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Monday, April 30, 2012
10 comments:
- tom said...
I read this yesterday and thought - yup, once again, the lies are exposed for the lies that they are.
Good article.
- May 1, 2012 at 7:51:00 AM EDT
- tom said...
Here is a link to a link of a debate between Ron Paul and Paul Krugman.
- May 1, 2012 at 8:29:00 AM EDT
- Lally said...
Thanks for the link Tom. It was a little one sided in favor of Paul in terms of time (and they end with only Paul getting the chance to explain over and over again his position(s)). Paul is a professional politician who has been repeating the same dogma for decades in front of cameras and audiences. Krugman is a professor and scholar whose public persona isn't as honed as Paul's, and Krugman isn't as aggressive in those situations. As you noticed, Paul would be allowed to make several points repetitively, and Krugman would begin to counter one or two but Paul would interrupt him and Krugman would not be able to get his points in and then be distracted by the new ones Paul was making. If Krugman were as smart and informed as he is and had the communication skills of a polished politician he'd devastate Paul and anyone else on camera. But he has to do it in writing because he's not an entertainer or politician. Thank God for his writing.
- May 1, 2012 at 9:40:00 AM EDT
- tom said...
Listening to this - I agree that it seemed that Paul, the politician, got more air time. But, his knowledge of history is kinda lacking and that came through. Overall I thought Krugman did well explaining the importance of government in buffering the excesses of a what an unregulated free market would be like. When Paul says that he doesn't want to go back a hundred years he's not quite telling the truth. He and those who think like him do want to return to a time before regulations. I know what that era was like and the battles it took to end it.
- May 1, 2012 at 10:06:00 AM EDT
- Lally said...
You're absolutely correct Tom. My sense was just that uneducated watchers might easily find the repetitive misinformation of Paul persuasive as so many young people seem to without understanding history and its consequences.
- May 1, 2012 at 10:08:00 AM EDT
- JIm said...
Krugman being a true liberal believes that man, student or citizen can accomplish nothing without government help. America has been and continues to be great because people like Edison, Jobs, Gates and even Mitt Romney and average Americans do great and small things without government assistance.
- May 1, 2012 at 1:11:00 PM EDT
- tom said...
Ron Paul says, "The Byzantine Empire had a gold standard for a thousand years and they did quite well and they didn't fight wars." To say that the Byzantines didn't fight wars shows an massive ignorance of history. The Empire found itself fighting a long series
of invasions from both Europe and Asia. It was also an empire that was bogged down in ceremony and bureaucracy. The government had strong controls on the economy and on peoples' lives. It is true that the Byzantine 'bezant' was accepted through much of the world, but it's value was controlled by the amount of coins minted and in later years, long before the empire ended, it was devalued with the introduction of 'lighter' coins and coins with less gold. To try and correlate the fall of the Empire with the devaluation of the bezant doesn't hold up. The Empire had lost immense amounts of territory long before the devaluation became the norm. The economy was stagnant for centuries. The Crusades and Ottoman's only finished what had begun long before.
- May 1, 2012 at 3:49:00 PM EDT
- Lally said...
Ignorance is bliss with the right, whether in the form of Ron Paul's version of the right or the stalker on the blog. Can you imagine anyone actually believing that it's factual that Thomas Edison, Bill Gates and, OMG as the kids say MITT ROMNEY accrued their fortunes without any government assistance?!?!?!?! This joker (the stalker) and I grew up only a few miles from where Edison's labs were (now a museum) which in Edison's day had municipal trolley cars that brought his workers there, and when there was a fire at the labs the municipal fire force put it out and there was a hospital in the next town over at the time that was partially government funded, it's where I was born, and many of Edison's workers and Eduson himself were educated in public schools funded by governments, and the waterways and roadways etc. etc. were protected and maintained by government funds et-endless-cetera. The depth of ignorance on the right is mind boggling, and yet they get more than their share of media attention and time to spout their ignorance as if it were gospel and easily deluded and needing-to-be-told-what-to-think minds believe and follow this dreck. When I was a kid, those who believed the world was flat had their own society and were allowed thanks to our Constitution the right to say and print and disseminate their beliefs BUT NO REPUTABLE MEDIA GAVE THEM ANY CREDENCE, in fact they weren't quoted or asked on air to air their views because they were NOT TRUE! But as many have pointed out, "facts" are dead in our times where anyone with influence (whether from money or political power) gets to say whatever they want and it is treated as just "another side" of the truth rather than either true or false as in the wealthy and successful getting there without any government help!
- May 1, 2012 at 4:02:00 PM EDT
- JIm said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- May 1, 2012 at 8:04:00 PM EDT
- JIm said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- May 2, 2012 at 9:21:00 PM EDT


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Premium Package,Technology Package,Intelligent Drive Package,Metallic Paint,AMG Leather Upholstery,Aluminum/Piano Black Lacquer Trim,Black Soft Top,Black Fabric Roof Liner,Driver Air Bag,Passenger Air Bag,Passenger Air Bag On/Off Switch,Front Side Air Bag,Front Head Air Bag,Rear Head Air Bag,Climate Control,Multi-Zone A/C,A/C,Security System,AM/FM Stereo,ABS,4-Wheel Disc Brakes,Cruise Control,Rear Defrost,All Wheel Drive,V6 Cylinder Engine,Turbocharged,Floor Mats,Gasoline Fuel,Daytime Running Lights,Keyless Entry,Power Door Locks,Heated Mirrors,Power Mirror(s),Power Driver Seat,Power Passenger Seat,Pass-Through Rear Seat,Bucket Seats,Power Steering,Adjustable Steering Wheel,Tires - Front Performance,Tires - Rear Performance,Traction Control,Aluminum Wheels,Power Windows,Intermittent Wipers,A/T,Rollover Protection Bars,MP3 Player,Heated Front Seat(s),Variable Speed Intermittent Wipers,Rain Sensing Wipers,Steering Wheel Audio Controls,Engine Immobilizer,Automatic Headlights,Auto-Dimming Rearview Mirror,Integrated Turn Signal Mirrors,Driver Vanity Mirror,Passenger Vanity Mirror,Driver Illuminated Vanity Mirror,Passenger Illuminated Visor Mirror,Mirror Memory,Driver Adjustable Lumbar,Passenger Adjustable Lumbar,Seat Memory,Leather Steering Wheel,Active Suspension,Rear Spoiler,Transmission w/Dual Shift Mode,Tire Pressure Monitor,Trip Computer,Bluetooth Connection,Telematics,Remote Engine Start,Back-Up Camera,Stability Control,Brake Assist,Keyless Start,Auxiliary Audio Input,Power Folding Mirrors,HD Radio,Rear Bench Seat,Convertible Soft Top,Passenger Air Bag Sensor,Blind Spot Monitor,Knee Air Bag,Cross-Traffic Alert,WiFi Hotspot,9-Speed A/T,Brake Actuated Limited Slip Differential,Smart Device Integration,Requires Subscription
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subset: commoncrawl


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Fr. Henri SAEY , well-known priest in the St-Henri/Pointe-St-Charles district of, Montréal, QC, died July 28, 2006. He was Assistant Pastor of St-Irénée parish from 1934-1967. The parish was founded in 1908, and the church is located at 3044 Delisle St., Montréal, QC. The parish doesn't have a website at the moment.
For more information about the parish, click on the orange title above.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
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Back in 2011, Samsung launched the entry-level Stratosphere smartphone for the Verizon Wireless subscribers in the US. This handset was specially designed for those who wanted to experience a touchscreen smartphone with physical QWERTY keypad. Samsung Stratosphere was originally shipped with the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) Operating System. Sadly, this handset failed to receive the newer Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS.
Later this week, Verizon will roll out a much-needed software update for the Stratosphere users. Before you get too excited, let me tell you that the update will not bring the Android 4.0 OS. This update brings improved call clarity, improved reliability when sending emails using Outlook and much more. The complete changelog is posted below.
- Improved clarity during calls
- Improved reliability when sending emails using Outlook
- Improvements to Sync and Connect server have been made
- My Verizon application has been improved
- Improvements have been made to the Set Up Wizard to clarify what is required in the Google Setup screen
- Correct the IMAP implementation related to the E-mail Sync and connect operation
- The following applications have been removed as preloaded: IM, Blockbuster, Verizon Video and Verizon Vcast
- Single Sign On application has been updated to version v3.1.9
- VZtones version 5.1.3 has been added
Verizon is expected to roll out this update by the end of this week. You can easily download this update via Over-The-Air (OTA). To learn more, check out this PDF file.


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By Stephanie Pyle
At the 2012 Skillsoft Perspectives conference, we unveiled an advanced look at our upcoming Skillport® 8 release. Skillport 8 brings together all formats of learning content, integrating books, courses and videos in the same library, giving the user a single, seamless experience. To support users on-the-go, Skillport 8 is cross-platform and cross-device – it works as well on a tablet as on a desktop. Many customers asked how we arrived at such a dramatic (and effective) design. There's a story there and we're pleased to share it.
Early on, the team went back to basics to ask ourselves just what is Skillport's "role" in the customer relationship? Is Skillport why they do business with Skillsoft in the first place? After much discussion, we arrived at the collective realization that though Skillport was our own passion (because we work on it every day), it is really more of a supporting player to most of our customers. For them, Skillsoft content is the driving force behind the business relationship, with Skillsoft's service and experience sealing the deal.
Reflecting further, we realized that while the various features and functions of an LMS are important, it is the optimization of the user experience with the content that's key. It doesn't matter whether we're talking about Skillsoft content or an organization's proprietary content. By focusing on the content, we've designed Skillport to be a richer total user experience. The visual design features a more streamlined look to allow the content to be the focus. The navigation and actions are readily apparent and intuitive because of the use of established standards and consistency within the application. Our team took the latest web design principles into consideration for Skillport 8. With mobile on the brain, we made sure it would be suitable on a tablet by optimizing it for a gestural interface.
Our team's second epiphany was to again go back to basics and ask ourselves just exactly what do the vast majority of Skillport users wish to do. It's simple − 90% of the time they arrive on a mission to:
- Find appropriate learning, and
- "Transact" that learning (take it, enroll in it, or flag it for later).
Digging a little deeper, we defined two different models for how people like to "find" information. Using the example of shopping in a department store, we identified two basic seeker-type personas.
- The "Shopper" loves to walk the aisles, examine the merchandise to see what catches their eye and make purchase selections that way.
- The "Hunter" enters the store, knows just what he/she wants, uses the store directory to make a bee-line to the desired item and make the purchase; in-and-out.
Then we asked ourselves which popular websites support both the Shopper and the Hunter today? To gain insight, we identified consumer websites that people use every day. By making Skillport resemble these popular consumer websites, this means much less of a learning curve for our users.
For the "Shopper," consumer websites have intuitive category/department browse capabilities with supporting filters (like color, price, size, etc.) to narrow-down selections as desired. In Skillport 8, we revamped the content catalog to combine all assets (including Books24x7 titles) into one complete subject matter library. Plus we provide customers the ability to build alternate views − organizing content as they wish, such as by competency.
For the "Hunter" these sites have fast and effective search functions. Skillport 8 has an improved version of our already market-leading "Search&Learn™" now with added global and content -specific filtering tools to help users find desired titles − FAST!
In popular consumer websites, users are presented with the site's recommendations in featured-item display carousels, spotlight promo areas and the like. Similarly in Skillport 8, we'll be giving customers the ability to feature the content they wish to promote to their learners, placing those titles prominently on the What's New page. These sites all have associated graphics or thumbnails attached to items for visual interest. In Skillport, we've displayed graphics with each piece of content (like the book cover images we've always had in Books24x7) to provide visual appeal as learners move through the site.
Skillport 8 has been a long haul, but we're proud that we rose to the challenge. We've raised the bar in transforming the LMS from a drab, text-heavy online catalog application to a discover-and-transact experience much more like what learners encounter elsewhere in their daily internet travels. There is a tighter integration of community features with the content throughout the software. Community no longer feels like an add-on – it's part of the whole experience.
The market will tell us if we hit the mark, but we believe we have a real LMS game-changer here.
To learn more about Skillport 8, watch this short video.


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03 05 03 Wellness 1
Both Entier and A
Ford vs . Gmc
Lifestyle Cycle Monetary Planning
03 05 03 Wellness 1
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Ford vs . Gmc
Lifestyle Cycle Monetary Planning
Mentorship: Education and
Mentorship: Education and
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Essay about Mentorship: Education and Allen Stockings
Lesson Plan Date of the teaching period: 24/10/12 Area: Patient Day time room Start Time: 13: 00 End Period: 13: 35 The title from the session…...
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Conformity and Rebellion
Conformity and Rebellion Article
SAE Synthesis Argument: Conformity and Rebellion Without idiosyncrasies in today's world, the world would be brimming with a myriad sum of supporters with few luminaries. Due to society's growing…...
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What Happened to Cass McBride I browse the book what Happened to Cass McBride. It absolutely was a very good publication that keeps you on your toes. What…...
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Targets: General Objectives: 2. This analyze aims to develop the knowledge, expertise and attitudes of studentnurses through effective utilization of nursing process in working with the program treatment…...
Gilgamesh Not Gay and lesbian.
Essay in Gilgamesh Not Gay.
In old mythology, all the stories had been similarly linked to each other. A pair of these reports are the impressive of Gilgamesh and the Iliad. In the Gilgamesh story…...


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The Historian is appointed by the mayor and serves at his pleasure and for the same term. The Historian position is mandated by state law. The incumbent will answer inquiries about history, work as a consultant to other city departments, encourage the preservation of records and objects related to the history of the city, promote the history of the city, serve as a resource person for the city, when appropriate recommend nominations to the state and national registers of historic places, consult and teach as needed, perform research on history, as possible write and publish material on city history, supervise the Rensselaer City History Center, and other duties as assigned by the mayor.
Rensselaer City History Research Center
62 Washington St.2nd Floor
Rensselaer, NY 12144
Victor Batorsky, City Historian
(518) 694-3126
Hours By Appointment
This area was part of the Rensselaerwyck manor, established in 1630. The first known European resident is known to have been here by 1630. Rensselaer was originally called Greenbush which means pine trees. In 1686 the County of Albany was formed which included this area. In 1791 the County of Rensselaer was set apart from Albany. In the same year, the Town of Rensselaerwyck was established with the named changed in 1792 to the Town of Greenbush. The Village of Greenbush within the Township of Greenbush was incorporated in 1815. In 1897, Greenbush was chartered as a city and its name was changed to Rensselaer. Its city limits were extended in 1902 by the annexation of the Village of Bath on the Hudson and part of the western part of the town of East Greenbush. In 1932 the Port of Rensselaer was built. This area has had industrial activity for over 375 years. Rensselaer has been one of the most important railroad centers on the continent. Rensselaer is home to historic Crailo, the only New York State Historic Site devoted to Dutch culture. Rensselaer (then known as Greenbush) was the birthplace (1844) of famed African American sculptress, Edmonia Lewis.
The Rensselaer City History Research Center is under the direction of the City of Rensselaer Historian. It is open to the public. It was formed by donations, purchases and loans from the City of Rensselaer Historical Society. There have been various and generous donations. Funding has come from the City of Rensselaer, Assemblyman Ron Canestrari, New York State Department of Education, and private sources.
The following is a synopsis of the holdings of the Rensselaer City History Center.
The collection includes the published histories for Rensselaer County and area. There is a copy of Sylvester's History of Rensselaer County (with a separete index) in both printed and searchable CD froms, Landmarks of Rensselaer County(with separate index), The Valley of the Hudson by Nelson Green, and Troy and Rensselaer County (with a seperate index) by Hayner are also included as is The Capital Region of New York State by Kimball and the Hudson and Mohawk Valley by C. Reynolds. Histories of Albany city and county are also in the collection. There are books on the Hudson River and regional history. The books: Three Villages /One City and Rensselaer Past and Present are especially about the City of Rensselaer. Copies of these last two books may be purchased at the Rensselaer City Clerk's Office. Rensselaer's Railraods by Ernie Mann has been published by Acadia Press and is available at bookstores and the internet.
Click on link below for BATH-ON-THE -HUDSON-THE EARLY YEARS One of a number of historical collections of F.T. Tompson, H. M. Whish and J.M. Fraser concerning the City of Rensselaer, New York and dedicated to the CITY OF RENSSELAER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Bath On The Hudson-The Early Years
There are included the records of Rensselaer Mother's Club 1930-2008, receipts and bills from Stewart's Drug Store 1911-1921, diary of a railroad worker, store account book., Benjamin Akin papers late 18th century to 1860s. The Sullivan Funeral Home records and Rings Fire Co. records are here to be found. The collection includes materials from the Kiwanis and the Shakespearean Society. There are scattered materials relating to city activities such as sewer planning documents and Bath village tax records. There are also the records of the Eastland Park Association and the family papers of the Thatcher family.
Considerable genealogy information can be found in The Capital, and the Yearbooks of the Albany Dutch Settlers society. There are also cds of births and vital records.
The records of the Boards of Educations of the various schools and districts are in manuscript form and begin in 1814. There are also programs, newsletters, some report cards, reports and miscellaneous school materials. Yearbooks from both Rensselaer High School and St. John's Academy are present.
Other published materials include newspapers: The Eagle, Transcript, Independent, Rensselaer County Review, Greenbush Area News as well as the complete run of the Beacon and other scattered newspapers of the 19th century. The papers of the New Netherlands Project and printed materials about New York State history, Dutch colonial history, Native American history, genealogy, American history, biography are represented.
There are included dissertations, maps, scrapbooks, and many other items. There are over 700 hundred historic photographs, many of which have been copied and hung on the walls at City Hall. Also to found is a cd of the Records of the Town of Greenbush beginning in the 18th century. Also found are county histories from neighboring counties as well as information from Albany City and county.
Copies of Church records are available for the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Unitarian and Congregational Churches. Additional material on these and other churches includes programs and a manuscripts.
Copies of the records of the Masonic lodge beginning in 1816 are included. Records of the Oddfellows beginning in 1848 are in the collection. Additional material from fraternal, political and community organizations can be found in the files.
Rensselaer was often included in the City Directories of Albany. The collection contains such directories for the years 1861-2002.
The vertical files are arranged alphabetically by subject and include various subjects related to the city. There is considerable information about the fire companies and the railroads in the files.
The microfilm collection includes microfilm of New York State Census 1855, 65, 75, 1905, 1915. Several newspapers are also on microfilm. There is also a film of a Greenbush Town Justice records and a Schodack 18th century store. There are CDs contain colonial records, genealogy, history etc.
The City Clerk has records related to the City of Rensselaer, Bath on the Hudson and Greenbush. These include official minutes, births, deaths, marriages, and government operations. There are also records in the Treasurers and Assessors office. Other depositories include Rensselaer County Historical Society, Rensselaer County Clerk's Office, New York State Library and Archives, Albany Institute of History and art, and others.
Click here to view historic photographs
Click for the Walter Miller Diary 1869-1889
Click here to View the History Center pamphlet
Some web sites:
Crailo Historic Site
Edmonia Lewis Web Page
Rensselaer County Historical Society
Rensselaer Dye Industry
Bath on the Hudson Blog
Rensselaer Co. Genealogy (WebGen)


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Sugar Rush: Chocoholic Cake at Bisous Ciao
Your daily dose of something sweet.
Bisous Ciao may be all about the macarons. But they do offer a one non-macaron treat, and that alone is worth a visit. It's cake. Individually-sized creations so precise they could have come out of the kitchens of La Maison du Chocolat. The cake flavor changes every three to four weeks, and right now it's the Chocoholic ($9). A chocolate savarin base is topped with layers of a classic chocolate sponge, dark chocolate mousse, and a heart of crushed, toasted cacao nibs folded with whipped cream. The layers are all sealed with more of that silky mousse and a single gold leaf. Dig in.
Bisous Ciao
235 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10014 (map)
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Jackson Jr. faces 47-57 months
Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday morning to charges stemming from the misuse of campaign funds.
"Sir, for years I lived off my campaign," Jackson Jr. told the judge. "I used money I shouldn't have used for personal purposes."
Story Continued Below
( PHOTOS: Jesse Jackson Jr.'s career)
The Chicago Democrat, who appeared somber in court in Washington, D.C., said repeatedly that he was guilty of all of the charges.
"I did those things," he said more than once, referring to the information provided by the prosecutor.
When asked if he wanted another moment to to consult with his attorneys, Jackson Jr. looked at his father who was seated in the back of the courtroom then turned to the judge.
"I am guilty, your honor," Jackson Jr. said. "I accept responsibility."
At 11:12 a.m., the judge officially declared him guilty.
Hours later in the same courtroom before the same judge, his wife, Sandra Jackson, pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax form. She said less than her husband, responding mainly "yes, sir" to all questions and opting not to elaborate or discuss her charges.
Sandra Jackson was also declared guilty, as she openly wept during the proceedings.
Jackson Jr. resigned from office after it became clear that federal officials had mounted a case against him for using campaign funds for personal expenses. According to prosecutors, Jackson Jr. paid for memorabilia, trips, expensive watches and clothes. Jackson Jr. admitted to spending $750,000 in campaign funds, including $43,350 on a gold Rolex watch.
Jackson Jr. told the court he had no interest in going through a trial.
"I have no interest in wasting the taxpayers' time or money," he said.
Jackson Jr. could face 47 to 57 months in prison, but the judge warned him repeatedly that he could give a longer or shorter sentence. The sentencing is set for Friday, June 28, at 2 p.m. Sandra Jackson's sentencing will be Monday, July 1, at 2 p.m.
Both Jacksons were released following booking and a drug test and were ordered to turn in their passports and report weekly to the court. Jackson Jr. is permitted to travel between Chicago and Washington. Sandra Jackson's attorney Dan Webb explained that Washington is her primary residence, but gained permission for her to travel anywhere in the United States, explaining she would need to visit family.
Jackson Jr.'s attorney Reid H. Weingarten told the judge to anticipate their team making a large presentation as part of the sentencing process.


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For unknown reasons I am always attracted by cemeteries. This particular one struck me because it was the first one I saw in the US and it looked so entirely different from cemeteries in Europe.
I saw it just while driving by when the geometrical structure of those colored plastic flowers caught my attention.


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A new home for Ferrari in Ireland
As of today, Ferrari in Ireland has a new look. Charles Hurst, the only dealership on the Emerald Isle, has given its Belfast showroom a total makeover according to the corporate identity guidelines set out by the Maranello marque.
Visitors to the showroom will be able to get a feel for the essence of the strongest brand in the world, while admiring the cars in a welcoming environment which reflects its key attributes, through the elegance and style of the materials used, in conjunction with artisanal techniques and the use of light colours, from white to grey, combined with spotlighting to highlight the shape of the cars on show. Within the showroom, there is an even more exclusive area called the Atelier, where customers can create and see, through the use of a sophisticated configurator, their dream Ferrari, choosing materials and colours in exactly the same was as can be done in the Maranello factory.
"The aim of implementing the use of the new corporate identity of the company in all dealerships around the world is to get our customers to live the experience of buying and owning a Ferrari in a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere," commented Matteo Torre, Regional Manager for Ferrari North Europe. "We are pleased to have revealed it today at the Charles Hurst showroom, because we know that there are many enthusiastic customers for the Ferrari brand in Ireland and they will be happy to have new surroundings in which to meet our staff."


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Before the patriarchal cathedral was finally installed in the church of St. George at the Phanar in 1600, successive wanderings and shiftings had taken place. After the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, the Patriarch Gennadius Scholarius (1453-1456 and 1458-1463) sheltered the Patriarchate temporarily, from 1453 to 1456, in the precincts of the famous church of the Holy Apostles. Then the Patriarchate was installed more permanently at the historic monastery of Panagia Pammakaristos, where it remained for a period of 131 years, from 1456 to 1587. When the Pammakaristos was converted into a mosque - the Fethiye Camii - the Patriarchate was forced to move again and embark on new wanderings. It found temporary hospitality (1587-1597) at the church of the Theotokos Paramythia, which was a metochion (dependency) of the rulers of Bogdania (i.e. Moldavia and Wallachia) in Constantinople, the so-called «Palace of the Wallachians» or «Vlach Saray», and later (1597-1600) at St. Demetrios Kanabu by the Xyloporta. Finally, in 1600, in the patriarchy of Matthew II (1596, 1598-1602 and 1603), the Patriarchate was installed in the small convent of St. George at the Diplophanarion. The following list gives a picture of the wanderings and shiftings of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the course of the centuries:
Hagia Eirene: the «Old Patriarchates»
Hagia Sophia: from the reign of Constantine the Great (315) to the Fall of Constantinople (1453)
Church of the Holy Apostles in Nicaea: during the period of the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1205-1262).
Church of the Holy Apostles: from 1453 to 1456.
Monastery of the Pammakaristos: from 1456 to 1587.
Church of the Theotokos Paramythia («Palace of the Wallachians» or «Vlach Saray»): from 1587 to 1597.
Church of St. Demetrios by the Xyloporta: from 1597 to 1600.
Church of St. George at the Phanar: from 1600 to the present.
The patriarchal church of St. George underwent successive phases of reconstruction before being given its present form. The earliest source of information records the renovation of the ruined cells from 1600 to 1603, immediately after the move of the Patriarchate to its precincts: «...and many cells were renovated there for everyone's accommodation», as mentioned in a letter by the Patriarch Raphael II (1603-1608).
A second attempt at improvement was made by the Patriarch Timothy II (1612-1620), who, in 1614, enlarged «the originally very small, modest and poor church of St. George».
Dositheus, Patriarch of Jerusalem (1669-1707), writes on this occasion: «St. George, the church of the Patriarchate, was also burned in the reign of Sultan Ahmet. It so happened that the mosque located by the Hippodrome was being built at the time, and the king gave order to restore the burned church. So, the apprentice builder of the mosque came with the many Christian craftsmen who worked at the mosque and rebuilt the church as it stands now». This explains the extension made by Timothy II in 1614. For the third time, general repairs were made to the church under Callinicus II the Acarnan during his third patriarchy (1694-1702), for the building was «dilapidated with age» and its walls and roof were crumbling.
In the early 18th century the Patriarchate and the surrounding area were destroyed by fire: «the whole Phanar and the Petricapi and then the great church and the patriarchal houses and all the nearby buildings of the Patriarchate were burned down» (Hypsilantis). Scholars (Mathas, Koumas, Bendotis, Sathas, Hypsilantis, Germanos of Sardes) do not agree on the exact date of this calamity for which they suggest the dates 1701, 1707, 1710 and even 1720. What is certain is that Jeremias III, Patriarch of Constantinople (1716-1726, 1732-1733), wrote on 26 August 1720, in a letter addressed to Neophytos, Metropolitan of Arta: «By the mercy and will of the All-Good God, the lords, may God grant them long life, were moved and they gave us permission to rebuild from the very foundations the holy church of our Patriarchal and Ecumenical Throne, and so we have started this building with the help of God...». In another letter addressed to the rulers of the Trans-Danubian principalities, he noted: «Your Highness has probably heard and knows that by the mercy of God the holy patriarchal church and the surrounding buildings are being reconstructed from the very foundations...». The purpose of Jeremias's letters had been to request financial aid in order to defray the expenses for the great project of rebuilding the «Patriarchal Church and House».
Bendotis gives the notable information that as soon as the construction of the church was completed, «the roof collapsed because it was domed», and so the Patriarch reconstructed the roof «in the form it has today». It was then (1720) that the building next to the church, «the mansion of the archontes» (Bendotis), was purchased to «serve as residence for the Patriarch» (Koumas). The restoration works initiated by Jeremias III were continued by the erudite Patriarch Paisius II (1726-1732, 1740-1743, 1744-1748, 1751-1752), as indicated by the date 1746 inscribed on most of the Despotic icons of the templon.
An inscription on the lintel of the south door of the narthex records the great work of the reconstruction of the patriarchal church under Jeremias III:
«Ὁ πάνσεπτος οὗτος καὶ Πατριαρχικὸς Ναὸς ἀνῳκοδόμητο ἐκ βάθρων αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῆς πατριαρχείας τοῦ σεβασμιωτάτου Πατριάρχου κυρίου Ἱερεμίου, ἀναλώμασι μὲν καὶ δαπάνῃ τῶν εὐσεβῶν χριστιανῶν, ἐπιτροπευόντων δὲ καὶ ἐπιστατούντων τῶν πανιερωτάτων μητροπολιτῶν Νικομηδείας κυρίου Παϊσίου, Νικαίας κυρίου Γερασίμου, Χαλκηδόνος κυρίου Παρθενίου, Προύσσης κυρίου Κυρίλλου, Βάρνης κυρίου Καλλινίκου συνεπιστατούντων δὲ τῶν τιμιωτάτων ἀρχόντων τοῦ τε μεγάλου ἐκκλησιάρχου κὺρ Κωνσταντίνου καὶ Χατζῆ κὺρ Κωνσταντίνου, πρώην καπὶ Κεχαγιᾶ Οὐγγροβλαχίας. ΑΨΚ´ δεκεμβρίω ιη'».
(«This holy patriarchal church was rebuilt from its foundations in the patriarchy of the Most Reverend Patriarch Jeremias, at the expense of the devout Christians and under the superintendence and supervision of the Right Reverend Metropolitans Paisius of Nicomedia, Gerasimus of Nicaea, Parthenius of Chalcedon, Cyrillus of Brusa, Callinicus of Varna, with the assistance of the most honourable archontes Kyr Konstantinos the Great Ecclesiarch and Hatzi Kyr Konstantinos former Governor of Ungro-Wallachia. 18th December 1720»).
A second, small, inscription on the inner side of the main entrance reads:
«Μνήσθητι Κύριε τοῦ δούλου σου Κωνσταντίνου καπουκεχαγιᾶ τῆς Μολδοβλαχίας, οὗ τοῖς ἐξόδοις ἀνηγέρθη ἡ παροῦσα πύλη ἔτει ,αψκ´».
(«Remember, Lord, Thy servant Konstantinos, Governor of Moldavia and Wallachia, at whose expense this doorway was built in the year 1720»).
A third, stone-carved, inscription on the right jamb of the main doorway tells us that the floor of the church was paved with slabs in the same year (1720):
«Τὸ παρὸν ἔδαφος ἐστρώθη διὰ δαπάνης τοῦ τιμιωτάτου ἄρχοντος κυρίου Ἀθανασάκη Κιουρτσήμπασι εἰς μνημόσυνον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἔτει ,αψκ´, ἐν μηνὶ δεκεμβρίῳ γ´».
(«This floor was paved at the expense of the most honourable archon Athanasakis Kiourtsibasis in his remembrance. 3rd December 1720»).
In the great fire of 1738, when the Patriarchate suffered severe damage, «by God's mercy, the church, the clerics' cells and the Synodicon were not gutted» (Hypsilantis). It was some sixty years before large-scale operations for the restoration of the Patriarchate were begun in 1797, in the patriarchy of Gregory V. In 1798, certain consolidations and additions were made to the patriarchal church and especially the sanctuary, where for the first time another two Holy Tables were set up. It was then decided to dedicate the right (south) aisle of the church as a parecclesion to St. Euphemia and the corresponding left (north) aisle as a parecclesion to the Three Hierarchs. We are indebted for this information to the writings of Koumas, Sathas, Vapheidis, Mathas, and the earlier historian Sergios Macraios, who expresses disagreement with the setting-up of three Holy Tables: «So he began to build the Patriarchal House in September of that year (1797)... then (1798) he tried to embellish the church of St. George the Great Martyr... by setting up three altars in the sanctuary and proceeding to the innovation of dedicating the right aisle to St. Euphemia and the left to the Three Hierarchs».
In its present form the patriarchal church of St. George has the plan of a three-aisled basilica with three semicircular apses on the east side and a transverse narthex on the west. Owing to the irregularity of the site, the lateral walls are not straight but form a slight angle - a feature that does not affect the general plan of the church. The interior is divided into three aisles by colonnades, with the tall pews of ebony wood placed along the line of the columns. This arrangement leaves ample space in the nave for the performance of essential parts of the Liturgy - whether an ordinary Liturgy or one conducted by the Patriarch and members of the Holy Synod-on the «solea» until the completion of the Unbloody Sacrifice on the altar.
In the holy bema, behind the altar, the synthronon is arranged in a semicircle along the curved wall of the apse, with seats for the Archpriests and a central higher throne of marble for the Patriarch.
As already mentioned, the diakonikon (to the south) has been converted into a parecclesion of the Pammakaristos, while the prothesis (to the north) has been dedicated to the Three Great Fathers of the Church. A narrow passage leads from the latter to a small sacristy and from there to the courtyard of the church
A high wood-carved iconostasis separates the sanctuary from the nave. The valves of the Beautiful Gate are crowned with the eternal symbol of the Patriarchate, the two-headed eagle. The icons are in the following order: on the right side of the templon, Christ as «the True Vine», St. John the Baptist, the Saints George and Demetrios, the mosaic icon of Panagia Pammakaristos, St. Euphemia, and on the south wall, the mosaic icon of the Forerunner on an icon-stand, St. Spyridon, the Descent into Hell, St. Nicholas; on the left side of the templon, the Holy Virgin as «the Tree of Jesse», St. George on horseback, St. Nicholas, the Virgin and Prophets, the Three Hierarchs, and on the north wall, St. Charalampos, St. John the Evangelist and Prochoros, St. Menas on horseback, the Virgin Phaneromene of Cyzicus on an icon-stand, the Virgin of Artake, Christ Pantocrator. On the parapet of the women's gallery, from the south to the north wall, a series of 19th same time it was decided to honour also the Virgin Pammakaristos in the parecclesion of the south aisle, since her celebrated mosaic icon was placed there. Besides, it had been instituted from earlier times to dedicate the patriarchal church also to the Panagia Pammakaristos. Meletios of Athens reports that Timothy II, Patriarch of Constantinople, «decreed in 1614, that the new Patriarchate's church of St. George was to be dedicated also to the Ever-Virgin St. Mary, in memory of the previous patriarchal church of the Pammakaristos».
Important modifications were made to the patriarchal church under Gregory VI (1835-1840). The church retained the length and width it had since the time of Jeremias III (1720), but the roof was raised to its present height. Until then the church had been «small, low and dark» (Koumas), with its height reaching up to where the ambo is now. The plans and surveillance of the modifications were entrusted to the architect Hatzi-Nicolis. The marble doorway with the ornamental door-frames and the neo-Classical lintel has given a monumental and majestic appearance to the entrance from the narthex to the church proper. This renovation is recorded in the inscription of Homeric style carved on the lintel above the main entrance to the church. The inscription includes the honourary mention of the name of Gregory VI, the date 1836, and a praise to the beauty of the renovated church:
Ἤτοι μὲν μεγάλοιο νεὼς ὁ Γεωργίου ἱρός μάρτυρος εὐκλεέος, γήραϊ εἶκε πάρος αὐτὰρ ἀνηβήσας νέον ἐς κάλλος τόδε γ᾽ ἧκεν ὡς χαρίεις ἰδέειν, ἀγλαὸς ἰδὲ μέγας, ζήλῳ μὲν κλυτοῖο ἀγαστοῦ Γρηγορίοιο εὖ πατριαρχοῦντος πέντε μετ᾽ ἐσπομένου, ἁδραῖς τ᾽ οἳ δαπάναις ἰδὲ κλήρου ἀρχιθυτοίων τῷ δ᾽ ἄρα παμμεδέων ὄλβια τοῖσι πόροι. (,αωλς´)
The last large-scale embellishing operations were carried out by the Patriarch Joachim III (1878-1884, 1901-1912) over the whole area of the Patriarchate.
In the patriarchal church, in particular, the marble pavement of the sanctuary was replaced, the synthronon was renovated, marble caskets were made for the depositing of the holy relics, the icon-frames were repaired and the ecclesiastical collection was enriched with liturgical vessels and vestments, all donated by the faithful.
In August 1904, the Patriarch and the Holy Synod decided to celebrate jointly the Indiction Feast Day (1st September) and the worship of the ancient and miraculous icon of Panagia Pammakaristos. A special Service was composed for this occasion («Service of Vespers, Matins and Liturgy of the Feast of the Pammakaristos, Patriarchal Press at Constantinople, 1905»). This remains in force to our days, and the choir chants in a 4th plagal tone the apolytikion of the Pammakaristos.
century oil-paintings on canvas executed in a westernizing style show scenes from the Old and the New Testament (from the Nativity to the Anastasis).
The caskets with the holy relics of the three female saints, Euphemia, Solomone and Theophano, first consort of the Emperor Leo VI the Wise, have been placed on marble bases by the south wall of the parecclesion of the Pammakaristos.
The larnax (casket) of St. Euphemia has a richly ornamented silver revetment. A document preserved in the archives of the Patriarchate (Cod. A, 46) records that in the patriarchy of Gabriel III (1702-1707), notably on the 11th July 1707, the Russian Ambassador to the Porte donated a quantity of cypress wood for the fashioning of three caskets in which to deposit the sacred relics of the three holy women. As a special honour to St. Euphemia, who suffered martyrdom under Diocletian, the Patriarch decreed «her feast-day to be celebrated annually with a procession in the patriarchal church and with her holy relics placed in the middle», as stated in the apodeixis sent to the Christians of Constantinople (Cod. A, 25-26).
At the south wall also, next to the mosaic icon of the Forerunner, stands part of the Column of Flagellation, i.e. the column to which Christ was bound and flogged.
The choirs of chanters are in the conventional places, in the central part of the church, and have superb lecterns inlaid with mother-of-pearl and adorned with icons (the lecterns were transported on 22nd August 1712 from the monastery of Panagia Kamariotissa at Halki). The Patriarchal thronos stands prominent, with the parathronion to the right for the Great Protosyncellus who officiates in the absence of the Patriarch, and the official throne-like pews for the members of the Holy Synod to the left. Across the nave, on the opposite side where the Princes of Moldavia and Wallachia stood in the old days, are the pews for the dignitaries, state officials and representatives of other denominations.
The ambo is placed high on the third column of the northern colonnade. The pews for the congregation are lined along the north and south walls and the west side of the nave, while, to the west, is the women's gallery extending partly to the north. The old candle-stand, placed by the north entrance, is made of walnut wood and decorated with inlays of metal and ivory. An inscription in ivory on the side of the candle-stand tells us that it was donated to the patriarchal church in 1669 by Manuel, son of Peter, from Castoria.
The donor may well have been the renowned Manolakis of Castoria, who had founded and endowed schools in Chios, Arta, Aetolikon and elsewhere.
Today, the suspended large silver oil-lamps, the crystal chandeliers, the solemn patriarchal throne, the rows of-ebony pews, the old high templon with the elaborate wood-carvings, sanctified by ancient icons showing the marks of time, the historic mosaic icon of Panagia Pammakaristos and the icon from Cyzicus of Panagia Phaneromene with the wounded face, compose the picture of the patriarchal church expressing the measure of austerity which constitutes in matters of essence the very ethos and glory of Orthodoxy.
In addition to its historic and sacred character, the patriarchal church has preserved some precious relics of the past, like the Patriarch's throne, the ambo and the icons.
Athanasios Paliouras


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I search for a software to allow multi-tagging. Meaning, i want to add more than one genre to a song/album to be able to easily access specific songs i.e. ("female singer, jazz" or "duet, jazz") which i can not realy do by choosing just one genre.
Is there an option to do this with iTunes? If not, is there a player able to do this? Maybe even with pandora/last.fm/musicbrains interface so i don't even have to tag all the songs myself?


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RANGER Teams
The RANGER class is our intermediate level of competition. Aimed at middle and high schools, the robots and missions become more complex and technologically advanced. All missions are performed without looking in the pool, relying only on the sensors and cameras the team equipped their ROV with.
RANGER class is most appropriate for:
- Middle Schools with robotics experience
- High Schools
- Community Colleges and Universities new to robotics
RANGER teams participate in regional events, with the top 1-2 teams (depending on the number of participating schools) advancing to the international competition.
For more information about RANGER class, please visit our General Information Document.
For information about this year's RANGER class missions, please visit the RANGER Mission page.


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About Engineering
By being hired into one of our Engineering jobs at Lilly, you'll be a key member of the Lilly team. Professionals in Engineering careers come from a variety of backgrounds, bringing an assortment of knowledge and skills to every area of our business. Please click on your desired Engineering job to learn more about the exact qualifications. An Engineering job at Lilly may be waiting for you!


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Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), you have the right to restrict the release of certain categories of information by the university. You may restrict the release of your addresses and/or telephone numbers from publication by following the steps below. Students may restrict online directory information at any time; however, students who wish to restrict printed directory information must do so prior to the end of registration each Fall term.
In the "Personal Information" section, choose the Privacy Settings option from the dropdown menu click the button.
You will be taken to the FERPA Restrictions page.
If you currently have any FERPA / Directory restrictions enforced, they will be listed on the FERPA Restrictions page.
To restrict your addresses, email addresses, or phone numbers from publication, click the Edit FERPA / Directory Restrictions button. You will be taken to the Edit FERPA / Directory Restrictions page.
Select from three categories of information to restrict (or to release, if already restricted): Addresses, E-mail Addresses and Phones.
To restrict a category, click the "Restrict All" button.
To release restrictions for a category, click the "Release All" button.
Click the Save button.
To verify that your settings were successfully saved, click the Return to FERPA Restrictions Summary link. You will be returned to the FERPA Restrictions page, which should reflect your new settings.
If you wish to block the release of your name (so that absolutely no information is released about you), visit the Office of the Registrar. Please note that if you restrict your name from being released, the Office of the Registrar cannot verify academic progress, degrees earned or enrollment for you.
The Office of the Registrar is the official keeper of academic records including course registrations, grades, transcripts and diplomas.
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European Rugby
"Dazzling" new euro tournament in the pipeline
ESPN Staff
September 13, 2012
Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty has struck what has been called a 'ground-breaking' broadcast deal with BT © Getty Images
BT Vision chief executive Marc Watson has promised a "dazzling" new European tournament as part of the £152m broadcast deal struck with Premiership Rugby.
Under the terms of what has been hailed as a 'ground-breaking' agreement, BT will have exclusive rights to show Aviva Premiership Rugby and the J.P Morgan Asset Management Sevens from 2013-14 onwards and also any games played in Europe by Premiership clubs for three years starting from the 2014-15 season at the end of the current participation agreement governing the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup.
The European element to the deal has been called into question by euro rugby chiefs and vehemently defended by Premiership Rugby, with the future of the club game beyond the end of next season still unclear.
The structure of both competitions are currently being reviewed by European Rugby Cup Ltd following a threat from Premiership Rugby and their French counterparts to pull out of the competition and go it alone if concerns about the qualification process, that they suggest favours RaboDirect PRO12 clubs, were not addressed.
Premiership Rugby's bold step to strike a deal incorporating European rugby underlines the serious nature of their desire to force through change with BT Vision clearly determined to support their bid to re-shape the landscape.
"We saw in rugby an opportunity to own a sport exclusively, certainly at club level, and the rights that we've bought give us an opportunity to do that," chief executive Marc Watson told SportsPro magazine.
"We have the English Premiership; we think there's lots of great potential there. And we are looking to set up, or at least help set up, a dazzling new European tournament, with a fantastic new format, with, we hope, all the best clubs. And we've secured, from the English Premiership, the rights to that for the UK. That tournament will be the successor to the Heineken Cup, which is a very successful tournament.
"The Heineken Cup runs until the end of next season. Our English Premiership rights kick in at the same time as our Premier League football rights next August. The Heineken Cup under its current contract has another season to run and that will be the end of it, and we're looking to set up a brand new tournament from then. And we've already secured the rights to that.
"We see a great opportunity there. We're hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2015 in the UK. It's a great opportunity in the two years running up to that, we think, to grow the sport and for the first time rugby will appear in the Olympics in Rio in 2016. It's a sport that's got a long way to go. We were attracted by the idea of growing with it, and helping it to grow in the UK."
All ERC stakeholders are scheduled to convene in Dublin next Tuesday to begin the formulation of a new Shareholder Agreement for the 2014-15 season and beyond with Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty quick to deflect any criticism of his organisation's bold step with the claim the BT deal will benefit the European game as a whole while another source insisting the windfall "will be put into the pot" and shared.
"We believe we are delivering a deal which provides significantly more money for all sides in all countries, so we expect them to be positive about it," he said. "We are producing a large new investor in rugby, for the good of everyone in the European game, so we would be surprised if there wasn't a positive response."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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I'm writing a script in PHP that needs to compare two package version numbers to determine which is newer.
PHP has a handy function called
version_compare(), but it gets really confused with some of the more creative version numbers. For example,
version_compare() thinks that
0.9.8g-16ubuntu3.1 is newer than
Anyone know how I can get this to work?
I'm happy to run any command line scripts using


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Truckee Follies set to and#8216;Occupy Truckee'
TRUCKEE, Calif. and#8212; For three consecutive nights and#8212; May 3, 4 and 5 and#8212; Truckeeites will come together to protest the unequal distribution of comedy in this town and across the nation.
Since February, a small group of comedic activists have secretly been meeting in undisclosed locations around Truckee, planning a three-day campaign to bring laughter to the 99 + 1% and#8211; aka, the 19th semi-annual Truckee Follies.
And while homeowners from Martis Camp will be allowed into the show (as long as one of their lawn maintenance workers vouches for them), they, along with everyone else, better be prepared to laugh at themselves and at everything that makes Truckee the special place it is.
This year's show features skits written and performed by a new and eager batch of comedic activists who are collectively fed up with the fact that only the 1% of locals without lives or hobbies or seemingly anything better to do are able to witness the comedy that is a Town Council meeting.
Bolstering this crop of newly-hilarious citizens is a talented group of returning writers, actors and comedic organizers who are laying the groundwork for what might just be the best follies ever. (Or, at the very least, one of the Top 20 all time.)
and#8220;We are laughing our butts off shaping this year's show,and#8221; said third-time producer Mitch Clarin. and#8220;The whole show is Truckeeized; however, you do not have to live in Truckee to understand the humor.and#8221;
So check your political correctness at the door, fortify yourself with barbecue and plenty of drinks from the bar and prepare to join the movement. The Follies are back!
Tickets are on sale now at Cabona's in downtown Truckee for $35-$55, and all shows are expected to sell out quickly. This year's Follies will run for only three nights at the Community Arts Center, 10046 Church St. Downtown Truckee with doors opening at 6 p.m. and the show starting at 7 p.m. nightly.
Drinks and a barbecue dinner by When Pigs Fly and Chef Ron Allen will be available for purchase and all proceeds from the performances will go to providing two $1,000 scholarships for high school students, as well as funding Truckee Downtown Merchants Association activities such as Truckee Thursdays, First Fridays and the Bud Fish Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.
and#8212; Submitted to firstname.lastname@example.com


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UCLA (12-3, 1-1) vs. Arizona State (13-3, 2-1)
Tip-off: Sunday, 7 p.m., Pauley Pavilion
TV: ESPNU (Roxy Bernstein, Corey Williams)
Radio: AM 570 (Chris Roberts, Tracy Murray)
The matchup: When UCLA can dictate tempo, it's one of the most efficient offensive teams in the conference, if not the country. But the gods of March care little if such potency doesn't translate into attention-grabbing victories. And right now, the Bruins have played three ranked teams and lost three times. When UCLA's upset bid fell short against No. 1 Arizona on Thursday, another chance slipped away. "We're trying to stay in a race," said head coach Steve Alford, who inherited a weak nonconference schedule he tried to spruce up with games against Duke, Drexel and Weber State. "I think teams that lose multiple home games early, that makes it a difficult climb." Colorado, ranked 15th, and No. 17 Oregon loom before the end of the month, but before that is Arizona State guard Jahii Carson. Last year's Pac-12 Co-Freshman of the Year is averaging 18.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists. "He's terrific," Alford said. "Very few guards that I've seen on tape that can break down defenses like he can."


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"I'm glad they're here, kicking the arts in the butt," smiles Betsy Dollar, executive director of the Springfield Art Association. She is referring to the organizers and participants of Third Thursday, the upstart local collective whose calling card is a floating, monthly exhibition featuring volunteer artists [see "The Third Thursday artists," by Tom Irwin, July 28, at illinoistimes.com]. "Also, I think the most exciting thing happening in the visual arts is The Pharmacy group and the way they're open to working with other groups and supporting the arts across the board in town."
This kind of cross-pollinating encouragement is typical of the tone among the various arts groups in Springfield as 2011 draws to a close. From the most established, state-funded institutions to fledgling, shoestring operations, the attitude in town is one of generosity and support, seemingly free of any overweening sense of rancor or competition.
"We're very excited," says Andrew Woolbright, co-founder of the aforementioned Pharmacy, which had its first juried gallery show in November to overwhelmingly positive response. "We've been shown a lot of love very early on, quicker than I'd expect. My hope is that The Pharmacy can be a group that is talented but also humble and encouraging, whether to artists, musicians, writers or filmmakers. We really are trying to build up everyone around us and work toward solutions that move the entire community forward. The big thing for 2012 is going to be more collaboration between different venues."
All of this mutual support and positivity is admittedly taking place against the backdrop of an extremely difficult economic landscape, personified in poignant fashion by the current plight of the Hoogland Center for the Arts. The downtown complex is arguably the center of artistic activity in the region, acting as home base as well as performance and rehearsal space for numerous art and theater organizations, including the Springfield Theatre Center and the Sangamon Valley Youth Symphony. Faced with a debilitating $2.5 million mortgage, the Hoogland is in the midst of an intensive campaign to raise $1.2 million as part of a deal with a still-undisclosed donor who will then provide the remaining $1.3 million needed to close out the mortgage. While the figures are constantly changing, it was revealed last Thursday that the drive was still a daunting $700,000 away from its target.
None of which seems to have taken the spring out of Hoogland program director (and WICS-TV chief meteorologist) Gus Gordon's step. "I think this has been an amazingly successful year," he beams. "We've accomplished so many things, not only at the Hoogland Center for the Arts but in Springfield in general. There are so many opportunities for performers, so many opportunities for audience members, so many opportunities for kids to grow and to learn and to participate, that we're really blessed in this town. We had some really wonderful shows, and it wasn't all in one category. We had jazz singers from Chicago, we had comedy from the Second City troupe, we built relationships with other organizations, like the Muni and the Springfield Theatre Center and the Little Theater on the Square, so in that respect it has been a very successful year.
"Looking ahead to 2012," Gordon continues, "we've got most of our season planned already, and there are a lot of great things that'll be happening. One of the first things, that I'm thrilled about, is that I'll be directing a production of Ain't Misbehavin', a musical celebration of the music of Fats Waller. And we've got Debbie Ross, who is just a local superstar in the blues community who'll be in that, and four other great local performers. That's one of the first events and I think that's going to set up a really wonderful year for not just theater but orchestral music and symphonic music and the ballet company and for painters and sculptors. We just have a lot of stuff going on in this town."
Springfield Theatre Center Secretary Jim Leach has also noticed positive trends in his organization's recent shows at the Hoogland. "I think that we have perceived an increase in attendance, an increase in interest and maybe that's a sign that economically things are improving. It certainly felt to us like there's just more response," he recounts. "It does feel like we turned maybe just a psychological corner, but that people are more willing to come out, more interested in taking part, in buying tickets, in actively participating in the arts, which is just a welcome, good sign and I think it's beneficial for everyone." Leach also echoes Gordon's observations about the variety of successful productions mounted in 2011. "What we've seen, and it's been a pleasant surprise, is a good response to a pretty eclectic mix of shows, whether when we did the original Ken Bradbury From Behind the Curtain early in the year, or whether it's a show like 1776 or even a youth version of The Pirates of Penzance. It's great to know that even if you're doing something that's a little off the beaten path, people will come out and support it."
Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, director of theater at University of Illinois Springfield, is determined to continue providing another kind of artistic experience for Springfield theatergoers with a taste for something different. "In Springfield, we realize that our niche is continuing to be: we do the plays. A lot of people do the musicals around town, and we love musicals, but we're a little more the place for dramatic literature onstage," he explains. "Not just the classics like Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, but also the newer work that's winning Tonys and Pulitzers on Broadway, from playwrights like Neil LaBute and Rebecca Gilman. I love a good production of Annie or Fiddler on the Roof, but we want to complement that with other things that theater can be."
More specialized performance groups also have reason to look forward to the New Year. Carl Follin of the Land of Lincoln Barbershop Chorus says his organization experienced encouraging numbers of visitors and new members in 2011, while Julie Ratz of the Springfield Ballet Company reports higher attendance at Nutcracker than over the last few years, while alternately lamenting the lack of corporate funding available and praising the financial contributions of local enthusiasts.
Penny Wollan-Kriel, executive director of the Springfield Area Arts Council, another Hoogland tenant, is likewise excited for the future. "I think 2011 has been a better year. And yet it is still a period of struggle. For 2012, hopefully the upturn will continue – it may creep along by inches rather than feet and miles. But, as I've always said, the arts and artists will be here long after all of us [organizations] are gone. I think that artists will continue creating, musicians will continue to create and play, performing artists will continue in their vein as well. Of course, with the Hoogland situation, there are those of us who call this home. The space is a really important piece of the whole arts puzzle. I think we all have scaled back and hopefully we can move a little bit in the forward direction. I'm optimistic because the Springfield community, and central Illinois, is so supportive and so philanthropic in many ways."
"I'm really excited about the future," concurs multimedia artist David Cain, the Hoogland's current artist-in-residence. "Being in the context of the Hoogland, you're reminded of the excitement of young people wanting to tell stories – they want to be a part of something," he says. "It gets you excited as an older artist. I remember that energy in myself when I was younger. I love to travel but I keep coming back here [to Springfield]. It's a comfortable place and there are some great people here. I just came back from New Zealand and every small town had artists' galleries, they were just everywhere, if you just walked down the street it was: coffee shop, grocery, artist gallery, restaurant, then another gallery. Whereas in a community like ours, it's just a big job to try and keep it alive. Schools want to cut the arts, make it go away and do football instead. I believe that in order for a cultural entity to thrive, it's important to respect and appreciate your city as a birthplace for art – you have to embrace the original stuff so you're not just an authentic reproducer. It's important to have an attitude of 'We make art here!' as opposed to 'Well, we're putting on some shows.' Which is great, but there's a pride that comes with creation, the idea that we can do it here."
It can be said that any local arts community is only as strong as its most venerable organizations and Janet Seitz Carlson of the Prairie Art Alliance generally concurs with the prevailing spirit of positivity going into 2012. "We've had a significant transition this year. We were struggling very much toward the end of 2010 and the beginning of this year. We survived, with the help of our member artists who volunteered and actually staffed the gallery here for several months, helping out – because staff was cut," she admits. "But, being in the arts you need to be creative and find ways to increase awareness of your organization so that you get attention, you get needed funding and you get growth. We had a very successful 'Garden and Studio' tour this summer which I think helped broaden the perspective of what we do. It was just something a little bit different for us, which was also a fundraiser of sorts.
"We did launch a new giving program, on the wall at the HD Smith Gallery," she continues. "We've got a metal sculpture where donors' contributions will create artwork, the tree will grow with each donation. The artist adding to the tree will be paid a small stipend for creating those pieces and then, depending on the amount of the donation, there will be give-backs too, in the form of gift certificates, shared sponsorships and solo sponsorships. It's kind of a win-win thing, everything sort of cycles back."
Besty Dollar of the Springfield Art Association is also brimming with plans. "We have a lot of big ideas for the new year and a lot of aspirations, so we're forging ahead. The Art Association has been working closer with the Art Alliance – I think there's this perception that we hate each other, and we're trying to really break that down and see how we can share resources. The fact that we're offering a dual membership between both organizations as Christmas presents is one example of that.
"The economy is a challenge, but we've done okay with fundraising this year. I think Springfield really needs better ceramics facilities so that's one thing we're shooting for. Our new education coordinator has put together a great new set of classes that starts the second week in January with media that haven't been offered here in a long time: basket weaving and stained glass, as well as straight painting and drawing. Our real goal," Dollar confides, "is to get more people through here who, despite the fact that we've been here for 100 years, have never wandered through our doors."
For his part, Fred Jarosz, executive director and chief fundraiser of the merely decade-old Hoogland Center, is maintaining at least a show of high spirits as his deadline looms. "We received some very good news from our auditor, who pointed out that without a mortgage, the Hoogland Center for the Arts is sustainable, and that if it were calculated now, as our budget stands today but without this mortgage, we would be over by 106,000 positive dollars. That's great news – makes it all the more important that we hit our goal."
Fred pauses to retrieve a handwritten note from an envelope on his desk. "I would like to read a few lines from a letter that we got this morning," he says, and begins to read aloud. "'Dear arts lovers, please accept this donation for your million-dollar campaign to pay off the mortgage. You are a great asset to Springfield and the surrounding area. Keep up the good work. Thank you for providing so much for so many.'
"Now, what else can I say on top of that? It's been said! As far as what's coming in the new year, we have a great outline of new productions, new shows that will attract even more people, a bigger variety, and we're gonna do more music in the coming years – and I do say 'years' plurally! Next year could be the greatest year for the Hoogland ever."
Scott Faingold can be reached via firstname.lastname@example.com.


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0 Members and 1 Lonely Barbarian are spying on this topic.
We can be passionate about some things and many of us have personally established systems of rating things so if somebody disagrees with us then we want to understand why.
People should take votes and comments seriously and should be forced to make a firm choice when changing a vote. If the post has earned an update then a loss of a couple XP shouldn't bother somebody to update their vote.
I will most likely incorporate an email notification system into it again like it was back in the 1.0 age.
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Edwardian Farm
The Edwardian period is often seen as something of a gilded age; war would imminently remove hundreds of thousands of men from the labour force, and instigate progress to mechanise. Illustrated with a wealth of archive material, this book tells the story of farming in Britain in the early years of the twentieth century - an age of horse, steam and intensive labour. Looking at the structure of farming and its output, alongside the lives of the people who worked the land, this is a fascinating picture of British agriculture at a turning point in history.
The Victorian Legacy in Farming
Who Worked the Farms?
What the Farmer Grew: the Mixed Farm
Pastoral Farming
Dairy Farming
Horse Power, Manpower and Machines
Farming Fit for War?
Further Reading


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CO-Denver, Deloitte Consulting LLP is one of the world's leading management consulting firms for executable strategy, operations, technology, and human capital advisory services. The consulting practice is built around integrated core capabilities – people, process and technology and industry expertise – the capabilities needed to help clients to tackle their most complex challenges. TECHNOLOGYDeloitte Consu View full post on Monster Job Search Results (mobile)
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Best Late night music venue in San Antonio. Enjoy late night food & drinks with live music by local & independent musicians. Bands interested in booking with Sanchos, please fill out our Band Booking form.
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Claude Morgan & the Bandaholics
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This will be the home of Claude Butch Morgan, Robar Adams and Trevor Doak Morgan ( the Bandaholics), every Thursday for the foreseeable future. We hope you'll make it your THIRSTday and join us for spontaneity and musical adventures while enjoying the food and libations. We promise something new every Thursday. Come on now!


text:
Like many high school seniors, Anthony Vecchio planned to move away from home for college.
But Vecchio's athletic career kept him right here in Bluffton, running for the hometown University of South Carolina Beaufort track and cross country teams. The 2011 Bluffton High graduate saw several of his former teammates develop into high-level runners under USCB coach Larry Kimball and knew the Sand Sharks were the team for him.
"I would have preferred to go farther away, but I felt like this was my best opportunity to become a better runner," Vecchio said. "I knew that I would get to work with a great coach. He turned some past Bluffton runners into great runners in college, and I knew that I could do the same."
Everything seems to be going according to plan for Vecchio.
The sophomore turned in the school's best finish ever at the Sun Conference men's cross country championships Nov. 3, placing fifth with a time of 26 minutes, 27.55 seconds. That earned him a spot on the all-conference team and entry into the NAIA national championships Saturday in Vancouver, Wash. Sophomore Melissa Carder, who made the women's all-conference team, will join Vecchio at the national meet.
"It's a really big race and I'm looking forward to going up there and trying to beat some people that I didn't beat earlier this year."
Vecchio, whose family moved to Bluffton from Pittsburgh when he was 8, was USCB's fourth or fifth runner on last fall's senior-dominated team. He improved late in the season and moved into the No. 2 position in time for the conference meet.
His best performance this season, according to Kimball, came at the Sand Shark Invitational, in which he placed sixth among 151 runners. It was the largest meet ever hosted by USCB.
"I think his potential is unlimited, and I don't think he knows how good he can be," Kimball said of Vecchio. "I think he wants to make a statement that he belongs there (at nationals)."
Kimball is looking for a top-100 finish from Vecchio next weekend and a big track season out of him this spring. He said he expects Vecchio to break the school records in the 800 meters and 1,500 meters.
"Top 100 would be a good race for him (Saturday)," Kimball said, "but he might scoff at that and say he's going to do better. He just has that kind of mentality."


text:
Jaws are still wagging about Hewlett-Packard's bombshell news this week. The tech giant says it discovered fraudulent accounting at its Autonomy unit and, as a result, took a $8.8 billion writedown of the $11.1 billion it paid for the UK software company last year.
Mike Lynch, founder of Autonomy, vehemently denies it all.
He spoke with Business Insider to address, point by point, the accusations being leveled against him by HP and others.
What Lynch says:
- HP, he believes, is using this as a ruse to distract investors from its bigger problems: "People certainly realize I'm not going to be used as Hewlett-Packard's scapegoat when it's got itself in a mess."
- HP's numbers don't add up, Lynch says. It's questioning about $100 million in revenues, yet blaming $5 billion of the writeoff on fishy accounting. He's not the only one wondering about this.
- He wants HP to explain in detail how it came up with the $5 billion in writeoffs from alleged fraud.
- He not only denies all wrongdoing but says he has backup because Autonomy was audited quarterly and every invoice over 100,000 euros ($129,000) was approved by auditors.
He says some of the accusations are misleading because Autonomy was following International Financial Reporting Standards, as British companies do, not the GAAP standard used by HP, which means it recognizes revenue differently in certain situations from U.S. practices.
Here is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation with Lynch.
Business Insider: Has anyone at HP contacted you yet?
Mike Lynch: No. This has all been a complete ambush. The last time I spoke to HP about anything was in June [a month after he left the company]. The first I knew about this was the press release.
BI: Did you listen in on the HP conference call where they discussed these allegations with Wall Street analysts?
ML: No, I wasn't. I was told about the press release by a friend.
BI: Have you been approached yet by any authorities, like the SEC?
ML: No, I haven't.
BI: This situation sounds emotionally rough. How are you dealing with it?
ML: It's a complete shock. Hewlett-Packard used ambush tactics and pushed this into a media thing, where the first I knew about any of this was when the press release hit.
It's been a bit of a scramble. Of course they've made these general statements without any details. So you have to get your act together as an individual versus this big company, and all its resources, coming out like this. It's pretty much against the rules of natural justice or due process and you have to defend yourself. I was certainly shocked but people certainly realize I'm not going to be used as Hewlett-Packard's scapegoat when it's got itself in a mess.
BI: Let's talk about the specific accusations. HP is accusing Autonomy of massaging the numbers in several ways, such as improperly booking hardware sales as software to inflate margins. What's your response to that?
ML: That's complete inaccurate. We booked our hardware sales. They were booked at the correct margins. The idea that somehow we weren't taking that cost—even if you took HP's argument, which is inaccurate, but even if it was, it would make no difference to the bottom line or the top line.
The interesting other thing about this is that all of those deals went to our auditors who also agreed to the treatment. It's no great secret that Autonomy sells hardware.
BI: HP also accused Autonomy of improperly booking revenue with resellers. What's your response to that?
ML: Again, there's no problem with how we do that. It is different to how a U.S. company would do that. We did it under IFRS and there are very stringent rules about how we recognize revenues with resellers. They could be found in the annual report. And it's only if those criteria are met that we book revenue. Those criteria are actually tested by the auditors before they allow us to take revenue.
And unlike most European companies, we are audited every quarter and also the auditor gets to see every invoice. So the auditor gets to see every deal and they explicitly clear every deal over €100,000.
BI: Some critics have claimed that a quick look at Autonomy's profit-and-loss statement in 2010 showed that the company's books were off because receivables were higher than deferred revenue. For a software company, they say, the reverse should be true. How would you explain that?
ML: Software companies have changed in the last few years. They've gone from selling only licenses to doing cloud deals. When you have only license deals, the deferred-revenue trajectory was quite straightforward because every time you would sell a license deal, you would get maintenance and deferred revenue at about 15% and then that would recur.
When cloud came along, that changed. There were two different cases. One is where a company gets paid up front for a cloud operation, in which case you can have a lot of deferred revenue. Or another one where it gets paid in arrears in an ongoing basis, where you can have no deferred revenue.
Another example is something that most software companies don't do, but which Autonomy does, is where you get paid a royalty, in which case there's no deferred revenue. Because Autonomy has a different mix in how it does its revenues compared to managed-software companies, you would expect the revenue profile to be different. This is covered in many analysts notes over the years.
BI: Oracle claimed that you had tried to sell Autonomy to Oracle before striking the deal with HP and then denied it. Can you shed some light on that?
ML: That hasn't changed. I met with Oracle on what was a meeting with a customer and making sure they knew about Autonomy, giving them an update. I gave a presentation to them about Autonomy. When the HP deal was done, they "accidentally" pulled a presentation that had been given to them by a banker three months earlier, in a meeting I had nothing to do with, which does look like its a pitch of Autonomy, on behalf of that banker to Oracle. That story hasn't changed. I believe that Oracle did eventually confirm that the presentation was from an earlier meeting.
BI: There have been accusations leveled at HP, too, about how the arrived at the numbers. What are your thoughts on that?
ML: One of the big things that people are now questioning, which I think is very valid, they've got on the record that the amount of questionable revenue is running at about $100 million a year. What's interesting about that, is a lot what they are talking about is reclassification of revenue. So they are not saying that the revenue is not there. So for example, the hardware thing you've talked about, the revenue and profit are still exactly the same, even if what they were saying is true, which it isn't.
So, it's inconceivable how, from $100 million of revenue that just changes classification, you could possibly have a writedown as big as $5 billion.
Something else must be going on. People are starting to spot this. They've had to do a very big writedown and they tried to blame it on the accounting but obviously something else is going on.
That is a question that Hewlett-Packard has got to answer.
Don't miss: How Autonomy Allegedly Cooked The Books, According To HP >


text: Senegal's leaders promise new rights, while its laws deny them. DAKAR, SenegalWhen UNESCO, the United Nations agency that promotes the exchange of ideas and information, picked the capital of this West African nation to mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3, Senegal received a prestigious endorsement as a model of stability in a region wracked by violence. In the vast conference room of Dakar's posh Méridien Président hotel, UNESCO Director Koïchiro Matsuura said that "in deciding to celebrate World Press Freedom Day this year in Dakar, the international community is honoring Senegal's undeniable efforts toward the promotion of democracy." Yet even as press freedom took center stage inside the Méridien, journalists and press advocates remained engaged in an uphill—and thus far fruitless—struggle to do away with a series of legal provisions that allow journalists to be jailed for what they write. After a prominent journalist was imprisoned under a vaguely worded national security statute in July 2004, President Abdoulaye Wade promised to scrap the article from the Penal Code and get rid of criminal sanctions for press offenses. Nearly a year later, though, there has been little progress toward meeting these goals, and Wade's administration has narrowed the scope of reform efforts. By most measures, Senegal boasts a sturdy, functioning democracy. Its large and diverse press is one of the strongest on the continent, and journalists enjoy a degree of freedom unimaginable in many parts of West Africa—a region that includes such trouble spots as the Gambia, where a crusading independent journalist was assassinated in December; Ivory Coast, where journalists are trapped between bitterly divided pro- and anti-government factions; and Guinea, where the government keeps the tiny private press on a short leash. But many Senegalese journalists believe that the country's repressive media laws, even if rarely enforced, pose a long-term threat to press freedom. They point to progress made in other democracies to eliminate repressive provisions that can be used to target journalists. In 2001, for example, Ghana's government repealed criminal sanctions for libel, publication of false news, and defaming the president. "It has been almost 10 years that Senegalese journalists have fought to ensure that press offenses no longer put journalists in prison," said Abdou Latif Coulibaly, a veteran Senegalese journalist and media professor. "To put a journalist in prison for what he has written, even if it is defamatory, seems to us to be an extremely serious danger for a democracy." Senegal's press union, known by its French acronym SYNPICS, has long pressured the government to do away with laws that could imprison journalists for their work, but its efforts didn't gather steam until last July. That's when Madiambal Diagne, owner and managing editor of the private newspaper Le Quotidien (The Daily), was imprisoned under a national security provision, known as Article 80 of Senegal's Penal Code, for writing articles about alleged executive interference in the judiciary and corruption in the customs service. Article 80 criminalizes any "maneuver or act that might compromise public security or cause serious political disturbance," and Senegal's Procedural Code imposes mandatory detention for anyone charged under the law. Diagne was eventually released on bail after more than two weeks in prison, but the criminal charges against him are pending. The first of Diagne's articles reported that an investigation conducted by the Finance Ministry had uncovered evidence that the former customs director had embezzled government funds. According to the article, the Finance Ministry alerted the president to these findings, leading to criminal charges against the director. A copy of the ministry's memo to Wade, stamped "SECRET," appeared next to the article. The second article alleged that President Wade and then-Justice Minister Serigne Diop had demoted judges who disagreed with them politically, and that this had caused anger in the judiciary community. For example, the article alleged that the demotion of one judge "occurred after a dispute which pitted him against the State." "He was someone who was digging around, and he was sharp, and he was divulging lots of secrets," says Boukounta Diallo, a prominent Senegalese human rights lawyer who defended Diagne. Diallo told CPJ that the charge under Article 80 was designed to put Diagne in jail. "Since Article 80 calls for an obligatory detention order, it was a way to be sure that Madiambal Diagne went to prison." Alpha Sall, secretary-general of SYNPICS, said the case galvanized the press and the public. "We have always denounced [these laws]. But people never paid attention, because, as I told you, no one was being put in prison. ... So when the Madiambal Diagne case happened, everyone— the president, politicians, journalists—understood what SYNPICS was talking about." Journalists and civil society groups organized a series of popular demonstrations, at which hundreds of protesters carried signs and shouted "Free Madiambal!" into loudspeakers. SYNPICS organized a sit-in at the Information Ministry, and threatened a general strike by all unionized workers. The press also observed a daylong media blackout during which newspapers stopped publishing, while private radio stations played protest songs and aired commentary on press freedom. An editorial from a special edition of Le Quotidien, reprinted by many of Dakar's private papers, accused the government of choosing "a strategy of intimidation and brinkmanship in order to instill panic amongst us." By the end of July 2004, Wade was under intense domestic and international pressure over Diagne's imprisonment. After a trip to France in which President Jacques Chirac raised the issue, Wade announced that he would move to eliminate Article 80 from the Penal Code. Local journalists say that this was a promise the president first made after being imprisoned himself under the article, for his alleged involvement in anti-government riots as an opposition leader in the 1990s. (Wade was elected president in 2000, after more than a decade spent as the "eternal adversary"—in the words of Le Monde—of former President Abdou Diouf.) In October, Wade announced that he also supported the decriminalization of press offenses and asked journalists' associations to submit suggestions for reform. SYNPICS drafted a comprehensive proposal, with the help of legal experts and assistance from UNESCO, and submitted it to the government in December. The proposed changes include removing criminal sanctions for most press offenses, including defamation and insult—except in cases of defamation or insult for reasons of ethnic, racial or religious difference—and replacing them with civil statutes and fines. Sall said roughly 20 criminal defamation cases are brought against journalists in Senegal every year, although journalists rarely go to prison. Even when journalists are found guilty, he said, judges do not typically issue detention orders. But the mere existence of criminal sanctions has a chilling effect on the media and inhibits a free press, his fellow journalists added. Diagne, himself a lawyer by training, said there is no reason for delay. "Every day, the government writes up laws and gives them to the assembly and has them passed," he said. "I don't think it's the job of journalists to draft laws. But since people accepted to do it, they did it, so what's the government waiting for to pass it into law? That's the question." Judging by their public comments, though, Wade and members of his administration are taking a narrow view of what constitutes reform. At a speech at UNESCO's awards ceremony, Wade mentioned the government's project to decriminalize press offenses, but made a careful distinction between "delits de presse" and "delits commis par voie de presse"—"press offenses" and "offenses committed through the press." In a CPJ interview the following day, then-Justice Minister Serigne Diop made the distinction clear. "Defamation is not a press offense," he said. "We cannot decriminalize something that is not a press offense. It's not possible." The minister acknowledged that the decriminalization of defamation was part of the proposal submitted by SYNPICS. "That's what they're asking, but we are trying to prove to them that it's not possible, since defamation is not a press offense." Diop said Senegalese culture was incompatible with decriminalizing defamation. "There are societies that can allow themselves that, but our society does not allow it," he said. "We have nothing more valuable than our honor. If we lose our honor, it's over." Diop was later named to "Ministre d'Etat auprès du Président de la République" (Minister without portfolio) while a new Justice Minister, Cheikh Tidiane Sy, was appointed. The administration's position, however, appears unchanged. Bacar Dia, Senegal's information minister and Wade's spokesman, told CPJ in a telephone interview that the administration considers defamation an offense under common law, and that it did not fall under the category of press offenses. "We are not for the decriminalization of common law offenses," he told CPJ. Dia declined to give specific examples of offenses that the government was willing to decriminalize. SYNPICS has identified several, including insulting the president and publishing "false news." Several Senegalese journalists told CPJ they were surprised by Wade's distinction. While acknowledging that other laws present an equally great threat to the media, journalists argued that the existence of criminal defamation statutes and the government's apparent resistance to reform them, despite progress in the region, belie the government's frequent claims to press freedom leadership. In addition to the charge under Article 80, Diagne was also charged with publishing false news and publishing secret government documents, both of which are criminal charges under current laws. Diop told CPJ that Diagne's most egregious offense was his publication of the leaked Finance Ministry memo. "It's the fact of having published a document stamped 'secret,'" he said. "When the state puts 'secret' on a document, it's henceforth something that is linked to national security, and one does not have the right to publish it." Several journalists suggested that it was Diagne's refusal to reveal his sources that earned him the government's ire. Local journalists said criminal sanctions for publishing leaked documents pose a grave threat. "In the higher spheres of the state, in the Senegalese administration, people continue to cultivate the taboo, the cult of confidentiality," says Jean Meissa Diop, editor of the leading daily Walfadjri (Dawn). "People encourage... an excess of zeal for the protection of documents or of sources which do not merit this kind of protection." Diagne said protests against his imprisonment showed the media's potential influence in shaping Senegal's image. "The objective was to shut me up, by sending me to prison... But the result was the opposite. In the end, it turned against the government. There was an enormous popular mobilization, which we had never seen here, people were in the streets, all the radios were talking about it, the entire international public opinion was fixated on Senegal." The diverging views of press conditions in Senegal were evident inside and outside the UNESCO gathering. During the opening ceremonies, Information Minister Dia lauded the relationship between the media and the Senegalese government and called his nation "the capital of press freedom." Outside the conference on World Press Freedom Day, vendors hawked the May 3 edition of the Dakar daily Sud Quotidien that carried a commentary headlined, "Media and legislation in Senegal: The press on parole." The outspoken private paper said that laws criminalizing such offenses as defamation "constitute a sort of sword of Damocles hanging over the head of the men and women working in this profession." Alexis Arieff is Research Associate for CPJ's Africa program.