects implicated in the abuse are family members of baby Faith but PAPD is not releasing any names at this time.
Linda Fields, the mother's aunt, said reports the baby and parents were staying with her at her apartment at Lakeview Palms in Port Arthur are untrue.
"No, she was staying with her aunt who raised her," Fields said. "They just came for the weekend."
When asked if she noticed anything strange or if the baby was crying, she replied, "I didn't really notice anything except that her arm was swollen."
Fields went on to say baby Faith stayed with Fields' cousin, and the cousin's children were seen picking up the baby. "I think they bruised the baby's bones by them picking up and changing the baby," she said. "They think babies are baby dolls."
When asked if she thought her niece Johnson — the child's mother — could have harmed the baby or could have known how the infant was injured, she said, "No. She is really protective of her baby. Christine was taken from her mother as a little baby."
She said she thinks it is possible that the baby has brittle bone disease or some similar medical condition that could explain why she had numerous fractures all over her body.
Pulliam is not convinced.
"I am sure Texas Children's (Hospital) knows what abuse looks like and knows what brittle bone disease looks like," she said. "We have not been told anything about brittle bone disease. That has not come up at all."
Pulliam confirmed that Linda Fields herself has a history with CPS.
"She has significant CPS history," Pulliam said. "We've removed five children from her. Her rights were terminated due to neglectful supervision."
None of the five children removed from Fields' custody suffered from injuries similar to baby Faith's.
When asked if Christine Johnson was taken from her mother as a baby as Linda Fields asserted, Pulliam said, "Yes. She was removed from her mother as an infant, and she was placed into foster care. She was raised by another family member, on the paternal side, and we never received any further complaints about Christine's care."
The aunt in question, with whom Linda Fields said Johnson and her baby lived just prior to the abuse investigation, has passed away, and Pulliam said she was told Johnson lived with Fields for a few weeks prior to the discovery of the baby's injuries.
A male neighbor of Fields' at the Lakeview Palms apartments who refused to be identified said he is outraged by what happened.
"Every last one of them in that home needs to be locked up," the man said. He confirmed Johnson and baby Faith lived in the apartment with Fields for months, and he said he'd also seen Mason, the baby's father, around the complex.
When asked if he knew Mason, the man accused him of being addicted to "dip" or embalming fluid.
He said other neighbors spoke to him about the possible abuse but will not come forward for fear of reprisal.
"She won't tell you this, but their next door neighbor said she heard that baby hollering all night long," he said. "All night long."
Sources close to the investigation say baby Faith's father, Mason, is well-known to Port Arthur police for a myriad of drug offenses, but his juvenile records remain sealed.
In a comment on Facebook on Aug. 14, Mason posted, "Tht (sic) car got a strong weed smell." One picture of Mason found on the social media site shows the young man wearing red and is labeled "Blood Gang."
Pulliam said her office is doing what they can to help police in their investigation. She said if someone had contacted CPS sooner, Faith may not have had to suffer.
"We are trying to weed through all the truth and lies to get to the bottom of what exactly happened to this baby," Pulliam said. "That's where we're at at this point. We are going to let law enforcement do their jobs and let them do the investigation into that part. We have the baby safe, and that's what matters now. It's just unfortunate that no one made a report to us before this happened. It's against the law not to report child abuse. Someone could have saved this baby horrible abuse if they had just made this call."
Pulliam said she hopes this case will shed light on abuse and touch people who may know of or suspect abuse but have been too afraid or did not know how to reach out to someone who could help.
"We want to encourage the community, if they know anything about this case or if they know any child that is being abused or neglected, please make a report to the hotline. Let's not wait until this happens again."
If you know of or suspect child abuse, call the Child Abuse Hotline for Texas at (800) 252-5400.
"We can't help these children if we don't know about them."
- By Sharon Brooks and Clay Thorp


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KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A police official says a blast at a Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan has killed two people.
Sindh province police spokesman Imran Shakat said the blast Monday in the city of Shikarpur wounded 12 people, two of them critically.
It was the second attack on a Sufi figure or location in Sindh province in less than a week.
Last week, the grandson of a prominent Sufi cleric was killed when a roadside bomb targeted the cleric's convoy.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Many Sunni Muslim extremists do not approve of the more mystical form of Islam that is practiced by Sufis in many parts of southeast Asia.


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I haven't yet written about Chloe Marshall, the 17-year-old plus-size model who's in the running for Miss England this year, only because I've had a zillion other things on my plate lately. Marshall's a UK size 16 (i.e., US size 12/14), the biggest contestant they've ever had, and she's already been crowned Miss Surrey. Woo hoo!
I would also probably have chosen not to acknowledge diet book author Monica Grenfell's horrid opinion piece about Chloe in the Daily Mail, but so many Shapelings e-mailed me about it this morning, I would apparently be shirking my duties as a fat blogger if I skipped it. (Also, I kinda want the e-mails to stop. Not that I don't love your missives, 'cause I do, but holy crap, this touched a nerve.)
So, Monica Grenfell comes off as a fucking idiot. That's kind of all you need to know. She's also a dietician. [Update: apparently she is not, though the article identifies her as one.] Now, I know some people around here are dieticians, are planning on becoming them, and/or have worked successfully with dieticians in the past, so you don't like seeing them take crap. That's totally fair. But let's just say that when some of us say we wonder how many dieticians have eating disorders and/or a pathological fear of fat, we're thinking of people like Monica Grenfell.
I hope she doesn't win the Miss England title.
It would send an appalling – and very dangerous – message to other young women that it's OK to be fat.
Chloe is a stark reminder that obesity is now virtually normal in our society – and we should all be hanging our heads in shame.
Because as we all know, shame is an excellent way to make people lose weight, and it's worked fantastically well so far. Except for how the opposite is true. Facts, schmacts. Fat is icky!
It gets better.
At 5ft 10in, Chloe should have a body mass index, or BMI, (indicating her levels of fat) of 20. Hers is 26.03.
Okay, setting aside the fact that the "overweight" BMI category carries the lowest mortality risk, and people in it fare better than others when it comes to all sorts of diseases, the cut-off for overweight is 25. (10 years ago, it was 27.) We'll also set aside the fact that several published reports have Chloe at 5'10" and 176 lbs., giving her a BMI of 25.3, not 26.3. Where the hell does Grenfell get off deciding Chloe Marshall–or anyone–"should" have a BMI of 20? Seriously, when your rhetoric makes a BMI chart look reasonable and fair when it comes to acknowledging natural size diversity, you need to check yourself, lady.
And it gets better still.
It's a total fallacy that young girls are being pressured into near-starving themselves into being too thin.
Take a look around you and you will see that the total reverse is true.
Teenage girls aren't in danger of falling victim to an epidemic of anorexia – but of obesity.
That's right, folks. Teenage girls are under insurmountable pressure to get fatter. You heard it here first.
From a woman who gets paid to tell people how to eat.
The fact that Chloe Marshall exercises, eats a balanced diet, and knows from experience that she'd have to starve herself to be any thinner is meaningless to Grenfell, who says "I don't doubt she is telling truth," but then goes on to say:
Chloe claims she "crept up" to a size 16 after dieting to a size 12 on top and 14 on bottom. She's kidding herself.
Her weight didn't "creep on" magically – she ate too much food.
Every excess 1lb of weight she's carrying – and I reckon she is at least a stone overweight – equates to five meals she didn't need.
Hmmm. I do not think "I don't doubt she is telling the truth" means what you think it means, Ms. Grenfell.
Also, how 'bout that, y'all? 5 meals=1 lb! I have heard a LOT of fucked-up dieting math in my day, but that's a new one on me. (On the upside, all I have to do to get myself back under the "overweight" cut-off is skip my next 250 meals.)
Once again, this woman is advising clients and selling books based on her "expert" knowledge about weight and food. A woman who claims the pressure on young girls to be thin is "a total fallacy"; that fat is not only acceptable but fashionable; that a fat woman who says she exercises, eats a healthy diet and has to starve herself to be thinner is simply in denial about having eaten too much; that anorexia is not a danger we should be worried about; that Chloe Marshall's body demonstrates "a shocking lack of self-control"; and that a 17-year-old girl should have a BMI a full 5 points under the cut-off for "overweight" because, um, she said so. That's who gets paid to tell people what "healthy eating" is.
"Dangerous nonsense" indeed.
Update: from Monica Grenfell's website (via Shapeling A Sarah), here's a little about her newest book:
CRASH DIET is Monica's newest, most original diet book, which goes back to the basics of old-fashioned crash dieting to help you lose those 'vanity pounds' (the ones only you know are there!)
Monica Grenfell will tell you how to restrict calories to lose pounds "only you know are there." I rest my fucking case.


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"The wet 20th century, the wettest of the past millennium, the century when Americans built an incredible civilization in the desert, is over," says a superb article in February's National Geographic. The piece, entitled "Drying of the West," mentions San Diego several times. Author Robert Kunzig writes, "The American West was won by water management. What happens when there's no water left to manage?" He notes that some scientists foresee "the Southwest's gradual descent into persistent Dust Bowl conditions by mid-century." Studies of tree rings suggest that the Southwest suffered severe and repeated droughts over many centuries. The wet 20th Century — when growth boomed — was an aberration. Normality may be returning.
San Diegan Mike Davis, who teaches environmental history at the University of California, Irvine, wrote a similar article that ran on the website of the Nation late last fall. Some scientists are calling current conditions a "megadrought," possibly the worst in 500 years, although they aren't sure it will be more devastating than the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, wrote Davis. Some scientists look for "the imminent drying of the U.S. southwest," his story said.
Then there was the cover story in the October 18, 2007 Reader by Bill Manson. It noted that as far back as 2004, the U.S. Geological Survey began calling the current drought as bad as or worse than any in 500 years. Rainfall has been low since the early 1990s, and snowfall in the Sierras and Rockies has been inadequate. "All this has created the foundation for a drought so serious that you start thinking, could desertification be next?" wrote Manson. "Here we are, headed for a quarter-century of dryness, just when the population is set to add a million in San Diego County alone."
According to the San Diego County Water Authority, the local metro area gets 75 percent of its water from Los Angeles's Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The district gets two-thirds of its water from the Colorado River, which has gone through its eight driest years in recorded history. The other one-third comes from the State Water Project, which is bedeviled by environmental lawsuits and weakened levees that probably could not withstand earthquakes. San Diego gets another 6 percent at a stiff price from Imperial Valley, which gets the water virtually for nothing. The remaining 19 percent is locally generated — rainfall, groundwater, etc. The years 2006 and 2007 were two of the driest on record. This year? "We're praying," says authority spokesperson John Liarakos.
This year, numbers look better. It would be a tragic mistake to postpone aggressive action on the basis of a couple of months of cheerier data.
What's being done locally? Not much. Various Southern California water authorities have issued the "20-Gallon Challenge," asking people to reduce water use by 20 gallons per person, per day — all told, about 10 percent. Various companies and institutions are proudly announcing they are asking employees to cooperate. Mayor Jerry Sanders is holding well-publicized meetings with cities in the area. Just recently, the City announced it would give a $350 rebate to those who buy a so-called smart irrigation system that reduces outdoor water use. But other Southern California cities are ahead in offering such incentives and in mandating conservation. Long Beach permits lawn watering only three days a week. Builders get financial incentives up to $2500 per home for installation of various inside and outside water-saving devices. Financial incentives for use of water-saving toilets and hose nozzles are more generous than in some other communities.
Las Vegas prohibits new front lawns, limits the size of back ones, and subsidizes families that tear up their lawns and replace them with desert plants. "San Diego needs to move to desertscaping," says Steve Erie, professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the Urban Studies and Planning Program. "Half our water is dumped on our lawns."
Adds Erie, "This is a town in deep denial. The leadership thinks that if we adopt stricter measures like mandatory rationing, we will send the wrong signal to tourists and the business community. We're incredibly image conscious. We have a mayor who is led around by the nose by pollsters. The good news is that [L.A. mayor] Antonio Villaraigosa wants to be governor, so L.A. is playing footsie with San Diego, adopting a shortage plan." However, "Phoenix and Las Vegas are much more serious about recycling, reclamation."
"We are looking at water recycling," which has been given the repugnant name "toilet-to-tap," says Councilmember Donna Frye. The mayor realized "toilet-to-tap" was fecal politics. He vetoed the council's vote to pursue the matter, "and we overrode his veto." Many localities, including Orange County, have or are working on reclamation projects, although Orange County's program is different from the one on the drawing boards in San Diego. Opponents of toilet-to-tap say that it is energy intensive and not thoroughly tested for safety.
San Diego does use recycled water for cooling towers, industrial parks, irrigation of golf courses, and the like, but the City isn't doing a good job of that, says Frye. "Water allocation will be reduced from the Colorado River as well as the Bay Delta [State Water Project]. It's important that we address these questions while we can look at federal and state funding. It would be less expensive now to start planning. The Water Department has been terrific. The problem is that they are under the mayor. They have to handle it gingerly. The seriousness of the issue has not reached the higher levels of government."
Unfortunately, residential development goes on apace. "We have to get realistic about tying new growth and development to water supply," says Frye. "The infrastructure is inadequate. State laws say that for large-scale development, you have to show where the water will come from. I am not sure that has been adequately addressed. I don't see developers required to put in native vegetation; everyone wants a lawn and flowers. We live in a desert: put in desert vegetation. The mayor has a record of capitulating to developers."
Says San Diegan Mike Davis, author of the article that ran on the Nation website, "As far as I can see, we are utterly asleep at the controls." As a result of the drought-caused 2003 and 2007 fires, "People are encouraged to plant more water-absorbing plants around their homes, because houses that survived had highly watered plants such as ice plant. That kind of fire prevention extending to the backcountry implies unsustainable increases in water usage." The problem is that "In no sense have we had a holistic debate about climate change, water resources — lessons we should be learning. Our political system seems unable to discuss these interrelated issues at the same time. The water situation will go from bad to worse."
All agree that San Diego doesn't seem to be able to pull it all together: the fires, for example, should speak volumes about the drought. But the City looks at fire and water as two separate problems.
Says City Attorney Mike Aguirre, "There is a failure of leadership to provide conservation, to do the hard work of water reclamation, to build desalination plants or to expand storage capacity. Our leaders don't want to admit the problem. We have to spend a lot of money, and there is not a lot of money because of the pension deficits."
Erie sums it up: "This is a second-rate town blessed with a first-rate climate but cursed with third-rate leadership and a fourth-rate newspaper."
But in a few years, will that climate be so wonderful? Or to paraphrase an old saying, will San Diegans be getting their just deserts?
More from SDReader
- More stories by Don Bauder
- San Diego's gardeners in the drought age — Sept. 21, 2016
- San Diego long-timers will bear water conservation burden — May 27, 2015
- San Diego reservoirs at record lows — Aug. 20, 2014
- San Diego water: You will pay — March 26, 2014
- San Diego mayor Sanders puts football above water — Feb. 3, 2010
Time For Total Political Change.
Under 40 voters, it's time to takeover control of your own future.
Over 40 lemming voters suck, they have failed to protect your future.
The Union-Tribune has made all the wrong things happen.
The Reader can make the right things happen.
Please don't put an age to it. I am just over forty, and am perfectly aware of how corrupt our local government and newspaper are, and vote accordingly.
My parents are in their seventies, drive an electric car and installed solar panels on the roof of their house. They know the solar panels probably won't pay for themselves in their lifetime but they did it anyway because they wanted to help drive the technology that we desperately need.
Their are plenty of under 40 voters who are either apathetic or are trying themselves to take what they can and screw the future.
This article highlights exactly why I get so incensed when people argue we need to take radical steps to counter manmade global warming (you have done that yourself).
There is much politicizing and dubious science behind global warming, which enables industrialists and big business republicans to pooh-pooh it. If we drop the controversial global warming argument, we are left with some basic facts:
1) Our reliance on oil is destroying our economy and enriching our enemies in the middle east. Cultivating alternative energy (including clean coal and nuclear) and driving electric cars will dramatically improve our political situation and the long term health of our economy. 2) Switching away from gas cars will dramtically improve our air quality. 3) We have a looming water crisis due to overpopulation in a dry area.
I fear that the global warming movement has actually stalled progress on the important issues that need addressing by making it a left/right political fight, when the real issues have nothing to do with global warming.
Response to post #1: The Reader is good, but we can't stop a dust bowl if one is coming. We might raise enough hell that more responsive politicians would be elected, and San Diego would realize it can't take more residential development. Any available funds (and they are scarce) should go into infrastructure. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #2: But young people are taking a real interest in the presidential election this year -- at least in the Democratic primary. That's a good sign. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #3: You make an interesting point. Offhand I don't agree with it, but will ponder it. I agree with your three points on oil reliance, gas cars and looming water crisis. But I think the global warming crisis is related to the first two points. Best, Don Bauder
Frye is correct in her wording, "fecal politics".
By slapping the dismissive "toilet to tap" label on water recovery, the UT and others effectively delayed its adoption by a decade.
Our leaders aren't ignorant only of economics, ethics, and the law. They're also mostly ignorant of the very geography and climate in which we live. The best evidence of this is Peters' outrageous water wastage, which actually increased after it was made public. Such people are not leaders, and should be hounded from the spotlight, to be replaced with those who actually care about our future.
As the article notes, we're dumping far too much fresh drinking water on our lawns to nourish plants that don't belong here. The Nat. Geographic article makes it clear that all our long-term water supply plans are based on faulty assumptions built on anomalous data.
This goes on the list for candidates:
- What are your plans for ensuring water supplies past 2020?
Any candidate who doesn't have a credible answer, with identified funding, should be disqualified from consideration.
(yet another sdblogger)
Response to post #7: Welcome back, Fumber. I was walking by a yuppie art/coffee store recently and saw a sign for wheat grass. I didn't go in to sample it. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post # 8: I used the words "fecal politics," not Donna. She is a lady. Note that Peters, so complicit in the city's concealing of its unsound financial condition in prospectuses, and so contemptuous of the water situation, wants to run for city attorney. Talk about Al Capone running for governor. Yes, we dump far too much water on our lawns. We should encourage people to take out lawns and replace with desertscaping or even Astroturf. Best, Don Bauder
Don, response to #6:
I didn't mean to say that global warming is not real. Rather, I am saying that it doesn't matter whether or not global warming is real and/or human caused, because we should be taking the same steps regarding energy and water conservation and alternative sources of both regardless. That being the case, I think that pushing the idea of man-caused global warming is actually counter productive and may distract from and take away support for achieving the end goals.
If you take out the global warming politics (which have become very partisan and polarizing) and discuss purely national security and economic future (oil dependency) air quality (gas cars) and water reserves (and how to increase and/or extend them) I think we would get more bipartisan broad-based support and would have a better chance of achieving the desired goals.
You've got it all wrong. Tropical landscapes are our birthright here in San Diego. We just need to get people in Colorado, Arizona and Nevada to stop hording so much water and let it all come to us.
My grandfather watched firsthand as the Owens Valley died to help quench LA's thirst. He watched thriving orchards and farmland dry up and turn into desert, and a huge lake turn into a dust bowl.
What LA did to the Owens Valley San Diego can do from the Imperial Valley all the way to Colorado. It's the least we can do. A wonderful legacy to leave for our children.
Response to "Dust Bowl Coming?":
One of your best articles ever Don, thanks for the Wake-Up call. I hope people will at least stop watering their damned useless lawns for openers, until that happens nothing will happen in time to prevent totally unacceptable consequences.
A major solution, a solution we are fortunate to have because of our ocean proximity, is to build nuclear power and desalination plants along the coast, but science has failed to do anything about nuclear waste products.
The worst problem we have that prevents long-term solutions is that our scientific community especially the University of California has failed us. For over half a century the main thing UC scientists have accomplished for humanity is to produce hydrogen bombs for profit, and most recently they sold out their scientific integrity to BP for $500 Million.
But it's not just UC, most noted scientist Freeman Dyson from Princeton said in 1997: "The main social benefit provided by pure science in esoteric fields is to serve as a welfare program for scientists and engineers." President Eisenhower's 1961 Farewell Address predicted this.
Sir John Maddox, Editor Emeritus of Nature magazine said: "small armies of scientists wil be required to remove persisting uncertainties and to devise effective strategies for the avoidance of calamity --- the rhetoric of survival is not matched by resolution".
Sadly, absolutely nothing on this order of magnitude is happening because all of Washington DC politicians have failed to protect Americans much less humanity.
National Geographic Channel aired a documentary "Six Degrees" this week which is one more set of warnings in addition to yours Don.
Thus American science has failed to pass the test of humanity for the last half century, failed to accomplish anything beyond making profits to fund their welfare state and satisfy personal greed like defrocked UC President Dynes has, and now they have no credibility when we need it most.
Thanks for trying to save San Diego Don along with Aguirre and Frye, keep it up. That's why it is "Time For Total Political Change" as I noted in post #1.
Response to post #11: You make a good point: the battle over global warming is very polarizing, and may make other reforms more difficult to achieve. This battle highlights America's short-term orientation. Our society does not think about future generations. People in other societies do. This is why companies such as Exxon Mobil kept claiming that man-made global warming was an invalid thesis. President Bush could declare with a straight face that he would not sign on to international accords because he didn't want to impede short-term economic performance in the U.S. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #12: Waste of water may be California's birthright, but the other states such as Arizona and Colorado are getting more political clout as Californians, sick of high taxes and taking advantage of ridiculously high real estate prices (still), keep moving to them. Consider Nevada. Those folks play rough, as the history of Las Vegas so poignantly attests. If Vegas is turned into another Owens Valley, some folks bearing gats may invade California. Then what? Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #16: I watched "Six Degrees." I had problems with the program's organization and melodramatic tone, but not its message. The new study by Scripps Institute of Oceanography, predicting that there is a 50 percent chance that Lake Mead will be unusable by 2021, is frightening. It came out too late to be included in this article. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #16: Wired magazine this month features a cover story about 33 things that Suck! Science is one of them and they conclude with "In other words, thanks to evolution, half of all Americans don't believe in evolution. That's the universe for you: impersonal, uncaring, and ironic" which proves that both education and science Suck in America.
The truth is that science in America has been a fraud for over 50 years with environmental, poverty and too many other problems for humanity getting worse and worse because the scientists are really as fraudulent, corrupt and greedy as our politicians.
The overall reality though is that all of our American institutions have failed.
Relative to "Six Degrees" again, Sir John Maddox said the just one degree increase in average temperature will cause major unacceptable problems, so God Help anyone left if we get close to six degrees.
That is to say, life on earth will Suck more and more and more unless Under 40 Reader demographics voters change things this year by kicking out all over 40 incumbents in both parties, because politicians Suck more than any other segment of our population.
Response to post #17: A report issued by the San Diego grand jury Wednesday concluded that the City should control growth and step up water conservation measures. The report was titled, "Water Conservation: Sober Up San Diego, the Water Party Is Over." Two elected officials, Councilmember Donna Frye and City Attorney Mike Aguirre, have been stressing the need for water conservation, recycling, and other measures to face the coming crisis. The rest of the council and the Sanders administration have had their heads in the sand, mainly because they are in the pockets of the real estate development industry. There is no evidence that the grand jury's report will sober them up. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #18:
Seems like the only dependable things left these days are war, greed, profligacy, exclusion and hate, pollution corruption poverty, larceny, failed institutions and deranged rant U-T editorial columns. Did I forget anything?
Your readers need to know what the consequences are if they don't kick every politician over 40 out of government, except maybe Obama because Michelle seems like she would be best first lady we will have had since Eleanor Roosevelt.
Response to post #19: You forgot lust. The others -- war, greed, profligacy, etc. -- have been ubiquitous throughout recorded history. But you are right: they may be more pronounced now. Best, Don Bauder
so let me get this straight. the temperature of the earth will rise six degrees and on the way there human beings will be stressed and perhaps begin to or completely disappear?? And what is the downside to this???
Response to post #21: As I understand it, six degrees and life on earth changes unbelievably. Cities are under water, the U.S. Southwest becomes a desert, Northern Canada becomes a most livable agriculture center, etc. There will be mass migrations and probably massive loss of life. I see your point: what is the downside? Overpopulation is our problem now. Those who believe in negative population growth will finally get their way. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #22:
Actually Don, we'll become the latest version of Anasazi before it hits 6 degrees.
BTW, 6 deg C = 10.8 deg F, and that's the worldwide average. There will be quite a variation depending on how the climate change tipping points interact around the globe, with tectonic changes, etc.
Our scientists at SIO, IPCC, etc. have already proven again most recently that their supercomputer models Suck! and they really don't have a clue about how to predict the next hundred years. They really don't know how to do chaos theory programming yet.
So right now we're proving Harvard evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson's conclusion that far-off catastrophes, engineered by our own species, are simply out of the range of human capacity for planning and action one last time.
Political P.S. to post #23:
In the meantime this year, it really would be a very good idea for every eligible voter to vote in this election, especially if you have any personal economic problems as a result of the way politicians in both parties are running or failing to run Washington, Sacramento and San Diego today. Your future depends on voting more than ever before, that is unless we allow the political parties to use their FOWG "superdelegate" smoke filled rooms to force choices against our best interests again.
At least kick the GOB Bush republicans and the Clinton democrats out of office, they have screwed up the last 15 years beyond belief.
Response to post #23: Yes, the Anasazi civilization was destroyed by climate change. Some think we will be a re-run. On the other hand, as we see in economic and stock market projections, the so-called experts are wrong more than half of the time. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #24: I am one who believes that if Obama has a significant lead in delegates, but the super-delegates go the other way, throwing the election to Clinton, the Democratic Party will suffer contumely seldom seen in American politics. Such an event could destroy the Democrats. Best, Don Bauder
Post #24 said: "At least kick the GOB Bush republicans and the Clinton democrats out of office, they have screwed up the last 15 years beyond belief."
It is more like the last 19 years with one to go, but who is counting. I am appalled that anyone in this country would consider Hillary Clinton. That would make a minimum of 24 and possibly a 28 year rule by two families. Then what after that? A presidential race between Chelsea Clinton and George P. Bush (Jebs son)?
What kind of a third world country are we becoming? Our best and brightest only belong to two families??? We can do a whole lot better.
Response to post #27: That's particuarly true when you consider those two families. The Bush family's financial hanky-panky goes back to Prescott Bush, and possibly before. Best, Don Bauder
Response to posts #26,27&28:
Actually both parties have earned a hell of a lot more than contumely, that's much too polite and gentile for Washington. They have headed America so close to becoming a "third world country" that we should all be mad as hell.
It's time for the Under 40s to demonstrate their voting power and anger at establishment politicians "seldom seen in American politics" by kicking republican and democrat asses big time right out of Washington, Sacramento and San Diego, and it's impossible to miss hitting most of those fat good old boy/girl asses.
A little lesson in history Don: Prescott Bush committed treason when he invested in Nazi industrialists in the 1930s thus providing funds to support Hitler, WWII, concentration camps and the Holocaust.
In 2004 The Guardian published "How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power": http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar As noted, this bit of history has been played down by Washington politicians and special interests demonstrating how far down power politics prostitutes have sunk today because they all share in covering up this outrageous crime against humanity by the Bush family.
I read a good piece on artificial turf last week in a wonderful publication. Looks like that stuff is getting there, and starting to make a lot of sense with the way water is getting more and more scarce and expensive.
Response to post #48: The truth is that scientific academics have been selling out their integrity to M-I-G money for over half a century, and the consequence today is that they sold out humanity when we needed new discoveries and inventions the most to deal with out of control environmental breakdowns and poverty.
The tragedy is that science saved humanity during WWII only to fail humanity today.
Response to post #25:
Actually Don, "economic and stock market projections" have been far better than climate change forecasts. It is true as you say that "the so-called experts are wrong more than half of the time" but far too many IPCC climate change forecasts are proving to be wrong far worse than you want to imagine.
For instance, forecasts of melting ocean glaciers and ice sheets have recently been exposed as being too far into the future by about 20 years, and accelerating as newer observations keep documenting. It increasingly appears that a supercomputer room full of our more intelligent San Diego Zoo monkeys could have done a better job.
So we are now experiencing a never-ending series stories of scientific discoveries of never-ending scientific failures to protect and preserve humanity.
But fear not, regardless of what is really happening with climate change, UC is still producing hydrogen bombs after half a century of dedication to this "scientific" endeavor, apparently as their ultimate gift to humanity as political, economic and social problems continue to devolve because of UC's failures to protect and preserve humanity because it wasn't profitable enough to do so. The legacy of Dr. Strangelove lives on at UC.
Response to post #30: Yes that is an excellent source of information SDBill.
Costco sells artificial grass.
There is even a high traffic resistant ground up tires version used at the zoo orangutan enclosure that looks pretty good but you probably have to get used to the tire odor for a while.
I read about one guy who got creative and tried what he called "dry river bed"
Basically we must get serious and stop watering lawns as priority number one, see what dies, then experiment with drought resistant native plants.
There are a lot of examples of solutions at the other end of I8 in Phoenix, Tucson, etc. that they have used for decades.
What I don't get is all this hoo-haa about recycled water and the "toilet-to-tap" program. We have all been drinking recycled water all out lives. There is only so much water. What goes around comes around.
I recently attended a lecture at which the speaker came to the dais, took a big drink of water and said, "That's some great tasting dinosaur piss!"
Response to post #29. Yes, there has been a lot written about Sen. Prescott Bush. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #30: Agreed. Artificial turf can be the answer often. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #31: Dr. Strangelove was a great movie. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #32: We shouldn't just stop watering lawns. We should be ripping them up and replacing them with rocks or artificial grass. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #33: What a great line. Those words "toilet to tap" have been a barrier to those wanting recycling. We have to educate people to the point you made. The stuff has been recycled for millions of years. Best, Don Bauder
Scientists have calculated that there are more H2O molecules in a single glass of water, than there are glasses of water in all the world's oceans.
Further, it is certain that at least one of those water molecules once passed through the bladder of George Washington.
I, for one, am proud to have been drinking the same water as George Washington my whole life. Let's put his face on "toilet to tap".
(yet another sdblogger)
Please put this song to music...I hear bass heavy trotting along western style guitar music, sung by a rough cowboy voice...with sound effects.
"The Million Gallon Man"
Now down in San Diego There is a drought I'm told
And so the city council Its residents did scold
They told all the good people Stop sprinkling your lawn
If we don't save our water Then soon it will be gone
Then came along Scott Peters, the million gallon man He showed us all a councilman can just ignore the plan
(bass riff, lawn sprinklers start to "chit-chit, chit-chit, chit-chit")
Scott Peters he is wealthy His bank account is vast
He resists any efforts To learn about his past
He says he's an attorney Ready for any job
But Fridays he spends golfing And at work he's a slob
All hail to our Scott Peters, the million gallon man He showed us all a councilman can just ignore the plan
(bass riff, sprinklers, cash register "kaa-ching")
Now Peters loves his landscape His mansion with its view
He enjoys all the privileges Reserved for just a few
He needs to waste that water He says it's for our good
So he can invite lobbyists Into the neighborhood
All hail to our Scott Peters, the million gallon man He showed us all a councilman can just ignore the plan
(bass, sprinklers, cash registers, champagne party sounds "clink-clink")
It's great to be Scott Peters He's like an action toy
President of the Council The UT poster boy
Whenever there's a party He's having all the fun
But when reporters come calling He's always on the run
All hail to our Scott Peters, the million gallon man It's time for San Diego, to un-elect this man
All hail to our Scott Peters, the million gallon man It's time for San Diego, to un-elect this man
(yeee, haw!)
Response to post #39: I spent my youth in Illinois. Does that mean I drank water that Lincoln drank? (I was from Chicago, he was from downstate, but let's not nitpick.) Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #47: Academic science is too tied to corporate money. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #41: That is a wonderful song, and I tip my hat to your creativity. Your song is soooooo typical of San Diego: the councilmember who was greatly responsible for the City deliberately not revealing its financial cancers in bond prospectuses is now running for city attorney. It recalls in the movie "The Godfather," the aging head of the mob (Marlon Brando), tells his son that he really should pursue another career: "Governor Corleone, Senator Corleone," rasps Brando to his son. Of course, everyone knows that mob-related people are financially BEHIND major politicians, but few of the mobsters actually run for office. It's my understanding that Peters took a poll and learned that most San Diegans don't understand the pension issue, and therefore he could be a good candidate. Only in San Diego. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #43: The water/global warming problems seem to be coming on fast. Best, Don Bauder
You know Don, I never cease to be amazed and increasingly concerned about admissions by our preeminent climate scientists when they admit things like their supercomputer models are about 20 years off and global ice melting is occurring much faster than they ever predicted most recently.
Then today the U-T published another quote by one of SIO's best researchers Tim Barnett "We were stunned" when discussing a report on the rapidly dwindling levels of reservoirs that supply Sorthern California water. Most sadly, this proves one more time what Freeman Dyson exposed "The main social benefit provided by pure science in esoteric fields is to serve as a welfare program for scientists and engineers" and this fact defines one of the greatest threats to humanity today.
Since this is Sunday, it is most appropriate to say May God Help Us! and save us from the fact that "pure scientists have become more detached from the mundane needs of humanity, and the applied scientists have become more attached to immediate profitability" another Dyson quote from his book "Imagined Worlds" that has applied far too often to UC scientists who excel in producing hydrogen bombs and making $500 Million alliances with BP oil giant, etc. instead of protecting and preserving humanity as their highest priority with a sense of urgency if IPCC climate change tipping points warnings are real, which polar ice caps and glaciers appear to be proving today.
At this rate, bells will not only toll for humanity but we shall all be stunned "at the magnitude of the problem and how fast it was coming at us" indeed.
Science needs to gain credibility with a sense of urgency, today.
yes, conserve water so another golf course can be built, or another condominium project, or housing development. all water for humans; don't water any plants or animals. all water for humans the most precious of all. at some point you have to start 'conserving' the amount of people, don't you?
Response to post #44: Zero and negative population growth movements are making more sense. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #45: As Will and Ariel Durant documented in their Lessons of History series "When a civilization declines, it is through no mystic limitation of a corporate life, but through the failure of its political or intellectual leaders to meet the challenge of change." Except today both our political and intellectual leaders are failing us.
When one of the world's leading scientists Tim Barnett at UC's SIO is forced to admit "We were stunned," humanity is in grave peril indeed.
Response to post #49: It's often a case of privatization of the gain and socialization of the risk. Consider biotech initial public offerings. Government money flows into research, often through a university. Then insiders decide to go public with some alleged cure for a disease, privatizing something initially financed with government money. The insiders get rich on the offering, whether the developmental drug succeeds or not. The government does not get its money back. Best, Don Bauder


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Harry Styles, your/you're the cutest!
A One Direction fan at a recent Philadelphia show discovered the perfect way to get the hunky boy-bander's attention: hold up a misspelled sign and wait for him to pick you out of the crowd.
That's what happened to a Directioner who got some notes from Harry on her "Hi Harry! Your so nice" art.
U.S. & World
RELATED: Harry Styles pens a super-sweet note to fans on One Direction's 5-year anniversary!
Upon seeing her sign, Harry signaled to the fan, somehow procures a marker, and fixes the grammatical error by adding an apostrophe and an "E," according to videos posted to social media.
Contractions and possessive adjectives can be a doozy.
Quick back-to-school lesson: "You're" is a contraction of "you are," like: "you're doing this correctly now that Harry has given you a tutoring session. He's your hero, isn't he?" Like that.
PHOTOS: See Harry Styles with his famous friends!
It remains unclear whether the 21-year-old singer plans to use One Direction's upcoming hiatus as an excuse to get into teaching.
His fans would probably be happy for more one-on-one tutoring session, though.


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The Embroiderers' Guild is passionate about developing the interest, skills and creativity of young people expressed through the art of stitch and embellishment. The materials on this site are provided by the Embroiderers' Guild, the only national charity dedicated to promoting embroidery for young people and adults.
The Guild has over 9,000 individual and branch members, nearly 200 adult member branches and over 60 'Young Embroiderers' Groups around the UK. The Guild publishes two nationally distributed magazines... Stitch, mainly for readers who are interested in project-based and practical embroidery and Embroidery, often read by professionals, textile artists and students.
It also has an extensive collection of embroidery items, approximately 11,000 pieces - some of which are very old and some that are more modern. The Collection provides the members with the knowledge of how people embroidered hundreds of years ago, the materials and threads they used and the types of stitches employed. Embroidery is a world-wide art and craft with techniques and stitches varying from one country to another. Through the website we will be able to tell you more about the history of embroidery and how it fitted into the fashion of the time.
The Guild also has one of the finest libraries of embroidery books and magazines in the country.
The Young Embroiderers' section of the Guild is devoted to encouraging and supporting young people who want to take up embroidery and textiles from those just making their first stitches to students wanting to base their careers on this area of art and design. The Embroiderers' Guild started over 100 years ago with the aim of encouraging and educating people in the skills and art of embroidery and the Young Embroiderers section of the Embroiderers' Guild started nearly 40 years ago.
The Young Embroiderers' groups around the country are run by volunteer members of the Embroiderers' Guild. The group leaders and helpers and the graduate textile artists we work with have a passion for enthusing and encouraging young people (girls and boys) to learn to create fun, exciting, interesting and artisitic embroidery from practical items and fashion accessories to artistic pieces that push the boundaries of design.
If you want to interest a young person in your family, perhaps pay for their membership and support them in developing their skills, please click on Junior Embroiderers for details of our programmes for 5 to 12 year-olds and Textile Students for the range of materials available to teenagers. You will also find information for Parents and Teachers.
If you would like to help us with our work with young people please contact us by emailing the Young Embroiderers Co-ordinator, Louise Frazer-Jones at firstname.lastname@example.com
Thank you.


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BlizzCon 2009 featured several highly-anticipated announcements and events, including contests, costumes, and tournaments. It culminated in a concert from Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain, followed by Ozzy Osbourne!
During the opening ceremony, thousands of players gathered round for a first-ever look at the new World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. Once they learned the details of Azeroth's impending disaster, visitors had a chance to try out the worgen and goblin starting areas for themselves on the show floor.
Attendees met Diablo III's fourth playable class, the monk, in a brutal and bloody introductory movie played during the opening ceremony. At the movie's conclusion, players flocked to the demo stations to take on hordes of monsters as the game's new martial artist.
Flanked by giant tournament screens in Hall A and Hall B of the Anaheim Convention Center, pro gamers wowed the crowd with their playing prowess on the first day of the StarCraft, Warcraft III, and World of Warcraft Arena tournaments.
Developer Panels throughout all two days of BlizzCon gave attendees a chance to listen to Blizzard Entertainment developers speak about new and upcoming game features. Topics ran the gamut of Blizzard gaming content: World of Warcraft Dungeons and Raids; Game Systems; Classes, Items, and Professions; StarCraft II Battle.net discussions, Diablo III's Heroes and Monsters, and more. At the Battle.net panel, new details about the re-envisioned and redesigned Battle.net online gaming service were revealed.
The evening continued with style and silliness as Jay Mohr hosted the costume, dance, and sound-alike contests. Attendees impersonating Kel'Thuzad, the Mistress of Pain, Sartharion, Jim Raynor, and even a Meeting Stone took the stage.
Ozzy Osbourne wrapped up BlizzCon 2009 with a thunderous performance that brought down the roof of the Anaheim Convention Center. Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain escaped through the hole in their zeppelin and headed to their next gig in Orgrimmar, and at least half of the audience members survived.
We'd like to thank everyone who helped to make the show a success, including comedian Jay Mohr, who hosted the contests on Friday evening, Ozzy Osbourne, and all of our partners and sponsors. Most of all, we'd like to thank the community of gamers -- without your dedication and support, BlizzCon wouldn't be possible.


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Soft Rock
Soft rock is a style of light, melodic, radio-friendly Rock music which gained huge commercial success in the 1970s. It employs clean, highly polished production values and arrangements, often led by piano and/or acoustic guitar, aided by bouncy, harmonious bass guitar and with smooth, restrained use of electric guitar.
Soft rock was often derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies. Major artists included Carole King, Cat Stevens, The Hollies, James Taylor and Bread. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships.
The Carpenters' hit version of "(They Long to Be) Close to You" was released in the summer of 1970, followed by Bread's "Make It with You", both early examples of a softer sound that was coming to dominate the charts. This eventually reached its commercial peak in the mid-to-late 1970s with acts such as Billy Joel, Elton John, Chicago, Toto, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Air Supply, Seals and Crofts, America and the reformed Fleetwood Mac, whose "Rumours" (1977) was the best-selling album of the decade.Soft Rock bands starting with 'I': no records found
|Dave Idema
|Dave Iles
|Tris Imboden
© Boar 2011 - 2019


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God doesn't change His mind
"For the gifts and callings of God are without repentance" (Romans 11:29).
The word "repentance" in this verse might not mean what we think. Among the best translators that I have trusted over the years, the majority say that the word means "with no change." In other words, God doesn't change His mind, and that's a good thing. When He asks an individual to do a certain thing, go a particular place or act in such a way, He knows then the why and how of it all — even when we humans do not comprehend.
A dear friend of mine, someone I trust and love, recently said to me something that touched my heart: "I know what God wanted me to do, but I would not do it." As he spoke, tears rolled down his wrinkled face, and he seemed to be relieving himself of a heavy burden by sharing his simple confession. My friend went on to tell me the story of his attending church as a young teen and later as a young adult, mostly due to his mother's insistence, and of his going forward in an invitation given by the guest speaker in a meeting in his local church. He believed then (and he believes now) that God was speaking to him through the message, and for a while, he was willing to do what that message implied.
I admit I was fascinated listening to my friend as he spoke. I had not known his story. "I was impressed, very impressed, to complete my medical studies and go to a foreign country to give aid to those who needed it sorely," he said. "I thought of Africa or one of the other of the countries that had so much illness, injury, pain and suffering, and I wrote mission boards and received and read brochures and pleas from each of them. But as I was nearing the end of my medical training, I saw the money to be made here in America, and I had gained the attention of a beautiful young lady. I knew in my heart that to submit to the call that I thought God had placed on my being in that church service would be to deny my heart's desire to marry this woman and to build a comfortable life here in the states.
"As time went on, it became easier to forget about my calling, and I started making money and was willing to send gifts to the foreign fields," he said. "I lived a good life and made a good life for my family, and I felt I was generous to others." As we talked quietly, he said that he every so often felt that pull and gentle tug on his heart strings, and he remembered that he felt God had placed a call on his life as a young man to become a missionary abroad. Now, he wonders what might have happened had he obeyed.
I seldom ever meet anyone who has never been to church. Almost everyone with whom I visit can share a story: "I used to attend Sunday school," "My parents took me to church," "I once was faithful to teach the Word of God," "I had a bad experience and vowed I'd never go back," "I attended a church camp," and on and on the stories go.
Truthfully, God has spoken to many a person who has never followed through on what God asked them to do. You know what is lovely about this story? It is never too late. If we really believe God is speaking to us about doing something specific in His work, we can start today. Surely, we will have missed the many years of blessing we could have received for serving, but it is better to start late than never to start at all.
Has God given you an assignment? It might be as simple as teaching a child's Sunday school class, leading the singing, visiting a sick neighbor, or volunteering in a care center. Whatever it is, get up, get at it and start anew today.
For the sake of the call itself, let's start serving where God wants us, for His sake and for ours.


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Electrical Current - Current Affairs
Determining Current Draw And Planning A Charging System To Cope
If you turned the page, saw the pictures, and had a mild panic, don't. Sure, we're going to be dealing with electricity, or more specifically the current draw of the various electrical systems in your car, but i'll explain it in simple terms. And there's a good reason for that; I'm not comfortable around electrickery myself, so if I can understand what i've gleaned from experts in the field, you should be able to as well.
So just what is current draw? Every electrical component draws a certain amount of current, which is the measurement of the flow of electric charge, and you need to ensure your charging system can supply enough current to operate everything, from basics like head and taillights, to stereo systems, power windows, and electric fans. There's a very simple formula that can be used to determine the current required by a component: current = power voltage. So, if an amplifier, for example, is rated at 500 watts (power) and your electrical system produces 13.8 volts (the average output for most cars), the current draw will be 500 13.8 = 36.2 amperes, or amps for short. This means that amplifier alone will draw just over 36 amps! However, many components you'll use in or add to your vehicle's electrical system won't have a power rating readily available, but the following table should help:
|Current (amp) Draw
|Dash gauges
|2-4 amps
|Brake lights
|3-8 amps
|Turn signals
|4-8 amps
|Driving lights
|3-10 amps
|Headlights (each)
|3-10 amps
|Spotlights (each)
|5-10 amps
|Radio, CD players
|3-7 amps
|Audio amplifiers
|15-300+ amps
|Electric fans (each)
|6-30 amps
|CDI ignition
|6-40 amps
|HEI ignition
|6-10 amps
|Electric fuel pumps
|7-15 amps
Using this table, and using the higher estimates, an HEI-equipped car with an electric fuel pump and electric fans, but no stereo equipment or spotlights, will require more than 100 amps on the rare occasions that every electrical system is running simultaneously. Obviously that's way more than will actually be needed, as we used the highest possible amperages, but it's better to build a safety factor into any system.
Pretty obviously, when an engine isn't running, the battery will power any accessories that are switched on, but the alternator charges the battery and simultaneously powers the accessories once the engine is running. No current is supplied by the battery when the current draw doesn't exceed the charging capacity of the alternator, but current is supplied by both the alternator and the battery when an accessory, or a number of electrical systems at once, draws more current than the alternator can produce, which drains the battery, possibly causing starting problems later. If you've ever had an alternator go bad, and carried on driving, it's the battery that was providing the power, until that drained and the engine stalled.
Choosing An Alternator We spoke with the guys at powermaster motorsports, who probably provide more specialist alternators than anyone else. Known more recently for their powergen alternators that look like generators, popular with the nostalgic crowd, the company also produces circle track and other race alternators, as well as numerous Ford-, Chevy-, Jeep-, and mopar-specific units-both-high performance oem-replacement and custom. They also manufacture a vast starter motor range, too; all of which means they know a thing or two about alternators and charging systems.
The consensus when it came to selecting an alternator was that first the continuous amp load of the vehicle should be determined, in much the same way as we did previously using the chart. Of course, there is more equipment that isn't in that chart, such as air conditioning or heaters; power windows, seats, and doors; plus any power-operated systems for opening or closing hoods, trunks, or even glovebox doors. Once current draw has been determined, choice of alternator comes down to whether you want one-wire or OE wiring. Incidentally, if you've heard the myth that one-wire alternators do not produce power at idle, that's exactly what it is-a myth. All streetduty powermaster alternators provide the most amps at idle of any alternator on the market, no matter how they're wired. Of course, the final choice comes down to style, and whether you want a chrome or polished finish, or Oem style, but that's irrelevant to us here.
There are also some other points to consider when selecting an alternator, in particular the drive pulleys that determine the speed at which the alternator spins. The maximum speed is around 18,000 rpm, though maximum output is reached at about 6,000 rpm, and spinning faster doesn't increase the output. The optimum speed is between 2,400 and 6,000 rpm according to powermaster, with the greatest efficiency at the lower end of that range. Given that an alternator generally runs at three times the engine speed, sometimes a larger pulley may be required to control the speed at which the alternator turns.
If you were wondering whether a higher-amp output alternator will harm your existing battery or charging system, it shouldn't, as increased amps aren't harmful, though higher voltage would be.
Battery It's vitally important that you select a battery of sufficient size and amperage to work with your electrical system. To do this you'll need to know a few things about batteries. You may have heard of amp hours, a rating that tells how much amperage is available when discharged evenly over a 20-hour period. Divide the amp hour rating by 20, so a 75-amp hour battery will carry (75 20 =) 3.75- amp load for 20 hours before dropping below 10.5 volts, the level at which it is considered fully discharged and needs recharging. A battery rated at 55 amp hours will carry a 2.75-amp load over the same period.
Next up is CCA, or cold cranking ability. This is the number of amps a battery can support for 30 seconds at zero degrees Fahrenheit. A 12V battery with a 600-CCA rating means the battery will provide 600 amps for 30 seconds at zero before becoming unusable. Reserve capacity, or RC, is the third rating, and indicates how many minutes the battery is able to power your vehicle's electrical system if the alternator fails. As hot rodders, we like to go by the philosophy that bigger is better, and in general, the higher the number for CCA and RC the better, though in cold climates a higher CCA rating is more important than in a warm environment. The various battery manufacturers issue charts from which you can select a battery suitable for your car, though obviously these don't include "our" sort of cars; but as an example we used the Optima battery web site to select a battery for a '92 Camaro, reasoning it was V-8 powered and didn't need to run as many electrical systems as a newer car. The figures came out as CCA 720, RC 90, and amp hour 44. The figures for a 1960 Ford Falcon were identical, but search for a 2005 Escalade and the figures jump to 800, 110, and 50, respectively, as more electrical systems need more power.
Starter motor Certainly the largest current draw your electrical system will have to contend with is the starter motor, but for obvious reasons it only draws current for a short time, or at least it should! With a typical draw of 350 amps, it's easy to see why a battery will drain in short order with continued cranking. As the starter circuit draws a high amperage, it stands to reason that the components in that circuit are highly stressed for short periods, meaning the battery, its terminals, the cables, remote solenoids, and kill switches, if fitted, generate high resistance under load, and should be in top condition.
Wiring Wiring a project is (depending on your point of view, of course) a necessary chore along with upholstery, body and paintwork, or even engine building for some. However, it is right up there on the list of things most people don't want to tackle. But given the array of wiring harnesses (both dedicated and universal) available from the aftermarket these days, it shouldn't be that hard to accomplish, should it? However, this isn't about installing a wiring harness, though if you're wiring from scratch, you'll need to know what gauge wire to use for various components, as a higher current draw will require wire rated to handle that current.
We spoke to the guys at painless performance about exactly that, because, in addition to wiring kits, the company supplies wire stock. The first thing they told us was that there's a huge difference in the quality of wire you can buy from automotive supply houses and specialist wiring manufacturers. For instance, you may buy a roll of 12-gauge wire from your local auto parts store that's rated at 35A, whereas painless performance's wire rated at the same amperage will be 14-gauge. Their wiring kits will contain wires ranging from 8-gauge up to 18-gauge, depending on the current draw of individual components. For instance, 10-gauge wire will be used from the fuse box to the battery or alternator, 12-gauge from the fuse box to the ignition, 14-gauge to the headlights, and 16- or 18-gauge to the gauges.
But there's another factor to add into the equation, and that's the length of the wire. Painless recommends going down numerically by one gauge size for long runs of 10 feet or more-for instance, from the front to back of a car, as the longer the wire, the more resistance it generates, thus drawing more current. The chart below shows what gauge to select for different applications and current draws, but it's intended as a rough guide owing to differences in manufacturers' wiring. It should also be noted that ground cables need to be the same gauge as or thicker (lower number gauge) than positive cables, as they carry the same current as the feed wire.
|Wire Gauge Chart
|fuse box to alternator and battery
|fuse box to ignition
|headlights, power windows, and locks
Increasing the Load Adding power windows, seats, and door locks, door poppers, A/C and heat, or a stereo all increase the current draw, and it's just not going to cut it with a number of extra systems if your system is running a 60-amp alternator. However, it's not necessary to add all the amperage requirements together to get an idea of your vehicle's required supply, as components such as power windows, seats, and locks will only be used for a short amount of time. For your information, the folks at Electric-Life told us their power windows will draw 8 amps (maximum), with the solenoids in their shaved handle kits drawing a maximum of 12 amps each when magnetized.
Just total the systems that will run for more than a few seconds, or permanently. One such system would be air conditioning. We spoke with Rick Love at Vintage Air, who told us a typical A/C system will draw 20-23 amps for the blower at "high blow," plus the clutch will draw another 3-4 amps. Then, although strictly not part of the A/C system, a good electric fan (which is required to blow air through the condenser) will pull something in the 18-25-amp range. So you can see how the current draw starts to add up quickly.
We haven't even mentioned a halfway decent stereo system, and the huge draw amplifiers can pull. A simple powered CD player will usually draw around 15 amps, but there's so much more to the vast range and complexity of entertainment systems-and that includes DVD players, satellite navigation, and game players as well as stereos-that we'll leave that particular can of worms for you to open with your car audio installer!


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It has taken me a while to warm up to the concept, but I am a new Pilates fanatic. Maybe it's that I now work from home, after 20 years in the restaurant business. Thankfully, I find myself slowing down enough to be conscious about my body; and consciousness is what Pilates is all about. I did some research, and found out something new and I wanted to share it with you.
I had always heard that Pilates was created as a workout for dancers, but that is simply not the case! According to Wikipedia, the creator, Joseph Pilates, designed the program during WWI to help returning, injured vets regain movement and health. He believed that the mind could control the muscles, and that deep, cleansing breathing was just as important as any exercise.
What I found most interesting is he seemed to articulate the concept of chi, or energy flow, without using the term. He designed his activities to redirect blood flow, which Chinese medicine calls chi or "qi". It has been my experience that when I am ill, or having trouble losing weight, I look no further than a possible case of stuck "chi", and with the aid of acupuncture, vitality is restored.
What can cause stuck "chi"? Funny you should ask, because it is usually the mind! Hmmm… Joseph Pilates made the mind-body connection, and the Chinese made it thousands of years before. Westerners are just beginning to wake to the idea. Still need convincing? Check out a diet here that provides some very credible evidence for the mind-weight loss connection.


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Here are the next three tracks of the So L.A. Soundtrack…
Look At Me by John Lennon
This song is sung so softly, and with such endearingly sweet emotion, it's hard not to be swept away by the pretty picks of the guitar chords. However, underneath this Lennon lullaby are questions that speak directly to Magdalena and her process of physical and emotional transformation. The song begins with the line "Look at me." After Junah's death Magdalena can no longer bear to look herself in the mirror, as her resemblance to her dead brother is just too painful, so she moves to L.A. where she begins the (damaging and damning) process of cosmetic surgery. But she soon learns (though refuses to admit) even after she's "augmented everything" her pain is still present. The lyrics of this song: "Who am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to do?" continue to speak to Mags throughout most of the novel.
"Blonde on Blonde" by Nada Surf
If So L.A. were a movie, and not uncoincidentally, I've written it as such, this would have to be the track playing at Linda Carter's Malibu party. Not only does the song mention "Wonder Woman" but it also takes the California "blonde" and makes her even blonder. How, might you ask, is that even possible? Let me give you the number for Magdalena's stylist, Jersi. If he can't bleach you blonder, Sugar, nobody can.
"L.A. River" by Honey Honey
Los Angeles, as Magdalena learns, is so much more than the stars on Hollywood Blvd. or the shops on Rodeo Drive. Beyond Beverly Hills and the beaches of Malibu and Santa Monica there is another, less iconic L.A. And as this song reminds everyone, it is equally beautiful, if not more so.


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Here is a short little tutorial on "how to draw faeries", step by step. From the base to the lines, here are the steps, including a couple tips on creating fairy wings that will be sure to impress. Good luck!
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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Product shipped within 24 hours from ordering, via courier. Each shipment is provided with a code to track the shipment online. Shipments are made from Monday to Friday.
Yellow Sand
€ 25.00
Bracelet made in Italy from real yellow leather with black print, gold steel buckle
Payment by Credit Card: We accept the most common credit cards such as Visa, Mastercard, Postepay, American Express.
Payment by Bank Transfer: We also accept payment by traditional bank transfer: the data to make the transfer will be sent to you via email immediately after placing your order. The order will be shipped only after we receive the funds.
To watch shops, jewelers, boutiques and wholesalers we offer our products at reserved prices. To access the private area, see the wholesale prices and find out the purchase methods, you just need to register. Fill out the registration form and sign in.
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Guarantee is valid, for any bracelet model, for 24 months after the purchase date. Il Mezzometro bracelets, with the exception of the "I love you" silicone models, are artisanally proceed with certified Italian leather. Any potential imperfections or streaks are themselves the guarantee of the originality, uniqueness and quality of the materials used. The guarantee covers obvious imperfections or defects as a result of manufacturing in parts of the bracelet, like the clasp. So, on the other hand, defects caused by misuse or simply wear of the product are excluded from the guarantee.
For any questions on this product please fill out the form below.


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Jay Z Uses Justin Bieber's Mug Shot During 'On the Run' Concert [VIDEO]by Thomas Chau | PopCrush
Jay Z and Beyonce are currently embarking on their On the Run Tour, and while Jay Z was performing his hit 'Izzo (H.O.V.A.)' in Miami, Fla., on June 25, Justin Bieber fans noticed a familiar face projected on screen.
During his performance of 'Izzo,' Jay Z flashed several mugshots of notable figures and celebrities including Bill Gates, P. Diddy and yes, Justin Bieber.
Bieber himself seemed to find it hilarious, as he retweeted a photo from the concert when a fan account brought it to his attention.
Justin's mug shot makes an appearance at Beyoncé & Jay Z's 'On the Run Tour.' Wonder if he's excited lol pic.twitter.com/PWFmu9NfrW
— Justin Bieber Babes (@belieberbabes) June 27, 2014
Here's the video from the 'On The Run Tour' – Izzo (H.O.V.A.) @justinbieber http://t.co/UNwmICikWu
— Justin Bieber Babes (@belieberbabes) June 27, 2014
The mugshot is from Bieber's arrest from Jan. 23, 2014, in Miami when he was suspected of driving under the influence. On June 13, it was reported that Bieber would strike a deal in which he will plead guilty to reckless driving in exchange for having his other charges dropped, such as the DUI. Bieber will have to pay a fine and attend an anger management course.
Meanwhile, Jay Z and wife Beyonce will continue on their On the Run Tour with stops in Cincinatti, Foxborough, Philadelphia and Baltimore coming next.
See Justin Bieber's Cutest Baby + Childhood Pics


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'Works seamlessly with Skype.'
Easy to use and reasonably priced
Installing the phone is fast and easy
'allows you to toggle between Skype and landline calls'
'Look and feel of the system seems a tad cheap.'
'easily replaceable NiMH triple-A rechargeable batteries'
'free or low-cost calls'
'built-in illuminated display'
'ability to dial by number or by selecting an active Skype contact, phonebook number storage and ability to change your Skype online status.'
'fairly poor resolution'
'No Skype support'
'very good sound quality'
'the handset's built-in speakerphone quite clear and easy to use.'
'also has a small color display so users can scroll through their Yahoo Messenger contacts or search for a local business.'
'Poor battery life.'
'Easy Wi-Fi set-up • No need for a connected PC • Good audio quality •. '
'poor sound levels'
'The battery life was quite disappointing, with just two hours of talk time and up to 20 hours of standby time.'
'Cell phone calls using the cordless handset were clear, but keep in mind that audio quality ultimately depends on your mobile's reception.'
'Cons. • No Skype text chat. • No browser-based authentication. • Short battery life. • Muffled sound quality. • Uncomfortable to use. '
'the worlds first Skype approved WiFi phone on the market - a very valuable label in today's ultra competitive marketplace.'
Teething problems aplenty
Easy enough to use
'Call quality was good on both ends, with no major complaints from our call recipients.'
ReviewGist helps you find the best products to buy by making sense of online reviews.
We are currently aggregating 376,500 reviews
covering over 29,474 products.
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Apple Store Bellevue Square grand re-opening (gallery)
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Features,
Yesterday we hit you with footage of the re-opening of the Apple Store - Bellevue Square location, highlighting the excitement of Apple's customers in the Bellevue area, as well as its employees. Today we bring you a bunch of images from the event. We must say, we've been in line at Apple launches for 12 different Apple products at some of the biggest stores in the US, but the combined customer and associate excitement we witness for the Bellevue Square grand re-opening was unparalleled. Take a peek at our Apple Store - Bellevue Square Grand Re-opening gallery, and stay tuned for our next video, which features a tour of the new location right before the doors are opened for the first time.
© Gear Live Inc. {year} – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.


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Original Trinity Hymnal, #668
Far and near the fields are teeming
With the waves of ripened grain;
Far and near their gold is gleaming
O'er the sunny slope and plain.
Lord of harvest, send forth reapers!
Hear us, Lord, to thee we cry;
Send them now the sheaves to gather,
Ere the harvest time pass by.
Send them forth with morn's first beaming,
Send them in the noontide's glare;
When the sun's last rays are gleaming,
Bid them gather ev'rywhere.
O thou, whom thy Lord is sending,
Gather now the sheaves of gold;
Heav'nward then at evening wending,
Thou shalt come with joy untold.
Page number: Blue 668, Right-Click Here to Download MIDI File
|© 2019 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Chaplains and Military Personnel


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Madam Speaker, the closure of the Frelighsburg experimental farm is a slap in the face to Quebec fruit farmers. The Eastern Townships region has many apple producers, grape growers and berry producers.
The Government of Quebec has promised to protect the experimental farms and the work done there, but the Conservative government is completely abandoning small-scale farmers and the regions of Quebec.
My question is simple: why are the Conservatives abandoning our farmers once again?


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As the next election approaches, Manitoba's NDP government will likely try to scare the public by trotting out its favourite hoary old political chestnut — privatization.
The NDP will increasingly accuse the opposition of "dark plans" to privatize Manitoba Hydro, just as it did in past provincial elections. It will bank on the general public not being in favour of selling the monopoly utility, and will recall, again and again, the Progressive Conservatives' sale of the telephone company MTS during the Filmon years.
That sale is lauded by many who point out MTS is stronger than ever, now paying taxes while providing competitive prices and modern services. Add to those advantages MTS's investment/borrowing risk goes to shareholders, not taxpayers.
Never mind, and for good measure the NDP will also throw in Manitoba Public Insurance as another potential PC sacrificial offering to the privatization bogeyman. When they launch these allegations this time around, however, the NDP will encounter a different response.
First, many voters don't really care anymore. The young "click to buy on the Internet" generation has a more modern mindset — and prefers competitive choice and customer-oriented service delivery to a dreary government-directed and owned monopoly any time. Second, immigration brings new voters with little or no prior allegiance to Crown-owned enterprises. And, for those who remain preferring government ownership of business enterprises, they, too, are likely becoming less supportive of Hydro and MPI. Why?
Hydro's $34-billion development plan, with the above-inflation rate hikes and large-scale borrowing, is risky and potentially highly damaging to ratepayers and taxpayers. As for MPI, many policyholders prefer competition and suspect new options and lower prices would develop if MPI's comfortable monopoly was removed. Both Hydro and MPI have swollen personnel complements and low productivity and both avoid transparency and too often operate for political purposes (at a hidden but real expense to ratepayers).
Nonetheless, the opposition parties are not likely to espouse or promote privatization, despite ample evidence of the lower performance of state-owned enterprise both in Manitoba and the world over.
And this time, when the opposition categorically denies any intention of privatization, most voters will believe them and ignore the NDP's time-worn scare-mongering. Many voters will remain unengaged with the issue, largely because Hydro and MPI have long lost their way.
MPI fought the Public Utilities Board over justifiable rebates, regularly hides its approach to both program options and the extension business and has lost control of its operating expenses. A private insurer would do better. Hydro is a much bigger and more urgent problem. It continues to hide information about its export contracts and the $224 million it spent on First Nations negotiations. Hydro is a massive monopoly driven by the present government's political needs, not those of ratepayers.
A private utility simply couldn't borrow tens of billions of dollars and bet the farm on a huge dam-building program when the electricity-export market the plan relies on has substantially changed. Only the highest political direction (overriding more cautious advice) and the ability to charge whatever the costs to ratepayers enables this hugely risky venture.
Tragically, the plan ignores huge and unnecessary price increases for consumers — especially ironic for an NDP that traditionally positions itself as a champion of the poor. The path the government is following will especially harm lower-income households dependent on electric heating.
As matters now stand, it would be amazing if any private firm even had an interest in acquiring Hydro or MPI. Hydro's retained earnings (the government's equity in the Crown) of $2.5 billion is composed of intangible non-earning assets, not cash. And, it would be difficult to extract the utility from commitments made to American utilities and First Nations. As for MPI, its investment portfolio is heavily exposed to fixed-income bonds, which will fall in value as interest rates rise. To top it off, both Crowns undertake tasks for the government and have unfunded pension obligations and outsized personnel complements (slimming down would cost big money).
Hydro and MPI are both ensnared by legislation and require approvals for policy and rate changes. A prospective new owner would have to be satisfied its actions to improve operations and reduce risks wouldn't be blocked, while also requiring solid assurances that rates would be set sufficient to meet the costs of operation (without subsidizing the government), and provide for acceptable industry financial ratios and an adequate return on its investment.
In short, neither Hydro nor MPI will be privatized following the next provincial election. Despite a strong case for getting government out of business and bringing in real market expertise, first messes have to be cleaned up and certainty must replace avoidable risks.
The best that can be hoped is that after the next election, and whichever party wins, government will focus on ratepayers' concerns and not its own.


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Mövenpick hotels in Turkey has joined Miles&Smiles program on 14 July 2009. With elegantly designed rooms, state-of-the-art meeting spaces, rejuvenating spa facilities and the finest of Turkish and international cuisine, Mövenpick hotels in Turkey introduce the art of business travel.
As a Miles&Smiles member you will earn 500 Bonus Miles per stay and discover the elegant and diverse world of Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul, Mövenpick Hotel Izmir, Mövenpick Hotel Ankara and our newest hotel Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul Golden Horn.
Offering Swiss style complemented by warm Turkish hospitality, Mövenpick hotels in Turkey look forward to welcoming the Miles&Smiles members.
For reservations and information please visit www.movenpick.com.